7!'^-^---;j*';---^?^-»^ Illi; Books THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY s/l-Z. --■36'. '.- Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Th«ft, mutilation, and undorilning of boolti aro roason* for diKiplinary action and may roMilt in dismissal from tho Univorsity. University of Illinois Library 0CT17 « *S['i- '?€^' %f: p^' A ^: •N. -■ -:«i m. * . ».' 1 "i-: ;ff ..Ill^>- ."** «^* .^ *'*.-.'«_"*^j;. ^^i* •^*, 5*- ■*- >.■: »^» " :"^; "'^.. -• ':"iiA>*:^ iV ■>» , '*-■-'• v.' \.< v-,^JS > « 'k 1, ."*v ,."Jl". ■ •- i >!^:i« ,'« ■# ■^,™' 1. i-iiC.'i:" V Kj ■0' ■f-'.V. ^>^;-."- ■ '- -r. 4 ■ i .v-*~- '. ■'V-.' >?■"{; -iv "■ ■' V- S.*'' ■',-"*:'^: "".■' .'• ^ :■.'' ■' * - * ■ , • ; ' ■^"-■- 'C ■■'^■ .:' >vi^ t- " -"^"'r. -V ^ * ■ " I . ■'■ ■'■ T ■'. - V< ' ■■■i-, - V'.- . ! ■ . ^. i -.v». ■ • .v,s^ * %'>v^v//^-^;-'^-v-'^ ,f;^> ■>, ■ if ■> ■-■■,. ' 5=w-*^.-- ..n .-: ■- ..■■. , •- , • ■- - ■ • .).-. • ,., , .- . ^'\^ "v - , tP--:.^ '^ it: ■•» J; . • -■' ■ -'&. - •- -'■•i'lf'i'j'.'V - ■vHY* ■ i»r ' : "y - "■*!■•■ > •:V'*>^.Ji. ^■■- 'X:^^ ^'X"'^- -'^' \; • .-iV -^' m^ I. h .^ ,■>-■■■ '■■i'K » /' fft^ vi ."'- ■s Ht- .•¥--^ 3^;«o ^ 5.^.v>v..'i;-t» •, ■■-^. .■>■■ i H i »(;. .-^ ;:Vi ^ 'f^'^iftty^n. .^4-!j J} r.jsninj J*r k.maht:;! <^m:v Ni'iv.-^ ok- THE COMPLETE HISTOEY OF IE EL AID FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES: BEING COMPILED FROM A CONNECTED CONTINUATDON BY APPROVED STANDARD WRITERS. ifivut ^ii}iuion. FROM THE EARLIEST RECORDS, TO THE END OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY; BY MR. O'HALLORAN, AUTHOR OF THE INTKODDmON TO THE HISTORY AND ANTiqUITIES OF IRELAND. EMBELLISHED WITH magnificent Steel (KngraDings, FROM DESIGNS TAKEN EXPRESSLY BY W. H. BARTLETT, ESQ R. MARTIN & CO. 26 JOHN STREET, AND 26 IVY LANE, PATEBNOSTEB KOW. £onbon. PRESS AND FOUNDRY OF NEWELL &. CLAPP. mk ^^ .^ 1 m ■1^ "^"'M^ S^ ■ I '■'•3>>lV ^/ ^^ ft;'!"'., j: I ■f • T ■ ^ T l^^Uri^.V: a. 1 jf \ y^v rs » PREFACE /o In former times, the study of History was i^ttempted by only a very few devoted admirers. The dignified historian was surrounded with ahnost astro- logical mystery, and the persevering student became an abstracted being, like Manfred, diving — PQ " to the caves of death, Searching its cause in its effect ; and drew. - From witherM bones, and skulls, and heap'd-up dust, Conclusions most forbidden." Latterly, we have too many demands on oiu* attention, and we aim at too much general knowledge, to appropriate many years to the pursuit of any one branch of science. With these reasons, the historical novel became a pleasing vehicle for the useful truths of History. This arrangement, however, has been f(miid inadequate, because captivating writers are much more numerous than faithful historians. Students of taste and discrimination, whose aim is correctness, will always prefer the wheat of truth, if it could be gleaned and thresked from the straw that surrounds it. This desirable object has been attempted in ^ History of Ireland which is now submitted to the judgment of the public. . The ordinary difficulties of preparing " a reflex of complex events" are much increased by the generally partisan character oi a large portion of the evidence relating to Irish History. James Madison has well remarked, that "the Irish nation. has been as much traduced by the pen of History as it has been by the % rod of Power." To claim praise by making a parade of our industry in this History of Ireland, would have produced a bulky compendium of merely facti- tious importance. We are quite willing, however, to receive credit for show- ing the reader how to master the whole subject. The text has been compiled from the best authorities ; dulness of record is avoided as much as possible ; and it will be perceived that, in order to furnish a true and lively narrative, the variations of different writers aife noted, with discriminating and connective remarks. In adopting this latter method of con- struction, we are conscious of having deviated from the rigid canons of his- torical composition ; but our excuse will become more and more apparent, as the student travels over the dusty road of research where we have laboured. For the First Division, the text adopted is that of Sylvester O'Halloran, an Irish gentleman, who brought to his task a fund of classical erudition, great lit. 1 %^'^'b PREFACE candour, sound sense, and sincere patriotism. In the conjectural portions of History, these qualities are often more likely to produce a true and faithful book than the highest attainments of mere authorship. The two following Divisions continue the narrative down to the present times. This original and highly interesting compilation is in the hands of a com- mittee of gentlemen, who will endeavour to avoid those partialities and defects which occasionally characterize the productions of individual writers on Irish History. At the same time, it will be the most agreeable part of their task to record full justice to the history of a great and glorious country, which has produced some of the noblest characters that ever excited the admiration of the world. ■■'^•fsmtv;'- \>' • TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE M R U &H O'B R Y E N, EARL AND BARON OF INCHIQUIN, BARON OF BURBEN, AND LORD LIEUTENANT AND CUSTOS ROTULORUM OF THE COUNTY OF CLARE. MY LORD: No natkm paid greater attention to its history and antiquities than the an- cient Irish. The care of letters was a particular object of state attention ; and the, kws and ordinances respecting history, philosophy, and poetry, became a part of the studies of our monarchs.* The numerous universities of the king- dom were founded on such liberal principles, that not only the natives, but strangers from different parts of Europe, were received into them, and supplied with all the necessaries of life* and even with hooks, gratis ! The Venerable Bede is an unexceptionable authority for these facts, with respect to the Sax- ons;! and proofs are notr wanting th*a| such was the case with other nations of Europe. J Need more, my Lord, be said to the point, than, that such was the pre-eminence, of the Irish in letters, that, by universal consent, the king- dom acquired the title of Insula Doctorum ! But the protection they vouchsafed to the sciences, did not diminish their love for arms. In other countries, arts and letters were the consequences of power and conquests: in Ireland, they attended and added vigour to both. Glory, intrepidity, and the love of their country were the constant themes of the antiquarians and bards ; and how well our princes, our nobility, and mili- tary profited by their lessons, our annals sufficiently proclaim. While the rest of the world bent the knee to all-powerful Rome, Ireland alone remained free and independent, and held forth her arms to support every struggle for liberty in Britain and Gaul. From Tacitus we may collect,^ that Rome could n(5t count on the peaceable possession of Britain, until Ireland was subdued, being the country from whence the disaffected drew their resources ; and the subse- * Teagasc-Cormbhic-Mhic-Art, or the Royal Admonitions of Corinac to his son Cairbre. t Histor. Ecclesiast. Britan. lib. iii. cap. 27. X Vita St. Cataldi, Usserii Primord, Eccles. Britan. p. 755, etc. § Vita Julii Agiicolae. V. DEDICAtlQN. quent periods of our history will show who were the real authors and pro- moters of these mighty confederacies, which accelerated the ruin of that extended empire ! Why a history, in itself bo curious and instructive — ^which throws new lights on history and chronology in general, and (what makes it still more vol- uable) which is the only one, of all the nations of Europe, that has been trans- mitted to us pure and uninterrupted, from the remotest antiquity to this day — why, I say, it should be, not only greatly neglected, but grossly misrepresented in modern times, is not to my purpose to inquire. It is sufficient, my Lord, that, animated with the love of truth, and of my country, I have laboured to render that justice to our ancestors which had been so long denied them, and to lay open to public view these annals, which seemed to have been destined to dust and oblivion ! A work of this kind, extracted from pure native records, unsophisticated with modern systems and modern opinions, I flatter myself will appear no unacceptable present to your Lordship, and to the curious. To whom, my Lord, with greater propriety could such an attempt be inscribed, or who better entitled to this mark of respect and attention than the Earl of Inchiquin, the lineal descendant of the first of heroes and legislators, the renowned Brien Boirumhe, and through him, of Heber, eldest son to Mile- sius ? To support and protect whatever may tend to elucidate the History of Ogygia ; and by your precepts, as well as example, to induce others to unite in a cause so interesting to letters, are in fact, my Lord, duties which you owe to your own dignity and to your ancestors, as well as to your country. For what avails it that Ireland should, in justice, rank foremost among the nations of Europe ; and that her sons, for purity, antiquity, and nobility of blood, exceed all others, if these facts are not properly set forth ? Her title to pre- cedence is not the less valid because it has not been fully asserted ; and it may be said, that the neglect of Irish History is the only enemy to its dignity. From your Lordship, for instance, to Heber, are reckoned ninety-three genera- tions in your house, of which number, eighty-four were kings of Thomond, kings of Munster, or monarchs of Ireland; so justly may the atavis edite regibtis of Horace be applied to your Lordship. Thus a peerage could be no accession of honour to it; and this is so true, that all North Munster were in flames when it first became known that such a title was adopted. The same thing happened in Ulster, when Con O'Neill assumed the title of Earl of Tyrone : it was the case with Mac Carthy in Desmond, with Fitz Patrick in Ossory, etc. However solicitous I have been to render this work worthy of public atten- tion, your Lordship's protection, and the title which it bears, yet I am satisfied that an undertaking on so extensive a plan, and on a new scale, must necessa- rily be subject to many imperfections ; and I greatly regret that my situation in life would not permit me to devote to it all that leisure which it merited, and which I wished. Yet, be its defects what they may, I will venture to VI. DEDICATION. affirm that it exhibits a clearer and more comprehensive view of the true state and importance of Irish History than any other work extant. Deign favourably, my Lord, to receive this public testimony of my esteem and attachment, the greatest I can offer, and permit me the honour to subscribe myself, with the highest respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient, and most devoted humble Servant, . SILVESTER O'HALLORAN. %.'■ :.«^ PBELIMOAEY DISCOUESE TO THE FIRST DIVISION. BY SYLVESTER O'HALLORAN. Nothing has proved so great an obsta- cle to the study of ancient history, as the very great uncertainty in ancient chronol- ogy. The Babylonians, Chaldeans, Egyp- tians, and Chinese, have carried their dif- ferent chronologies so amazingly far back, that to credit them, one would be almost tempted to suppose the world eternal ! The Greeks came much later into the cus- tom of recording historical events ; and, it must be confessed, that where they have touched on remote periods, their eras are, to the last degree, uncertain. Even in sa- cred writ we meet with great discordance in point of chronology ; the Septuagint translation of the Bible, and many of the fathers, reckoning three thousand five hun- dred and thirteen years from the creation to the vocation of Abraham ; while the Hebrew text, and some of the principal fathers of the Church, fix it at two thou- sand and twenty-three ! It is on account of this great uncertainty in ancient chro- nology, that Varro, the most learned his- torian and philosopher of ancient Rome, deemed every relation which preceded the first Olympiad, (i. e. the year of the world 3232,) to be obscure, fabulous, and un- worthy of public notice ! A variety of causes have concurred to make chronology so unsettled, and of course its concomitant, history, so unsatisfactory. No two nations of antiquity are in accord as to any fixed epocha, nor even as to the length of the year, or the time when it should commence. The Greeks began their era of certain history from the Olym- piads, and the Romans from the foundation of their city. Some have counted time from the solar, others from the lunar year. Even in the Christian world some centu- ries had passed, from the Incarnation, be- fore it was agreed to compute time from that epocha. To this may be added the diflferent periods in which letters were in- troduced into countries, the repeated con- vulsions and revolutions which every na- tion of the continent has experienced, and the neglect and destruction of annals and records, ever attendant on such general calamities 1 The nation, whose history I have ^ honour of presenting to the public, has ex- perienced none of these misfortunes, at least not in so remarkable a degree as to destroy all her annals, or bring her chro- nology into any kind of doubt. They ap-j pear to have been, from the most remoi antiquity, a polished people, and with p: priety they may be called, the fathers of letters! Sequestered in a remote island, giving laws to neighbouring states, and free from foreign invasions for the certain space of two thousand and sixty years, they f had time and leisure to attend to their his- ] tory and antiquities ; and they certainly ^ exceeded all nations of the world in their % ap.. lotev )ro-S attention to these ! As I have en- ^% pomts . deavoured to elucidate a variety of obscure j; parts in ancient history, and to determine | many controverted eras in ancient chro- nology by the annals of Ireland, it is but just that the candid critical reader shouid receive the clearest evidences and the fiil- IX. ^ i ■^k PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE lest information, as to their authenticity. This matter satisfactorily explained, he will then no doubt naturally inquire, why a history so manifestly interesting to let- ters, and which throws such light on the early laws, religion, and customs of the Celtce, should have lain so long concealed from public view, especially in ages learned and inquisitive as this and the last have proved ? But of these points in their or- der ; and first as to our chronology. The Milesians began their own imme- diate history with Phaenius, the inventor of letters, and their great ancestor. They have not determined on the precise period of time in which he flourished ; but yet the generations and names of his lineal succes- sors, to the sons of Milesius, have been preserved with such care and accuracy ; and the same subject, from that period to this day, has been continued with such un- exampled fidelity, that it will require little trouble to determine it, with precision and certainty, by admitting of the following reasonable computation. Twenty-three generations are counted from Phaenius to Hebcr, and I have allowed thirty-five years to each generation, which I think (consid- ering the remoteness of the time and lon- gevity of the people) will be deemed a fair and reasonable medium. If to this we add eighty-one years for the supposed extent of his life, it will make up the gross term of eight hundred and eighty-six years. By the Reim-Riogra, or Royal Chronology of GioUa-Caomhain — a writer of great an- tiquity — ^ninety monarchs of Ireland are reckoned from Heber to Conaire the Grand, in whose administration the Incar- nation happened ; and the reigns of these pviaoei, one with another, according to his efilf^tation, amounts to one thousand six kondred and fifty-seven years. But, in this list, a reign of seventy-seven, of sev- oity, and of sixty years is allowed to some jMinices ; to one in particular (and, it would seem, merely on account of his surname of Soaglach, or the Long-lived) a hundred and fifty is given! But, in Ireland, the monarchy was elective with respect to peraoDS, though hereditary in point of blood. Minors were declared incapable of governing ; and no prince could become a candidate for the throne who had not passed the age of twenty-five. Revolu- tions were frequent, and the strongest sword always determined the contest. Sound criticism and plain sense seem to concur in reducing so improbable a period to a rea- sonable time, and will, I think, justify me in lopping off an exuberance of three hun- dred and ninety-three years from this ac- count ; so that from the birth of Phaenius to the Incarnation comprehends a space of two thousand one hundred and forty-six years, in which a clear chronology, sub- ject to the severest scrutiny, is exhibited, and which, if not under, does not exceed true time. From this period the Irish chronology is allowed to be accurate, by the most crit- ical judges of the matter. Yet, as Sir James Ware, and, from him, most British writers, who were very incompetent judges, have aflirmed that our chronology at best is "but uncertain till the landing of St. Pat- rick; let us, for argument sake, admit it to be so, and endeavour to reconcile the number of reigns in this interval to reason and chronology. Loaghaire began his reign A. D. 428, four years before the landing of St. Patrick, and twenty-nine princes intervened between him and Co- naire. From the landing of Patrick the most incredulous have not doubted our chronology ; nor could it be otherwise, as the time of his legation was so well known to foreign as well as domestic writers. Fifty-one monarchs swayed the Irish scep- tre from the days of Loaghaire to those of Roderic O'Connor, last monarch of Ireland. Now, if we compare the number of reigns in the first and second stages of our his- tory, or from Heber to Conaire, arid from him to Loaghaire, with those in the third, or uncontrovertihly true time, we shall see a very close agreement, and that the pe- riods preceding this last epocha are rather contracted than enlarged. Let us suppose upon an average, that the reigns of these princes, one with another, did not exceed fourteen years each; and when we con- TO THE FIRST DIVISION. sider the nature of an elective government, where each prmce generally fell by the sword of his successor, it seems a fair me- dium. The number of reigns from Heber to Conaire are ninety years, which, at an average of fourteen years to each reign, will give us one thousand two hundred and sixty years, just four years less than the time assigned ! From Conaire to Loaghaire were twenty-nine years, which, at an av- erage of fourteen years to each reign, will give us four hundred and six years, which is twenty-two years less than true time ; and fifty-one reigns from Loaghaire to Roderic, multiplied by fourteen, produce but seven hundred and fourteen years, which is about forty years less than the real time. Thus it appears (I apprehend) evident, that instead of extending, I have sensibly contracted our ancient chronology, and that if it does not want half a century of true time, it cannot be deemed a day beyond it. From this chronology, the periods in which the following interesting facts hap- pened, appear thus : The invention of let- ters by Phaenius (computing from the He- brews) was in the year of the world 1912, the sixty-second year of his age, and six- teenth of his reign. The introduction of letters, of arts, and sciences into Egypt by Niul, the son of Phsnius, took place in the year of the world 1941. The Cretans received the Phoenician alphabet from Cadmus the high-priest, son of Sru, and brother to Heber Scot, in the year of the world 2046 ; and this at once explains a matter very doubtful and very interesting to ancient history. The Greeks unable to determine the time in which Cad- mus lived, have conjectured it to be after the days of Moses. Now in his days the Hebrew alphabet contained twenty-two letters, which is six letters more than the Cadmean ; and the dominions of the Isra- elites bordering on Phoenicia, have made some literati suppose that this last alphabet must have contained more letters than an- tiquity has attributed to it ; but we now plainly see that "Cadmus [U'eceded Moses by more than four centuries, which at once removes all doubts, and justifies the reports of antiquity. The first Phoenician settlement in Af- rica took place in the year of the world 2279. For it is agreed on that, long be- fore the days of Joshua, a Phoenician col- ony had made a settlement about Carthage, though, till now, the time has not been de- termined on with any kind of precision. Briotan, the son of Feargus, with his fol- lowers, retired from Ireland to Britain, A. M. 2380; and from him the country took this name, (its more ancient one being Inis-More, or the Great Island,) as all our antiquities declare. From the settlements in Wales the people were called Cimri, not from being the descendants of Gomer; cvmar in Irish denoting a hilly country, as Wales undoubtedly is. The Firbolgs, or Belgse, entered Britain, A. M. 2541 ; the Damnonii, or Tuatha da Dauaans, A. M. 2736 ; the Picts took pos- session of Albany, A. M. 2744 ; and the Irish Brigantes, of Cumberland, etc^ A> Mf 2749. ^ . - ./■ ■ -: The Brigantes of Spain (so called firom Breogan, grandfather to MUesius) became^ a respectable, warUke, and comsaercial people, about A. M. 2600 ; and a part of their posterity conquered Ireland in |tie year of the world 2736. As to the history of the peo{de, on which this chronology is founded, every evidenoe and every circumstance that can ia reas(w be expected, seem combine4 to stamp 'ui- thority on it. From Phaenius to the sons of Milesius, their exploits, their travels* successes, and disappointments, have been narrated from age to age with such an air of native simplicity and candour, that.it would be hard to conceive — even si^ posing it aji imposture — what could be proposed by the deception. The short- ness of the voyages ; their coasting from land to land ; and the length of time they were tossed about, so as to take V3fa» years in passing from Phoenicia to Getulia^ plainly show that this expedition vnA un- dertaken in the very infancy of navigation. Their posterity remained nearly thrte cea> XI. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE tunes after this on the African coast, (though a commercial people,) before they ventured to sail beyond the Pillars of Her- cules ; and from the time of Bratha's land- ing in Galicia to the conquest of Ireland by the sons of Milesius, included the space of a hundred and fift/^eSTs ; so formida- ble did the venturing to launch into the great Atlantic ocean appear to this people ! Nay, the circumstance of their being at this time furnished with reflecting and re- fracting glasses, evidently points out the progress they had made in navigation. But when we find accounts so reconcile- able to reason wonderfully strengthened by the collateral evidences of foreign nations, and throwing day on the obscurest parts of their different histories, can we in jus- tice refuse our assent to them ? That the Milesian ccJony were a learned and pol- ished people when they landed in Ireland, the circumstance of their transmitting to posterity the records of the nations who preceded them there, seems alone strongly to prove. Amhergin was then their high- priest. A part of his duty, as well as that of his successor, was, the care of history and genealogy. We have yet preserved in the Leabhar-Lecan part of his writings, particularly a relation of the landing of his brethren and their followers in Ireland, with the numbers who perished in the at- tempt, in a beautiful style of poetry. From this epocha we behold a regular succession 6f j)rinces, all great encouragers of arts and letters, and some highly celebrated for their erudition and for their writings. We trace the rise of literary societies, the modes by which adepts passed doctors in differ- ent faculties, and the great immunities which this order of men possessed ; con- firmed by Caesar, with respect to the Gauls, many centuries after. We behold arts, manufactures, and commerce, keep equal pace with letters, as well as their usual concomitants, wealth and power ! The very form of the Irish constitution shows to demonstration, that it could not subsist without letters. We see, from the prince to the peasant, the nation divided into* diflferent classes, and all posts of hon- XII. our, trust, and profit in these different or- ders, hereditary in certain families ; — even in the hierarchy, for above seven centuries, the episcopal order was confined to cer- tain septs. Though our history had been silent on this head, yet we should conclude that a class of people must have been set apart to preserve the genealogies of these different families: how could order or subordination be otherwise preserved ? Caesar tells us that the Gauls were divided into different classes ; and by way of ex- plaining this, does he not at the same time proclaim the flourishing state of letters there, and the great privileges granted to this order of men?* But modem skeptics affirm, that the Irish knew nbt the use of letters till the landing of St. Patrick. But if this apostle first introduced letters into Ireland, they must undoubtedly have been the Roman. And did the Roman alphabet THEN contain no more than seventeen let- ters ? Were these arranged like ours, or were they of similar structure? If all these interrogatories are to be answered in the negative, as they undoubtedly must, what will become of our visionaries ? But to remove for ever so great an obstacle to true history and chronology, Caesar him- self tells us that the Gaulish letters in his days resembled the Greek, and such is the Irish letter even at this day! Now, as from this remark of Caesar, it becomes evi- dent that the Gauls and Romans had differ- ent kinds of alphabets, it must be a cei'tain consequence that the Irish could not bor- row their letters from ancient Rome, and our history sufficiently proclaims them the eternal enemies of that people. But, besides all this, the more critically we examine, and the deeper we explore the annals of Ireland, the more convinced we shall become of their genuineness. The monarchy, in every period of our history, was confined to the posterity of the three sons of Milesius only, except in three instances in the line of Ith, who were in main of the same royal stock. Though all descended from one common ancestor, yet they were divided in interests ; and the * Comment lib. vi. TO THE FIRST DIVISION. clearest head and strongest sword gene- rally gained the monarchy. If any doubt had ever been entertained of the veracity of Irish history, must it not have come out, some time or other, in the many bloody contests for sovereignty so disgraceful to our annals ? Would it not even serve as a political stimulus the more to inflame the contending parties? But no such thing! Though of different interests, and highly inimical to each other, yet were they in perfect unison as to their being of one common stock ! And nothing can more fully prove this than the very mode of in- augurating our different princes, as well monarchical as provincial, which in no in- stance was ever deviated from. After the election was declared, and before the cor- onation oaths were administered, the chief senachie, or antiquarian, stepped forth, and after bending the knee to the throne, an- nounced to the people aloud, " That Brien- Boirumhe, ancestor to the present earl of Inchiquin, (for instance) the son of Cineidi, the son of Lorcan, the son of Lachtna, the son of Core, son of Anluan, son of Mahon, the son of Turelach, the son of Cathil, the son of Aodh-Caomh, the -son of Conal, the son of Eochadh, and so on to (roUamh or Milesius, and from him to Phsenius, etc., was monarch of Ireland and Albany." And this is the reason that our antiquari- ans have been so careful to recite the pedi- grees, and note the houses from which our different monarchs came ; which, though disgusting in many instances to readers, yet we see was observed for the wise pur- pose of preserving both the constitution and the history of the kingdom pure. In every particular, except the right of governing, they were in perfect accord. The line of Heber, or house of Munster, being de- scended from the eldest son of Milesius, claimed a kind of prescriptive right to the monarchy; yet the Heremonians, though the youngest branch, gave infinitely more monarchs to Ireland. The Heberians deemed this a kind of usurpation, and the Heremonians contended that, in a country where the sword determined the dispute, power and intrepidity, not seniority, justi- fied the claim. We have yet preserved a poem, written by Toma-Eigeas, chief bard to Niall the Grand, in the fourth century, reciting the bloody contests between him and Core, King of Munster, for the mon- archy. In this, he with great elegance and delicacy, lays before his reader the pretensions of both houses, and the argu- ments used by their different advocates, and recapitulates the bloody wars carried on from the days of Heber to his own time for this object — an irrefragable proof surely, even then, of the authenticity of our ear- lier annals. St. Patrick in the next age presided over the literati in several con- ventions ; and our annals, such as we now find them, were then, and in every suc- ceeding age to the last century, never called in question by those who had the best right to judge of them. The uncom- mon care taken to preserve them pure and uncorrupt, when attended to, must satisfy the most incredulous. Every province had its history ; every powerful chief, his poet and antiquarian. Their persons were declared sacred, and their ample possessions unmolested. The different provincial records and histories were every third year examined by a com- mittee of the national assembly ; and noth- ing was admitted into the Seanachas-more, or Great Antiquity — so called as being the \ national history — but what was strictly true. The greatest punishments awaited such antiquarians as attempted to disguise truth or impose falsehoods ; and no^ in- stance is recorded of any senachie being convicted of these crimes ! These he- reditary bards and historians flourished through every period of our history. They existed in Thomond, in Connaught, and in Ulster, in some degree, even to the Revolvr tion. We are yet possessed of copies of the Book of Munster. It recites the travels of the Gad^titms, from their derelictiod^«f Egypt to the'eonquest of Ireland, and notes down with gitat precision the different generations that intervened. From this period the history is confined to the ex- ploits of this house only, as kings of Leath- XIII. PRELIMINAEY DISCOURSE Mogha, or monarcbs of Ireland, just as they happened. The line of Ith, or Brig- antes of Munster, had iheir hereditary an- tiquarians also ; and Forchem, one of our most celebrated senachies, was poet to Conrigh, the son of Darius, of the Degaids of Munster, who was contemporary with Julius Caesar. The Book of Leinster begins with Jugh- aine the Great, (from whom Jiggin's-Town, near the Naas,) monarch of Ireland, A. M. 3587 ; and through his son Loagaire-Lorc, narrates the exploits and actions of his suc- cessors as kings of Leinster. The Book of Leath-Cuin traces the Heremonian likje from the conquest of Ireland to the reign of Jughaine, and then, through his son Cob- thaig, continues the same subject to the twelfth century. This psalter got the title of Leath-Cuin, as it treated of all the stock of the Heremonians, in the northern divis- ion of Ireland, according to the famous partition treaty in the second century. Keating and other writers of the last cen- tury, mention a noble copy of this work on vellum, with the coats of arms of the prin- cipal chiefs of Ulster and Connaught, ele- gantly blazoned on its margins. The Con- naught book is quoted by Usher and others, and several extracts from it may be found in the Leabhar-Lecan. The house of Emania, or line of Ir, which cut so con- spicuous a figure in our annals, were great protectors of the literati of Ireland on sev- eral occasions, and could not have been without their bards and antiquarians ; and to their care it is owing, that their exploits and those of the Craobh-Ruadh, have been so well preserved. As soon as a new gov- ernment was established in a part of Ul- ster, in the fourth century, on the ruins of that great house, we find also a new chron- icle commenced under the title of the Book of Oirgial, so called from the new name given to that territory, in which the ex- ploits of these conquerors and their succes- sors, with their pedigrees, are accurately noted down. Besides these are the Book of Synchro- nisms, in which the provincial kings are synchronised with the monarchs of Ireland, XIV. and the Reim-Riogi-a, or Book of Reigns, which notes down exactly the number of years each of these monarchs governed. From these records principally are almost all the other books and annals of the king- dom taken, with the genealogies of fami- lies. It is by their means that the Irish are enabled to trace their pedigrees so much higher than other nations, and that, as Camden himself acknowledges, " The an- tiquities of every other nation compared to that of Ireland is but as if of yesterday !" This unexampled protection afibrded to letters, and care of their history and an- tiquities, made the Irish deem all the neigh- bouring states barbarous. In the life of St. Fiacre, in the seventh century, on meet- ing his countryman St. Chilian, in France, he thus addresses him : " Quid te charis- sime frater, ad has barbaras gentes de- duxit ?" No wonder, then, if a people who traced their pedigrees from the Scythians and Egyptians, the noblest races of an- tiquity, should glory in their ancestry, and look down with condescension and pity on the pretensions of other nations ! If the histoiies of Britain, Gaul, and Germany cannot be traced higher than the fifth cen- tury, and that, beyond this era, no traces even of their princes can be found, how absurd, then, to attempt to carry the pedi- grees of private families higher ? But in Ireland, not only the blood-royal, but the genealogies of the entire Milesian race have been carefully preserved, with the numbers of saints' and illustrious men their principal families produced. It could not, from the nature of the constitution, be pos- sibly otherwise, since rank and subordina- tion depended on it. This reminds me of an anecdote that happened soon after the late war in Germany. The prince of Saxe Hilburghausen being one day in a large circle, descanting on the high antiquity of his house, and that his ancestors were dukes in the reign of Charlemagne, Gen- eral CDonnel, (descended from Niall the Grand, monarch of Ireland in the fourth century), fatigued with his vanity, coolly answered, "Mon prince, vous 6tes bien heureux d'avoir Hre n6 en Allemagne — si TO tHEFilCS* 01^1^ ION/ vous etiez chez moi, i peine auriez vous les droits d'un bourgeois !" The very names of territories, rivers, lakes, and mountains, and even the sur- names of families, allude to different peri- ods of our history. None dared impose arbitrary names on places or people. They were first proposed by the antiqua- rians, and afterwards approved of by the national representatives — at least by the literati — and these names, and the reasons why they were imposed, were entered into the national records. From these it is, that, even at this day, we know, for in- stance, why from Ealgnait, or Ealga, wife to Partholan, the first invader of Ireland, the country got the name of Inis-Ealga, or Ealga's island, and that after her children different lakes and mountains were called. The names of almost all the territories, rivers, and lakes, through the kingdom, are, in like manner, explained by our history. As to surnames, when first assumed in Ire- land, they were not arbitrarily imposed, but, with great taste and judgment, were directed to be taken from some illustrious ancestor belonging to the family, to which the epithets O' or Mac were to be prefixed, which implied the son or successor of such a man. Can the Greeks or Romans bring such proofs of the authenticity of their his- tories and antiquities ? Had they men set apart, endowed with uncommon privileges and immunities, to attend to these great objects ? and were their different accounts examined from time to time by committees of the national assemblies ? Josephus, in his Discourse against Apion, upbraids the Greeks for their shameful ignorance of early history and chronology, and accounts for it by observing, that they kept not pub- lic registers, nor had they hereditary anti- quarians to superintend this department. " Not so (says he) with the Phoenicians, the Chaldeans, and with us (the Jews,) who have, from remote antiquity, fty means of registers, and the care of persons par-^ ticularly appointed to this office, preserved our histories beyond all other nations." May not this retort of Josephus on the Greeks be, with equal propriety, applied by the Irish to the enemies of their high antiquity — the only thing they have now left to boast of! And is it not a strong de- fence of our history that it has been pre- served m the same manner? What au- thorities had Livy to ground his early his- tory on ? It is true, some mention is made of Pictor and Piso, and of registers kept by the high-priests ; but does not Livy him- self confess that almost all of these were destroyed by the Gauls in their sacking of Rome, and by others? And yet, who doubts the veracity of this history, because some records must have undoubtedly re- mained? If we find the genealogies of our princes noted in the different reigns, is not the same method observed in the Bible, the historical parts of which were pre- served by persons set apart for that office? Our princes appeared in battle with crowns of gold on their heads ; and such was the established custom among the Jews.* In the battle of Muirtheimne, fought before the Incarnation, in that of Magh-Lena, and in subsequent ones, to the death of Ceal- lachan and Brian-Boirumhe, it was usual for a prince or great commander to la- ment, in'extempore odes, the loss of heroes slain in battle. Instances of this we fre- quently meet with, and yet the custom was not peculiar to Ireland, since we find it ob- served by the Jews also. Thus David makes a song of lamentation for the deaths of Saul and Jonathan If Too much care cannot certainly be taken to prove the veracity of our history and the certainty of our chronology, since both are capable of throwing such new and in- teresting lights on history and antiquity; and while I become thus a professed advo- cate in the cause of my country, I persuade myself that I am pleading the cause of let- ters in general. To pass by the sunshine which our history throws on that of the early Greeks, and other neighbouring na- tions, were we to consider that it is the only key to the Greek and Roman accounts of the' legion, laws, and customs of the* ancient Celtae, that alone should entitle it * 2 Sam. i. 10. 1 ChroD. xx. 2, etc. t 2 Sam. i. 17, etc. XV. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE to the particular attention of the literati of Surope. CsBsar's. account of the consti- tution of Gaul, and the Druidical order,* are only reconcileable to reason and truth, by recurring to Irish history : the Samno- thei, and other orders of religious among the Celtse, are, in like manner, elucidated by applying to the same pure fountain. But of all these matters I have already sufficiently descanted in the first part of my Introduction to Irish History. The moment the Romans acquired any certain knowledge of Ireland, (which was in the days of Agricola,) that moment they pro- claimed its power and consequence. Ta- citus tells us that her ports were then more resorted to, by foreign merchants, than those of Britain.f By his relation, the Romans seemed well acquainted with its value, and the great advantages they should derive by its acquisition. He even expressly declares the impossibility of keeping Britain in due obedience to Rome without the reduction of Ireland — the country which supplied the malcontents ■with the means of revolting on every oc- casion. From that period to the derelic- tion of Britain, we shall behold Ireland the very soul of all the confederacies formed there against Rome. Though Ireland constantly braved the power of Rome, yet we see, as early as A. D. 431, Palladius sent by Pope Celestin as apostle "to the Scots believing in Christ,** for so were the Irish then, and for many centuries after, called. The next year he consecrated Magonius, who was well versed in the Irish language, for that mission ; and to add greater dignity to this embassy, he created him a patrician ; for a title, not a name, it undoubtedly was. Need it be told that this was an institution of Constantino the Great, much more hon- ourable than that of the patricii of heathen Rome ; and that several kings of France afterwards gloried in the title ! Thus Ire- land, exempt from Roman power, had Palladius, and after him Magonius, or, as he is generally called, Patrick, sent to Ire- • Commentar. lib. vi. t Vita Jal. AgricoL XVI. land early in the fifth century; whereas Britain, so long a Roman province, did not receive Augustine for a century and a half later ! Long before this period, our writers notice numbers of Irish Chris- tians labouring to spread its tenets through the neighbouring states; and, soon after, all Europe proclaimed the erudition and piety of her sons, insomuch that through them the nation, by universal consent^ got the glorious and unexampled titles of insu- la SANCTORUM ET DOCTORUM 1 It WaS UOt enough that they sent their missionaries, and of the purest blood in the kingdom, to instruct, in letters and Christianity, the (then) barbarous circumjacent nations, but they opened for them colleges in different parts of the kingdom, on so extensive and generous a plan, that not only (says the Venerable Bede) were these strangers supplied with meat, drink, and lodging, hvt even with books gratis ! * They were, at this time, eminent in sculpture, painting, and music, and were acquainted with the sciences in an exalted degree ! Could they have borrowed these from Rome 1 They had little connection with her. Would not the technical terms in arts and sciences pavour of the country from whence they were acquired ? They were all pure na- tive Irish ! But if the Romans gave arts and sciences to the Irish, why did they withhold them from the rest of Europe ? Or why pitch on a people, as the convey- ancers of them, so remote, and with whom they had no friendly correspondence ? The truth is, Rome had not those arts and sciences, in an eminent degree, at that time ; and the inundations of different ene- mies pouring into the empire will explain it. If, then, Ireland, in those early days of Christianity, became so renowned for arts and sciences, that when a lettered man of Britain, or of the continent, was for any time absent, it became a common proverb— Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hibemia ! is it not a strong presumptive proof that she must have possessed them before this period, even though our histories had been * Hiitor. Ecclet. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 37. TO THE FIRST DIVISION. silent on this head, though such was not the case ? But the truth is, our history is the only means left to arrive at any tole- rable knowledge of the ancient state of Europe, and the true commentary to the Greek and Roman accounts of it. Modem visionaries tell us that all Europe was in a state of barbarity, till reclaimed and civi- lized by the Romans ; and yet the early Greek writers confess that from the Celtee they borrowed many things, both in theol- ogy and philosophy, and even adopted the very terms of those people ! Caesar, from his own knowledge, proclaims the flour- ishing state of letters in Gaul, and the great immunities enjoyed by its literati. As much have the moderns been in the dark with respect to the feudal govern- ment that prevailed over Europe. They have represented it as a barbarous custom, which originated after the destruction of the Roman empire; but it was certainly far removed from this. By the feudal con- stitution, places, honours, and employ- ments were hereditary in certain families, and the knowledge of these ranks could only be preserved by letters. What gov- ernment could bid fairer for durability, than where subordination was established ? And had we wanted other instances, the history of Ireland would sufficiently prove this, where we behold it flourishing from the reign of Heber to nearly the end of the twelfth century, including a space of two thousand four hundred and thirty- seven years; and it continued in Thomond, and in parts of Connaught and Ulster, to near the middle of the la.st age ! What a contrast between it and that of ancient Rome under her emperors 1 There we behold often the vilest of the people, with- out regard to blood or rank, raised to the purple ! What were the consequences ? intrigues, conspiracies, proscriptions, de- struction of all subordination, and, in a short time, a final period put to the most powerful . and extensive government in the world ! The feudal system was neither barba- rous nor impolitic : it was revived on the continent after the annihilation of Roman B tjrranny; wad this furnishes us with a strong proof how little the Celtae were im- proved by the Romans, since neither their laws nor customs were adopted by any of the nations subdued by them, which shows in what an abject state they were held. But though they endeavoured to re- establish that mode of government which their ancestors enjoyed in happier days, yet the destruction of their annals and lite- rary foundations, made it impossible for them to bring it to that perfection in which it flourished among a people unacquainted with such hardships. Such was the Irish nation! Here feudal government flour- ished in full lustre, and arts and sciences were eminently protected. The crown ■was hereditary as to blood, but elective as to the person ; and this nomination was confined to the chiefs of the people. No female could be vested with supreme com- mand ; and the issue of the female line had no pretensions to the succession. Pub- lic employments of ever)'^ kind were hered- itary in families ; and no overt act of the present possessor could injure the claims of his successors. People were set apart to attend to the genealogies and exploits of the different great families, while a higher order took care of the actions and pedigrees of the blood-royal. The literati preceded the nobility, and preserved always those privileges and immunities which Caesar tells us the literati of Gaul possessed in his days. On the revival of letters on the continent and the establishment of schools, we read that doctors in diflferent sciences disputed even with the equestrian order for precedence, and it was in many instances granted to them.' Has not this a manifest allusion to earlier periods? About this time, the kings of France and emperors of Germany received the equestrian order before their coronation ; and in Ireland a prince was incapable of command, who had not been entered into the military school when seven years old, and received the gradh-gaoisge, an order of knighthood, at eighteen ! Though it be universally agreed on, that the equestrian orders of Celtic Europe were not taken from the XVII. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE Romans, yet writers are by no means in accord as to their origin, some dating them from the Crusades, others from an earlier period ; but all in unison, that their com- mencement was after the destruction of Rome. However, Csesar is positive that they flourished in Gaul in his days ; and three hundred years earlier, Manlius got the surname Torquatus, from wearing the gold torques of a Gaulish knight whom he killed in battle, and which ornaments our Irish knights, by public decree many cen- turies prior to that epocha, constantly wore ! Thus the laws and customs which pre- vailed in Europe in the middle ages, and which, in some instances, operate at this day, have a manifest allusion to remoter periods; and the accounts which Csesar and Tacitus have given, prove they have. But where shall we look for an elucidation of subjects so interesting ? not among suc- ceeding Roman writers. This people, so much venerated in modem days, destroyed every other vestige of Celtic civilization ! But Ireland, free from the incursions of that rapacious and oppressive people, only can illustrate by her history their relations, and rescue the credit of Csesar, as a writer, from the specious objections of moderns. He says, that the letters and religion of the Gauls came from Britain, or more pro- perly the British isles ;* and that in every- thing but their Druid mysteries, they used a Greek letter. But most moderns, as if better acquainted with these matters than a living witness, affirm that letters must have been rather brought from the ccmti- nent to the British isles ; though to prove the truth of the reverse we see Csesar affirm that, even in his own days, such as chose to excel in letters, repaired thither for further improvement ! But, say mod- erns, in the days of Csesar, Britain did not make a figure in letters sufficient to justify his assertion ; granted : yet we are not rashly to conclude that he advanced a falsehood ; we should rather look for an explanation of the matter. Now Ireland and Britain, from the earliest times, have • • De Bello Gullioo, lib. vi. cap. 13, 14. XVIII. been called the British isles, so that the word Britannia may be as well taken for Ireland ; and if its history explains and justifies everything advanced by Csesar relative to this matter, why attempt totally to reject such authority? That it does, upon a careful investigation of the matter, cannot be controverted.* Besides, we see how satisfactorily our annals account for what he says of the Gaulish letter being Greek ; as it appears that to our ancestors the Greeks were indebted for their alpha- bet. Thus Csesar is in accord with Irish writers, that the learning and religion of the ancient Celtse came from Ireland ; and to prove this, our history is the clearest comment upon what he and other ancient writers have advanced on the subject. And as on the revival of letters it is uni- versally confessed that Ireland was then the grand emporium of learning, we may safely presume that, had the continental annals of remoter days been preserved, they would confirm her claim in as full a manner. Thus, Lucian tells us that Her- cules, among the Gauls, was represented as an old man, with a bald head and long white beard ; that through his tongue were several fine gold wires, which were again fixed to the ears of the people, who seemed to follow him with pleasure. That by this they represented the powers of eloquence, not of strength ; and on this account they called him Hercules Ogmius. Now when the reader is informed that Ogham was the name of the ancient hierographic charac- ter, (and probably of the Gaulish too, the figure of which is exhibited in the present work,) he will at once account for the Gauls calling their Hercules Ogmius. Again, Floras, in his relation of the Allo- brogian war, tells us that among the cap- tives who graced the triumph, Bituitus appeared in his silver chariot, and his arms of different colours, such as he fought with.f That the equestrian order in Ire- land fought in chariots in early days, our annals testify ; that they did so in Gaul, Pausanius and Csesar declare; and these * Introdaction to Iriah History, part L chap. 2, 3. ■ ' t Lib. iii. cap. 2. TO THE FIRST DIVISION. chariots were highly ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones. But what can Florus mean by the discoloribus armis of Bituitus? Metals were early worked here to great perfection, and they took uncommon pains to ornament and enrich their arms. In the reign of the monarch Eochaidh, A. D. 2909, the art of staining swords and javelins, etc., of different colours, was first invented and brought into use, for which reason he was sumamed Faobhar-glass, or of the Green Edge, because his weapons were mostly of this colour. Having endeavoured to remove from the mind of the candid and learned reader, those prejudices which malevolence and ignorance have so long thrown on the annals of Ireland, it remains that I should explain why a history so highly interest- ing to letters should not only be so little known, but be also so shockingly misrepre- sented to all Europe \ Among the an- cients, Strabo, Pomponius Mela, and Julius Solinus, have drawn horrible pictures of the manners and customs of the Irish na- tion. But these same writers are in ac-r cord, that the country was as bleak and inhospitable as the people were savage and barbarous ; so that their total ignorance of the nature of the climate is the best apology for their misrepresentation of its inhabitants. Besides, Ireland was then, and always continued, the avowed enemy to Rome ; no wonder, then, that her writers should regard her with an inimical eye. At a very early period Christianity made a rapid progress in Ireland ; and on the arrival of Magonius, or (as he is generally called) Patrick, he found a heirarchy es- tablished, which for a time seemed very unwilling to acknowledge his superiority. I strongly suspect that by Asiatic or Afri- can missionaries, or through them by Spanish ones, were our ancestors first in- structed in Christianity, because their con- nections by trade were greater with these than the Romans, and because they rigidly adhered to their customs, as to tonsuret and the time of celebrating of Easter. I know some have advanced that, in these matters of discipline the Irish differed from the Asiatics ; but without attempting to ex- amine further into this matter, so uninte- resting to the public, it is at least evident that in these customs they differed from Rome, and that for more than two centu- ries after the death of St. Patrick, though in matters of doctrine and faith both were in the most perfect unison ! Add to this, that the Irish church preserved privileges and immunities peculiar to itself. Arch- bishops and bishops were appointed with- out consulting Rome ; bishops were multi- plied at the wills of the metropolitans; they consecrated bishops for foreign mis- sions, and these missionaries, in many in- stances of discipline, opposed the mandates of Rome ; as Columba in Scotland, Finian and Colman in England, Coiumbanus in France, St. Gall in Germany, etc. For more than five centuries after the death of St Patrick, we scarce trace any vestiges of a correspondence between Rome and Ireland, and in this interval, in many in- stances, we find Rome looked upon several of our missionaries with a jealous eye. Though these great immunities of the Irish church, were of the utmost conse- quence to the cause of Christianity, and contributed to spread its doctrine in a most rapid manner, particularly in North Bri- tain, among the British Saxons, the Gauls, and the Germans, yet in the eleventh cen- tury, when paganism was totally abolished, these powers seemed too great, and to en- danger the peace of the Church. Tlie Irish themselves were highly sensible of this ; and councils and synods were held from time to time, in order to bring the church of Ireland to the same subordina- tion to Rome, as those of every other part of Europe. In the beginning of the twelfth century, the Irish archbishops made a surrender of their exclusive privileges to Rome; and measures were taken to prevail on the princes and nobility tp give up their right of nomination to archbishopricks and bishopricks. St Malachie, Archbishop of Armagh, was a strenuous advocate for papal power. In 1139 he took a jour- XIX. :n PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE ney to Rome to consult with Innocent II., then sovereign pontiff, on the best means of forming a solid union between Rome and Ireland. He was received with marks of particular reverence, and, after some delay, was dismissed, with instructions to prevail on the heads of the nation to sur- render their different rights of nomination to bishopricks, into the hands of his holi- ness and his successors, as the archbishops had already done their power of conse- crating of bishops at will; and* the better to bring about this reformation he was ap- pointed legate. Malachie was indefati- gable in his endeavours to bring about this change, (says his biographer St. Bernard,) and succeeded so far, that in 1 148 he pre- pared, with ample powers, for a new jour- ney to Rome, to acknowledge her su- premacy in spirituals in the name of the kingdom, and to demand palliums for the Irish archbishops ; but he died at Clair- vaux, on his way to Rome, in the arms of St. Bernard. On the death of Malachie, Christien, Bishop of Lismore, being ap- pointed legate in 1150, repaired to Rome on the same embassy ; and the following year Pop^ Eugene sent Cardinal Paperon to Ireland to distribute palliums to the four archbishops, as a manifestation of the last- ing union between Rome and Ireland. In 1152, the cardinal presented the palliums in the presence of the monarch, the prin- ces, and twenty-two bishops, besides five bishops elect, and numbers of abbots and dignified clergy, in the abbey of Kells, in Meath, with great pomp and splendour. Four years after acts so solemn and public, the reader will no doubt be aston- ished to behold a bull of Adrian IV., at the request of Henry II. of England, grant- ing to him the sovereignty of Ireland, on conditions, that he extirpates vice, and es- tablishes true piety, church discipline, and wholesome laws, among that uninformed people ; and that he causes a penny to be paid annually out of every house. He will be morjB so, when he finds this bull confirmed by his successor Alexander III., in which the Irish people are styled bar- barians, and Christians only in name ! No XX. wonder then that bulls, which were not dictated by the spirit of truth, granted to a prince who seemed to be the least formed in the world for an ecclesiastical champion, and which made religion a pretence, to promote temporal interests, should have been at all times, even to this day, re- garded by pious Irishmen as spurious. They were, however, published by Henry, in the lifetime of Alexander, and soon after complained of by the Irish to his legate in Ireland, Cardinal Vivian ; they were print- ed by Baronius and other Roman writers, and the least doubt cannot remain of their authenticity ! But how account for proceedings so ar- bitrary, so unjust, and so unchristian ? As these bulls are made the basis of all the charges so degrading to truth and to Ire- land, we shall endeavour to account for them. On the death of Malachie, St. Ber- nard, charmed with his piety and sanctity, set about writing his life. He informed himself minutely of the particular privi- leges of the Irish church ; and being en- tirely devoted to Rome, the greater these appeared, the more severely he inveighed against them. The power of consecra- ting and appointing bishops to new sees, he declared to be new and unheard of ; and the custom of preserving episcopacy hereditary in families, he pronounced to be truly diabolical! Hence (said he) that corruption of manners, and relaxation of church discipline ! But neither custom was new or wicked, since both existed from the days of St. Patrick, and both were sanctified by Rome ! They contin- ued in full vigour from his days to the middle of the ninth century, during which period Ireland, by the consent of all Eu- rope, enjoyed the unrivalled title of Insula Sanctorum ! They remained so to near the middle of the twelfth age, when Ber- nard declared them diabolical innovations 1 Not only were the consequences, which he draws from these privileges, false in themselves, but we see these very privi- leges entirely relinquished at the time he wrote this life ! Nor was there, at that time, a nation in Europe farther removed TO THE FIRST DIVISION. from irreligicm and barbarity than the Irish. Of this Cambrensis himself goon after gives us a remarkable instance.* Astonished at the outrages and excesses committed by his countrymeriy he tells us, the clergy of Leath-Cuin held a synod at Armagh in 1170, to inquire what unex- ampled crimes the nation had committed against Heaven, to bring on it so terrible a scourge as the present? After grave deliberation they concluded, that God per- mitted this judgment to fall on them, for the shameful custom so long established, of purchasing from the English their chil- dren and relations, and thus converting Christians to slaves ! Without comment- ing on so puerile a reason, which from pious ecclesiastics, unacquainted with the ways of the world, may pass, I only intro- duce it here to proclaim the innocence of the people, when their own clergy, who must be best acquainted with their vices and follies, could find no greater crime to charge them with ! Pope Adrian was by birth an English- man. It was a flattering circumstance to be solicited by an aspiring young prince, (as Henry was in his days,) for the dona- tion of a kingdom which cost him nothing ; and it was, besides, a full acknowledgment of the power assumed by Rome of dispo- sing of kingdoms and empires at pleasure. The charges made by Bernard on the Irish nation, were made the pretences for this donation, though we see they could not then have a possibility of existence ; and one would be tempted to think that the ministers of Alexander had also con- sulted Strabo, Mela, and Solinus, to glean materials for his bull ! Soon after the pub- lication of these bulls, Cambrensis, Bishop of St. David's, attended the son of Henry II. to Ireland, and, was employed to write some account of the country. He could only hope to make his court to his master, and to Rome, by villifying and misrepre- senting the nation; and when popes and sovereign princes had set the example, we could not expect that a simple bishop, deeply interested in the same cause, (for * Hibem. Ezpagn. lib. i. cap. 34. many of his relations were among the new adventurers,) would presume to more vir- tue than his betters ! The works of this writer had for centuries remained in the oblivion they so justly merited, till the year 1602, when Camden caused them to be printed at Frankfort, by which means his calumnies were spread over all Europe. But they did not pass uncensured: the learned Dr. Lynch, Archdeacon of Tuam, under the title of Cambrensis Eversus, published a work, in which the ignorance, malevolence, and misrepresentations of this writer are so fully exposed, that he is since, by masters of the subject, never quoted as authority to be relied on. The refutation of this work, in which all the calumnies that had ever been published against Ireland, were collected in the strongest point of view, and in an anima- ted style, one should think ought to be deemed the fullest vindication of the coun- try ; and yet this writer, whose want of integrity and candour has been so clearly proved, is one of the principal evidences produced by ill-intentioned and worse- informed modems ! The candid reader may, perhaps, think I have taken too much pains in thus tracing to their true source, the causes by which this nation has been so unexampledly traduced and misrepresented to all Eu- rope ; but as our annals, properly consid- ered, appear to me so highly interesting to letters, it seemed of the utmost consequence to remove the most distant appearance of doubt as to their authenticity. And now for -some account of the present work. Though few people possess a greater affection and veneration for their native country, or have taken more pains to be early instructed in its history and antiqui- ties, than I have in these of mine, yet I lit- tle thought that this knowledge would one day or another engage me to draw my pen in its defence. So far from it, that I will ingenuously confess that my natural dispo- sition was totally averse to such pursuits ; but, as the poet has it : " Si natara negat, facit indignatio vemu !" The duty I owed to my much neglected XXI. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE AND MUCH INJURED COUNTRY, Superseded every other consideration, and determined me to publish an Introduction to Irish His- tory. This work met with a more favour- able reception than I dared have flattered myself with, not only in Britain and Ire- land, but on the Continent ; and the Acad- emy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres at Paris, have expressed their approbation of it in terms highly honourable to the author. Here I resolved my historical researches should end, but I found mvself mistaken. Since that period other writings on the same subject appeared, in which an- cient history and modem hypothesis were strangely assimilated. It appeared to me, that if some generous attempt at a Gene- ral History of Ireland was not speedily un- dertaken, the annals of our country, so im- portant to letters, would he lost for ever ; as, at this day, few are found hardy enough to explore a subject so little countenanced and so long neglected. But who bold enough to engage in so arduous a task? That I have attempted ; but could I have foreseen the tenth part of the labours and difliculties I had to encounter, in all proba- bility it would never have appeared ! In pursuing this work, I have by no means considered myself entitled (as most moderns have) to obtrude my own opin- ions in the teeth of antiquity, or to take in- finitely more pains to contradict or explain away the sense of ancient authors, than to elucidate passages liable to doubts or difli- culties in them. It is for this reason that, in treating of the Irish colonies antecedent to the arrival of the Milesians, I have not once hinted that they were British emi- grants, because my authorities affirm the contrary. This necessarily led me into a defence of ancient history, and an inquiry into the state of ancient navigation. It is admitted that, in the fine arts, as well as in most departments of science, the an- cients, if they did not excel, at least equal- led the most celebrated moderns. Not only sacred, but early profane history, pro- claims the ancient state of navigation and commerce ; yet because it is not quite clear that they applied the use of the mag- net to navigation, our modems will allow them but coasting voyages ! Hence the source of the modem system of population, so subversive of truth, and so prejudicial to ancient history ! We have lost the art of making glass malleable ; and but lately the art of staining glass has been revived, yet no one doubts the existence of both formerly. Printing, gunpowder, and the use of the magnet in navigation, are said to have been known to the Chinese from the earliest periods, though to us modem discoveries ; and as it is certain that many properties of the magnet were well under- stood by the ancients, we should suppose that its property of pointing to the north could not be overlooked. In a word, we should look much more modest and sensi- ble in endeavouring to illustrate and de- fend ancient historians, (except in things impossible or highly improbable,) than in boldly contradicting (and that from reasons which probably then could not have ex- isted) what they have asserted for truths. And this inquiry has enabled me to throw fuller and clearer lights on the ancient British colonies, and their very early his- tory, than all the writers who have pre- ceded me united. As to the particular voyages of our early ancestors, so carefully handed down from age to age, even to this day, there appeared to me nothing either improbable or impos- sible in them. I carefully examined the mutilated accounts left us in the early his- tories of the nations which they then passed through, and have found new and unex- pected lights thrown on them, and these have supplied me with further proofs in defence of ancient history. As to the domestic part of our history, I have "left nothing unessayed to gain every intelligence and every information on this head. Besides the numerous MSS. in my possession, and copies of whatever had ap- peared in print on the subject, I, both by letters to particulars, and by repeated ad- vertisements in the Dublin papers, requested that such as were possessed of Irish MSS. would send the titles of them to Messrs. Bonfield and Young, merchants ; and that XXII. ■fygF-i*' TO THE FIRST DIVISION. 13:91 such as were wanted, would be purchased, or ample securities given for their safe re- turn. With concern I mention, that nei- ther my private solicitations, nor these pub- lic applications, were attended with great success ; but I am happy, on this occasion, to return public thanks to my gallant coun- tryman and learned friend, James Aylmer, Esq., colonel of the regiment of Ultonia, in the service of Spain, for several curious and interesting remarks. Gratitude also calls upon me to acknowledge particular obligations to him, as he not only first re- commended me to publish this work by subscription, but even procured for me above a hundred subscribers for it in Spain. To my learned friend Doctor Mac Kenna, titular bishop of Cloyne, and a suc- cessor worthy the great Doctor O'Brien, I am indebted for a copy of the Leabhar- Lecan, faithfully transcribed from the ori- ginal in the Irish college at Paris. Doc- tor O'Cullinan, a clergyman of great eru- dition, residing at Mallow, has favoured me with a correct copy of the Reim-Rigra of Giolla-Caomhain, and of its continuation, by Giolla-Moduda. I am obliged to this gentleman also for several interesting let- ters on Irish antiquities. As to the rest, whatever other MSS. are quoted in this work, are of my own procuring. In treating of every particular reign, I have examined whatever had been ad- vanced by different writers, either in print or manuscript, on the subject. Even Routh, Usher, Ward, Colgan, and other ecclesias- tical writers, were explored for informa- tion ; and I have rejected whatever seemed improbable or ill-founded. Frequent men- tion is made, in early days of invasions from Africa, and of transactions between our ancestors and these people. As no other people of Africa but the Carthagi- nians were a maritime or commercial peo- ple, I began to suspect that these were the very Fomharaigs so often spoken of. I consulted their history, compared the eras in question, and satisfied myself, as I hope I shall the public, that my suspicions were well grounded. This explained and justi- fied the extent of our early commerce, the improvements in arts and manufactures, the working of our mines of copper, lead, and iro^ the great riches of the country, and thefli?ources from whence they flowed ! Besides *their extensive commerce, for which the Carthaginians were so re- nowned, it is a known fact that, in their wars with the Romans, they hired merce- naries, not only in Iberia and Gaul, but drew troops from -the Atlantic isles. To illustrate this, we find mention made of the Fine-Fomharaig, or African legions, in our early records, who, I take for granted, to have been Irish troops consigned to that service ; and for this reason, that our bands in Gaul were called Fine-Gall, as, in a sub- sequent period, those in Scotland were called Fine-Albin, just as the Romans de- nominated their legions after the countries in which they served. But, to show that there is something more than conjecture in what is here advanced, it evidently ap- pears, that Carthaginian swords, found near the plains of Cannae, and ancient Irish swords, so frequently met with, are, as to shape, size, and mixture of metals, so ex- actly similar, that the assay master of the mint, who examined both, pronounced that they were cast in the same cauldron !* To this let me add, that the Psalter of Cashell positively asserts, that Eochaidh, King of Munster, and afterwards monarch of Ire- land, invaded Greece with a large fleet; and this answers to the time of the famous sea-fight between the Carthaginians and Phocians. Our annals note the time that Joughaine the Great entered the Mediter- ranean with a powerful fleet, and it ex- actly accords with the period in which Hannibal, the son of Gisco, invaded Sicily. That they also aided the Gauls, in their in- vasions of Greece and Italy, will appear certain. In Gaul, but more particularly in Britain, they acted a most conspicuous part against the Romans ; so much so, that the Roman relations of these transactions, in many instances, become only reconcile- able to reason and truth by the aid of our * Giovernor Pownal's Accoant of aome Iriflh Antiqui- ties, read before the Antiquarian Society, Feb. 10, 1774, and afterwards published. XXIII. * PRELIMINARY OlSCOtlRSE history. Their accounts of the invasions of Gaul in the fourth and fifth centuries, and the gradual progress of these invaders, and their Gallic associates, till they (the Romans) were finally expelled from the country, agrees so exactly with our rela- tions of the incursions of Criomthan, Niall, and Dalthi, successive monarchs in this period, that the reader must be struck with the lights which each history throws on the other ! The rum of the Roman empire gave peace to Europe; and, from this period, all our extramarine expeditions ceased. Ireland, however, on this occasion, exhib- ited an appearance, if possible, more glo- rious than the former, in labouring to estab- lish arts, sciences, and piety where she had already established liberty. Her mission- aries crowded in shoals to Britain, Gaul, and Germany, and by their prayers and exhortations, but much more by their ex- amples, converted thousands ! These were not persons of mean birth or small capa- cities, but of the purest blood and clearest heads in the kingdom. They retired to the most sequestered and least cultivated parts of Britain and Gaul. They reclaimed and cultivated the land, lived by the pro- duce of their own labour, and shared with the adjoining poor the surplus. Their diet was plain and simple, and their beverage the limpid stream. They opened schools for the instruction of the people, and every hour was devoted to one pious duty or an- other I Bede is an unexceptionable wit- ness of their zeal, piety, and charity, in Britain ; and the Gallic records prove them not less so in Gaul. " Through the labour of their hands, (says Mezeray,) frightful and uncultivated deserts became soon con- verted to most agreeable retreats ; and the Almighty seemed particularly to favour ground cultivated by such pure and disin- terested hands. Shall I mention (adds he) that to their care we are indebted for what remains of the history of those days !"* Such are the people who have been painted by Hume, and others of his stamp, as a dis- grace to Christendom, as a dishonour to hu- * Hwtoirede France, torn. i. p. 118. xxiv. manity ! From this period, to the ninth cen- tury, Ireland was deemed, by universal con- sent, the Athens of Europe I Her schools and universities were opened for all the world, and from every part of Europe were they resorted to. Their beneficence was not confined to instruction : " They supplied these strangers (says Venerable Bede) not only with meat, drink, clothes, and lodging, but even with books, gratis!" The fame of the university of Lismore alone must show what must have been the case of the other universities of Ireland, and which I have taken from Bonaventura Moronus,* a Tarentin bom, in the first Book of his Cataldiados, or Life of our St. Cataldus, Bishop of Tarentum, in Italy. Uudiqne conveniunt proceres, quos dalce trabeba^ Discendi studiam, major num cognita virtns An laudata foret Celeres yastissima Rheni Jam vada Teutonici, jam desemere Sicambri : Mittit ab extremo Grelidos Aquilone Boemos : AIbi et Avemi coeunt, Batavique freqaentes, Et quicunque colunt altiL sub rupe Gebenas. Non omnes prospectat Arar, Rhodanique flaenta Helvetiofl : maltos desiderat ultima Tbule. Certatim hi properant diverBo tramite, ad urbem Lismoriam, juvenis primos obi tranaigit annos. The depredations of the Danes highly injured, but did not destroy letters among us. They could not, because the entire kingdom was at no time under their abso- lute sway. Certain it is, that, among other excesses, many valuable works were de- stroyed by them, and others carried away. Application was made, in the late king's reign, to the court of Denmark, for Irish manuscripts, but none could be found ; and Dr. Warner thinksf none were ever car- ried there. But we have strong proofs to the contrary ; for Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh, who flourished in the days of Elizabeth and James I. tells us,J that many volumes of Irish MSS. were then in the royal library at Copenhagen : that the king of Denmark was so solicitous to have some of them translated, that, by his ambassa- dor, he applied to Elizabeth to procure him some able Irishman for that purpose. • v. Usaerii de Britan. Eccles. Prim. p. 755. t Introduction to his History of Ireland. t Analecta, p. 562, 3, 4. TO THE FIRST DIVISION. Donatus C^Daly, a learned antiquarian, confined at that time, for his religion, in the King's-Bench prison, was pitched upon for this business ; but, on a council being called, political reasons determined them to forbid it. Here we see a prelate of great learning and sanctity speak of this as a public action well known to have hap- pened in his own days. He also accuses English governors of labouring to destroy, or carry away, every monument of an- tiquity they were able ; and he particu- larly names Lord Grey, in the reign of Henry VIIL, Sir Henry Sidney, Sir George Carew, etc. He also laments the vast numbers of Irish MSS., so long shut up in the Tower of London, and consigned to oblivion : " works (says he) if translated, would throw new and interesting lights on religion and letters !" Whatever outrages were committed by the Danes, whatever injuries they had done to letters, were soon remedied by the at- tention and munificence of the immor- tal Brian Boirumhe, and by subsequent princes. To explore the true cause of the destruction of our annals, and the shameful neglect of our history, we must look nearer home. From the first landing of Henry II., the English adopted a shameful policy, which was steadily pursued for many cen- turies. They laboured to represent the Irish nation to all Europe as a most bar- barous and savage race of mortals ; and, at the same time, they left nothing unat- tempted to get possession of as many of their records as they could, which they either destroyed or conveyed to Britain. From age to age quantities of vellum MSS. were sent out of the kingdom : they still lie scattered in their different public libra- ries ; but no attempt has been ever made to inform the public of their contents ! In the reign of Elizabeth, of James I., of Charles I., and Charles II., and even to the Revolution, hereditary antiquarians, poets, lawyers, and physicians, were everywhere to be found well versed in their different professions, and highly capable of trans- lating into Latin the works in their differ- ent departments, yet no measure was taken c to further these good ends ! On the con- trary, to write in favour of Ireland, or Irish affairs, was deemed a proof of enmity to Britain ; and this is the reason that all the works which were published in her favour during that period, were printed in foreign countries. Yet it evidently appears that the early history and antiquities of Britain, can only be satisfactorily explained, by re- curring to the history and antiquitie& of Ireland. I have, in a former work, taken uncommon pains* to elucidate this matter, and I flatter myself that the present one will prove to demonstration, how deeply interested British antiquarians and histori- ans are in the preservation of, what remain of our scattered annals. In what light they will consider my laborious researches I am only to conjecture ; but I think, that I may vith some confidence affirm, that few have taken more trouble, and no one has been more successful in investigating the early history and antiquities of Britain than myself. In every century, from the days of St. Patrick, I have given an account of the state of letters, and the different writers of Ireland. In this inquiry I did not trust to Harris, though a valuable performance,! much less to Nicholson; J but carefully consulted not only Usher, Ward, Colgan, etc., but Dupin, Fleury, and other foreign writers. The reader will plainly see, that I did not impose this painful task on my- self merely to show the flourishing state of arts and sciences, in these days oi freedom and independence. Objects of a higher nature actuated me: — mv wish to throw some further lights on the state of religion, laws, and letters in the middle ages ! I have been obliged to put down the Irish quotations through this work, in Eng- lish characters, as no Irish type could be procured in London ; and this necessarily impels me to request the reader's indul- gence for some errors of the press, my situation rendering it absolutely impossible for me to attend to such matters. As I * Introducdou to Irish History, particularly part ii. chap. 8. t Writers of Ireland. X Irish Hittcnical Libraty. XXV. r<- PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE have touched on this subject, it is proper that I should attempt to remove the diffi- culties attendant on pronouncing the many Irish names which unavoidably occur in the course of this work. Our alphabet contains but seventeen letters, of which number five are vowels. The mutables are nine, six of which, by an adventitious H change their native sound, as B, C, M, P, 3, T, while D, F, and G, by the addition of an H, yield scarce any sound. An H after a B, or M, causes them to sound like a V, as abhran, (avran,) a song ; amhas, (avas,) a soldier. The sound of C before an H, cannot be easily described, so it may be pronounced as it is read. An H after P, gives it the exact sound of an F; and after S and T, they sound as an H only. The other letters, viz. D, F, G, yield no sound. For instance, Seadhna, a man's name, should be pronounced Seana, Lugh- adh, Lua, and so of words with F before H. The immutables, or those consonants which in no instance lose their native sound, are L, N, and R. By observing these few rules, easily attainable, the mere English reader will find little difliculty in reading and pronouncing, with tolerable ease to himself, Irish words as they occur. However ambitious I have been to res- cue my native history from the hands of ignorance, and to draw it forth from that oblivion to which it has been so long and so shamefully consigned, yet I am not con- scious in any single instance of aiming to do it, at the expense of truth. Of all the Scythic and Celtic states of ancient Eu- rope, Ireland alone has preserved her his- tory and antiquities, pure and uncorrupted ; and what renders them of more universal value, is, that they evidently appear to ex- hibit an epitome of those laws and cus- toms which then everywhere prevailed. If the works of Caesar and Tacitus are justly held in the highest estimation ; and that more for the lights they throw on the manners and customs of the Britons, Gauls, and Germans, in their own days, than for their mere historic merit, which, however, is very high ; how much more to be prized should not a work like the present be, which is not only the true comment on those writers, but also exposes the real state of Europe, from the remotest anti- quity down to the twelfth century ? In con- fidence that it will be considered in so interesting a light, I offer it to the public. A work upon so extensive a plan, in the most masterly hands, could hardly be ex- pected to be perfect ; how much less so in those of a person who can be only ac- countable for the talents which the Author of nature has given him, and whose voca- tion must, in many instances, prevent him from paying that close attention to style and manner, which the reader may expect. For inaccuracies of this kind, when met with, he requests a favourable indulgence ; for errors as an historian, he has none to expect. S. O'HALLORAN. Limerick, Jan. 12, 1778. XXVI. ■f* ■Ti-- ,!. >, y: . y •:4' I' "•-♦■•■ NOTE TO THE READER. BY SYLVESTER O'HALLORAN. Though the last chapter of this history contains the ancient names of territories and lands in an alphabetical order, and by what families possessed, which may serve as a reference to the reader in most in- stances in the course of this work, yet for his greater ease, the following expressions, which often occur, are here explained. Clana-Baoisgne, the knights of Leinster, so called from this Baoisgne, ancestor to the famous general Fion-Mac-Cumhal. Clana-Deaghadh, the knights of Mun- ster, so called from Deagadh, of the Ernian race, who introduced a new discipline among them. Clana-Momi, were the knights of Con- naught, who were so called from Momi, father to the renowned hero Goll. Curiathe-na-Craobh (or rather Crobh) Ruadh, were the knights of Ulster — the words Curiathe-na-Craobh-Ruadh, literally signify the knights of the Red Branch ; but I am inclined to think it should have been written Crobh-Ruadh, or the Bloody Hand, being the ensign of these heroes. Dal Ccas, or (as it is pronounced) Dai- Gas, the posterity of Cormoc, called Gas, or the Well-beloved, second son of Olioll- OUum, King of Munster, from whom all the great families of North Munster, or Thomond, are called Dai-Gas, or Dal- Gassians. Dal-Riada, the posterity of Cairbre- Riada, as well in Scotland as in Ire- land. Degaids, or Ernians of Munster, the names given to a tribe who, about a cen- tury before Christ, got large possessions, and became a great people in Munster. They were named Degaids from their leader, and Ernians from their first settle- ment about Loch-Erne, in the North. Eogonachts, the posterity of Eogan, eldest son of OlioU-Ollum. From him all the great families of Desmond, or South Munster, are called Eogonachts. . The Heberians, the descendants of He- ber, eldest son of Milesius. Heremonians, the issue of Heremon, youngest son of Milesius. The Irians, or Irian race, so called from Ir, fifth son of Milesius. The Ithians, or race of Ith, so called from Ith, son of Breogan, who was grand- father of Milesius. They are named Clana-Breoguin, or Brigantes. Leath-Cuin, the northern half of Ireland, so named from a famous partition treaty, made in the second century, between Con of the Hundred Battles, and Eogan the Great, King of Munster. Leath-Mogha, the southern half of Ire- land, (a line being drawn from Dublin to Gal way.) It was so called from Mqgha, one of the surnames of Eogan. Milesians, the name by which the an- cient Irish are generally distinguished from those of later periods. In the native Irish they are called Clana Miledh, or the poste- rity of the Hero. His real name was GoUamh, but, as a mark of pre-eminence, he was mostly called Miledh-Espaine, or the Hero of Spain ; hence Milesians. He was the father of Heber and Heremon, who conquered Ireland in the year of the world (according to the Hebrews) 2736. \ THE HISTORY OF IRELAND BOOK I. CHAPTER I. The means by which the very early periods of Irish history have been preserved — The landing of Partholan and his followers in Ireland — A colony of Africans said to have preceded them — The number of lakes and rivers then found in Ireland, with a remark — Names of some places ; why imposed — Death of Partholan and extinction of this people. In the year of the world, according to the Hebrew computation, 2736, in the month of Bel or May, and the 17th day of the moon's age, according to the relation of Amhergin, high-priest to this expedition,* Ireland was invaded by a numerous body of select troops from Galicia in Spain. After subduing the country, and establish- ing their government on a permanent basis, as will be related in its place, they set on foot an inquiry into the history and anti- quities of the people thus reduced, how long they had been in the kingdom, and what colonies had preceded them, etc. The re- sult of their researches produced the fol- lowing relations, which have been as care- fully transmitted from age to age as those of their own particular exploits, and those of their ancestors. In the year of the world 1956, Partholan, the son of Seara, the son of Sru, the son of Easru, son of Framant, son to Fathoch- da, the son of Magog, son to Japhet, the son of Noah, landed in Ireland, accompa- nied by his wife, Ealga, or Ealgnait, his three sons, Rughraidhe, Slainge, and Laigh- line, with their wives, and one thousand * Leabhat Lecan. soldiers.* The Book of Invasions, from which this relation is taken, fixes the time of his landing to be two hundred and seventy-eight years after the Flood ; but Mr. O'Flaherty makes it thirty-five years later ;t differences, however, of little con- sequence in transactions so remote and un- interesting. The cause of his flying from his native country, Greece, we are told, was the inhuman murder of his father and mother, with a resolution to cut off also his elder brother, in order to possess him- self of the supreme command ; but his parricide and villany w^ere so universally detested, that he was compelled to fly the country, and seek new abodes, and at length, as we see, with his followers reach- ed Ireland. The Book of Conquests men- tions — ^but as an affair not authenticated — that before the arrival of Partholem, Ireland was possessed by a colony from Africa, under the command of Ciocall, between whom and the new-comers a bloody battle was fought, in which the Africans were cut off. It is recorded, that at this time, there were found in Ireland but three lakes and nine rivers, whose names are particularly mentioned ; but from this it appears proba- ble that the parts of the country in which these lakes and rivers appeared, were only what was then known ; and that as their successors began to explore and lay open other parts, the rivers and lakes then ap- * Gabhail Fhartholan ar Eire, t Ogygia, p. 10, 163. •Cs HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2286. pearing, were entered into the national annals, as they were discovered; but as no previous mention could have been made of them, and that the different periods in which they were found out, were distinctly marked, succeeding annalists have dated the first bursting forth of each, from the time of its discovery. Our writers are very exact in the times in which these lakes and rivers appeared : it cuts a conspicuous figure in our history, and proves the ex- treme accuracy of our early writers ; but a very unjustifiable credulity in their suc- cessors, who could suppose the first discov- ery of them to be their first rise, though the learned Dr. Hutchinson, Bishop of Down and Connor, has taken no small pains to defend it.* But as it appears to me almost a certainty, that (with a very few excep- tions) rivers and lakes are nearly coeval with the creation, the reader will, I hope, excuse my taking any further notice of this part of our history. Soon after the landing of Partholan, his son Slainge died, and was interred in the side of a mountain in the present county of Down, from him denominated Sliabh- Slainge, sliabh being Irish for mountain. Laighline also died, and was buried near a lake in Meath, from him called Loch-Laigh- line ; and from the place of Rughraidhe's interment, the adjoining lake was called Loch-Rughraidhe. After a reign of thirty years, Partholan quitted this life, at Magh- Alta, in Meath, leaving the kingdom be- tween his four sons, bom in Ireland, whose names were. Ear, Orba, Feam, and Fearg- na. We are surprised to find in the retinue of this prince, four men of letters, three druids, three generals, a knight, a beatach, or keeper of open house, and two mer- chants, whose names are preserved in our annals. The sons of Partholan, we are told, governed with great wisdom, as did their successors for some generations, till at length a violent plague broke out which swept away the greatest part of this col- ony. By this means, the kingdom, which for near three hundred years was governed * Defeoce of Ancient Historians, etc. by the posterity of this prince, continued for thirty years after in a state of anarchy. The greatest number carried off by this contagion was at Ben-Hedir, now Howth, near Dublin, and the places adjacent, from which circumstance we may infer that it was brought into the kingdom by some ship. The mortality was so rapid, that experience pointed out the utility (instead of different burial places, which only served to spread the disorder) of fixing on one common place, into which the dead were to be thrown indiscriminately, and which from this circumstance, says the Book of Conquests, was ever after called Taimh- leacht-Muinter Phartholan, or the burial- place of the posterity of Partholan. After the reception of Christianity, a monastery was founded on this ground, to this day called Taimhleacht. CHAPTER II. The arrival of the Neimhedians, or second colony, in Ireland — Their different battles with the Af- ricans, till their final defeat — They quit the kingdom in three divisions, two of which sail to Greece, the third to Brittun. It appears that Partholan did not bring with him to Ireland all his family. An in- fant son remained in Greece, called Adhla, and Neimheidh, his successor, after many generations, prepared with a large fleet and army to follow the fortunes of his lin- eage in Ireland. This armament consisted of thirty-four ships, with thirty persons in each ship, besides his wife Macha, and his four sons, Stam, larbhanel, the prophet, Feargus, and Ainnin. An African colony had settled in the north long before the arrival of the Neimhedians, who were far from being so barbarous as represented. It is recorded that Neimheidh employed four of their artizans to erect for him two sumptuous palaces, which were so highly finished, that, jealous lest they might con- struct others on the same, or perhaps a grander plan, he had them privately made away with the day after they had com- pleted their work ! a manifest proof on A. M. 2286.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 3 which side the barbarity lay.* Soon after this, Macha, the wife of Neimheidh, died, and from the place of her interment it took the name of Ardmacha, or Macha's emi- nence. The Fomharaigh, or Africans, jeal- ous of the Neimhedians, prepared to en- gage them in battle ; they met near Sliabh Blama, in Leinster, again at Ross Frao- cain, in Connaught, and a third time near the Tor Conning, the principal settlement of these pirates, in all which battles the Neimhedians were victorious. But a fourth engagement taking place by mutual agree- ment, at Cnamhrius, in Leinster, the Neim- hedians were entirely defeated, and among the slain were the son and nephew of Neimheidh : shortly after, this prince him- self died of grief and disappointment The Africans now began to lord it with a high hand over these adventurers ; they imposed heavy taxes on them, which they were obliged to deliver in every first of November, at a place called from this tax Magh-Geidhne, or the plain of violence, in the north. But as violence and severity are not the means to reconcile a vanquished people to their fate, the chiefs of the Neim- hedians conspired, and the oppressed poor were ready to engage in any attempt, how desperate soever, to recover their liberty. The principal conspirators were Fathach, and Fergus sumamed Leath-Dhearg, or Red-side, sons of Neimheidh, and Beothach his grandson ; besides these, they had three heroes of especial note with their followers, men whose approved courage inspired the highest confidence in the whole party. They soon sought for and engaged the Africans with a resolution equal to the des- perateness of their affairs. In this battle Conning, the son of Faobhar the African chief, was slain with most of his troops, and their principal garrison. Tor Conning, levelled to the ground. Soon after this. More, the son of Dela, who had been ab- sent with his fleet, endeavouring to land in this northern qilarter, (in island in the pres- ent Tir Connell,) was opposed by the Neim- hedians, but, after a bloody conflict, these last were defeated with great slaughter, * Gabhafl Neimheidh ar Eirin. such as escaped the sword perishing in the water. The afifairs of the Neimhedians became more desperate than ever. They had no alternative but to submit to the most abject slavery or seek better days in other climes. The latter they chose : Simon Breac, the son of Stam, son of NeiYnheidh, led a col- ony of them back to Greece, where it ap- pears they only changed climates not cir- cumstances, being there cruelly oppressed by their relations. From this people are descended the Fir-Bolgs, of whom we shall treat in the next chapter. Jobhath, another grandson of Neimheidh, sailed to Greece also, as the Book of Invasions tells us, with his followers ; and Briotan, the son of Fer- gus, son of Neimheidh, with his people, landed in North Britain, from whence his posterity gradually extended themselves more to the southward : the few that re- mained behind were cruelly oppressed by these Africans, till the landing of the pos- terity of Simon Breac, to which no traces of history are met with. Writers are not agreed as to the time in which this colony ruled Ireland : Mr. CFlaherty makes their residence here to be two hundred and six- teen years.* But this cannot be reconciled to reason and chronology, since we have seen that the grandchildren of this Neim- heidh quitted the country ; so that if we allow one hundred years for this space of time, it is as much as in reason can be de- manded : add to this, that GioUa Caomhain affirms,f as does the Book of Invasions and Psalter of Cashell, Keating, Lynch, etc., that from the landing of Neimheidh to that of his successors, the Belgae inclusive, was two hundred and seventeen years: and yet Mr. CFlaherty, in shortening the time of the Partholanians remaining in Ireland, makes the rule of the Neimhedian colony there to last two hundred and sixteen years ; and, to reconcile the whole to his chronology, he fixes the coming in of their successors, the Belgae, at four hundred and twelve years later, contrary to every evidence of antiquity. In justice to the memory of this learned gentleman, I must * Ogygia, 170. t Reim-Riogra Giolla Caomhain. 1»- HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2503. observe, that the first mistake arose from an opinion that Neimheidh was grand- son to Partholan; but to reconcile the accounts handed down to us from remote antiquity on this head to reason, as we shall show them reconcilable to sound chro- nology, we should (as I have done) rather suppose Neimheidh, though of the same line, to be some generations later. Before I close this article on Neimheidh, I must observe that this prince cut down twelve large woods, and cleared the land for tillage. CHAPTER III. Of the Belgae, or third colony of adventurers, and their arrival in Ireland — Their different appella- tions explained — Of Slainge, the first Irish mon- arch, and his successors, to the reduction of this people. We observed in the last chapter that Simon Breac led the first embarkation of the fugitive Neimhedians to Greece, where they increased greatly, insomuch as to be- come formidable to the natives, so that in their own defence they reduced them to a severe bondage. We are told that, like the Israelites in Egypt, they were the hew- ers of wood and drawers of waters to these people ; that they were compelled to dig in the low deep soil, and carry the earth in leathern bags to cover and improve the barren places. And this, led me add, is a striking proof of the wisdom and industry — I shall not say much of the humanity — of the people who employed them ; from this, it is said, they got the name of Fir-Bolgs, or bag-men. Though groaning under these severi- ties it appears they Hved together — and the country which their ancestors were compelled to quit they often discoursed of. It is not improbable but that some inter- course might have been, from time to time, kept up between them and their friends in Ireland ; but be this as it may, it is agreed upon by all our historians, that a consider- able body of these people, no less in num ber than five thousand, under five leaders. ;l the descendants of Neimheidh, landed in Ireland A. M. 2503. The names of these chiefs were Slainge, Rughraidhe, Gann, Geanann, Seangann. Their fleet was in three divisions : the first, under the com- mand of Slainge, landed in the Bay of Wexford, from him called Inbher Slainge, with one thousand men ; (for inbher in Irish, denotes a bay ;) the second, led on by Gann and Seangann, anchored at Inbher-Dubh- ghlaise, in the north, with two thousand men ; and the third, commanded by Gea- nann and Rughraidhe, at Inbher-Domh- nain, in Connaught, also with two thousand men. They divided the kingdom into five equal partitions, according to the authority of a most ancient poet quoted in the Book of Invasions.* Slainge, the eldest, had for his share the province of Gailain, or Lein- ster; Gann and Seangann had the two Munsters allotted to them; Geanann the province of Connaught ; and Rughraidhe that of Ulster. The people themselves we find distin- guished by different names : the Fir-Bolgs,t so called from the leathern bags in which they removed the earth; the Fir-Domh- noins, from their digging deep in the earth ; from doimhne, a depth, to which the word fir, or men, is joined ; and Fir-Gilean, or spear-men, from gillain a spear, as their duty was to protect the workmen. From this account we reasonably sur- mise, that the tale which the new-comers gave of their sufferings to their relations in Ireland, had more of policy than truth in it, in order to excite their compassion, and make their own reception more cordial. From it we should infer that the country allotted to them in Greece to five was very barren ; that their own industry supplied this defect ; and that their military guarded their frontiers from the incursions of bar- barous invaders : this is certainly the na- tural induction. Slainge, the eldest, with the dominion of Leinster, assumed the title of monarch of the whole island, and he, as GioUa Caom- hain, and all our antiquari£ins agree, was * Gabhail Fhear-Mblog ar Eirion. t Beim-Riogra Giolla Caomhain. w A. M. 2541.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. the first king in Ireland. After a reign of one year he died, and was interred at the side of a mount in Leinster, called Slainge, from him. Rughraidhe was his successor ; he ruled as monarch two years, and then gave way to his brothers, Gann and Gea- nann, who directed the government for four years. Seangann was the next mon- arch; he swayed the sceptre five years, when he fell in battle by the sword of Fia- cha, called Cinn-fionnan, or the Whitehead, the son of Rughraidhe. At the end of five years more, i. e. A. M. 2521, he met the fate of his predecessor, by the hand of Radhnal, the son of Geanann. Radhnal reigned six years, and was slain in the battle of Craoibhe. His successor was Fipdhbhghean, the son of Seangann ; after a reign of four years, he fell in the battle of Muirtheimhne, in the county of Lowth. Eochaidh, the son of Ere, the son of Radhnal, ruled Ireland for ten years in great splendour and glory, at the end of which time, a period was put to his life, and to the government of the Belgian race in Ireland, by new invaders, whose history we will give in the next chapter. His queen was Tailte, daughter of the king of Spain ; and the place of her interment still retains that name. All our antiquarians agree that the Belgians ruled Ireland but thirty-seven years, the learned O'Flaherty thinks it could not be less than eighty;* but I think it more judicious to adhere to the testimonies of antiquity, than to the conjec- tures of modems, who certainly cannot have had those opportunities of informa- tion which the earlier writers must have possessed. CHAPTER IV. Of the Damnonii, or fourth colony, and why so called — Their travels fiom Greece to their land- ing in Ireland— History of the Liagh-Fail— Of the reigng of Breas, Nuadh, and Lnigha — Ori- gin of the famous Aonach-Tailtin-JEochaidh, Dealbhaoith, Fiacha, and the three brothers, Eathoir, Teathoir, and Ceathoir, succeeding monarchs of Ireland, etc. • Ogygia, p. 173. In the year of the world 2541, and the tenth of the reign of Eochaidh, son of Ere, Ireland was invaded by a new colony who were called Damnonii; they were also descendants of Neimheidh, by his grand- son Jobhath, and, like their predecessors, the Fir-Bolgs, fled to Greece from the ty- ranny of the Africans who so long lorded it over Ireland. Our antiquarians assign two reasons for their being called Damno- nii, or Tuatha de Danans : the first, to de- note their descent from the three sons of Danan, the daughter of Dealbaoith, son of Eahladh, son of Neid. The second deri- vation is, that the people were divided into three classes : the nobility, who were so called from Tuatha, a lord; the priests, from Dee, God, as devoted to the service of God ; and the Danans, who composed hymns, and sung the praises of the Su- preme, from Dan, a poem. These people * quitted Greece on account of a mighty in- vasion from Syria, and, after a variety of adventures, at length landed in Denmark, where they were received with great hu- manity by the people, who assigned them tracts of land to cultivate and four cities to inhabit. In these cities masters were appointed to instruct the people in arts and sciences, and the names of these cities, or rather universities, as well as of the super- intendents of them are yet preserved. Af- ter spending a considerable time in this countiy, but how long is not specified, they sailed for North Britain, under the com- mand of Nuadh, the twelfth in succession from Neimheidh. Here they remained seven years, when they invaded the north- em coasts of Ireland, and, among other curiosities, brought with them the famous Liagh-Fail, or stone of destiny, on which all our succeeding monarchs were crowned, and on which the British princes have been inaugurated since the reign of Edward L who had it conveyed from the abbey of Scone. On the reduction of North Britain by Fergus the Great, the son of Earca, to make his possession of the country more solemn, he requested of his brother, the monarch of Ireland, the use of this stone to • Gabhail Thuatha. D. D. 6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2548. be crowned on ; for it had been a received opinion, that, in what country soever this stone should be preserved, there a prince of the Scythian or Irish race should gov- ern, according to the very old, though well known Rann, or verse : Mar abhfaghed Liag-Fail, dlighed-flathus do ghabhail ; Cine-Scuit saor an fhine, manba breag an Fhaifldi n e. 1. e. " the Scots shall give law and rule to whatever country this stone is placed in, if the fates are to be credited." In respect to antiquity I have given this short account of this wonderful stone, which tradition says, made a strange noise when any of the true line of Milesians were crowned, but otherwise was silent. It still remains under the inauguration chair in Westmin- ster Abbey, but by the name of Jacob's stone. On the landing of the Danaans they set fire to their ships, to show their people that they had no resources but in their courage ; and, by the help of a thick fog, got three days march of their enemies, before they • had a certainty where they were ; and which incident they had cunning enough to impose on the people, to have been brought about by their skill in necromancy. Here they called a council, and sent heralds to the monarch Eochaidh, to resign the kingdom to them, or determine the contest in a pitched battle. The latter he accept- ed ; and after a most bloody engagement on the plains of South Muigh-Tuirreadh, in which he fell by the sword of Nuadh, who lost a hand in the contest, the whole Belgian army was routed, having left ten thousand men slain on the spot. The re- mains of their scattered troops fled differ- ent ways, and retired to the isles of Arran, Man, Ha, to Britain, and the Hebrides, waiting a more favourable opportunity to recover that country which the fate of war deprived them of. Nuadh, the chief of this colony, is not placed in the Book of Invasions, as the first monarch of the Danaan race. We find his cousin, Breas, proclaimed and first inaugu- rated on their famous stone. The reason I conceive to be this : in these early days, and indeed in every succeeding period of Irish history, any corporeal defect was a sufficient exclusion fi-om the monarchy. This Nuadh felt. We find his hand healed by the skill of Miach, his physician, and an artificial one of silver, exactly fitted to the stump by Credah, his goldsmith, from which he ever after went by the name of Airgiod- laimh, or the Silver-hand. Thus assisted, he reclaimed the monarchy as his right, to which we see Breas obliged to assent, after a reign of seven years. Nuadh, possessed of the monarchy, reign- ed twenty years ; during this period, Breas ill bore the loss of the diadem. He enter- ed into treaty with the Africans, who still held some places in the north. He sent emissaries to the exiled Belgians, who pri- vately, and in different parties, entered the kingdom ; and when at the head of a con- siderable party, he proclaimed his right to the crown. Nuadh prepared his army to meet his antagonist. They engaged on the plains of North Muigh-Tuirreadh, in Con- naught. The conflict was great and bloody ; and we may judge of the carnage on both sides by the chiefs that fell. Bale Beimio- nach, general of the Africans, the princi- . pal leaders of the Belgae, and Breas, the soul of the whole, fell on one side ; while Nuadh himself, Ogma-Grianan, and many leaders of the first rank among the Dana- ans, partook of the same fate. The Da- naans, however, gained the well-fought battle, and sorely oppressed the remains of the Belgae for a considerable time after. Luigha, sumamed Lamh-shada, or the Long-hand, a descendant of Neimheidh's, was the next monarch. Besides his blood, the uncommon intrepidity he displayed in the last battle (having with his own hand slain the African chief) seemed to call him to this dignity. He ruled with great pru- dence ; and, sensible of the utility of pub- lic shows and amusements, especially to a fierce military people, he instituted the Aonach-Tailtean, so celebrated in every subsequent period of Irish history. The origin of this famous assembly is thus de- livered by our senachies. Tailte, daughter of a Spanish prince, and the queen of Eochaidh, the last monarch of A. M. 2704.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. the Belgian line, who fell in the battle of South Muigh-Tuirreadh, afterwards mar- ried Deocha-Gharbh, one of the Danaan chiefs ; and to her care and tuition, the present prince was delivered when very young. Being a lady of great wisdom, she acquitted herself of her charge to universal satisfaction ; and to commemorate her name and his gratitude, he ordered solemn tilts and tournaments every first of August, being the day of her death, at Tailtean, in Meath, the place of her interment. This great as- sembly was proclaimed fourteen days be- fore, and continued fourteen days after the first of August ; during which time, none who attended, were to be molested in their persons, or properties. From this institu- tion, and from this prince, the month of August is, to this day called in Irish Lugh- nas, or, the anniversary of Lugha, from whence the English word Lammas for August. It is recorded of this prince that he was the first who introduced the use of cavalry into Ireland. From the people of Thessaly's being such expert horsemen, be- fore their use was known to the neighbour- ing nations, arose the fable of the Centaurs. After a peaceable reign of forty years, this prince died, and was interred at Caondruin, now Uisneach, in Westmeath. Eochaidh, another branch of the line of Neimheidh, was the succeeding monarch. In some of our genealogies he is made brother to Breas, the first Danaan ruler, and, it is generally agreed, reigned nearly eighty years ; but this cannot be reconciled to chronology. But the Book of Invasi»ffirms, sailed through the Straits of Babel-Mandel, from the Arabian Gulf, to India ; and, doubling the Cape of Good Hope, returned through the straits' mouth, and the Mediterranean Sea. We see long before the days of Ho- * Triaa Thaumal. paaom. mer, the European islands well known to the Greeks : how else could he introduce Ireland into the Odyssey, as we see he has, and determine its distance to be about ten days' sail from the straits ? In the days of Solomon, voyages to India were frequent, and we find took three years. If, then, the ancients knew not the use of the compass, they certainly must of some other instru- ment equally useful, besides the polar stars at night, and the sun in the day. All which collected, must have given an air not only of possibility, but of probaWlity to the fore- going relations. But besides the above proofs, plain sense and reason should point out to us the dan- gers attending on modem hypothesis in history. " In many instances (says Bayle) historical truths are not less impenetrable than physical ones:" because we cannot satisfactorily explain many phenomena in nature, must it follow that the facts are also to be rejected ? What avails it that, in considering the days of old, the years of many generations, Moses recommends us " to inquire of our fathers, and they will tell us : to consult our elders, and they will show us ;" or, that Cicero should declare, that " history is the witness of times past, the height of truth, the life of memory, the guide of life, and herald of antiquity." Be- hold modem visionaries oppose their lazy indigested reveries to the evidence of an- tiquity ! And if any thing can more fully justify the necessity of these remarks ; it is the attempts lately made by the two Mac Phersons.* These men have laboured to establish a system of Scottish history, contrary to the voice of antiquity and even to the evidence of modem times ; and of two distinct people at this day speaking different languages, and, till about thirty years ago, governed by different laws, to make, from all antiquity, but one nation — I mean the Picts and Scots ! Thus encour- aged by the success of shodern historical theorists, they have boldly thrown off" every restraint, and even the appearance of re- spect to ancient facts, though affirmed by * Dissertation on the Ancient Caledonians, etc. — In- troduction to the History of Great Britain and Ireland. A. M. 2704.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 11 so respectable a writer as the venerable Bede, and of facts he speaks to, from his own knowledge ! CHAPTER VI. The Britons early in possession of letters — Their supposed fabulous history explained — Annals of Ireland — Llhuid's apothesi§ examined, and the close affinity between the Welch and Irish proved — Evidences that the first Biltish colonies passed from Ireland — A mistake of Bede's cor- rected, and the ancient name of Brittany pointed out. When Caesar* tells us that the Celtic arts, religion, and letters, originated in the British isles, or rather in Ireland;! ^^^ that, even in his own days, such on the continent as chose to excel in them repaired directly to us — to deny such people the early use of history must be wholly absurd. Annals the Britons must have undoubtedly had in his days, as well as the Gauls; though Caesar is silent on this head with respect to both. It cannot be denied but that the Roman policy was, while they in- troduced their laws and customs among the people they subdued, they at the same time laboured to destroy every vestige of the former state of such people ; so that, absorbed in veneration at the power of their conquerors they forgot their own ab- ject state. The earliest writer of British history on record is Nennius, an author of the seventh century. His work I have not seen ; but it is agreed upon, that from it Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Monmouth, a Ben- edictine monk, and afterward Bishop of St. Asaph, in the twelfth century, took the principal materials for his history of Brit- ain. And yet this work, fabulous as it has been deemed when compared with the preceding relations, will show that the Britons retained some faint traditional memory of their real origin ; but, like the Scots in the reign of t^he first Edward, when they attempted the outlines of their history, so deformed it with absurdities and anachronisms as to make it appear rather * Commentaries, lib. \n. t Introductioa to LKSh history, p. i. c. 2 aad 3. a romance than a history. It is the pecu- liar glory of Irish history, to be able with precision to illustrate the history and chro- nology of other nations. In this chapter we shall confine our inquiries to that of Britain. In the next book we shall show what the Greeks and Egyptians, etc., owe to our ancestors ; and these annals, which Hume, and others of his stamp, have so infamously misrepresented, far from ap- pearing a heap of indigested falsehoods, will, I trust, be acknowledged as the comer- stone of true history and true chronology. G^eoffrey tells us that Brutus, who first landed in Britain, was obliged to fly his country for parricide, impatient to succeed his father before his time ; and our annals inform us that Partholan fled from Greece to Ireland for a similar crime ! He says from this Brutus Britain took its name;' and our antiquarians are unanimous that it was so called from Briotan, the son of Fer- gus ! Henry of Huntington* fixes the ar- rival of the Britons in England to be in the third age of the world, and that of the Scots in Ireland in the fourth. We have seen that Briotan fled thither from Ireland, A., M. 2380 ; and that the Scots landed Tiere^ A. M. 2736 ! Geoffrey says that Brutus landed in Cornwall about twelve hundred years after the Flood ; but our annalists, as we have seen, have fixed the landing of Briotan at a much earlier period. But the Tuatha da Danaans, or Damnonii, cer- tainly landed there from Ireland, and about the period he assigns. The earliest name of Britain was Albion, and, to prove it not a Greek but a radical Irish word, it was so called from Eile, another, and Ban, an old name for Ireland ; and Scotland to this day, has, in Irish, no other name ! It is pretty remarkable that British writers agree that England and Ireland were peopled by the same race of men ; and in the ^mvs of the Romans,f Tacitus declares theiii cus- toms and manners very similar. Caesar (lib. V. c. 10) says that the Britons wore long hair, and had their beards shaved, except the upper lip. These customs were continued in Ireland till lately; the hair * Histor. lib t ' iui Jul. Agricola. la- HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2704. was called glib, and the whisker crom-heal, British writers, from conjecture and hypo- thesis, affirm Britain to be the mother country ; but Irish writers, from the earli- est records, confirmed by facts, dedare Ireland to be the great hive. Llhuid, the best informed antiquarian in Britain, and the most proper judge of the matter, because a master of the old Irish as well as of the old British language, confesses " that the most ancient names of places, rivers, mountains, and, we may add, of cities, too, in Britain are pure Irish ; that both the Welch and Cornish are re- plete with Irish, nay, that they are nearly of the same genus, and that part of many of their compound words are pure Irish."* To account for these facts, he has formed an hypothesis — for as such only he offers it — finding the Irish called Gadelians as well as Scots, he presumes the Gadelians were a branch of the ancient Celtae, inhab- itants of Britain, and who retired to Ire- land to make way for new invaders, and that the names of these places, such as they found them, these last retained. But though this may be received with regard to the names of the places, yet it will never ex- plain why these new settlers should retain in their tongue so much of the Irish lan- guage. Besides, Mr. Llhuid, in the dedi- cation of his Welch Dictionary to his countrymen strongly recommends to them the study of the Irish language and history; he even aflirms " that it is clear that the Irish language is absolutely necessary to those who would write of the isle of Brit- ain.** He has not once asserted that the British is a necessary help to investigate the antiquities of Ireland ! He also de- clares " that he could have no reason to doubt but that the Gadelians (the Irish) had formerly lived all over this kingdom." The very learned Bishop of Cloyne em- braces this hypothesis of Llhuid,t and he even attempts to demonstrate mathemat- ically the time of the emigration of the Ga- delians to Ireland from the difference in language between the old Britons and Irish. * Archffilog. passim. t Prefiwe to O'Brien's Irish Dicdooaiy. Thus the Highland Scots became a dis- tinct people from Ireland, the mother-coun- try, suppose a thousand years ago, though the emigrations began much earlier ; and if we grant that the affinity of the Highland Erse with the Irish language be in the ratio of three to one with the affinity between the Welch and the Irish, then the quantity of time elapsed since the separation of the Welch and Irish should be in the inverse ratio of three to one with the former ; so that fixing, at a medium, the separation of the Highlanders from the Irish at one thou- sand years, that of the Welch from the Irish must be at three thousand years, which approaches very near the time point- ed out by our historians for the first inva- sion of Britain. But besides the close affinity in lan- guages between the old British and old Irish, their customs, manners, and inclina- tions, seem to indicate them originally one people. The Welch, like the Irish, are brave, humane, and hospitable, glorying in the nobleness of their ancestry, and great lovers of music and poetry. Their ancient form of government was according to the Irish modus, and to us their bards and mu- sicians repaired for instruction,* hence that elegant alliteration in their poetry, and hence that softness and harmony in their music, and their particular attachment to the harp. Mr. Warton tells us that, so late as the eleventh century, " the Welch bards received their instructions in Ireland, and brought with Ihem to Wales divers cunning musicians, who devised in a man- ner all the instrumental music that is now used there f as appeareth as well by the books written of the same, as also of the tunes and measures used among them to this dayJ" Here, then, is every reasonable evidence that can be demanded, that the old British and old Irish were from one common stock: the difficulty lies which to determine to be the parent country. The best informed Britons assert, from conjecture only, that it is Britain ; but to this many objections can be made. According to their theory,-}- * Warton's English Poetry, Dissertation the First. t Camden, Llhuid, Rowland, Whitaker, etc. A. M. 2704.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. IS the Gadelians, giving way to new invaders from Gaul, at length retired to Ireland. But did these invaders also speak the Irish language ? — if they did, then must the first European settlers have had a language in common, which, though asserted, no man of sense, at least none but an hypothetical historian, should credit. Again, if Britain was the parent country, how came it so much inferior to Ireland in rank and power in these early as well as in subsequent times ? In the days of Caesar, Ireland was well- known to the Romans, and in those of Do- mitian, we find it the very soul of the Brit- ish confederacies.* Tacitus likewise con- fesses it much better known for commerce ; and, in the subsequent periods, till the der- eliction of Britain by the Romans, it is well known that Ireland was the primum mobile of all the attempts to expel the Ro- mans from that country. In the days of Christianity they supported the same pre- eminence. At the Council of Constance, A. D. 1417, the English were not allowed to vote as a nation; the canonists there being clear that they were included in the nation of Germany, as they were not gov- erned by their own princes, but subdued by Germans, who were themselves tributary to the emperor. But they, setting forth that their king was also monarch of Ire- land, which kingdom always held the third rank among the nations of Europe, these ecclesiastics, on this account, were decreed to precede those of France.f Thus op- posing argument to argument, though we should not call in the aid of history, it must be admitted that, from plain reason, we must recur to Irish history to elucidate the early periods of that of Britain. However the Milesian Irish might be imposed on in the relations of the first in- vaders of Ireland, they could not certainly be with respect to the people they them- selves subdued. The Damnonii, whom they subdued, had long governed the king- dom, and the Belgae, though greatly de- pressed, but still numerous and powerful, * Vita Jul. Agricol. t Act. Cone. Const, vol. ii., p. 42, etc. See also an English translation, actually aided these invaders. From their own knowledge of both people, our sena- chies have assured us that they had a lan- guage in common with the Milesians, and were descended firom one common stock, all deriving their pedigree, through Magog, from Japhet — the Milesians being descend- ed from Baath, eldest son of Magog, and all tl^ preceding colonies from Fathocta, his third son. That their language was the same, not only the v-i}^:^ A. M. 2704.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 17 Irish sometimes substituted for each other, and that with an auxiliary H both carry the same sound. Cape Cornwall was called Belerium, and heal is Irish for a mouth, and Eire Ireland; being the place where the first fugitive Damnonii landed. The inhab- itants of South Wales were named Di- mataB ; Dimtu implies protection, and Ath just. The ordovices, from ord lofty, and amhas (pronounced avas) a soldier, or the warriors of the hills. The Isle of Man was so called from Mannan, who we see first opened a trade to it from Ireland. Thus the different British tribes, the Picts excepted, were to demonstration, not Cel- tic but Scythian colonies, not the descend- ants of Gomer, but of Magog. But that the smallest doubt should not remain in an affair so important to British antiquities, Llhuid himself shall be my testimony. " The next thing I have to make out (says he) is, that part of the Irish, called Gade- lians, have once dwelt in England and Wales. There are none of the Irish, that / know of, among all their historical writings, that mention they were possessed of England and Wales ; and yet whoever takes notice of a great many of the names of the rivers and mountains throughout the kingdom will find no reason to doubt hut the Irish must have been the inhabitants, when these names were imposed on them.** But Irish writers, we see, have said that colonies from Ireland first inhabited and even gave the name to Britain. They most assuredly held all North Britain under subjection; since we shall find them assign it as a set- tlement to the Picts. That a part of South Britain was so circumstanced, we must con- clude from the settling of the Brigantes in Cumberland, etc. To show still further how much consideration and attention should be paid to the preceding records, I shall, by way of closure to this very long chapter, just remind my reader that, in the beginning of the fourth chapter, we are told that the Damnonii resided for some time in Denmark instructing the people in arts and letters ; and, in confirmation of this, it is highly remarkable that Wormius declares,* that the most ancient alphabet used by the northern nations of Europe was called Irlandorum Literae. These nations had also an occult manner of writing, described by Celsius,! (when compared with our ogham, or hierographic character, exam- ples of which may be seen in CFlaherty'sp Ogygia, Mac (Jeoghegan's History, Ware, Mac Curtin's, and Valiancy's Grammars^ etc.) the curious inquirer will be con- vinced that both the Runic and Irish were on the same plan. Add to this, that this ogham of the northern nations, like the Irish, had but sixteen letters ! The very expres- sion of Runic, which they gave this species; of writing, and which name their later writers have not been able to explain, is: pure Irish. The word run, with us at this day signifies secresy, mystery, etc., and was justly applicable to this alphabet. * Litera Runica, cap. 5. t Valiancy's Irish Grammar, p. 6, 7. BOOK II. CHAPTER I. Origin of the Milesian Irish from Phsnius, the in- ventor of letters — When he flourished — Of Niul and his journey to Egypt — Of Gadel, and the mistakes of some modern Irish writers corrected — The names of Phaenians, Gadelians, and Scots imposed on the Irish, and why — Of Easru and Sru. Wb must naturally conclude that the people who, with such care and philan- thropy, transmitted to posterity the pre- ceding records, were uncommonly attentive to preserve their own transactions and those of their ancestors. I even figure to myself that the curious antiquarian will express some degree of avidity to see what they have to say for themselves ; and I shall gratify this curiosity, but with a scrupulous attention to our annals.* Phaenius, the inventor of letters, is claimed as the founder of the Irish or Milesian race. He is said to have been the son of Baath, the son of Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah ; but if we admit of this gene- alogy, we shall at the same time see the necessity for supposing that several genera- tions must have intervened between Phae- nius and Noah to account for the great, in- crease of mankind in his days. Without entering into a discussion of this kind, neither entertaining or interesting, I shall commence the chronology of the Milesian race with this prince Phaenius. He, it is agreed on by all parties, was our great an- cestor : zealous Christians might have traced him by an imaginary genealogy up to Japhet, to whose posterity Scripture tells us, the isles of the Gentiles (Europe) were given as an inheritance ; and this it is, that has furnished modems with specious argu- ments to suppose the very early Irish chro- "* Gabhail Chlana Mile, Leabhar Muimhuin, Cion Drom-Sneachta, etc. nology to have been invented about the time of the introduction of Christianity among them. With Phaenius our Ethnic historians be- gan their history, and so shall I. He is sumamed in our annals Farsaidh, or the Sage ; and is highly celebrated for his wisdom, and for being the first inventor of letters. Desirous to be informed of the different languages which then prevailed, he appointed seventy learned men to dis- perse themselves through different quarters of the world, and to return at a certain day marked out, after the expiration of seven years. He supplied them with shipping and attendance, and whatever else was judged necessary for so great an enterprise. In the interim, he himself went to the plains of Senaar, where schools had been long established, to receive every information he could, towards forwarding his great design of establishing arts and sciences in his do- minions. On the return of these linguists, schools were erected ; but as events trusted entirely to memory and tradition might be liable to misconception and misrepresenta- tion, a medium was found out by fixing on certain signs, for certain sounds, and thus by degrees was the first alphabet formed, which consisted of no more than sixteen letters. In this were to be recorded what- ever related to history, philosophy, and other sciences, such as they then possessed ; but for matters of religion, a particular alphabet was invented, to be studied by none but the sacred order. I am sensible that our modern skeptics will turn their eyes to more modem times, when they read of schools on the plains of Senaar, and will look for an explanation from the early Irish Christians. To obviate the objection makes me thus stop short. But Herodotus. A. M. 1931.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 19 called the father of history, and who flour- ished centuries before Christ, tells us* that the Egyptijuis derived the knowledge of letters, geometry, astronomy, etc., from the Babylonians ; and that they possessed at the same time a sacred character, and a letter for common occurrences. Senaar is near Babylon ; and the Egyptians, as we shall see, received letters from thence through the son of Phaenius. Senaar might or might not have been knovra to Herod- otus, but it must have been to Phaenius who visited it. The principal persons concerned with Phaenius in the above great invention, were his preceptor Gadel, the son of Eathoir, and Caoih, called sometimes Gar the Hebrew. From Phaenius a branch of our tongue is yet called Bearla Phaeni, or the language of Phaenius ; but it is more generally named Gaoidhealag, or (as pronounced) Gailag, from the above Gadel. Of the numerous issue of this great prince the names of two only have been handed down, Neanuil, his successor, and Niul, the high-priest, and superintendent of the literati. This Phae- nius is in our history styled king of Scythia ; but from the expanded settlements of the Scythians in the interior parts of Asia in times posterior to this, modems have looked for his residence there. Every circum- stance and every fact that can be collected unite in fixing it on the Syrian coast bor- dering the Mediterranean, and to be the ancient Phcenicia, so renowned in history. As to the era in which he flourished we shall offer the best, and, what appears to us, the least exceptionable rules to fix it on with some degree of precision. A cer- tainty in chronology is of the utmost con- sequence to history ; and as the history of almost every other nation of the world has been broken in upon and interrupted by new invaders, ours should be looked upon as a kind of polar star to direct future chrono- logists in their pursuits. Our annalists count twenty-three genera- tions from Phaenius to his lienal successors, the sons of Milesius, landing in Ireland. This latter period by the Psalter of Cashell • Euterpe, seu lib. ii. and the Book of Conquests, is fixed at one thousand three hundred years before Chrisf- The most exact chronology makes it thirty- six years later, L e. A. M. 2736, if we reck- on according to the Hebrew computation ; though I do not mean to become an advo- cate for it against that of the Septuagint, or any other ; yet for the facility of reck- oning, I shall for the future count from it. If we suppose thirty-five years to have in- tervened between each of the above twenty- three generations — and I think it a reason- able conception — it will then appear that eight hundred and five years must have elapsed from the days of Pha;nius to the conquest of Ireland by the sons of Milesius ; and that he died in the year of the world 1931, or 2071 years before the incarna- tion. On the death of this great prince, the founder of arts and sciences, and the father of the Irish nation, his son Neaniul was proclaimed king of Phoenicia, and his brother assumed the office of high-priest. The fame of the piety, wisdom, and learn- ing of Niul spread far and wide, insomuch that Pharaoh, King of Egypt, sent ambas- sadors to conduct him to his court. Thi- ther he repaired, by his brother's permission, with a numerous and splendid retinue, and was most honourably received. Lands were assigned them for their support, and in order to induce Niul to settle in the coun- try, Pharaoh bestowed on him his daughter Scota for a wife. This establishment of Niul, whose history and that of his suc- cessors we are to pursue, we may presume happened in the year 1941. From Niul's being thus prince and high-priest, I take it for granted that his posterity retained the name of the Sacred Generation ; and Ire- land, their ultimate settlement, the Holy Island; since nothing is more certain than that Ireland was so called long before the Christian era. Gadel, the eldest son of Niul by the princess Scota, was also the successor to his dominions in Egypt. He was so called from his father's preceptor, to which the epithet Glas was added, on account of the brightness of his armour. Some of 20 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2006. our writers entertain us with a story that Niul and Moses were contemporaries ; that he greatly assisted this Jewish leader in his retreat from Egypt ; that his son Gadel, being then a youth, was bit by a snake, which Moses cured by a touch of his wand ; and that in return for the humanity shown the Israelites, Moses predicted that the country which his posterity would possess should be free from all venomous animals. The glaring anachronism in this tale alone renders it ridiculous. Had such an inter- course happened either between Niul, or any of his posterity in Egypt, and Moses, no doubt the early Christians would not have forgot a circumstance so honourable to their country, and to the new religion. But St. Fiech, one of St. Patrick's earliest disciples, and who published a life of this great apostle immediately after his decease, (and who died A. D. 493,) though in it he calls Ireland Tuatha Phaeni, or the country of the Phaenians, and the people Scots, yet takes no notice of this tale. What is more remarkable, the scholiast, on this poem of St. Fiech, while he tells us that Ireland was called Tuatha PhsBni, from Phaenius, and the people Scots, from Scota, the mother of Gadel-glas, yet never once hints at the above story. Could a more favour- able time offer for introducing it had it any foundation in truth? St. Patrick himself, during his apostleship, twice presided over the literati in their revisions of the national records, and yet we find no mention of Moses ; and no doubt in his days, the his- tory of the voyages and exploits of the Gadelians was much more full and circum- stantial than what we find it now. St. Cormoc, in his Psalter, wrote in the tenth century, so far fi*om sjmchronizing Moses and Niulus, tells us in his relation^of these travels, that the time the Gadelians quitted Egypt was four hundred and seventy years after the deluge, i. e. A. M. 2126, three hundred and twenty-seven years before Moses quitted Egypt. Upon the whole, the reader must be convinced that this story is an interpolation of later times, and by no means to be connected with genuine Irish history; and yet Dr. O'Brien tells us* that it is mentioned by the above schol- iast on St. Fiech, who flourished in the sixth century, than which nothing is falser, as may be seen by consulting the work it- self.f I should not be so severe on this gentleman had not he, by adopting this falsehood, made it a plea for attacking the veracity of his native history. This prince, Gadel-glas, I conceive wr.s highly renowned in his days, because, as from his grandfather we have retained the name of Phaenians, so from him we are called Gadelians, and from his mother, Scots. All this is confirmed by the follow- ing ancient rann or verse : Phseni o Phmnins adbhearta, brigh gan dochta. Gaoidhel o Gaoidhal-glas garta, Scuit o Scota. i. e. " beyond question we are called Phae- nians from Phaenius, Gadelians from Gadel- glas, and Scots from Scota." It is ridicu- lous enough to observe how much this simple explication of these names, which we yet retain, offends our delicate modem commentators, while at the same time, out of their great inventive store, they make no attempts at giving us better, or more rational ones ; but modem scholiasts glory in being the ignes fatui of ancient writers ! Easru succeeded his father Gadel-glas, A. M. 2006. Of this prince nothing either material or interesting is related, and after a reign of thirty years he made way for his son Sru. In the administration of Sru were great commotions and revolutions in Egypt. Another Pharaoh arose, who knew not the children of Gadel-glas. Unable to oppose so great a power, Sru prepared his ships to escape fi-om this land of bondage ; but so close was he pressed that four ships only could be collected. In these were embarked his principal nobility, with their ladies, and most valuable effects. It is re- corded in a very ancient poem, that twenty- five chiefs with their wives were lodged in each ship. With these he proceeded to sea, and directed his course to Crete ; but be- fore we proceed any further in our history, it seems highly proper to offer our proofs and illustrations of the preceding account. * Irish DicticHiaiy. remarks on the letter A. t Triaa Thaamatarga, p. 2, 5, etc. A. M. 2036.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 21 This inquiry is the more interesting, as I flatter myself that new and important lights will be thrown on history and chronology in general from it ; and here follow the reasons for this supposition. CHAPTER II. The foregoing relation defended — The Phoenician and Irish alphabets the same — Historical proofs and iUustrations of the above — Migration to Egypt — Of the Atalantic isle of the Egyptians, ■ and the Ogygia of Homer, etc. It is certainly greatly to be regretted that the further we push our inquiries into ancient history the more we find it absorb- ed in fable. This observation is not con- fined to the history of Greece : nations in- finitely more ancient and earlier civilized, as the Babylonian, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Egyptian states, bear ample testimony to this melancholy truth. Beyond a certain period every thing appears a perfect chaos ! kings descended from gods and demi-gods ; reigns, revolutions, and interesting events recorded without order, time, or place ! Not so in the preceding relation. We be- hold a regular succession of rulers without any thing of the fabulous or even the mar- vellous. It carries too great an air of truth and simplicity to suppose it the work of invention, had we even wanted collateral evidence to support it The Scythians, of whqm the Irish are a branch, were accounted the greatest and most intrepid nation of antiquity ; nor were they less renowned for their justice, hu- manity, and hospitality. Though their mode of worship is not well known, yet it is agreed on all hands that they worship- ped in woods and groves as did our ances- tors. The remoteness of their ancestry was held in such veneration by even the ancients themselves, that Sytharum gens antiquissima became with them a common proverb, as Justin observes. Josephus so far agrees with our annaUsts in declaring the Scythians the descendants of Magog ; and places them, as I have, on the borders of the Mediterranean, whence he conducts them by sea^ to different places.* Indeed, so strongly were the ancients possessed with the notion that all early emigrations were effected by water, that Tacitus gives for a reason the Germans being the pure origin of that country, and derived from no other source, the difficulty if not the im- possibility of ships venturing into such boisterous and swelling seas.f Pliny tells us, that Hieropolis, or the Holy City, (so called because dedicated to the Dea Syria,) was called also Magog, as being his ancient residence ; and we read of another city near Damascus named Scythopolis, or the Scythian city. Ancient tradition and the testimony of BerosusiJ declare, that Tyre was built soon after the Flood, by Tiras the son of Japhet ; and may not the Scy- thopolis of the Greeks be the Sidon of the Scots or Phaenians? from Scuit and Don the Scythian fortress. By fixing the cariy seats of these emi- grants in Phoenicia, lare may plainly see how Phaenius became acquainted with the schools of Senaar, as well as Herodotus, without the aid of the Christian system ; and every evidence of history concurs in this point. An informed people could not long possess a maritime coast without avail- ing themselves of the use of this element. The bare floating of timber would point out to them the facility of joining boards and making rafts ; and the spreading out of their very clothes would furnish hints for sailing. By universal consent the Phce- nicians were allowed to be the first ship- builders and navigators, according to the poet: Prima ratem ventis, credere docta Tyros. They were also, it is agreed upon, the first inventors of letters : Phoenices primi (famae si credimus) aoai Mausuram rudibus vocem siguare figuris. Their alphabet, in its original state, con- sisted of but sixteen letters, and it is re- markable that ours at this day contains but seventeen ; one of which I am persuaded was an interpolation of later times, namely, * Antiq. lib. i. cap. 6. t De Morib. German. *. ff. t Theatr. Terrae Sanctae, p. 11. '' 92 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2036. the letter F ; as the P with an H added to it answers every sound for which F was intended, except its total aspiration. Niul- us by our history was appointed high-priest and chief of the literati ; and the same post Amhergin, the son of Milesius filled in Ire- land on its reduction by his brothers. Thus the tale is told : Primus Amerginut {Genu-Candidug) Author Irene; Historicus, Index lege, Poeta, Sophus. The Phoenician history informs us that Sichaeus was appointed high-priest by his brother Mettinus ; but that Pygmalion his successor made away with him for his riches, etc. : the story may be seen in Vir- gil, and it is here only barely hinted at to show the correspondent customs of the Phoenicians and Irish ; to this may be ad- ded, that their deities were the same. They both adored Bel, or the sun, the moon, and the stars. The house of Rimmon* which the Phoenicians worshipped in, like our temples of Fleachta, in Meath, was sacred to the moon. The word Rimmon has by no means been understood by the different commentators; and yet by recurring to the Irish (a branch of the Phoenician) it be- comes very intelligible ; for Re is Irish for the moon, and Muadh signifies an image ; and the compound word Reamhan, signi- fies prognosticating by the appearances of the moon. It appears by the life of our great St. Columba, that the Druid temples in Ireland were decorated with figures of the sun, the moon, and stars. The Phoenicians under the name of Bel-Samen, adored the Supreme ; and it is pretty remarkable that to this very day^ to wish a friend every happiness this life can afford, we say in Irish, " the blessings of Samen and Bel he with you r that is, of all the seasons, Bel signifying the sun, and Samhain the moon. Neptune was alike adored by the Phoeni- cians and Irish ; and it is w^orthy of notice that the Irish language only explains the attributes of this deity, though common to other countries, from naomh, or naoph, sacred, and ton, aware ! We have already noticed the schools said to have been established by Phtenius * 2 Kings V. 18. after his return from Senaar ; and this we find — indeed with wonder — confirmed by holy writ ; for Joshua tells us that the city of Debir, which his army destroyed, was in remoter days called Kiriath-Sephir,* which literally signifies the city of books or letters. From this text the learned Goguet gathers that arts and letters were publicly taught here soon after the Flood.f In the fragments of Sanconiathon, pre- served by Porphyry and Eusebius, Phae- nix is second in the list of their kings ; and if we suppose him the son of Baath it will correspond with our annals. Indeed, the various revolutions that country under- went, as well by Joshua as other inva- ders, and the neglect and destruction of an- nals ever attendant on such misfortunes, might encourage succeeding writers to mix fable with tradition, and conjecture with history. It was the anachronisms and ab- surdities found in this fragment, that made Mr. Dodwell labour to prove that no such author ever existed, and that it was fabri- cated by some early Greek. J But it would be hard to say for what end such imposi- tion could be offered. Materials, I take it for granted, must have been had to work on ; and these very probaby (like some of our modems) they formed to their own ideas. Theodoret conjectures that the word Sanconiathon signifies Philalethes, or a lover of truth. For my part, I think writers have rather mistaken the title of the work ; and as letters were hereditary in families, as well in Phoenicia as in Ireland, the word Sanconiathon was the title of the national history, from seanachas, antiquity, and aithne, knowledge, just as the grand digest of our history was called Seanachas-more, or the great antiquity. But to prove to conviction the origin of the Irish nation, it is to be noticed that the Carthaginians, who were confessedly a Phoenician colony, were, like the Irish, called also Poeni. That they spoke the Phoenician language will not be doubted ; and if it should appear that the Bearla- * Joshua, XV. 15. t Origine des Arts et des Scieiiecx, toui. iv. ^^. 84. t A Discourse on Sanconiathon's Phoenician Histoi v A. M. 2036.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 23 Pheni, or Irish, is the same with the Car- thaginian, demonstration can go no further. This the learned Colonel Valiancy has proved beyond a doubt in a late publica- tion ;* and in the course of the present history it will appear that a close connec- tion and correspondence was constantly kept up between the two states. Both were renowned for their fleets and for commerce, and were alike attentive to the encouragement of arts, sciences, manufac- tures, and agriculture. If we consult modem writers we shall find their ideas of ancient navigation ex- tremely confined. Scarce will they allow them more than coasting voyages, as if they were not as capable of consulting the great book of nature, and their own par- ticular interests, as the modems. Scrip- ture affords sufficient proofs of an early knowledge of astronomy, navigation, and commerce ; and it is agreed upon that, be- fore the days of Abraham, the Phoenicians were a commercial people, and carried on a considerable traffic with the Greek islands. Nay, Herodotus assures us that they carried on about this time an exten- sive trade, monopolizing all the commerce of Egypt and Assyria, and making distant voyages ; that it was in one of these, while exposing their goods for sale at Argos, that they carried off the famous lo, daughter of Inachus; that during, or soon after the days of Abraham, a colony from Egypt in- vaded and possessed themselves of Greece the voice of antiquity declares: but yet, when it is considered that the early Egyp- tians held mariners in great detestation — which their religion inculcated — Typhon, or the sea, being the enemy of Osiris ; that their priests vowing celibacy, would touch neither salt nor fish, and, of course, consid- ered that element and those trading thereon as impure ; and that not till the days of Se- sostris had they ideas of maritime affairs — it will be difficult to reconcile this account to reason without recurring to Irish history. There we behold the son of the great Phae- nius married to a daughter of Egypt, and large possessions granted to him and his * Collation of the Irish and Punic languages, etc. followers. We see Gadel-glas and Easru peaceably succeed to these territories ; and when we consider how close to the vocation of Abraham, Sru possessed him- self of Crete, we shall, I conceive, be struck with the great light our history throws on this whole relation. If from this we recur to the history of Egypt, however obscured by fable, we shall see further evidences in support of our history. There we may behold among their first princes a Nilus, or Niulus, regis- tered, and the only one of the name. We learn that the ancient name of the Nile was Abantri, or the father of rivers ; and ab in old Irish, as well as in some of the Oriental tongues, is father, and ouen a river. We also read that this name was changed for that of Nilus, in honour of this prince, who by canals and aqueducts conveyed its wa- ter to distant parts of the kingdom. Now the name Niulus was, and still is, peculiar to the Irish nation; by it many of our princes were formerly called, and, to com- memorate this great ancestry, the chiefs of the Heremonian line glory in the name of O'Neill at this day. But besides these, which are something more than presump- tive proofs, we find a memory of these early and some subsequent events preserved by the Egyptians themselves, though shame- fully defaced by exaggerations and anach- ronisms. In those early days, when nations were thinly inhabited, an inconsiderable body of men w^ere sufficient to subjugate extensive countries. We may judge by the fame of the Argonautic expedition what trifling ex- ploits were made to swell to mighty deeds. The story I allude to is this : Plutarch, in the life of Solon, tells us that, when study- ing in Egypt, he was informed by the priests of Sais of the famous Atlantic isle. The relation was so singular and striking that he formed the idea of an epic poem on it, but was . prevented by old age. The story was, that these islanders became so powerful by sea as to reduce Africa and Greece, and were meditating new conquests till checked by the superior power of the Athenians; that this famous island was ^ :^r 84 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. S03«. placed beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in the Atlantic ocean; and that its inhab- itants, nine thousand years before Solon, despotically ruled over Libya, as far as Egypt, as well as over Greece. But that the power of these islanders should appear adequate to the extent of their conquests, these priests assured Solon that it was larger than Europe and Asia ; and because it was known that no island of such extent existed, they affirmed that in an after period it suddenly disappeared. Plato, a descend- ant from Solon, in his Dialogues of Timseus and Ctisias, resumed this work ; the trans- lator of which entitles them, Prisci Mundi Historia; to which may be added, that Lord Bacon, in his New Atalantis, deems the whole relation to be founded on facts. Sir Isaac Newton has taken some pains to elucidate this account* He fixes the time of these exploits at four hundred years earlier, but remarks that the Egytian priests so magnified the time — as indeed they did the story — that instead of four hundred they made it nine thousand years. The size of the island, we may add, they mag- nified in the same ratio, since they affirmed it to be larger than Europe and Asia, though by them confessed to be a Euro- pean ISLAND ! We see evidently that it was, by way of pre-eminence to all other islands in that sea, called the Atalantic Isle, and it only remains to ascertain the place, and all the other difficulties will disappear. Homer tells us in the Odyssey that, immediately after the taking of Troy, which was A. M. 2767, Ulysses found Calypso, the daugh- ter of Atlas, seated in this isle, which, on account of its great antiquity, he also calls Ogygia. He tells us that it was about ten day's sail from the Pillars of Hercules, at least that Ulvsses was so long in his passage to it ; and that it was named the Woody Island likewise. Ireland being always called Ogygia, as well as Inis na Bhfiodhbhaidhe, or the Woody Island, and its distance from the straits' mouth agree- ing so exactly with Homer, would tempt Chronology. i one to pronounce it at once the happy island alluded to. Plutarch, in his Life of Sertorius, throws new lights on this mat- ter. This great commander, he tells us, determined to make it his retreat from the persecution of his enemies; and he de- scribes so exactly its soil and cUmate, and its distance from Africa to be about 1200 miles, that no other country could be found to answer the description, though M. Da- cier, in his translation of this writer, affirms it to be Andalusia, and on the continent TOO ! But lest what is said may not be thought sufficient to identify the place, Plutarch in another work tells us, that this Ogygia, this famous Atalantic Isle, is oppo- site to the CeltsB, and but four days sail from Britain ! * The country being thus I apprehend ascertained^ we will, by the help of our annals, easily distinguish the history from the allegory and from the fable. The his- Xory comprehends a great space of time. It alludes to their fii-st settlement in Egypt, and to their subsequent exploits in Greece and Africa, as we shall presently see. Neptune, who was supposed to preside over the sea, was the father of Atlas ; this last, by his knowledge in astronomy and invention of the sphere, greatly improved and extended navigation; hence the strength and power which commerce afford, are alluded to ; hence, by way of pre-emi- nence in maritime affairs (which Tacitus many centuries after acknowledged) this country was called the atalantic isle ! After such proofs and such illustrations of times so extremely remote, will any can- did man of letters deny the truth of our early records ? Will he any longer refuse us the use of letters, when it appears to demonstration, that the very father of let- ters, of arts, and of sciences, was our great ancestor ? Will he deny us the early use of ships, when it becomes evident, that the first inventors of ships and of navigation were our great ancestors ? But all these relations will acquire new dignity by pur- suing these emigrants from their derelic- * De Facie iu Orbe Luiuc. A. M. 2106.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 25 tion of Egypt, till their final settlement in Ireland, which I shall describe with the most exact fidelity fi-om our annals ; and then, as I have hitherto done, bring illustra- tions and proofs from the mutilated re- cords of the different countries they passed through. It is agreed upon in courts of justice, that circumstantial evidences, and by parties no way connected with each other, are preferable to positive state- ments; for in the first instance no impo- sition can be intended. This surely ought to carry the greatest weight in history, especially ancient history, when subject to the smallest doubt. CHAPTER III. Mi^pration of the Gradelian colony to Crete — to PhoBnicia — Of the Syrens — Land in Getulia — proceed to Galicia, and found the city Brigan- tium — Of GoUamh or Milesius, and his exploits in Phoenicia and Egypt — Of Heber and Here- mon, and their resolution to quit Spain. The dereliction of Egypt by the Phse- nians, or posterity of Gadel-glas, happen- ing in the administration of Sru, we may fix it in the year of the world 2046, and tenth year of his reign. Sru and his son Heber-Scot were the conductors of this colony ; who the high priest was we are not told, but we suppose it to have been the famous Cadmus, so celebrated in Gre- cian history, and brother to Sru. Crete at once yielded to them its sover- eignty. It appeared to the old inhabitants a blessing ; for instead of distressing and hunting them down like wild beasts, they introduced among them the social arts. They formed them into communities, they instructed them in agriculture, in arts, and manufactures. Cadmus taught them let- ters, the knowledge of the Deity, the rever- ence due to him, and the duties they owed to each other and to society. The Deity they worshipped in his attributes ; and the sun, the moon, and the stars ranked fore- most in their theology. The Curetes, or warriors, instructed them in feats of arms, 4 and in the warlike dance. Virgil calls Crete ora Curetum — ^" Et tandem (says he) antiquis Curetum allabimur oris." Should we suppose the name of Crete to have ori- ginated from those Curetes, as Virgil seems to hint, our language would wonderfully explain it. Curat is Irish for a knight; and the Curaithe na Croabh ruadh, or knights of the Red-branch, were an here- ditary order of chivalry, which flourished through all periods of our history. The time which this colony spent in Greece, it is agreed, was just fifty years ; so that according to our mode of calculation Sru died in Crete, A. M. 2071, and his son Heber-Scot sailed for Phoenicia, the seat of his ancestors, A. M. 2096. He was received with great affection by his kin- dred, and the Psalter of Cashell aflirms that he died possessed of the supreme command in Phoenicia, but was killed in battle by Naoine, of the posterity of Nea- nuil, eldest son of Phaenius. Boamhain succeeded his father Heber- Scot, A. M. 2106. Great contests arose between him and Naoine. War and peace succeeded each other for a number of years; at length Boamhain fell by the sword, A. M. 2141. Oghamhain took command of the shattered forces and shat- tered fortune of his father, and by courage and perseverance arrived at the same degree of power. He also fell in battle, A. M. 2176, and so gave way for his son Tait. To him succeeded Aghnom, A. M. 2211. This prince, in battle engaged hand to hand with Riffleoir, of the progeny of Neanuil, and slew him. This so inflamed the followers of his house, that they vowed a total extirpation to the progeny of Niul. Foreseeing the impossibility of protecting themselves from the approach- ing storm, in a solemn council they agree to quit for ever this country of their ances- tors, and having armed and fitted up their ships they proceed to sea, A. M. 2240, under the command of Aghnoin, and his brother Heber who presided as high-priest. Aghnoin had three sons, Ealloid, Laimh- fionn, and Laimh-glas; and Heber had Caicer, and Cing. 56 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.M. 2242. For a considerable time was this fleet tossed up and down ; sometimes landing on some island, and, after refreshing them- selves and refitting their ships, again pro- ceeding to sea. During this period Aghnoin died, A. M. 2242, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Lamh-fionn. Some time after they made for the island Carenia, being obliged so to do by a violent storm. Here they reposed themselves for fifteen months, and in this interval died Heber the high- priest, and Lamh-glas one of his nephews, who we are told were buried with great funeral pomp. His son Caicer was ap- pointed to fill his place, and having pre- pared every necessary for a long voyage, and sacrificed to the gods, particularly to Neptune, Caicer was consulted as to what the fates had decreed with respect to them, and whither they should direct their course? He answered they were to steer to the westward ; that the land reserved for their posterity was the most western island in the world, but which neither they nor their issue for some generations were to possess. They, overawed by this prophecy, directed their course to a country called in all our ancient MSS. Gaothlaigh-Meadhonacha. But the voyeige to this land, we are told, was very dangerous ; first, on account of latent rocks, and after this by reason of the enchanting notes of syrens and sea nymphs, whose powers of music were so bewitch- ing as to absorb all the faculties, and pre- vent the mariners from doing their duty, or keeping clear of the currents which insen- sibly brought them on these rocks. This is related in the Book of Conquests, the Psalter of Cashell, and in the Irish original of Keating, though omitted in the English translation. To avoid these dangers, as soon as they approached these perilous seas, by the advice of Caicer, the ears of the crews of all the fleet were stuflfed with wax; by which means they could the better attend to the means of avoiding these rocks and quicksands. From this simple relation it is evident they were near the Sicilian shores. The fable of the Syrens is as old as history, and is undoubtedly Phoenician ; whether first invented to deter other nations from sailing through the Me- diterranean, as they wished to monopolize the trade of all the world, or by way of caution to future mariners, in passing through the Straits of Messina, or Syrtes, 1 shall not afiirm. Certain it is that the early ancients looked upon this as a danger- ous passage, and it is so deemed by some at this day. Homer forgets not in his Odyssey to celebrate the address of Ulysses in avoiding these syrens, who, if we may believe the poet, had power to stop ships : — Monstra maris Sirenet erant quae voce Caaone Quas libet admissas dednuere rates. And near this place it was that Juno pre- vailed on iEolus to raise that terrible tem- pest against the Trojan fleet which Virgil so poetically describes in the first ^Eneid. After clearing these dangerous seas, our colony landed safely in Getulia, on the African coasts. They returned solemn thanks to the gods, and then proceeded to form a regular and permjinent settlement, to explore the country and its ancient resi- dents, and avail themselves of this know- ledge. Lamh-fionn died advanced in years, and was succeeded by his eldest son Heber, called Glun-fionn, or the White-knee, A. M. 2281. Our annals record Heber as a prince of great abilities, bravery, and wisdom, but illustrate this character by no particular instances. It is only simply said that his son Adhnoin, called Fionn, was the next ruler of this people, who in time made way for Feabhar-glas. Next in succession was his son Neannail ; he was followed by Nu- aghadh ; Alloid then took the lead. Ear- achda, Deaghfatha, and Bratha were the succeeding chiefs. In the reign of Bratha, the Gadelians in council took the resolution of looking for new settlements, but the reason for this conduct is not assigned. After much peril and danger they at length happily passed the Pillars of Hercules, and landed in a large and spacious haven in Galicia. They immediately fell to work, and raised breastworks and entrenchments to secure themselves and their ships from the attacks of the natives, who were a very fierce and warlike people. A. M. 2650.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 27 According to our calculations, Heber assumed the command of the emigrants, A. M. 2281 ; from which period to the death of Bratha were nine generations, amounting one» with another to three hun- dred and fifteen years ; so that his death may be reasonably resolved into A. M. 2596. It was by the dint of the sword and force of arms only, that this colony gained any footing in Spain. The Psalter of Ca- shell counts no less a number than fifty-four battles fought between them and the old inhabitants, during the reign of Bratha and his son Breogan. Breogan assumed the command of this people, A. M. 2597. He completed the city began by his father, surrounded it with walls, outside of which deep ditches were cut, which in honour to this prince, was called Breogan-sciath, (pronounced Breo- gan-sci,) or the Shield of Breogan, sciath be- ing Irish for a shield, and from which came the Latin Brigantia. Having thus secured the safety of his people, his next care was to erect a pharos for the direction of shipping from Ireland and Britain, with which he had opened a considerable trade. This pharos, we are told, was supplied with reflecting and refracting glasses, with globes and other instruments for navigation. Keating, in his original work^ quotes an early French writer, who aflHrms that this Breogan, whom he calls Brigus, was the first prince who rais- ed revenues and built castles in Spain, and from whom the Spanish, as without doubt the British and Irish, Brigantes are derived. This gallant and warlike prince had ten legitimate children ; but to his eldest, called Bille, was the supreme command assigned, A. M. 2630. He was not inferior to any of his predecessors in courage or abilities, having fought many battles with bordering nations, and always with victory. The other sons of Bille were, Breagha, Fuadh, Muirtheimhne, Sula, Cuailgne, Blath, Aib- hle, Nar, and Ith. They arrived at great power in Spain, subduing many provinces, and the issue of these princes remaining in that country assumed the name of Glana Breoguin,or the posterity of Breogan, hence the Brigantes. What other children were bom to Bille we are not told ; but his son Gollamh, called by way of pre-eminence Mile-Espaine, or the Hero of Spain, cuts a most conspicuous figure in our annals. So much so, that as we retain the names of Phaenians, Gade- lians, and Scots, from his great ancestors ; after him we are called Clana-Mile, or the posterity of the hero, hence Milesians. This young hero had greatly distinguished him- self in feats of arms in many campaigns he made under his uncles, who, if we may credit some relations, extended their arms as far as Castile, which from them was anciently called Briga. Every thing giv- ing way to the arms of these adventurers, and peace and subordination being estab- lished, Gollamh, impatient of new laurels, solicited his father's permission to assist their Phoenician ancestors, then greatly dis- tressed by continental wars. This proves that a constant intercourse was kept up be- tween them for the sake of commerce and other advantages. To this request Bille consented ; and with a well-appointed fleet of thirty ships, and a select number of in- trepid warriors, Gollamh weighed anchor from the harbour of Corunna, for Syria. It appears that war was not the sole business of this equipment, for in this fleet were em- barked twelve youths, of uncommon learn- ing and abilities, who were directed to make remarks on whatever they found new, either in astronomy, navigation, arts, sciences, or manufactures. They were to communicate their remarks and discoveries to each other, and keep an exact account of whatever was worthy of notice. As this equipment was made in the reign of Bille, we may suppose it to have taken place A. M. 2650. He was received with distinguished hon- ours by the Phoenicians ; and in order to bind him firmer to their interest, Riffleor gave to the young Spaniard his daughter Seang for a wife. We are told that he not only repelled and defeated the invaders of the country, but greatly increased their borders, and procured for them a lasting peace. During the course of these victo- ries he had two sons by Seang, Don and Aireach. His noble carriage, his success, 28 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2706. and this increase to his family, so endeared him to the people, that Riffleoir, old and suspicious, became highly alarmed and jealous lest he might attempt, as his ances- tors did, to wrest the crown from his fam- ily. A council was called, and it was agreed to dispatch GoUamh privately. But secret as this resolution was taken, he got timely scent of it. He feigned an indispo- sition till his fleet was made ready, which was done with great privacy, and then with a chosen party they broke into the palace, putting to the sword all opposers, and particularly the ungenerous Riffleoir. From Phoenicia he proceeded to Egypt, and offered his services to Pharaoh, whose country had been assailed on every side by different invaders, but particularly by the Ethiopians. So celebrated a com- mander was received with open arms. He was assigned a distinguished part in the army, and by degrees attained the chief command. His first care was to establish exact discipline among the troops, and then he led them against the enemy. His meas- ures were so just, and his orders so well executed, that success generally attended his standard. As the highest mark of gratitude and approbation, Pharaoh gave him to wife his daughter Scota — Seang, his first wife, being dead. By her he had two sons bom in Egypt, Heber-fionn and Amhergin. If we suppose that his landing in Egypt was in A. M. 2660, his son He- ber may have been bom in 2665. He re- mained in Egypt for a considerable time after, and it is particularly noted that the literati in his train were instructed in all the wisdom and learning of the Egyp- tians. But his long absence from Spain with so large a force, and the great age of his fa- ther, encouraged the borderers to renew their hostilities. The country was in the utmost distress, and he was conjured to hasten his departure. After taking leave of Pharaoh and his court, he proceeded to Spain, where he at length happily arrived. but found the greatest disorder prevailing everywhere. The report of his return gave new courage to his people, and in some time he restored peace and happiness to the land. He commenced his command over Spain A. M. 2670, and died at an ad- vanced age, leaving eight legitimate, and twenty-four illegitimate children, besides those already mentioned ; the remainder of his lawful issue were Ir, Colpa, Arra- nan, and Heremon. In A. M. 2706, Heber-fion, the firstborn in Egypt, was called to the succession. Some time after he associated with him in the supreme command his youngest brother Heremon, and Amhergin was announced high-priest. These princes govemed with great prudence, and highly encouraged science and commerce ; but powerful com- binations of different people had distressed them sorely, and to these were added great calamities by uncommon droughts and famine. Their territories were gradually subdued till at length they were confined to a narrow tract. • In this distress a sol- emn council of all the chiefs was summoned to determine whether they should make new efforts to recover the coimtry, or seek some more beneficent soil. On consulting the Sacred Books, Amhergin reminded them of the prediction of his predecessor, Caicer. Ireland was the most westerly situation ; with it they carried on an extensive trade, and this he assured them was the promised land, and at this time the prophecy was to be fulfilled. These assurances of the high- priest determined their resolution, and filled them with hope and confidence. But an attempt like this was not to be made on vague reports. Ith, the son of Breo- gan, was pitched on to visit the country and explore its strength, and from his re- port were they to be directed. But before we proceed further in our narrative, it is proper, in an age like this, to call upon the testimonies of Grecian, Carthaginian, and Spanish histories in support of what is here advanced. A. M. 2706.] HISTORY OF Ireland: 39 CHAPTER IV. The uncommon care taken at all times to preserve the history of the voyages of the Gadelians — Il- lustrated by, and illustrating the early Greek his- tory — Letters of the primitive Greek alphabet — Objections answered — Introduced into Greece long before the days of Moses. The foregoing narrative, faithfully ex- tracted from the most respectable of our records, is the earliest account of coloniza- tion extant, emd I think the best supported. It has not only been carefully handed down from age to age by our antiquarians, but honoured by the pens of our ancient princes, such as Ethorial, Ollamh-Fodhla, Cormoc, etc. Ireland, as well in her Christian as in her Ethnic state, deemed it the most pre- cious monument of her glory and of her antiquity. In the severest scrutinies our annals underwent, as in the days of Ol- lamh-Fodhla, Tuathel, Cormoc, and St. Patrick, these truths were never doubted. St. Fiech, this apostle's earliest disciple, mentions them, as well as his schoUast.* The Cion-Drom-Sneachta, written a little later, minutely details them. Ceann-Foala, contemporary with St. Columba, confirms the same. St. Cormoc has carefully pre- served them; Giolla-Caoimhain has done the same. In a word, no writer of Irish history has since omitted them ; and if we can procure foreign evidences to confirm these relations, it will set them forth in the highest pomt of view, and make the Irish chronology a kind of medium to settle with more precision ancient eras. It is a point universally agreed upon, that the early Greeks were in a state of savage barbarity, in the most extensive meaning of the word, for a considerable time, until a set of people fi-om Egypt came to settle among them. With these strangers came arts, agriculture, letters, legislation, and rehgion ; but though these luminaries came from Egypt, yet it is agreed that they were not an Egyptian, but a Phoenician colony ; and we have in the second chapter of this book assigned the reason of it. There is no fact in ancient history better ascer- tained than that the first polishers of Greece were these Phoenicians, and that the alphabet * Colgan Trias Thaumat. they communicated to them consisted of no more than sixteen letters.* But though this is imiversally admitted, yet the Grecian historians are by no means in unison as to the time of this reformation. The sub- stance of what they have delivered, may be reduced to this. Agenor and Belus, whose antiquity is so remote that, accord- ing to their fabulous manner of writing, they have made them the sons of Neptune, or the sea, early agreed to separate. Be- lus resided in Egypt, and married the daughter of Nilus, by whom he had chil- dren. Agenor settled in Phoenice, and be- came the father of a numerous race, among whom were Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix. Cadmus emigrated into Asia Minor, Crete, Greece, and Lybia, with a numerous reti- nue of Phoenician followers, in all which places he founded colonies, and introduced among them letters, music, poetry, and other sciences. Here we see a great number of facts collected in one point of view; but for want of proper attention to chronology, of which the early Greeks were grossly igno- rant, they are so confounded and jumbled together that no writer has been found hardy enough to attempt to reduce them to any historical order. Indeed Josephus treats their pretences to history and anti- quity with the highest contempt; for though (says he) "it is acknowledged that they received their first letters from the Phoeni- cian Cadmus, yet, for want of public reg- isters, they are not able to produce any testimonies of this, or indeed of any other point of high antiquity, which might be depended on. Not so (continues he) with the Phoenicians, the Chaldeans, and with us, (the Jews,) who have fi-om remote an- tiquity, by means of registers, and the care of persons particularly appointed to this office, preserved our histories beyond all other nations !"t It is, then, manifest that this relation of the polishing of the first Greeks must have been, through the neglect of these publie * Herodot. in Terpsicore. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. viL Joseph, contra Apion. Tacit. Annal. zL etc. t Josephos contra Apion. 30 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.M. 2706. registers, preserved by tradition only ; and that in after periods, when the Greeks, in imitation of other poHte nations of an- tiquity, began to cultivate history, they committed these relations, such as they found them, to writing ; but unable to trace the precise periods of these transactions, they gave them the best form they could. Our history will, however, I think to uni- versal satisfaction, clear up these difficul- ties, and prove that even tradition itself in history is not to be despised. We see the two brothers, Agenor and Belus agree to separate ; Belus marries the King of Egypt's daughter, and settles there, while Agenor remains in Phoenice. Can any thing come nearer to the relations by our historians of Niulus, the second son of Phaenius, settling in Egypt, and marry- ing the daughter of Pharaoh, and of his elder brother's ruling in Phoenicia ? We see even the names of Phaenius and Niulus preserved also by them, though misplaced by gross anachronism ! Cadmus, too, is made brother to Phaenius, though it is manifest that he flourished near three hun- dred years after ! Thus the traditions of the remote Greeks are in the main founded in truth, and the glory of illustrating them reserved for Irish historians. Phaenius, the inventor of letters, was born, A. M. 1850 ; his second son Niulus settled in Egypt A. M. 1941, and Sru, great-grand- son to Niulus, with his people, quitted Egypt A. M. 2046, twenty-three years after the vocation of Abraham, according to the Hebrew computation. Every other rela- tion which the Greeks give of these nearly luminaries most wonderfully corresponds with our annals. Nothing can better prove the great antiquity of the era in question, than the number of letters then promulga- ted, which consisted by universal consent of but sixteen, and in our alphabet at this day we have but seventeen. These orig- inal letters, by the consent of Pliny, Euse- bius, Plutarch, etc., were the following : ^, B, r, J, J?, H, /, K, A, M, N, O, 77, R, 2, T, every letter of which we possess, except the H ; and indeed, durst I venture an opinion on this head, it would be that the H was not one of these original letters. In the rude state of languages it were ab- surd to suppose six vowels in sixteen let-" ters ; but that one of these should be a short, and the other a long E ought not to be credited ; for the additional E, like the additional O, must have been introduced in the more polished and luxurious state of the language. Instead of the long E, I judge the T must have been substituted, it being a letter absolutely necessary in every state of a language. This being granted, and I think a most just concession, we shall clearly see that the early Greek letters, which they called Phoenician,* to distinguish them from the additional ones afterwards introduced, and those used by us at this day are the same ; for I am sat- isfied that our alphabet originally consisted of but sixteen letters, the F being a mani- fest interpolation of later times, the P an- swering every purpose for which it is used, except its total aspiration. But before we proceed further, and to be certain of the ground we go on, it is highly proper to advert to some very spe- cious modem objections to the voice of antiquity, on the small number of the orig- inal Greek letters. Messrs. Le Clercf and GoguetJ seem to ridicule this opinion, and to laugh at the accounts of the additional letters of Palemedes, of Simonides, and of Epicharmus. For, say they, all these let- ters must have been adopted at the same time ; because original Greek words, as old as the very language itself, cannot nor could not be wrote without these supposed additional letters. But when these gentle- men shall be instructed, that there is at this day a nation in Europe (I mean Ire- land) whose entire alphabet consists but of seventeen letters, and that very many words cannot be pronounced by these let- ters, without changing their sound, which is produced by an auxiliary H after, or a dot (•) over such consonant, what will be come of their objections ? And yet had * Heredot. in Terpsicore. t Bibl. Choifl. torn. ii. p. 39. \ L'Origin des Loix, des Arts, et des Sciences, torn iv. p. 68. A. M. 2706.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 31 we not so glaring a proof to the contrary, I own I think it hard that the evidence of all antiquity should be rejected by plausi- ble cavils of modem skeptics ! For want of fixing with precision the time of Cadmus's introducing letters into Greece, many mistakes have happened. The very learned Jones* is greatly at a loss to account for Cadmus's alphabet hav- ing but sixteen letters ; whereas, (says he,) in the days of Moses, who preceded him, (Cadmus,) the Hebrews had then twenty- two ! It, however, appears evident by our annals, that Cadmus was prior to Moses by above four centuries ; after which pe- riod, it is not improbable but that the Phoe- nicians might have augmented their alpha- bet; while the first emigrants and their posterity, even to this day, religiously pre- served the pure original one. It appears from history, that not only the Greeks, but most European nations, borrowed from us their alphabet. Wormius tells us, his * De Studio vene Theolog. p. 296. countrymen's alphabet was called Ira-Letiu*, or Irlandorum Literae ;* and to this day the Germans, and all the northern nations call a letter Buchtat, and Bogstav, which names are accounted for, because every letter of our alphabet is the name of some particu- lar tree. The early Britons and Cornish adopted our letters, and after them the Saxons. Nay, the northern Scots, who still speak and write the Irish, like all these others we have mentioned, in time changed their alphabet, for the one now generally received, and freely adopted all its letters ; while the Irish, steadfast and immovable, never suffered the least innovation in theirs ! But besides the small number of letters in our alphabet, the ancient order in which they were placed, differing from that of all other nations, is a still greater proof of their originality and of their antiquity. The Phoenician letters of the Greeks, and the Irish, in their original order, will appear in the next chapter. * Li terse Runicae, cap. 5. CHAPTER V. The Cadmean letters of the Greeka and the Irish, in their original ordef— The Greeks supposed to possess an occult manner of writing— Figure of the Irish Ogham— Proofs and reasons offered to show that the Gadehan colony were the first reformers of Greece. The Beth-Luis-Nion, or Letters. Irish Letters. Name. The Phoenician, Letters. or Greek Letters. Name. hb Beith. *,i? Beta. %l Luis. A,i, Lambda. Kn Nuin. N,v Nu. ftp S,f bA Poth. Sail. Duir. Phi. Sigma. Delta. ^>ir Tinne. ^y^ Tail. Co tU/ttt Colt. Muin. Gort Kappa. Mu. Gamma. R.i*' Ruis. Py(f Rho. 0,0 Ailim. On. A, a OyO Alpha. Omicron. Uillean. Eadha. Jodha. /, » (probaby the . ancient) Upsilon. Eta. Iota. Besides this alphabet, the early Greeks, we have reason to suspect, had also an occult manner of writing, like our ogham, or sacred character. For Pausanias says, that the coffer of Cypselus, preserved in the city of Elis, had on it inscriptions in old characters, and straight lines. We shall exhibit a scheme of our ogham, corres- pondent with the alphabet ; as it may probably elucidate this remarkable passage of Pausanias. AO A. M. 2706.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 33 In this character the ancient Druids committed their mysteries to writing, and some MSS. are yet preserved in this style. The reader vsdll easily perceive that the letters placed over these different figures, are only for the instruction of learners in this ogham, and not used by adepts in it. Mac Curtin, an hereditary antiquarian, of the county of Clare, about forty years dead, tells us, in his Irish Grammar, that he has met with no less than thirty-two ways of writing this ogham, so common and well known was it even then. The Irish had, besides this, occult manners of writing by fixing on one or two consonants, and form- ing from them a new alphabet. A great pity it is, that they, and other learned na- tions of antiquity, did not study perspicuity in writing, rather than obscurity. The Greeks made use of another manner of writing which they borrowed from the Phoenicians, and called BovsgoqirjSov ; the meaning of which is, ploughing with oxen ; as, like the ridges of a plough, it went in parallel lines from right to left, and fi"om left to right. The Cionn fa Eite, or head of the ridge, and Cor fa Chasem, or reapers' path, still met with in numbers of old Irish parchments, seem» to have been formed on exactly the same plan, and vwote after the same manner; so that we may presume that the early Greeks borrowed this mode of writing also from our ancestors. In old Greek, as well as in old Irish, a single letter stood for an entire word, a cir- cumstance, as far as I know, not to be found in other languages. A, among the Greeks signified greatness, and in Irish it imports a hill, or ascent. The Greek H denoted length, and I supJ)ose E shortness. In Irish, E is understood for wretchedness. The Greek O meant roundness ; in Irish, an ear, also a son. I, in Irish is frequently used for an island, as I CoUum-Cille, or the present Ionia ; it signified also an art, or science. In ancient Greece the laws were recorded in verse, as best retained, hence JV6/tog, which signifies a law, denotes also a song. Not only the antiquities and laws, but the druidical mysteries of the Irish were preserved in verse. If the Greeks had their Isthian and Olympic games, the Irish had theirs also, at Tailtean, in Meath, but I judge with infinite more splendour ; and they continued with us from the earliest periods to the dissolution of the Irish mon- archy in 1175. It was a Greek custom to entertain their guests for many days, before they inquired even their names. Thus Telemachus and his companions were entertained by Mane- laus ; and Paris and his associates remain- ed with him ten days before he inquired who he was. But Cretan hospitality was highly celebrated. In their public assem- blies were two apartments, the first of which was for the entertainment of stran- gers, who were served before the king or his nobles. It is unnecessary to remind our readers that here our ancestors princi- pally resided during their stay in Greece. As to Irish hospitality, it was so celebrated as to become proverbial. It became an object of state policy, and laws and regu- lations were made by the national council for its conduct. Lands in every part of the kingdom were allotted for its support ; and the beatachs, or keepers of houses of hospitality, were the third order in the state. Each beatach must possess seven tovm lands, each of which comprehended seven plough lands. He was obliged to have seven ploughs at work in the seasons, and to be master of one hundred and twenty herds of cattle, each containing one hundred and twenty cows. He was to have four roads to his house ; a hog, beef and mutton were always to be ready for the traveller and stranger ; and of which houses no less than one thousand eight hundred belonged to the two Munstersl In the present age of Pyrrhonism, all these facts might be well doubted, had we not modem evidences to corroborate them; for Sir John Davis, attorney-general in the reign of James I., in his account of the blessed reforms made in the lands of the Irish, in the counties of Monaghan, Fer- managh, and Cavan, in those precious days, by the inquisition then taken it appeared that the county of Monaghan alone con- tained one hundred balle-beatachs, to the 34 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2706. support of which were allotted by Mac Mahon, lord of the soil, ninety-six thousand acres of land ! Even at this day individ- uals keep up this spirit of hospitality ; and tjijioh reader will be enabled to judge what tM dispositions of our people are, from wfett- is now the practice of the middling and poorer Irish, in Munster andConnaught. Their houses are open for all poor stran- gers. As soon as one enters and places himself by the fire, he looks upon himself and the people look upon him so much as one of the family that he will rise to wel- come the next comer. Whatever the house affords they freely partake of. In some places, in cold wet nights, a door is left open, and a large fire burning for the use of any distressed passengers ! I mention these facts because, in all probability, the very remembrance of them will be forgot by the next generation. Hesychius tell us that Bila in old Greek, signified "HUo; or the sun ; and that in Crete they worshipped this planet under the name of Abelius ; how near to our Bel, or the sun! But besides what has been advanced, we have other evidences to direct us, who these luminaries of the Greeks were ; for Diodorus tells us, that very many words of these people were preserved in the Greek language even to his day, but particularly with regard to their religion. Of this I have given some instances in my Introduction^ and in Dr. O'Brien's Irish Dictionary are many more. The gods of these strangers, he tells us, they called Cabiri, which they worshipped in groves ; and Cohhar is Irish for aid or assistance. In their groves they gave out oracles ; and most probably on the recep- tion of Christieuiity, when Druidism fell into disrepute, the word Cabaire, which before denoted a divine inspiration, was then first applied to signify an idle prating fellow, and as such it stands in our dictionaries at this day. Add to this, that some places in Ireland yet retain the name, as Caraba, near Duljin, etc. He tells us also that the warriors of these strangers were called Curetes ; and Curat is Irish for a knight, a most renowned order of which flourished in Ulster for very many centuries, called Curaithe na Craocbh-ruadh, or Knights of the Red-branch. Plato in Cratyl. tells us, that the sun, moon, and stars, were the deities of the first reformers of Greece ; and in a former chapter we have so abun- dantly proved this worship to be that of our ancestors, that it would be but mere tautology to say more on that head here. Not only the Greeks, but most other ancient writers, among whom is Josephus, are unanimous, that the Phoenician Cadmus was the first improver of Greece. We have not, however, from Irish history any records of this name. It appears that the conductors of the Gadelian colony from Egypt to Greece were Sru, and his son Heber. That Sru must have had more children cannot be doubted ; and that the next to the heir of the crown was the high- priest, who was also chief of the literati, we know was a rule observed by our ances- tors from the days of the great Phaenius. Cadmus, I suppose — ^nay, I must conclude — was a second son of Sru, and of course filled his station ; and as it was a constant custom to bestow on our ancestors some epithet expressive of their greatest talents, so it is more than probable that they called this prince Cadmus, or the first adviser or instructor, from Cead first, and Meas ad- vice, in commemoration of his having first advised, instructed, and reformed these people. CHAPTER VI. History of the Hyperborean island — Ireland the country alluded to — Of Abaris the Hyperborean — Great lights thrown on these relations — Objec- tions to them removed. Having, I flatter myself, proved, in as clear a manner as the nature of the inquiry will admit of, that our ancestors were the first reformers and improvers of Greece, and having from this investigation deter- mined some controverted points in Grecian chronology, as well as illustrated some fabulous and obscure parts of their history, and also demonstrated that this country A.M. 2706.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 35 was well known to their early poets, I shall now show that their remote historians were well acquainted with these facts, not- withstanding the hyperbole of which these writers were so fond. Aelian tells us,* that Hecateus of Ab- dera, a very ancient writer, compiled the History of the Hyperboreans, which work is also cited in the Scholiast upon ApoUo- nius ; and Diodorus Siculus,t from Heca- teus, gives us the following description of that country. " It is (says he) a large island, little less than Sicily, lying oppo- site the Celtae, and inhabited by the Hyper- boreans. The country is fruitful and plea- sant, dedicated to Apollo, and most of the people priests or songsters. In it is a large grove, and in this a temple of a round form, to which the priests often resort with their harps, to chaunt the praises of their god Apollo. They have a language pecu- liar to themselves ; and some Greeks have been to visit this country, and to present valuable gifts to their temples, with Greek . inscriptions. From this famous island came Abaris to Greece, who was highly honoured by the Delians. They can show the moon very near them, and have disco- vered in it large mountains, and the priests and rulers which preside over their sacred temple they call Boreades." Critics and commentators have formed varieties of conjectures on the above pas- sage, nor are they less agreed in opinion where to fix this Happy island ; and yet the description appears to me so clear, that I only account for these diversities in opinions from want of a well written his- tory of Ireland. It being by Hecateus placed opposite the Celtse, makes it evi- dently in the Atlantic ocean, since Europe was given as a possession to the sons of Japhet, and that no other island can be found to answer its size and description but Ireland; and this likewise evinces, what we have already observed, that the Irish boast their descent from the Scythi- ans, since we now see clearly, that Heca- teus placing these islanders opposite the * De Nat. Anim. lib. ii. cap. i. t Lib. iii. cap. ii. Celtae, shows they were a different people from the Celtae ; these being the descend- ants of Gomer, but the Scythians of Ma- gog. And here I will introduce some other proofs of the early Greeks' know- ledge of this distinction. Suidas, under the word Abaris, tells us very particularly, that this famous priest came from Scythia to Greece, and from thence to the Hyper- borean Scythians. From this account it is very singular, that he makes the Hyper- boreans a Scythian colony; a distinction which we have always made : " Scoti fumus, non Galli," was the answer of our ancestors to such as attempted to make them and the Gauls one people ! and here we must indeed with astonishment remark, how wonderfully our history elucidates the above otherwise seemingly obscure pas- sages, which could not be possibly made but by a people among whom a memory of our antiquities remained ! We see, then, by Hecateus, that this Hyperborean island was fruitful and pleas- ant, and, on account of its temperature, de- dicated to Apollo ; and this is confirmed by Pindar, who calls them — ^afiof ' YnegSogeav ^yinoXhavog QiganovTa — "the servants of the Delphic god," whose country he assures us, was — Xdova Ilvoiag onidev Boqia " a land placed beyond the chilling northern blast." And Callimachus calls them 'leqov rdvoc, or the sacred nation ! Herodotus, too, who is sometimes called the father and prince of historians, tells us,* that on account of their humanity and goodness they were held as sacred by all their neighbours. How well Ireland, even at this day, an- swers these encomiums, notwithstanding the inexpressible hardships which her ancient children have long groaned under, need not be told ; how much better it did in days of justice and sound legislation, the following picture of it, drawn about one thousand four hundred years ago, by D.onatus, Bishop of Tiesoli, near Florence, will show ; — Finibus Occidais, describitur optima tellas Nomine et Antiquis, Scotia scripta libris. Insula Dives Opum Gemmarum, vestis, et Auri : Commoda Corporibua Aire, Sole, Solo. * Lib. iv. seu Melpomene. 36 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2706. Melle flait polchris, et lacteis Scotia Cam^is Vestibufl, atque Armis, frugibus, Arte, vins. Ursorum, Rabies nulla est ibi ; sacra leonum Seraina, nee unquam Scotica terra tulit. Nulla Yenena nocent, nee Serpens serpit in herbi ; Nee conquesta Canit, garrula rana lacu ; In qu& Scotorum Grentes, habitare merentur : Indtyta Grens Hominum, Milite, Pace, Fide ! A great mistake has, however, risen from the name given by Hecateus to this island, it being supposed from it to imply a northern people; hence some modems have placed it under the arctic pole, and beyond the Riphsean mountains ; yet though the later ancients seemed to consider the meaning of the word in this sense, it is nevertheless very curious that they still considered Ireland as the country alluded to. Hence they have supposed it is called Hibemia, ab Hibemo Acre, from its cold- ness ; and this will explain why Claudian in his panegyric on Stilichon, tell us, that, Scotonun Cumulus flevit Olaeialit leme ; and in another line in the same poem, where he mentions the numbers of Irish who invaded Britain at that time — Fregit Hyperboreat, remis Audacibus Undas ! from which we may safely affirm, that when even a knowledge of the nature of the climate was lost, still a remembrance of the people alluded to imder this title was preserved. Indeed the analysis of the word will plainly prove, that Hecateus meant by it a country peculiarly blessed by nature (' Ynsg BoQiuv) beyond the northern blasts, or out of their reach. Thus Or- pheus called it ^Uqve, or the Holy Island ; Homer, Ogygia, or the most Ancient Island; Solon and Plato, Atlantis, or ex- celling all other islands in that immense ocean ; and Hecateus, Hyperborea, or the most temperate of islands ! all poetical and figurative appellations, and all evidently alluding to the same country. By the large grove in which they wor- shipped, and their temple being circular, we clearly see the Druid rites pointed at, and the circular stone pillars in these groves, of which many are yet to be seen, and some so near to Limerick as Bruflf. He says, most of the people were priests or songsters. That there were vast num- bers of the first, we may judge from the great number of religious here in the dawn of Christianity; insomuch that then, and for many centuries after, they were more active in planting the new doctrine abroad, than all the rest of Europe combined. As to their bards, no nation ha the world in- dulged them more than the Irish. Every family had one or more; every general was attended in the field by his bard ; every prince had a number ; lands were allotted to them by the states. In all wars and dissensions, their houses, their persons, and their effects were inviolate ; they were exempt from public taxation, and any other hardship which might seem to clog or re- strain their genius. These great privileges at length induced so many idlers to enlist under their banners, that, in one or two instances, the state wisely reduced their number, but never attempted to suppress the order. As to music, the ancient Irish excelled all others in it. Cambrensis him- self bestows the greatest applause to their powers in harmony ; and as for the harp, need I say more on it than this, that they became so fond of it as to make it the arms of Leinster. As to the Greek inscriptions, many such, as well as Hebrew ones. Sir James Ware acknowledges to have met, and numbers still are dispersed through the kingdom. Their being able to bring the moon near to them, and show In it many mountains, plainly points out the use of the telescope, and highly illustrates the account we have already given of the Tor Breogan, and of the knowledge of the ancients. Abaris, says Hecateus, came from the Hyperboreans to visit Greece ; and though a barbarian in dress, as Himerus the Sophist (apud Photium, p. 1136) observes, yet he spoke Greek with so much eloquence, that you would have thought you had heard an orator in the midst of the Lyceum. Now it is certain that the dress of the Scythians as described, exactly agreed with our an- cient one ; and as he was highly celebrated for his great skill in divination, one of the A. M. 3706.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 37 excellences of our ancient Druids, and that his name is pure Irish and peculiar to this country, I think it gives the highest proof to the whole relation, for Heber has been from the earliest times a name peculiar to our princes and great men. Heber-Scot led the Phoenician colony from Greece to Scythia ; several others of the name were his successors. Heber was the first mon- arch in Ireland of the Milesian race. An- other of the name preceded St. Patrick in the Irish mission, and even refused to ac- knowledge Patrick as apostle of Ireland for a time ; for, says the great primate Usher,* **lbarus vero nulla ratione consentire S. Patricio, neque et subjectus esse voluit. Nolebat enim patronum HiBERNiiE de alia gente habere ; Patricius enim de gente Bri- tonum natus est." See then how easy the converting the name Heber into Abaris ! We have no records in Irish history to determine at what time this famous embassy of Abaris occurred ; and the Greeks by no means agree as to the period. Without entering too minutely into an inquiry so little interesting, we may, I think, safely affirm that it must have been at a very early date. Vossius,t who seemed to be- stow no small time and trouble to settle this matter, places him before the days not only of Pythagoras but even of Solon. " Antiqui omnes (says he,) de Abari a loquuntior, ut non Pythagora modo, sed Solon etiam an- tiquior." If this be admitted — and indeed I think it ought — ^we may be better enabled to explain Solon's account of the famous Atlantic island ; which might probably be preserved by the Athenians, with whom it is known Abaris long resided, and that in Egypt this legislator might have continued his inquiries after these famous islanders. But after all that has been said, it may justly be demanded, if the ancient Irish were these extraordinary luminaries so celebrated by antiquity, but particularly by the early Greeks, how can this be reconciled to the picture given of them by their successors ? Strabo tells us that the Irish were the most abominable and detestable of people ; * Britan. Eccles. Antiq. p. 801. t De Poet Grsec. cap. 3. that they devoured human flesh, even that of their parents, committed incest, etc.* Among the Latins, Mela and Solinus are equally severe in the short accounts they have left of this people. But the account they give of the country itself is the best defence of its inhabitants ; for they tell us, it is cold, bleak, and inhospitable, scarce afibrding trees or vegetation, much less milk or honey ! However celebrated the Greeks may have been at a remote period for commerce and navigation, yet it is certain after their conquest by the Romans, they were no longer considered in that light. Indeed the Carthaginians, possessing all the avidity for commerce and gain of their Phoenician an- cestors, seemed to have monopolized the most considerable part of the then trade of Europe, as indeed they did of the rest of the world. Nor does it appear that the Romans themselves, after the destruction of Carthage, gave much attention to com- merce ; nay, so little did they know even of Britain, notwithstanding Caesar's con- quest of it, and the different Roman generals who afterwards governed there, that it was not till the reign of Domitian that they ob- served it to be an island ! So little informed of a country in their possession for more than a century, we must not be surprised if subsequent writers grossly misrepresented a nation the avowed enemies of Rome. Instructed that every thing should submit to Roman power, they represented what- ever opposed this darling opinion in the most unfavourable light If the ancient Irish were the savage nation these writers describe them to be, we should be able to trace some remains of it. But even at this day, though doubled by the hard hands of oppression and tyranny^ the very common people display more innate virtue, bravery, and hospitality, than those of any other nation of Europe ! But we shall be less surprised at this ac- count from these writers when we reflect on the treatment we have received from British writers, even in this enlightened age. We see our historians have affirmed that * Lib. ii. 38 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2706. the Welch are the descendants of our Breo- tan, as the people of Devon and Cornwall are of our Tuatha da Danaans, and the Brigantes from Breogan grand-father to Milesius. The Venerable Bede extols in the highest manner the learning, sanctity, and munificience of the Irish nation, and acknowledges that by them the Saxons were converted to Christianity and in- structed in letters. Nor is Camden less diffusive in his acknowledgment of the bounty and humanity of our ancestors ; yet this Camden, the moment he enters upon that part of their history in which they oppose English tyranny and oppression, de- clares them a cruel and barbarous people, though still adhering to the same laws and customs which made them so conspicuous in times of freedom and independence ! Nor have subsequent British writers blush- ed at pouring out the most illiberal and un- just abuses on our country and her gallant sons. This being the case with the South Britons, what shall I say of their northern neighbours? This people, though con- fessedly an Irish colony, protected and sup- ported by the mother country in times of distress, and at length, through her means, arriving at the supreme command of that country — the Irish the vernacular tongue through the whole state two or three cen- turies ago, and still the language of one half — vet North British writers have, with- in a century past, been even, if possible, more scurrilous and severe than their south- em neighbours. Thus much I hope will suffice for an eternal answer to all the arguments drawn from Strabo, Mela, and Solinus. CHAPTER VII. Mistakes of later Irish writers with respect to the voyages of their ancestors — The names of places and passages still so well preserved as to point out the exact line — Their landing in Cyprus — The fable and name of the Syrens explained — Settle- ment in Getulia before the days of Joshua — Called a Scythian colony — Of Carthage — Retire to Galicia — Of the ancient Brigantium, and the Spanish histoiy of it. From the landing of the Gadehan colony in Phoenicia, the seat of their ancestors^ till the final quitting it by their successors, affording us no opportunity of illustrating ancient history or chronology, we shall pass by, but shall pay a proper attention to their expeditions from thence to their final dere- liction of Spain. Having constantly in their thoughts the Scythian origin of the Irish nation, our senachies, or antiquarians, have fallen into great mistakes in their manner of conduct- ing them from this Scythia to Spain. That the descendants of Magog by degrees ex- tended themselves over almost illimitable tracts of ground both in Europe and Asia cannot be doubted ; but at the very early period of which we now speak, it were absurd to suppose them numerous enough for such extension. Yet our later writers, though treating of times so remote, kept still before their eyes the interior seats which their successors many centuries after possessed, and thus, by false reasoning and false geography, brought them into Europe by ways impassable : to prove this, I only refer to Dr. Keating, who has taken un- common pains to prove the practicability of these wonderful travels. But while they have so grossly mistaken the voyages which the Gadelian emigrants pursued, it is very singular that they never once attempted to alter or corrupt the names of the different places, which the earlier and better informed writers tell us our ancestors landed at in their passage to Spain, and by this means have enabled us with precision AT THIS DAY to determine them. And first, we are told they landed in the island of Cherena, where they remained a year and nine months, in which time two of their chiefs died. Now it is very singular, and proves in the highest degree the exactness of these very early relations, to find, by Josephus,* and other ancient writers, that the old name of Cyprus was Cherine, and this of course proves that their passage was through the Mediterranean. Here follow more proofs. After quitting Cherena, and being tossed about the seas for a consider- * Lib. i. cap. 6. A. M. 2706.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 39 able time, they prepared oblations to Nep- tune, and consulted the oracles through their chief-priest, Caicer, to know where they should direct their course ; and he di- rected them to the most western part of the world. Soon after this, we are sur- prised with the relation of a dangerous pas- sage, occasioned by the artful notes of sy- rens and sea-nymphs, which, by lulling the people to sleep, endangered the safety of the whole fleet, and to prevent the effects of which, by the advice of Caicer, their ears were stuflfed close with wax. This clearly alludes to their sailing by Sicily, a passage, by the consent of all the an- cients, deemed highly dangerous. Some have endeavoured to account for the origin of the fable of the syrens from the number of caverns on the adjacent shores, and the different vibrations and passages of the winds producing a strange kind of melody, not unlike the iEolian harp. It is agreed that the fable of the syrens is Phcenician as well as the name. Should we derive this last from the Irish, sigh, a fairy, abh- ran, (aran,) a song, it will support the as- sertion ; and should we advance that this relation gave rise to the fable, I persuade myself it may be well defended. Not only Scylla and Charybdis, but the Syrtes on the African coast were very formidable to the ancients. The stopping the people's ears with wax, for fear of their being lulled to sleep by the voice of these syrens, was an excellent expedient to prevent any part of the crews of the different ships from sleeping till they cleared these dangerous coasts. This was a politic and simple ex- pedient : soon after which we read of their safe arrival in Getulia. From what has been delivered in the two preceding chapters, it has, I think, been clearly proved that the verj^ early Greeks were well acquainted with the history of these voyages and conquests of our ances- tors, though we see, according to their man- ner, immersed in fable and invention. We may from thence presume that they fur- nished Homer with the ground- work of his Odyssey, as well as Orpheus with that of the Argonauts ; since both of them send their heroes towards Ireland, a country seemingly very remote from the scenes of their heroes. Jason, (this last tells us,) with his followers, sailed by it ; and Homer, after a passage of ten days, reposes his hero in it, with Calypso. The relation of Ulysses's passing by Sicily is highly im- proved from the original, and most poet- ically embellished by the bard. Upon the whole, it appears to me that this relation of our ancestors is a most valuable piece of antiquity, not only with respect to Irish history, but with regard to the wonderful light it throws on the remote histories of other nations, infinitely more so. The country in which these emigrants arrived after the above passage, though supposed by our antiquarians to be (Goth- land, yet we find it in all the old MSS. spelled Gaothluighe Mheadhonacha. This Gaothluighe by no means, as the learned O'Flaherty observes, corresponds in sound with Gothia. It is evident, then, it must be the Getulia bordering on Carthage, whose inhabitants in the days of Dido, Virgil thus describes : — Hinc Getulae gentes genus insuperabile Bello. The learned Heylin is positive (and he pro- duces his authorities) that Carthage was a flourishing Phoenician colony long before the sacking of Troy;* but what is still more to our purpose, we are told that No- nus, a Greek poet, (from authorities which have been long since lost,) asserts that Cad- mus made a successful expedition into this part of Africa ;t and this, by the bye, is a further proof from the early Greeks of our history. It is agreed upon by all writers that, in the days of Joshua, numbers of Canaanites fled from his sword to Africa ; however, if credit is to be given to our his- tories — and I think none deserve more — it is evident that it was peopled by our ad- venturers at a much earlier period than the days of Joshua. Numidia Proper is called by many ancient writers Terra Metagoni- tis. May we not then presume that the Getulia of our ancestors was called in these * Cosmograph. lib. iv. p. 879. t Universal Hist. vol. xvi. p. 558, octavo. ,.,-;4>'-.., 40 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.M. 2706. early days Getulia Metagonitis ? We have seen how exactly our Cherena and the Cherine, or Cyprus, of Josephus agree, as well as our name of Letania, in the days of St. Patrick, with the ancient one of Brittany. By admitting this as the ancient name of the territory in question, it will prove still fuller the accuracy of our early geographers. Had we not the collateral evidences of Josephus,* and of D'Argen- tre,f with regard to the ancient names of Cyprus and Brittany, it would not make the relations of our early writers less true in themselves, however doubted by the critic, and the reflection that Numidia Proper was also called Terra Metagonitis is a sanction to the Gaothluighe Mheadhonachuagh of our ancestors being by ancient geographers called Getulia Metagonitis. It being the voice of antiquity that both Carthage and Numidia were very early in- habited by Phoenician colonies, and no two writers agreeing in the time of these set- tlements — the records of these flourishing states being long since destroyed by the Romans — " whose, virtue, generosity of soul, and love of truth, thought proper to deny to posterity such information," — as the writers of the Universal History re- mark,J should we not gladly embrace any reasonable account that might help to set us right in these inquiries? Such is the one before us, of a PhoBnician colony ar- riving in Africa about A. M. 2279, forming a regular settlement, and there residing for nearly three hundred years ; and the wri- ters of the Universal History think it prob- able that long before the days of Joshua, Phoenicians settled in Africa! The Car- thaginian colony have been by ancient writers called Sidonians ; and we now see with what justice, since they must have settled there long before the building of Tyre. Pliny and Mela tell us that Cirta, the capital of the Terra Metagonitis, or Numidia Proper, was also called Sittian- orum Colonia ; but this name is explained by supposing it so called from a colony * Lib. i. cap. 6. i Histoire de Bretagne. t Vol. xvii. p. 12, octavo. settled there by P. Sittius.* The candid reader, will, however, naturally suppose that the GadeUan emigrants must have greatly increased in two hundred and eighty years, and, being a commercial, as well as a warlike people, that they might have planted colonies, hence Sittianorum, or rather Scytianorum Colonia ; for had it been so called from this P. Sittius, it would be more properly named Sittii Colonia, not Sittianorum. The names of places an- swering exactly to the ancient Irish lan- guage strengthen these conjectures. Cirta, the capital of Numidia, was so called as being the chief city ; cathair is Irish for a city. From this Cirta we learn that Car- thage took its name, as it was a younger city ; the adjunct oghe is Irish for a maid or virgin. The plain surrounding Car- thage was called Magaria ; mugh is Irish for a plain, and arbhar (arar) com. So that from this, we should conclude that Magaria was not a part of the city, but a territory annexed to it for the supply of the citizens, so as not to lie exposed to the caprice of the native Africans. The cita- del built by Dido was called Byrsa ; bir is Irish for water, hence Birra, in King's County, was so called on account of the number of springs about it. So that we reasonably suppose that this fortress was surrounded by water, and which, we shall see was the first security given to such places in Ireland. Byrsa, then, may be rendered from the Irish language, shielded BY WATER, from bir, water, and seigh, a shield. In fine, the harbour of Carthage was called Cohon, and cuan is Irish for harbour. And here let me once for all re- mark, that etymologies in general should be very cautiously admitted, as in them- selves of no great force in forming induc- tions from ancient history; nor should I produce them so often on this and other occasions, but that I am first warranted hy the evidence of history. After remaining in Getulia for eight generations, the Gadelian colonists were led forth to make new settlements under the conduct of Bratha, and, after a long * Univ. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 543, octavo. A. M. 2706,] HISTORY OF IRELAND 41 coasting voyage, they at length cast anchor in the Bay of Corunna, in GaUcia, where they made an immediate lodgment, and soon after a regular settlement. The capi- tal, which, after Breogan, the son of Bra- tha, they called Cathair Breoguin, we see the Romans afterwards denominated Bri- gantium. From this Roman name some have imagined Brigantium a Roman col- ony ; but we here see it was founded long before Rome had an existence. Breogan himself built a pharos, which after him was called Tor Breogan, or Breogan's Tower; and besides a direction to shipping it served as an observatory, in which both reflect- ing and refracting glasses were deposited. To suppose the ancients ignorant of the use of such glasses, would be to give the lie to all antiquity;* our ancestors, as a maritime people, must have been particu- larly attached to the study of astronomy. Hecateus confessed that by means of glas- ses, they could bring the moon seemingly very near them. Our own writers have asserted that by their use they first dis- covered the Irish coasts — some indeed have said from this famous pharos — but that must be understood as the descrying ships at a great distance in sailing from thence. But that this relation upon the whole must have had a foundation in truth, I collect from the following. Ludovicus Nonius tells us, "that the Flavium Brigan- tium of the ancients is the modem Corunna ; and that the natives affirm Hercules to be the founder of it, as well as of the tower, on the top of which, by wonderful art, a reflecting glass was placed, by which ves- sels at sea and at a great distance might * Origin of Discoveries attribated to the Modems. 6 be easily seen."* It is true he ridicules the story, affirming that ignorance of lan- guage gave rise to the mistake, and that invention supplied the rest; specula (says he) which is Latin for a tower, they rend- ered into speculum — ^^Nam cum Turris ilia Specula dicatur. Speculum illud, miran- dum sine opifice uUo confinxere." But I think the explication will not make in favour of Nonius ; since those who had Latin enough to know that speculum signified a reflecting mirror, could not mistake specula for any thing else than a tower ; besides, here is Irish history to confirm both the history and tradition of the country. Such relations as this are far firom being rare in ancient history. We are told that, by means of a mirror placed on the Colossus at Rhodes, ships going to Syria and Egypt could be easily descried. Who has not heard of Archimedes's burning-glasses, by which he set fire to the Roman fleet? or of another recorded by Leo,t erected on a round tower at Alexandria by one of the Ptolemies, which, upon being uncovered before the sun, could burn ships at a dis- tance. So that we may affirm that our senachies were well authorized to declare that glasses were used in the Tor Breogan, and that Ireland was first seen by some of them, brought for that purpose by Ith, in his voyage thither. And to justify the arts and sciences they brought with them here, we have only to remind our reader that Milesius, in his expedition to Phoenicia and Egypt, had in his retinue twelve youths of the greatest abilities, to be instructed in the arts, learning, and manufactures of PhcEnicia and Egypt. * In Hispan. p. 196. t Descrip. Afric. p. 356. I BOOK III. CHAPTER [. Ith lands in Ireland to explore the country — Is ap- pointed umpire between its princes, and is highly caressed — Suspected for a spy — Is attacked and mortally wounded, and most of his party cut off —The remainder return to Spain. We observed in chapter the third of the last book that in a solemn council held in the Tor Breogan, by the sons of Milesius, it was unanimously resolved by them to invade Ireland with all their power, and to subdue the country; and that Ith was first to proceed on discoveries, and to make remarks on the strength of the na- tives, their different positions, and the best place for landing troops. Accordingly, early in the next year, in a stout large ship, well equipped for such an expedition, with one hundred and fifty select men com- manded by his son Luaghaidh, besides the crew to work her, he set sail from Brigan- tium or Corunna, with a fair wind for Ire- land, and, after coasting the country, he at length landed at a place called Daire-Cal- gach, (the present Derry,) in the north. My reason for determining this the place of landmg is, because the people on inquiry, told me that the Danaan princes, who then ruled Ireland, were at Oileach Neid, not far distant. Now this was a very ancient palace of the kings of Ulster, in the penin- sula of Inis-oen, probably the Tor Conn- ing of the Africans, and not fax from Derry. After landing his troops, he imme- diately sacrificed to Neptune, the favourite marine god of his people. For, as we before observed, the very name is Irish, from naoph, or naomh^ sacred, and ton, a wave. The omens were not propitious, but he was not to be discouraged. Num- bers of the inhabitants went out on his landing to know who this adventurer was, and what his business. He immediately answered them in the Irish language, that he and they were from one common stock, being both the descendants of Magog; that distress of weather and want of provisions threw him on their coast ; and that the laws of afiinity as well as of hospitality pleaded in his cause and that of his fol- lowers. Here we see to demonstration the Mile- sian adventurers well acquainted with the country, its inhabitants, and their ancestry; and probably corresponded privately with the oppressed Belgae, who certainly assist- ed them afterwards. We also find them speaking the same language ; nor is there in history a fact better ascertained than this, notwithstanding the flippant assertions of some modems, who will, on their bare authorities, have it, that all the colonies, previous to the Milesian expedition, came from Brit£iin. Ith and his attendants were invited into the country ; and in this excursion he took care to inform himself very minutely of every thing necessary for him to know. Being told that the three sons of Cearmada Moir-bheoil, who then jointly ruled Ireland, were at Oileach-Neid in order to agree about an equal partition of the crown jew- els, he resolved to pay his respects to these princes. To this purpose he waited on them at the head of one hundred of his men ; and conducted himself before them with such discretion and wisdom that they agreed to make him umpire between them — for it was apprehended that this dispute would end in a civil war. In the distribu- tion of these jewels he displayed such re- A.M. 2735.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 43 gard to justice and impartiality, that the brothers became quite reconciled to each other and highly pleased with him. Upon taking his leave he strongly recommended a lasting love and union among them, ex- tolling to the skies the beauty, and fertility, and temperature of the clime, he wondered how princes blessed with the rule of such a country could harbour any thing in their breasts but joy and festivity. After his departure they began to reflect on the high encomiums he bestowed on the country. They were no doubt sufficiently informed by him of the situation of his own people in Spain ; and from these and other suspicious circumstances — probably his tampering with the Belgae — ^they became convinced that his landing in Ireland, and exploring the country so closely, and with such a large body of men, must proceed from very different motives to those he as- signed, in short, that he came as a spy ; and that if he returned, he would make such a report as would induce his friends on the continent to invade the country. They therefore judged their security de- pended on cutting him off with his whole party, before they reached their ship. This resolution was no sooner taken than put in execution. Mac Cuill, or Eathoir, was immediately despatched with one hundred and fifty chosen men to cut off his retreat. Better acquainted with the country, he soon overtook Ith and his party, and directly commenced the attack. But Ith judging, that if he formed for a regular engage- ment, his whole party would be cut off by fresh troops pouring in, made dispositions for a retreat, which he continued as well as he could till he came near his ship. Here he made a desperate attack upon the enemy; but nothwithstanding his intre- pidity, and that of his followers, after the loss of the flower of his troops, and himself mortally wounded, with great difliculty the remains of his shattered troops retreated to their ship, carrying their general with them. The plain where this battle was fought was from him called Mugha Ith, or the Defeat of Ith. Under the command of his son Lughaidh, they proceeded for Spain, and in theic passage several of the wounded died, as did Ith himself, but his body was preserved till they landed at Brigantium. Here it was carried on shore in great funeral pomp, and exposed to the view of his friends and kinsmen, the better to excite their pity and resentment. Lughaidh then gave an ample detail of the country he left, and the different inhabitants of it, assuring them of the certain success that must at- tend on their arms in this expedition, from their own known bravery, and from the supports they would find there. There needed not further inducements to a people already determined on invading Ireland; but they solemnly vowed to sacrifice the three sons of Cearmada to the manes of the- renowned hero Ith. CHAPTER II. The Milesians prepare to invade Ireland — Namesr of the principal leaders in this expedition — Land in Kerry — Consent to re-embark and put to sea — The loss they sustained in re-landing — Attacked by the Danaans in their intrenchments, and re- pulse them — Advance into Meath, and engage the whole Danaan army, which they defeat with great slaughter, and possess themselves of the country. The sons of Milesius stimulated by glory, by revenge, and by conquest, were inde- fatigable in their preparations for the Irish expedition. Every thing being now in readiness, with a large and well-appointed fleet, consisting, says the Book of Inva- sions,* of seventy-five ships, transports in- cluded, with a large body of select troops on board, under the command of forty cap- tains of approved intrepidity, they set sail from Brigantium. The Book of Munster does not specify the number of ships em- ployed on this occasion,! content to observe it was a large fleet. Bruodin makes the number of ships to be sixty-eight,J Mac Geoghegan sixty,|| and the Leabhar Lecan. (fol. 28) one hundred and fifty ! From the * Gabliail Clana Mile. t Psailter CashioL t Propngnact, lib. v. cap. 9. Il Histoire d'Irlande, p. 68. 44 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2735. whole we may conclude it a respectable fleet at any time, but a very great one at such a period as the present The names of these different leaders have been care- fully preserved in our annals, and we shall mention them, as many considerable places in the kingdom yet commemorate them. These were the sons of Milesius : Donn and Aireach, born in Phoenicia ; Heber- fionn and Amhergin, bom in Egypt ; and Ir, Colpa, Aranann, and Heremon, bom in Spain. The sons of Breogan, grandfather to these princes, who attended this expedi- tion, were Breagha, who gave the name of Magh-Breagha to his settlement in Meath ; Cuala, from whom Sliabh Cuala ; Cualgne gave name to Sliabh Cualgne, in the county of Down ; from Bladh was Sliabh Blama, in Leinster, called; from Fuadh, Sliabh Fuadh ; Muirtheimhne gave name to that plain so famous for the defeat and death of the renowned Cucullain, in the county of Down ; Nare to Ros Nare ; Eibhle to Sliabh Eibhle, in Munster ; Lughaidh, grand- son to Breogan, to Correa-Luidhe, in the county of Cork. The four sons of Heber were Er, Dorba, Fearon, and Feargna ; and the four sons of Heremon were Muimhne, Luighne, Laighne, and Palp. The other ctommanders were Buas, Breas, Buaighne, Fulman, Mantan, Caicer, Suirge, En, Un, Eatan, Sobhairce, Seadna, Goistean, Bille, Lui. Besides these were many ladies of the first quality, among others Scota, the widow of Milesius ; and many noble Span- iards who went as volunteers on this oc- casion. The first land they made was Kerry; and here it was agreed, in council, that the troops under the command of Heber should land, while those under his brother Here- mon should sail to and disembark on the Leinster coasts, the more to distract and divide the enemy. Their landing was ef- fected at Inbher Sceine, now the Bay of Bantry, and which was so called from Sceine, the wife of Amhergin, who was here drowned. From thence they marched to Sliabh-mis, where they encamped. Here, on consultation, they agreed to send am- bassadors to the ruling princes of Ireland, requiring their speedy submission, other- wise denouncing against them war with all its horrors ; and, as on such occasions per- sons of the first quality were always chosen, Amhergin, the chief-priest, was by his bro- thers appointed for this embassy. Attended by some noblemen of the first quality, Amhergin announced the business of this embassy to the sons of Cearmada. These princes, after consultation, returned for answer, that they had no previous knowledge of this hostile attempt, and of course were not prepared for it; that it was contrary to the rules of war to take them thus by surprise ; but if they would give them proper time to collect their troops, they would then put the fate of the kingdom to the issue of a battle. After much altercation the following terms were agreed to : namely, that Amhergin and his attendants were speedily to return; that their whole forces were to re-embark, and their ships to weigh anchor, and clear the coasts. After which, if they made good their second landing, the Damnonii would deem it an equitable invasion, and either submit or oppose them as they found most convenient. I shall make no comments on this extra- ordinary agreement, but observe to my readers that it was faithfully adhered to by the Milesian chiefs. They conveyed all their troops and provisions on board, and put to sea with their whole fleet When they had all cleared the land, and were fairly in the main ocean, they then tacked about to reach the coasts they had left; but at this very critical time, a violent storm of wind at west arose, owing, say our annals, to the magical powers of the Damnonii. But let that pass as one of the many instances of pitiable credulity in our annalists, though, at the same time, of their great dread to alter the least iota in the national records ; since nothing can be more absurd than recurring to pretematural causes in accounting for facts which we know may happen, and often do happen, as the westerly is a kind of trade-wind on our coasts. The wind increasing, and the want of sufficient sea-room were the sources A. M. 2736.] HISTORY OF* IRELAND. 45 of dreadful calamities. The galley com- manded by Domi ran into the Shannon, and was dashed to pieces beyond the Caahell, at a place which at this day yet retains his name, and every soul on board perished ! Besides this chief, we are par- ticularly told that twenty-four common sol- diers, twelve women, four galley-slaves, fifty select warriors, and five captains, be- ing all on board, shared his fate ! The galley commanded by Er met the same fate on the Desmond coast. The remain- der of this fleet, though much damaged, stood off to sea till the storm abated, and then relanded at Inbher Sceine ; but Arra- nan, a most experienced seamem, in the height of their distress, mounting the mast to secure some sails, which none other had the hardiness to attempt, was, by the vio- lence of the wind, dashed down on the deck, where he died. The place of his in- terment yet goes by the name of Cnoc Ar- ranan, though vulgarly called Cnoc Arrar, bordering on the Shannon, in Kerry. The squadron commanded by Heremon felt part of this storm, though most of them landed safely at Inbher Colpa, or Drogheda, so called from Colpa who perished here, as did likewise Aireach. Thus, by this high point of honour, of the eight sons of Mile- sius five perished in this storm, besides many ladies and captains of special note, and numbers of soldiers. The second landing was effected on the 17th day of the mcmth Bel, or May, and in the year of the world, according to the Hebrew computation, 2736. The troops of Heber immediately took possession of their former camp at Sliabh-mis : nor were the Damnonii in the meantime idle, since we find they collected so considerable a force as to attack his entrenchments the third day after his landing. The attack was long and bloody ; but the Danaans at length gave way to superior courage, hav- ing one thousand of their best troops killed in the trenches. The loss of the Milesians was also considerable ; three hundred brave fellows fell by the sword of the enemy, with two Druids, who animated them by their prayers ; and two ladies, Scota, widow of Milesius, and Fais, wife to Un. The next day the remains of these Amazons were interred vnth great funeral pomp. Scota was buried in a vale, to this day fi-om her called Glean-Scota, near Tralee, where a royal mtHiument was erected to her memory. The beauty of this place has been celebrated by antiquity ; but at present it appears a dreary uncultivated waste, the fatal consequences of depopula- tion and neglect of tillage ! Fais was buried in another valley near Sliabh-mis, which yet retains the name of Glean-Fais. Encouraged by this first defeat of the enemy, the Milesians, in good order, pro- ceeded towards Inbher-Colpa, or Drogheda, to join their associates commanded by He- remon ; and we cannot doubt but that in their route they were joined by many male- contents, but particularly by the Belgae. This junction was happily effected, £uid now united, they sent a^econd summons to the sons of Cearmada to surrender the kingdom, or to appoint a day to put its fate to the issue of the sword. These princes returned a resolute answer, that they would die as they had lived, mcmarchs of Ireland, and that they would meet them on the plains of Tailten, in Meath, where the longest sword and strongest arm should determine the contest. At the time agreed on the two armies met, resolved on victory or death. Their numbers were nearly equal, as were the commanders : the three sons of Milesius, to wit — Heber, Heremon, and Amhergin, headed the in- vaders, while the Damnonii were lead on by the three sons of Ceannada. The fight soon began, and continued with astonishing obstinacy from sunrise even to sunset, as the Book of Invasions notes. The op- posing princes eagerly sought for each other through numbers of wounded and dying enemies. At length they met. The fate of Ireland now, like that of Rome in the days of the Horatii, hung on the swords of these contending brothers ! At length Mac Cuill fell by the hand of Heber-fionn, Mac Ceacht was slain by Heremon, and Mac Greine by Amhergin. The Danaans, deprived of their chiefs, gave way on 46 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2736. every side ; but this had more the air of a regular retreat than a precipitate flight. The victors wisely considering that if the enemy now escaped, it would be the source of fresh devastations, closely, but in good order, pursued them. The Danaans made a gallant effort at Sliabh-Cualgne, so called from Cualgne, the son of Breogan, who fell in this battle ; a second stand they made at Sliabh-Fuadh, so named from Fuadh, bro- ther to Cualgne, who here was slain. But more enraged than intimidated at these checks, the Milesians continued the pur- suit, putting to the sword all the enemy they met, and so effectually broke them, that they were never after able to make the least disturbance in the kingdom ; and such as did not passively submit to the new gov- ernment retired to Britain, possessing them- selves of Devonshire and Cornwall, and carrying with them their name and tongue. Thus after ruling Ireland for one hundred and ninety-five years, under nine princes, were the Danaans completely conquered. From their history it is evident that they were a very learned as well as a warlike people. CHAPTER III. The policy, and humanity with which the Mile- sians treated their new subjects, contrasted with the opposite conduct pursued since the Revolu- tion, and the effects of both — Partition of Ireland by the conquerors, and their attention to its improvement — Heber and Heremon engage in battle, in which Heber is slain. The victorious Milesians by this last battle acquired the sovereignty of the whole island, and their mode of legislation proved them worthy of it. To contrast their con- duct on that occasion, with that pursued by the later Irish, since the Revolution, must be to pay the highest compliment to their justice and sound policy, at the ex- pense of modem times. We hinted in the last chapter that the Milesians were greatly aided in this war by the remains of the Fir-Boigs, or Belgse, and the event proves they were. For we find Criomthan, a man of great consequence among them, appointed to the government of Leinster, where they were most numerous; and it is evident that the Damnonii were still a very powerful people in Ireland, and even governed the province of Connaught, till the middle of the third century! Many noble families from both stocks yet remain in the kingdom, and are often confounded with later people. By this policy, the nation, far from being depopulated, be- came more thickly inhabited. The cruel hand of oppression did not reduce them to despair. They were under no necessity of flying from their fire-sides and household- gods, to seek protection in foreign climes, and fight the battles of the enemies of their country ! Though it appears that this people were completely subdued, and of course not in a condition to propose any terms, but were obliged to accept of such as the conquerors were pleased to impose on them, yet sound policy pointed out to these last the utility of making them easy and happy under the new government. The Belgae were a kind of counterpoise to the power of the Damnonii; and thus by the old maxim, Divide and conquer, they peaceably governed the whole. Not only this, but we see they preserved with the same care they did their own records, the history of these people ! How happy for Ireland. What millions of money, and thousands of lives might have been saved to Britain, had such prin- ciples of equity and sound policy governed Irish counsels for eighty years past ! At the Revolution, the Irish submitted to the new government on terms which they purchased by the points of their swords. Never was treaty more solemnly recog- nized than that of the capitulation of Lim- erick, by which the Catholics of Ireland were secured in their civil and religious liberties ! It was signed by Ginkle, King William's general, with three other general officers, and by Porter and Coninsby, lords- justices of Ireland of his appointment, October 13th, 1691. It was confirmed in the fullest manner and most extensive meaning of the words, by Kmg William A.M. 2736.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 47 and Queen Mary, for themselves and for their successors, on the 24th of February following. The entire capitulation, both civil and military, with the signatures of all parties, and the king and queen's pro- clamation ratifying the whole, was then published in London by royal authority. Not only every article of this capitulation was shamefully broken through, without the least pretence whatever, but 'penal laws of the severest nature were imposed on the people ! The most determined enemies to Britain could not more effec- tually serve France than her pretended Irish friends did by these proceedings. The nobility, the gentry, and the common- alty of Ireland, now crowded by thou- sands to France; and it appears by re- searches and calculations made at the war-office there, that from 1691 to 1745 inclusive, four hundred and fifty thousand Irish died in her services !* It is the pecu- liar privilege of history to draw instruc- tions as well from the bad policy as from the wisdom of our ancestors. By the moderation, equity, and sound policy of the sons of Milesius, in the year of the world 2736, the conquest of Ireland added new strength and dignity to the kingdom. Since its reduction in A. D. 1691, arts, manufactures, industry, and population, have sensibly decreased ; objects highly worthy the attention of modern times. — But from a digression intended for the most salutary purposes : — We have observed that after the death of Milesius, the supreme command of the province of Galicia, and whatever other territories belonged to it, were, by unan- imous consent, invested in his two sons Heber and Heremon, in exclusion of the rest. In like manner did the supreme command in Ireland devolve on them. The learned Dr. Keating and some other writers are of opmion that the kingdom was divided into three shares ; to Heber fell the two Munsters ; to Heremon, Leins- ter and Connaught ; and to Eimher, the son of their brother Ir, lost on the coast of Des- mond, Ulster. This I cannot agree to: * Histoire d'Irlande, torn, iii, p, 754. and as it will assist in forming a clear idea of our history, I shall be the more explicit in it. It is most certain that all our annals agree that the kingdom was divided be- tween the two brothers, Heber and Here- mon, and that Amhergin was appointed high-priest and chief of the literati ; that Heber, as the elder, chose the southern half, a line being drawn from Galway to the Bay of Dublin ; so that the provinces of Leinster and Munster, including the present county of Clare, fell to his share, while those of Ulster and Connaught were the property of Heremon. This is so true, that in every succeeding period of our history, when the house of Heber lost the monarchy, they eagerly contended for this partition. Nor was it in the days of Con, of the hundred battles, that it was first made, as has been supposed, but only de- termined with more precision. The Book of Invasions, the Psalter of Cashell, the Poem of GioUa Coamhain, of Toma Eigis, a writer of the fourth century, etc., are unanimous that the island was thus divided. The Heberean half was, in those remote days, called Leath-dheas, or the southern partition, and that of Heremon was named Leath-thuaidh, or the northern ; as it has been since the days of the above Con, called Leath-Cuin, and Leath-Mogha, or Con and Mogha's shares. After this general parti- tion of the kingdom, it is true that it suffer- ed a subdivision ; Heber assigning to Lug- haidh, the son of Ith, a considerable terri- tory in the present counties of Cork and Kerry, as did Heremon large possessions in Ulster to his nephew Eimher. These princes as well as the Belgian and Danaan rulers, were feudatories to the chiefs. Certain it is, and it will appear through the course of this history, that some of the posterity of Ith, and very many of those of Ir, were monarchs of Ireland, in times succeeding the present period ; but this will not invalidate what has been advanced. For it also is certain, that on every access of power, the future kings of Munster pos- sessed themselves of the supreme command oi south Ireland ; nor have I any doubt but that in the present partition, with it Heber m 48 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2736. had the title of monarch conferred on him. This question has been matter of contest between Irish hterati, in very remote as well as in later times. "We have a poem written in the fourth century by Toma Eigis, chief-poet to Niall the Great, con- tending for the pre-eminence of the north- em line. In the days of James I., Teige Mac Bruodin, hereditary historian of the O'Briens and of North Munster, wrote in vindication of the claims of the southern line, and was replied to by Lugha O'Clery, hereditary annalist to O'Neal and to Ulster. All these poems (in my possession) are in relation to the disputes no way important ; but the knowledge they display of different periods in our history make them well worth preserving. The nobility, the military, and the fol- lowers of these two princes had estates and lands assigned to them in proportion to their different ranks ; but 0*Naoi, a celebrated musician, and Mac Cis, a bard of the first eminence, had like to have produced much trouble, each prince wishing to retain both in his service. It was, however, determined by lot, when the musician fell to the share of Heber, and the bard to that of his brother Heremon — an early index of that protec- tion which the Irish nation ever after af- forded to poetry and music ! nor were arts, agriculture, and manufactures less attended to. It is necessary to remind my readers that when Milesius sailed for PhoBnicia and Egypt, in his train were twelve youths of remarkable abilities, who were chiefly em- ployed in learning whatever new arts and sciences were there found, in order to diffuse them among their countrymen on their re- turn to Spain. Many of the successors of these, as well as twenty-four farmers of the best abilities, arrived in this fleet. To each farmer a certain tract of ground was allot- ted for cultivation ; and the plains thus re- claimed, at this day bear the names of their first improvers ; as high a proof of wisdom as can be supposed, since by tfiis distinction they showed they knew how to prize and honour the arts of peace as well as thoseof war. Nor should it be forgot to the credit of our literati that, while many important actions of our ancestors have been lost, yet the names of such princes as most remark- ably attended to and encouraged agriculture have been carefully handed down from age to age. Ireland was undoubtedly formerly, what China is at this day, one continued scene of tillage. The summits of the most dreary mountains at this day, and most of the bogs in the kingdom when seen to a certain depth, exhibit lively traces of the plough and the harrow.* In short, the ancient Irish, like the Chinese and all other polished nations, ancient as well as modem, deemed tillage the primum mobile of arts, manufactures, and industry. But the present pleasing dawn was soon clouded by ambition, for, rara concordia fratrum ! like Pompey and Caesar, Heber could not brook an equal nor Heremon a superior, as Lucan expresses it, Nulla fides, regni sociis ; omnitque potetttu Impatiens eonsortis est. Our writers tell us that the ambition of the queen of Heber gave rise to a war, in which this prince lost his diadem and his life. On the confines of their different ter- ritories were three lovely vales, two of which were the property of Heber, the third that of his brother. Tea, the queen of Heremon (we must suppose, to account for this quarrel) began to lay this out in great taste; and the other lady, mortified, re- quested the possession of it also. Heber, it appears, in compliance to his queen, so- licited — but solicited in vain — this favour firom his brother. However easy it may be sometimes to reconcile men, yet disputes among t^e fair are not so soon compro- mised ! The ladies on both sides grew posi- tive; each engaged her husband in her cause ; and this dispute, in itself of so httle consequence, was the source of the most dreadful calamities, and laid a foundation for those bloody wars which for near three centuries after distracted Ireland ! These altercations produced indifference on both sides; this was succeeded by coldness; hatred soon followed ; and revenge and war were the certain consequences. What a * Introdacdoa to Irish Histoiy, pp. 132 to 136. A.M. 2737.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 49 lesson of instruction! The contending princes, no longer restraiaed by prudence or fraternal love, agreed to put their cause to the issue of a general engagement. Both armies met on the plains of Geisiol, in Lein- ster ; and Heber, besides the loss of three of his best commanders, and numbers of gallant soldiers, fell also in this battle, a sacrifice to folly and vanity ! CHAPTER IV. Hermon proclaimed monarch — Landing of the Picts, and history of that people — Remarkable alliance between Heremon and them — He grants them settlements in Britain — Landing of the Brigantes there— Death and character of Here- mon. By this decisive battle with the northern half of Ireland, (for the children of Heber possessed the southern half,) Heremon be- came sole monarch, being solemnly inaugu- rated on the famous Liagh-Fail. He con- firmed Criomthan, of the Belgic line, in his government of Leinster ; and Un, the son of Vighe, and Eadan, who attended him from Spain, superintended the administra- tion of Connaught. Er, Orbha, Fearon, and Feargna, the sons of Heber, succeeded to the command of the two Munsters, Con- maol, a fifth son, being yet too young. After this we read of an elegant palace erected in Meath by Heremon, which, in honour to his queen, and I suppose to com- memorate this bloody battle, he called Teamhuir, or the palace of Tea ; and which ever after was the principal residence of the Irish monarchs. But though the defeat and death of Heber weakened, yet they did not intimidate his faction. Caicer, a prin- cipal commander of his, collected fresh troops and gave battle to the Heremonians, in which he fell, and his party were defeated. The next year gave rise to the battle of Bile-tene, in East Meath, in which the high- priest Amhergin was slain, and Irial, sur- named the Prophet, was appointed his suc- cessor. We are surprised to read that in seven years after, Un and Vighe, governors of Heremon's own appointment, invaded 7 Leinster, and were both cut off, and their army defeated by him at the battle of Comhrar, in Meath. In the reign of this Heremon, and about the present period, it is universally agreed that the Picts first landed in Ireland ; not in the north, as Bede has afiirmed, but in the Bay of Wexford. The Leinster coasts had been frequently annoyed, and the country sometimes despoiled by British invaders, probably some of the exiled Damnonii ; and these new-comers being a warlike people, Criomthan, the Leinster general, by advice of Heremon engaged them in his service to repel those bold invaders, which they effec- tually did at the bloody battle of Ard- Leamhnachta. Encouraged by this suc- cess, they requested of the monarch an asylum in Ireland from all their distresses and calamities ; but this could not be grant- ed them, as the kingdom was not even then sufficient to contain them,* and the other inhabitants. Finding the country fruitfiil and lovely, they formed a design to gain by treachery and force what they could not effect by fair words. They entered into private treaty with the malecontents, which new governments never want ; but however secret they imagined they carried on their schemes, Heremon was early apprised of them, and formed the resolution to cut them off in time, before they came to too great a head. Unable to oppose the impending storm, they sued for peace on such terms as should be imposed on them ; requested that settlements might be allotted to them in Britain ; observing that, by this means, they would effectually secure their own coasts for the future from foreign insults, as they would be always ready, with arms in their hands, to cut out so much work for the malecontents at home that they would never after attempt to disturb the present Irish government. To prove the sincerity of their intentions, and their future dependence on Ireland, they, at the same time, requested wives from Heremon, engaging in the most solemn manner that, not only then, but for ever after, if they, or their successors, should at any time have issue by a British, * Histor. Eccles. Brit. cap. i. 50 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2746. and again by an Irish woman, that the issue of this last only should be capable of suc- ceeding to the inheritance ! and ^yhich law continued in force to the days of Venerable Bede, i. e. about two thousand years ! a mark of such striking distinction, that it cannot be paralleled in the history of any other nation under the sun ! The principal leader of this people on their landing here was Gud ; but he dying, this compact was made with his son Cathluan, from whom the Picts were also called Caledones, i. e. the posterity of Cathluan ; for Don in Irish signifies a family. The Leabhar-Lecan (B. i. p. 14) gives us the names of his two sons, his principal warriors, his poets and his harpers. The name of his chief com- mander was Cruithneachem, from whom we reasonably conjecture the Picts were after- wards called Cruithnhegh by our writers. Heremon gave for wife to Cathluan the widow of Breas, one of his deceased gen- erals ; and the other Pictish chiefs had assigned to them for wives the widows of other officers slain in war. He also en- gaged to support them in their new pos- sessions in Britain against all enemies what- ever. Such was the rise of these people whose posterity made so brilliant a figure in British history. They were invincible not only against the Britons, but even against the Romans, while supported and protected by the fostering hand which first gave them power and consequence; and they still might have continued to be so had they steadily adhered to those who only could support them. But freed at length from foreign and domestic enemies, they had the temerity not only to attack, but for a time to expel the Irish colony from their settlements in North Britain ; by which acts national indignation was raised to so high a pitch against them that, in two or three centuries after, they were so effectually de- stroyed that the smallest vestige of this people or their language could not possibly be traced. Some modern writers, too often ready to oppose their private opinions to the voice of antiquity, suppose that this land- ing of the Picts in Ireland must have been at a later date than our annals set forth, imagining the country not then so populous as Bede has asserted for us. But when it appears from our records, that it was in- habited seven hundred and ninety years before ; that almost every century gave it a new access of power by swarms of new- comers, as the Africans, whose posterity remained in the north, the Neimhedians, the Belgians, the Damnonii, arid the present Milesian settlers — when we reflect that the Milesian fleet was also for some years em- ployed in transporting new settlers from their acquisitions in Spain, to strengthen their power in Ireland, we must be con- vinced of the truth of the above account. Nay, we see it further confirmed by the Clana Breoguin, or Brigantes, soon after petitioning Heremon for permission to set- tle in Britain, which he also agreed to ; assigning to them Cumberland, or the coun- try of hills and valleys, from which they, as well as the Welch, were called Cumeri. Thus it appears evident that the Britons, the Belgae, the Damnonii, the Picts, or Cal- edones, and the Brigantes were distinct British colonies, by no means to be con- founded with each other, as most British antiquarians have done. The Britons, or followers of Briotan, first landed there about A. M. 2380 ; the Belgae, or second colony, about 2541; the Danmonii, 2736 ; the Picts or Caledones, about 2744 ; and the Brigantes very soon after. This last migration cer- tainly commenced in the reign of Here- mon; he reigned sole monarch thirteen years, so that we may safely fix it at A.M. 2749. All these different people, the Picts excepted, were originally of one common stock, and in the main spoke the same lan- guage, making reasonable allowance for different people totally separated from each other, and the alterations which may be adventitiously introduced by strangers into their dialects in the different countries they passed through. The Picts were a people who had a language peculiar to themselves. The venerable Bede with surprising accu- racy confirms all this. He tells us posi- tively, that the languages of South Britain were the British and Saxon in his own days. t 'W*".* T'""- . .'^"C^JT- A. M. 2750.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 61 and that of the North the Pictish and the Irish. After a glorious reign of thirteen years Heremon died, leaving his crown to his three sons, Muimhne,Luighne,and Laishne. He was a prince endowed with great abilities, as well for the field as the cabinet, and what added lustre to these qualities was his exemplary justice. The unnatural war in which he was involved with his brother, it appears was not, on his part, a war of choice but of necessity. He made no direct use of the power which the de- feat and death of his brother gave him ; his nephews succeeded peaceably to the terri- tories of their father, and peace and sub- ordination were established over the king- dom. His speedy defeat of the Pictish plot, but above all, his converting them into the unalterable friends, instead of the determined enemies, of his country, de- serves the greatest applause. It is impos- sible to pass by this most remarkable LEAGUE, especially at this time, without ad- verting to it. South Britain, inhabited by different colonies inimical to each other, could not be formidable to Ireland except in times of public confusion. If they were not the tributaries of the Irish, which one would be apt to think, by these last assign- ing to the Picts, and afterwards to the Bri- gantes, settlements there, they must cer- tainly have dreaded their power. By es- tablishing these two colonies, they at least proved what they could do. The Pictish league, we see, was a stronger tie than that of blood ; since the Brigantes, though of the same blood with the Milesians, by de- grees became reconciled to the Roman dominion, which the Picts would never hear of. Had this famous compact between the Picts and the Irish been confmed to the issue of the first women only, no doubt but in a generation or two, the affinity would be so far weakened, that they would neces-^ sarily unite with the other British colonies in asserting their independence. But no such thing ! The same laws were to be observed in all future marriages. Britons could have no temptations to form alliances with these people when the issue of such contracts might be left destitute, and the family and fortune devolve on strangers. The Picts necessarily sought for wives in Ireland, and these cherished, in the rising generation, that love and reverence for the mother country which they themselves so strongly felt Hence we see that the uni- ted powers of South Britain and of Rome could not shake their firmness, or dissolve the league which they formed with Ireland ; and we shall also see that by the constant aid from thence, they were enabled not only to repel but to invade, and in fine to destroy the Roman provinces of Britain. Without this clue of Irish history, it would be hard to conceive how this colony could singly remain opposed to the united powers of Rome and Britain for near five centuries ; not only this, but during most of that period, to act rather on the offensive than defensive ! CHAPTER V. The reigns of Muimhne, Luighne, and Laishne — Of Er, Orba, Fearon, and Feargna — Of Irial — Eithrial — Conmaol — Of Tighernmas — He insti- tutes the law of colours — Mines worked to great perfection — Adores an idol. The three sons of Heremon succeeded to the monarchy ; but instructed by the unhappy difference between their father and uncle, they agreed that each should govern a year about. Muimhne, as eldest, enjoyed it the first year. Luighne suc- ceeded, in whose administration Muimhne died ; and in that of Laishne, the sons of Heber raised a mighty army, with which they engaged the imperial troops in the battle of Ard-Ladhran, in the county of Wexford. In this engagement the sons of Heremon fell, and their army received a complete defeat. Er, Orba, Fearon, and Feargna, govern- ed the kingdom but one year ; for (I sup- pose) their not being well united, enabled the Heremonian faction, conducted by Irial, sumamed the Prophet, suddenly to attack and defeat them. Irial the Prophet, appointed high-priest by his father on the death of Amhergin, 58 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. M. 2815. ascended the throne. Prudence and justice directed his counsels. Twelve extensive tracts of ground were cleared of woods, and laid open for tillage, and took new names from the husbandmen who reclaim- ed them. He constructed several places of strength, erected many elegant public works, and successfully defeated some powerful invasions, particularly of the Af- ricans, whose army he defeated, and cut off their chief commander.* After a reign of ten years, he died. Eithrial, the son of Irial, was his suc- cessor. Instructed by the precepts and example of so good a father, it was impos- sible but he must become a good prince. Seven more expanded tracts of land became obedient to the husbandman through royal bounty, and peace and plenty smiled over the kingdom. With his own hand Ethrial recorded the history and exploits of his an- cestors, from the great Phaenius; and it is more than probable that during his admin- istration the famous embassy of Heber, or Abaris, the Hyperborean Scythian, to the Athenians took place. It may be even supposed that, at the same time, he sent them a copy of this famous work. We know soon after this, that the mighty Se- sostris caused maps to be drawn of the different countries he had subdued — copies of which he sent to distant countries — even to the Scythians, says my author.f That such an embassy was sent cannot be doubted. It was a wise measure in him to renew friendship, extend commerce, and the glory of his people over Greece and Asia ; and this will explain why the mem- ory of these transactions was preserved, even in Egypt, in the days of Solon, as we have already noted. Heber, or Abaris, the son of Tighernmas, was in all appearance this ambassador ; and we know the blood- royal only were in Ireland employed in such service. But neither the learning or abilities of Eithrial could secure him from that violent death which seemed to be the fate of most of his successors — being cut off in the battle of Rahonen, in Leinster. * Leabhar-Lecan, book i. p. 19. t EoBt. ia fine Epist. ante Dionja. Pcrieg. by Conmaol, after a reign of twenty years. Conmaol, the youngest son of Heber, and an infant at the time of his father's death, was solemnly crowned on the Liagh- Fail, or stone of destiny. The Psalter of Cashell seems to dwell with pleasure on the exploits of this prince ; a proof, even m the tenth century, how warmly these party disputes were supported. "He it was (says Cormoc) that killed with his own hand Eithrial, the son of Irial the Prophet, in revenge for the blood of his father. He it was, that fought forty-five battles against the posterity of Heremon. He it was, that slew his surviving son Pailp, and acquired the name of Conmaol, or the Prince of Chiefs, for he was superior to all others of his time !" The Belgae, who supported the line of Heremon, he severely chastised ; but finally fell in the battle of Aonach- Macha, by the sword of Heber the cele- brated ambassador to the Grecian states, after a bloody and disturbed reign of thirty years. His burial-place yet goes by the name of Feart-Conmaol, feart being Irish for a burial-ground. Tighernmas, the son of Follain, son of Eithrial, son of Irial the Prophet, son of Heremon, son of Milesius, succeeded to the monarchy. Nothwithstanding that his government was frequently disturbed by the posterity of Heber, having fought them in twenty-seven different battles, yet we find arts, sciences, and manufactures en- couraged. He prevented those disorders frequently attendant on people w^ho diverge far from their sphere of life, by a most wholesome though simple sumptuary law.* By this law, which his successors were sworn to maintain, and which was called Ilbreachta, the peasantry, soldiers, and lower order of people, were to have their garments of but one colour ; military ofli- cers and private gentlemen, two; com- manders of battalions, three; beatachs, brughnibhs, or keepers of houses of hospi- tality, four ; the prime nobility and military knights, five ; and the ollamhs, or doctors learned in different sciences, six, being one • Leabhar-Lecan, book i. p. 19. A. M. 3815.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. S3 less than the chief rulers. This custom of making various colours in clothes honour- able we find to be extremely ancient. Thus we read in Genesis, that " Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colours T This same law we find established in China from the most remote antiquity. During the interval of this reign, mines of copper, lead, and iron, were worked with great success; and a considerable gold mine was discovered on the banks of the LifTey, which Uachadan, of Cualgne, brought to great perfection. Cups and goblets of massy gold were fabricated by this famous artist, and a variety of elegant colours for the apparel of the nobility found out ; among others, purple, green, and blue. Notwithstanding the great fame of this prince, he greatly debased his charac- ter by idolatrous worship. Before his time, the people worshipped the sun, the moon, and stars as types of the Deity. He erected a famous idol in a large plain in Brefihi, called Crom-Cruadh, where, attending to sacrifice on the eve of Samhain, or No- vember, we are told that he and most of his attendants were destroyed by lightning. In commemoration of this great event, that plain is yet called Maigh-Sleachta, or the field of worship. Writers are not agreed as to the length of this prince's reign. Mr. CFlaherty will have it but twenty-three years,* while Grat. Lucius makes it fifty-four. f I shall, however, adhere to what appears to me the most ra- tional and best authorized on this, as well as every succeeding occasion, where I find our writers disagree in their chronology. For the famous Giolla Caomhain, a writer of at least eight hundred years standing, in his poem, fixes it at fifty years ; J and in this he is followed by Keating and others. * Ogygia, p. 196, etc. t Cambrens. Eversus, p. 59. t Eeim Eiogra, MS. p. 4. quarto. CHAPTER VI. Of Bel and Samhain, the principal deities of ancient Ireland, and of those of an inferior order — The transmigration of souls part of their doctrine — The reigns of Eochaidh, Cearmna, and Sobhairce, Eochaidh II., Fiacha, Eochaidh III., Aongus, Sana, Rotheachta, Sttdhna, Fiacha II., Muin- heamhoin, and Aldei^id. Having had occasion to mention the idd of Tighemmas, this seems a proper place to sketch out to the reader some ideas of our national Ethnic worship. The ancient Irish, like most poUshed nations, adored the Deity in his attributes. They worshipped the sun by the name of Bel, sometimes by that of its native name, hence the Apollo Grannius, an inscription found in Scotland, or Apollo, the sun, uniting as it were in this, his Irish and Roman names. Next to the sun was the moon, which the Irish un- doubtedly adored. Some remains of this worship may be traced even at this day, as particularly borrowing, if they should not have it about them, a piece of silver on the first sight of a new moon, as an omen of plenty during the month, and at the same time saying in Irish, " as you have found us in peace and prosperity, so leave us in grace and mercy.** This planet was un- doubtedly worshipped by the name of Sam- hain ; and as the feast of Bel, or the sun, was proclaimed by fires and other public rejoicings on May eve, so was that of Sam- hain, or the moon, the eve of November. The great temple of Samhain was erected at Tlachta, in Meath, and that of Bel, at Uisneach. The stars they also adored. When Jughaine the Great prevailed on the national estates to swear allegiance to him- self and to his posterity, in exclusion of the other branches of the royal family, the oath they took was — ^"By the sun, the moon, and stars." The same was taken to Tuathal and to his issue; and it was " By the sun, moon, and stars," that Loa- gaire vowed to exonerate the province of Leinster from a heavy tribute, long paid by them. They had likewise their river and mountain deities ; those who presided over hills, and those who ruled the valleys ; but next to the sun and moon, Neptune was their principal deity. The oak was a tree 54 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 2869. particularly sacred to them; hence their priests were called in general Druids, from rfcir, an oak ; however, the votaries of Sam- hain, or the moon, seem to have had priests particularly appointed for this worship. They were called, by both Greeks and Latins, Samnothei, probably from the Irish Samhain-Dia, as being votaries of the god- dess Samhain. Whoever will take the trouble to examine Plutarch's treatise De Facie in Orbe Lunse, will find abundant reasons for supposing the worship of the moon highly cultivated here. The trans- migration of souls and their immortality were carefully inculcated. Ruanus is said in our ancient mythology to have lived many centuries. Modhruith, employed by Fiacha Muilleathan, the Psalter of Cashell, from remote authority, tells us, remembered the reigns of nineteen successive monarchs of Ireland; and the dialogue between Oisin and St. Patrick inculcates, (though born in the second century,) that he was contemporary with this apostle, a thing im- possible ; and therefore I suppose some im- postor, an old man, in his days pretended that he was Oisin, none being alive to con- tradict him. In a word, the ancient mode of worship adopted by the Celtic and Scythian nations of Europe, seems evidently to have origi- nated in Ireland. Thus much at least is certain, that the religion of the Gauls, as delivered by Caesar,* an indisputable au- thority, and such accounts as other writers, Greek and Roman, have furnished us, is in the fullest manner elucidated and confirmed by Irish history. On these matters I appre- hend I have been so explicit in the first part of my Introduction to Irish History, that to it I must refer such as choose fur- ther information on a subject so essentially necessary to the investigation of ancient European history. Annalists are divided in opinion in the present era of our history. Some will have it that there was an interregnum of seven years, when a son of Conmaol ascended the throne. Of this opinion are the learned Lynch and O'Flaherty ; but as neither the * Comment lib. vi. regal list of Giolla Caomhain, the Psalter of Cashell, or the Bruodin Chronicle take any notice of such an hiatus in the constitution, I think myself well authorized to reject it ; for, when we reflect on the nature of the succession — that the nation, from the prmce to the peasant, was divided into classes — that honour and dignities were hereditary in families — and that in times of the greatest distress, particularly during the Danish wars, and those that succeeded the Norman invasion, almost to our own times, these customs prevailed — in fact the constitution ceased as soon as they were discontinued — we must doubt the probability of such in- terregnum. Add to this, that after the death of Brien-Boru, when faction only gained the monarchy, and that such as were ap- pointed were obeyed only by their own party, still elections went on; but those elected were not acknowledged by our historians as monarchs, or Ard-Righs : they found out a more expressive name ; and they were called sometimes Gafra Sabh- rach, or monarchs obtruded against the sense of some province. Whatever can give the most comprehensive idea of our history and constitution, I shall not deem a digression. Eochaidh Edgathach, son of Darius, of the line of Ith, son of the re- nowned Breogan, succeeded Tighernmas. He was sumamed Edgadhach, or of the many-coloured garments, because he first adopted that regulation made by his pre- decessor. He was slain in the battle of Tara, by Cearmna, of the line of Ir, son of Milesius, after a short reign of four years. From the epithet Edgadhach given this prince. Dr. Lynch as well as Mr. O'Fla- herty, and from them later writers have asserted that the sumptuary law of colours was first promulgated by him. But a short reign, full of confusion and trouble, was not the time for establishing and giving permanency to so wholesome a regulation ; and, therefore, by the authority of the_ Leabhar-Lecan, of Dr. Keating, and Bruo-" dinus, I place it in the administration of his predecessor. Cearmna and Sobhairce, of the race of Ir, agreed to rule the kingdom alternately. A. M. 2953.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 55 The southern half from Inbher Colpa, or Drogheda, to Limerick, was possessed by Cearmna: and the northern by his brother. Each built a magnificent palace in his par- tition ; and these, as GioUa Caomhain notes, were the first Irish monarchs of the north- ern line. Their government was often disturbed by attempts from both the Hebe- rean and Heremonian lines. At length, after a reign of forty years, they were both cut oflT in battle ; Sobhairce fell by the sword of Eochaidh Mean, and Cearmna by that of a son of Conmaol, in the battle of Dun-Cearmna, now Dun-Patrick, in the county of Cork. Eochaidh II., son of Conmaol, son of Milesius, assumed the reins of government. He was sumamed Faobharglas, or the green-edge, because, in his days, the art of giving different colours to swords and arms was found out, and we are told that the points of his javelins and blades of his swords were coloured green. In the Psal- ter of Cashell he is called Faobhar-Dhearg, or the bloody-edge, to denote the execution he committed on his enemies. The Picts who had aided the house of Ir, or the northern line, in their late assumed power, he severely punished. He transported a considerable army into Albany, with which he reduced this people to great distress.* At length a peace was made ; they engag- ing themselves by oath, and giving host- ages as gi eater security, no more to inter- fere in Irish elections. He also defeated the Heremonians in several engagements ; but these military employments did not make him forget the arts of peace. Among other proofs of this, we find he caused seven considerable woods to be cut down, re- claimed, and laid open for tillage. Good fortune at length forsook him, for, after a glorious administration of twenty years, he was slain in the battle of Gorman, in Leinster. Fiachadh Labhruine, a descendant of Tighernmas, of the Heremonian line, was his successor. He was called Labhruine, from the river of that name, which first ap- peared in his reign. Loch Erne at the • Keating, p. i. same time burst forth from its bounds, covering a considerable tract of land, the property of the Emains, of the Belgic tribe, and from whom it took its name. The plain adjoining was the ancient Maigh- Geaneim ; and here it was that the Afri- cans, in the days of the Partholanian and Neimhedian colonies, had their principal settlements. He defeated the Heberians in four pitched battles ;* nor was he less successful in Albany, where he sent his son with a large body of troops to quell some disturbances there. He was at length slain in the battle of Belgadin by his suc- cessor, after a reign of twenty-four years. Eochaidh III. was the son of Mofeibhis, son of Eochaidh, son of Conmaol, of the race of Heber. He was called Mumho, on account of his great power and strength; and the Psalter of Cashell tells us that from this surname Munster took its name. He fell in the battle of Cliach, having reigned twenty-two years. Aongus, sumamed 01-Bhuadhach, or the all- victorious, son to Fiacha Labhruine, of the progeny of Heremon, was the next monarch. The reign of this prince is re- plete with mighty deeds. He reduced the Damnonii of Connaught to obedience, who had begun to raise troubles in the state ; and some attempts of the Heberian line were rendered fruitless through his activity and courage. The Clana Bolg, or Belgse of Britain, who with the Picts had asso- ciated with the enemies of his house, he chas- tised, having for that purpose transported a powerful army to Britain.f In short, that whole island was reduced, and obliged to pay homage and tribute to the Irish monarch. The English translator of Keat- ing tells us that with other colonies of Bri- tain, this prince brought into subjection the warlike nation of the Scots, who were before this a free people. I must, however, in justice to the memory of that profotmd antiquarian, and to prevent any mistakes of future writers, assure the public, that no such assertion is to be found in the authen- tic Irish copies of that work ; for the name • Bruodin de Reg. Hibem. p. 860. t Ogygia, p. 206. Keating, etc- 56 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. M. 3070. of Scot was not even mentioned as there residing for many centuries after. This prince, besides his great exploits in war, forgot not to cultivate the arts of peace, having caused ten large woods to be cut down and reclaimed for tillage. But in the eighteenth year of his government, a period was put to his life at the battle of Carman, in Leinster. Eadhna Airghtheach, son of Eochaidh Mumho, of the line of Heber, was the suc- ceeding prince. The epithet Airghtheach, or silver, was bestowed on him as bemg the first Irish prince that caused shields and targets of pure silver to be fabricated at Airgidros, which, with chariots and fine horses, he bestowed on the most intrepid of his soldiers as the reward of merit. This mode of honour was not peculiar to the Irish nation; since we read that Solo- mon caused three hundred targets of beaten gold, and thirty shields of the same metal, to be made for similar purposes.* Certain it is that the Irish military — in- deed, like all true sons of the blade — placed their greatest glory in the splendour and richness of their arms. This Solinus, other- wise no admirer of the Irish, fully con- fesses.f That they also fought in chariots highly ornamented cannot be doubted ; be- cause our history abounds with accounts of them, and the beauty, spirit, and even names of the very horses employed with them, are not forgot. We have seen when different coloured blades were introduced by Eochaidh ; and this, and the account of our carbads, or chariots of war, will fully explain the description which Florus gives us of Bituitus, in the AUobrogian war, " who added splendour to the triumph, being drawn in his silver chariot with his arms of different colours, such as he fought with.";t According to the Poem of Giolla Caomhain, the Psalter of Cashell, Keating, and Mac Bruodin, this prince reigned twenty-seven years, and then fell in the battle of Raighne. Rotheachta, son of Moin, son of Aongus, (01-Bhuacadh,) of the race of Heremon, assumed the monarchy. Of him nothing * Chron. ix. 15. t Cap. xiv. t Lib. iii. cap. 2. furtlicr is related but that after a reign of twenty-five years he was slain in the battle of Cruachan by his successor. Seadhna, of the line of Ir, son of Mile- siusj after a reign of five years was cut off by his own son, aided by some African pirates. Fiachda II., the wretched parricide, as- cended the throne. He was sumamed Fionsgothach, from fion, wine, and sigoth, a flower, as wine made of flowers was then much used. I should rather, with Bruodinus, attribute it to the great plenty of wine then in Ireland ; for to me it seems clear that wine was formerly made among us. The Venerable Bede afllirms their use among us ; * and should it want further support, we find Irish words for every thing relative to this precious fruit, as^w-amAMiw, a vineyard, fion-dioSf a wine-press, Jion- chaor, a grape, etc., so that it is with some reason I aflirm that about this time the culture of vines was much improved in Ireland. After an administration of twenty years, he was slain in battle by his suc- cessor. The victorious Muinheamhoin, of the line of Heber, is acknowledged as the next monarch. He was so called, says the Book of Munster, from instituting the mili- tary order of the Golden Chain, by which knights were for the future to be distin- guished from the rest of the prime nobility. For, says my author, muince signifies a collar of gold. He caused also helmets and armour to be made, and ornamented with pure gold. The gold in the front of the helmet was in form of a crescent, and ductile. Many of these I have seen, and had one in my possession weighing two ounces, for a considerable time. The cors- lets were also cased with pure ductile gold. A silversmith of the city of Limerick bought one of these from a farmer near Tulla, in the county of Clare, a few years ago ; it weighed nine ounces ; and many more were supposed to be found at the same time. Coats of mail studded and ornamented with gold we find in very early use, and * Histor. Eecles. Brit. lib. i. cap. 1. --'^^K- A. M..3075.] HISTOBY OF IRELAND. 57 even among nations not highly civilized ; thus Virgil — Loricam consertam hamis, Auroqae trilicem; and again- Nee duplici sqaama Lorica fidelis et anro. And the great antiquity of chains of gold round the neck, and of rings on the fingers, will appear by Pharaoh ordering both to be presented to Joseph, od interpretmg his dream.* We find also in the army of Moses, that the chief commanders wore chains of gold round the necLf The very great plenty of gold in Ireland in these early days, and in times much nearer our own, will not be disputed but by such as shut their ears to the voice of truth. They acquired it from native mines, and they extracted both it and silver from their mines of copper and lead. They ac- cumulated quantities of gold by their trafiic with Spain and with Africa ; hence their shields of pure silver ; hence their helmets and corslets cased with gold ; hence the numbers of swords of mixed metal with gold handles, to this day found in bogs and morasses ; hence the hostages detained at the courts of our monarchs, having their shackles of pure gold ; hence the very har- nesses for horses were ornamented with gold ! Lord Straflford presented to Charles I. the bit of a bridle found in Ireland of solid gold, weighing ten ounces ;t nay, long after the Norman invasion, we find an act of the Little Parliament of the Pale, prohib- iting the use of gold in horse furniture, ex- cept to persons of a certain rank ! But should further doubts remain as to this matter, I have but to refer my reader to more ample proofs.f Aldergoid succeeded his father in the monarchy. As Muineamhoin distinguished the knights firom the other nobility, by chains of gold round the neck, so this prince directed that the ollamhs, or doctors in different sciences, should constantly wear a gold ring ; hence, says the Psalter of Cashell, he was called Aildergoid, from failge, or fain, a ring, otr, gold, and doid, * Genesis xli. 42. t Numbera xxxi. 50. t Warner's Introduction to Irish History, p. 49. 11 lutrodaction to Irish History, from page 206 to 215. 8 the hand. This continued ever after a cus- tom in Ireland, and when Charlemagne founded the universities of Pavia and Paris, in the eighth century, Claude Clement and John Scott, both Irishmen, were appointed regents, and then for the first time intro- duced on the continent the birede, biretrum, or doctor's cap, and the gold ring, as the insignia of doctors, and by which they preceded all ranks but the nobility. After a reign of twelve years, he fell in battle by the arm of his successor. He is called by GioUa Caomhain, Aldergoid a Ndoid, or Aldergoid of the Hand, from this insti- tution. CHAPTER VII. Mistakes with respect to Irish history corrected — Their mode of succession no proof of barbarity — Possessed arts and sciences in an eminent degree in those early days — Their fiequent feuds no proof to the contrary. Before we proceed further in our his- tory, it becomes necessary to advert to, and refute some specious objections made against our early annals.' The few foreign- ers who have touched on our history, but particularly British writers, represent it as that of a barbarous nation, in the perusal of which nothing new or interesting is to be met with, but shocking recitals of princes murdering each other, and by this means succeeding to the throne. From prejudiced people, and a people ignorant of the lan- guage and antiquities of the country, such suggestions may pass ; but when I behold a gentleman of Mr. O'Connor's abilities, joining in the cry, I cannot, I own, sup- press my feelings. In his dissertation pre- fixed to Ogygia Vindicated, being a pos- thumous work of the learned CFlaherty, and in his notes on this work, he represents the ancient state of Ireland very different from what it was. He says that, being orig- inally peopled by Celtic and Scytho-Celtic colonies from North and South Britain, they retained the same barbarous customs ; and as in this assertion he contradicts all the antiquities of his country, he chooses 58 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3075. rather to accuse their authors of imposition and ignorance than himself of wilful error. Though in one place he confesses that the Phoenicians, who instructed our ancestors in the art of narigation, must have also communicated letters to them, yet in another he affirms that it was not till the fifth age of Christianity that letters were introduced among them, by the Roman missionaries, when they laid aside their Beth-Luis-Nion, and their ogham ! It happens, however, unluckily for the assumption, that this very Beth-Luis-Nion, which he tells us they then laid aside, was the letter they then used, and the letter we use at this day 1 Will any man advance, that in the fifth century, the Latin alphabet consisted of no more than seventeen letters ? But what makes it the more extraordinary is, that we have reason to believe, except in what might regard church discipline, the Roman alphabet was seldom used. In my copy of the Psalter of Cashell, in a copy of Hippo- crates, and in many early records on vel- lum, I find the Latin written in Irish charac- ters. True it is that in the days of St. Patrick they altered the arrangement of their letters ; instead of the consonants, as in the scheme I have already given, they commenced with the letter Ailim, or A ; but surely it cannot be inferred from this alteration that they took a new alphabet ! Nor can he be justified when he tells us that our " ancient monarchs were chiefly employed in distressing and killing each other, and that they seemed to have lost in Ireland those arts they brought from the continent." Other private opinions, ob- truded in the teeth of ancient history, I shall pass by, as they must fall of them- selves. But it becomes my indispensable duty as an historian, to animadvert on whatever seems to carry a specious ap- pearance of reason and probability. Constitutional pride, joined to innate bravery, seem to have been ever the char- acteristics of the Irish nation. This pride, constantly fed by the poems of the bards, and by the reflection of their high antiquity and noble blood, made them at all times — even to our own days — ready to sacrifice every other consideration to it The un- happy differences that first broke out ia Ireland, in the very infancy of the Milesian government, were constantly kept alive from the same cause. The line of Heber, as being the elder branch, imagined they had an exclusive right to the monarchy. The other branches contended that in a government where superior abilities were ever preferred to lineal succession, their claims were unexceptionable. As is often the case in private quarrels between people equally brave and proud, neither will re- cede, so with these, it would be deemed in- famy in any successor to recede in the least from the pretensions of his house, or to omit any opportunity of enforcing them. Yet even in these civil commotions (gen- erally the most sanguinary) there was ob- served a conduct peculiarly striking which seemed to elevate their characters beyond the neighbouring nations. To outlive a general defeat — ^to exist after the loss of a diadem, was to entail an eternal disgrace on the family. It was acknowledged by the princes ; it was con- stantly practised by them ; and in this they were imitated by the knights and the great nobility. Is buane blath, na Saoighal — " Glory is preferable to the world," was a constant maxim among our heroes. It was the answer of Cucullain, when re- quested by his officers to avoid engaging in the fatal battle of Muirtheimhe, till the arrival of Connal Ceamach.* And he fur- ther observed, that his vows as a knight obliged him to decline no engagement. When Eugene the Great, in the second century, fell in the bloody battle of Magh- Lena, his body, pierced by a thousand wounds, was raised on the shields of his enemies, and brought toGaull,the monarch's general — " Lay down the body of the King of Munster, (says he,) for he died as a hero should !"! In a word, not to multiply in- stances, but a single example occurs in the Irish history of a prince's surviving the loss of his diadem, and this was Malachy II., in the commencement of the eleventh century. Thus the death of the unsuccessful com- * Catha Maigh-Muirtheimhe. I lonsidhe Magh-Lena. A.M. 3075.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 59 petitor, instead of being a stain on our an- nals, only higher blazons the national char- acter of our princes ! Add to this, that ancient history, in general, shows that few princes died peaceable deaths, which gave occasion to the remarks of Juvenal, Sat. X : Ad generam Cereris, sine csfide et vulnere pauci Descendunt reges, et sicca morte Tyraani. Nor should the remarkable saying of Ves- pasian be forgotten on this occasion — " Stantem (says he) imperatorem mori op- portet !" But if the violent deaths of these different princes, instead of being a stain on our annals, demonstrate only their romantic bravery and exalted notions, the behaviour of the victors is the highest proof of Mile- sian beneficence, the eternal concomitant of real bravery. On the death of the defeated prince — for he reserved his life till he saw all lost, and then rushed into the midst of the enemy — the marshal who attended, to show where he was, struck his standard, which was the signal for retreat, when all carnage immediately ceased, and the de- feated party returned home. No estates were confiscated; nothing was forfeited; no advantages taken of the widow and the orphan ! The children or dependants of the deceased prince were not seized, or their territories or estates usurped. The glory of monarchy alone stimulated their ambition ! From this account, we plainly see that the violent deaths of our different princes in battle should not, and ought not, to be attributed to cruelty or barbarity ; and up- on retrospection it will appear (contrary to what Mr. O'Connor asserts) that they were employed in something more rational than « distressing and killing each other." The very alliance formed between our first prince Heremon and the Picts, is as clear a proof of wisdom and policy as the annals of history can produce. Nay, in the ad- ministration of the Damnonii we find ob- jects highly worthy of attention. If the northern nations of Europe boast the early use of arts and letters, does not the history of our people justify and explain this? From this history also we can trace the origin of solemnly inaugurating our princes, the use of the sword and javelin, and of the horse in war. In the preceding account of our Milesian princes, every proof is exhib- ited of a wise and polished people. The nation classed, by which every rank in life was ascertained, and that by a simple sumptuary law, must proclaim an adminis- tration of wisdom ! Mines explored and worked to perfection — gold and silver bla- zoning on the arms of the military — ^beau- tiful colours invented — and the celebrated dye of the Tyrians improved, surely dem- onstrates a flourishing commercial people. Lettered men preceded the first nobility — for as in China at this day, they seem to have been also the ministers of state — and even the form of passing doctors, as now everywhere practised, being at so remote a period established among us, will incon- testably proclaim a learned people ! To conclude, is it possible to show stronger proofs of unbounded humanity than the establishment of houses of hospitality for the relief of the stranger and the distressed ; assigning to their support large tracts of land in every part of the kingdom, and ranking the beatachs, or keepers of such houses, next to the prime nobility ! All which plainly shows — ^ that they did not lose in Ireland those arts they brought from the continent T' In countries where the fine arts are protected, war will not in- jure, much less destroy them. The reign of Francis I. was one continued scene of war, yet he first introduced letters into France. The reign of Louis XIV. was long and bloody, and still learning was never more flourishing there. Britain and GJermany, equally involved in war, yet still protected letters ; while Ireland, in peace for near a century, for want of countenancing, science has in a manner fairly left her ! BOOK IV. CHAPTER I. The reign of Ollamh-Fodhla — Reforms the consti- tution, and establishes the famous Feis'Tamh- rach — Their manner of assembling, and the ob> jects of their deliberations — Other assemblies of an inferior nature — Of Fion, Slanotl, Geide, Fiach III., Beamgal, and OlioU, succeeding monarchs. EocHAiDH, the son of Fiachadh, son of Seadhna, of the line of Ir, after the battle of Tara, was solemnly inaugurated, on the Liagh-Fail, monarch of Ireland. The reign of this prince, and the great reforms he made in the constitution, form a memorable epoch in Irish history. In the preceding reigns the reader must have perceived the gradual advances to politeness and sound legislation. The completion of this grand system was reserved for the present time. Eochaidh was a prince of great erudition, and on this account he got the name of Ol- lamh-Fodhla, or the Learned Doctor, or Legislator ; and as he is better known by this, than his real name, by it we shall for the future call him. As Mumhain, or Munster, took its name from Eochaidh- M umbo, so did Ulladh, or Ulster, by inflec- tion, from Fodhla: hence it would seem that Munster was so called, from its supe- rior power, (Mumho importing power and strength,) and Ulster from its learning. Fraught big with the mighty projects of destroying national feuds, and transmitting the monarchy to his own immediate suc- cessors, in exclusion of the other branches of the royal line, he began this great re- form by establishing a triennial parliament at Tara, to form general laws for the whole kingdom ; and during which meeting the provincial kings and feudatory lords were considered as counsellors to the monarch onlv. To avoid the least confiision or cause of complaint, the arrangement of the people was such as announced the highest degree of politeness. The Miodh-Cuarta, where the chief assembly met, was three hundred feet long, thirty cubits high, fifty in width, and had fourteen doors.* The monarch's throne was elevated in the cen- tre of this room, with his face to the west. The King of Leinster had his at a proper distance, but lower, and fronting the mon- arch ; the Munster king was on his left hand ; the King of Ulster on his right ; and the King of Connaught behind him. The reason why this last place was assigned the Conacian prince, was his being of the Belgic race. Long seats were placed for the other orders in the state. In the first row were placed the oUamhs, or doc- tors in sciences, and which rank the Chris- tian bishops afterwards held. The heredi- tary marshal, standard-bearer, and treas- urer, had places allotted to them ; next came the chief of the nobility, at the head of whom were placed the knights ; after these the beatachs, and representatives of towns and cities. Deputies from the Picts and Brigantes of Britain had also seats al- lotted them in this assembly. This most august convention met three days before the great feast of Samhuin (i. e. before the first of November.) The two first days were spent in visits and friendly intercourse; the third in celebrating the feast of Samhuin, or the moon in the tem- ple of Tlachta; just as their Phoenician ancestors met in the house of Rimmon,t i. e. of the moon, from re, the moon, and * Dinacbeanchas-Ward, p. 359; Keating, p. 1, etc. t 2 Kings y. 18. A. M . 3110.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 61 miiadhf an image; hence reamhan^ pro- phecying by the moon! The assembly was announced by sacred odes, set to a grand variety of musical instruments. In the days of St. Patrick this meeting in the presence of Loagaire the monarch, was compared for grandeur and magnificence to that of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, on the plains of Dura.* The Druids hav- ing finished their rites and mysteries, the great fire of Samhuin was lighted up, and the deities solemnly invoked to bless the national councils. The three succeeding days were spent in entertainments and fes- tivities, after which the national business, in all its departments, commenced. We read with astonishment of the wonderful order and regularity observed in these great festivals. First, notice was given by sound of trumpet, when the esquires of the nobility, and of the other orders of the state, pre- sented themselves at the door of the grand hall, and gave in the shields and ensigns of their different masters to the deputies of the great-marshal of the crown ; and, by direc- tion of the king-at-arms, they were ranged according to the qualities of the difierent owners. A second blast of trumpet, at a proper distance of time, gave notice to the target-bearers of the general officers to de- liver up their insignia also ; and on the third sound, the princes, the nobility, etc., appeared, and were immediately seated under their diflferent arms, without the least disorder or confusion. The proper business of this first assem- bly was the police of the kingdom, foreign alliances, peace and war, and a most strict examination of the national records. Was any nobleman or other treated unjustly by his prince, here was his sovereign appeal. Did any prince act contrary to the laws, or unjustly oppress a weaker power, to this great assembly they appealed for justice, and had it ! Princes who seemed refrac- tory were soon brought to order, as, in such cases, not only the monarch, but every order of the state were to send proportion- able forces to reduce the delinquent to rea- son. Here the records of the nation under- • Triaa Thaumat Vita SL Eumold. Prim. Eel. Brit., etc. went a severe scrutiny, and the transac- tions of the difierent provincial kings were carefully compared with each other. The most severe punishments awaited such senachies as should be convicted of the least falsehood ; but in every other respect, their persons and properties were inviola- ble. In the most violent civil dissensions their houses were asylums, and their lands and flocks free from depredation ; and it is most unexampled, that in ev6ry revolution the nation experienced, even to the begin- ning of the last century, a single instance does not occur of a senachie's being con- victed of misrepresentation, or this law be- ing violated. Nay, even at periods when the number of bards became a real burden to the kingdom, and their insolence drew on them national resentment, they were punished by banishment, and by a reduc- tion of their number only. In the present assembly it was decreed that, for the future, the number of ollamhs or doctors in differ- ent sciences should not exceed two hundred of each order. All . the difierent records of the kingdom were here examined ; and this was the first rise of the famous Psalter of Tara, being an epitome of unerring facts, drawn from the other records of the king- dom, and which it was looked upon as criminal to form the least doubt ! Here it was that this great prince delivered in the origin, the exploits, and migrations of the Milesian race till their landing in Ireland, all written with his own hand, and entered into the Senachas More^ the Great Antiqui- ty, or Psalter of Tara, so called from this place of their meeting. In order to have the national history carried on in the most clear and unexceptionable manner, it was agreed that for the futuje each province should have its history apart, and that nothing should be deemed authentic but what was contained in said annals, which were to be laid before this parliament every third year ; hence the Psalter of Cashell, or Book of Munster ; the psalters of Ard- mach, and Tuam; the books of Leath- Cuin; and from these, the books Drom- sneachta, Gleandaloch, of Conquests, of Gioalla-Caomhain, etc. And could we sup- 62 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. M. 3176. pose our national records to want further proofs of authenticity, the consideration that the kingdom was for the most part unhappily divided into parties, and yet all agreeing as to facts, without a single dis- sent, should be deemed irrefragable. Assemblies of an inferior nature met also at Tara.. A court of justice was establish- ed, where appeals from the provinces were heard and determined; this was called Realta na Fhileadh. Even merchants and artizans formed laws for the expanding of commerce, and the improvement of manu- factures. But as nothing contributes more to soften the manners of a proud and war- like people than an easy converse with the fair, this great object was not overlooked by our present great reformer. The ladies made a conspicuous figure at these meet- ings. The provincial queens and their at- tendants held public assemblies, and the place of their meeting was called Grianan na Ninghean, or the palace of the ladies. The smallest insult offered to any one, especially the women, during the whole session, was punishable by death, and out of the power of the monarch to pardon. Besides all these reforms, this great legis- lator founded a university at Tara, which for rank and dignity preceded all others of the kingdom, and which he called Mur- Ollamhan, or the college of doctors; as such as took this last degree here, preceded all others of the same rank in other parts of the kingdom. Something like this St. Patrick practised when he fixed upon Ar- magh as the primacy of Ireland, by found- ing at the same time a university there, the doctors of which took precedence of rank of all others. Thus did this great prince by a code of laws, founded on the strictest principles of justice, lay the foundation of a mighty monarchy, and of a general re- formation, by destroying all party distinc- tions. Greece, Italy, in short no other polite nation of antiquity can boast so per- fect a legislator ; and though party and faction, as we shall see, from time to time, suspended the force of these laws, yet the nation never lost sight of them. At every future period in which the people were blessed with a monarch of abilities, his first object was, the revival of these great trien- nial meetings, or Feis-Tamhrah. This re- nowned legislator long enjoyed the fruits of his labour and sound policy, and after a peaceable and glorious reign of forty years died, leaving the succession to his eldest son. Fion was inaugurated with great solem- nity. He is called by all our writers Fion- nachta ; but the adjunct Nachta, or Sneach- ta, was added to his real name, and signifies snow, as an unusual quantity fell every win- ter during his administration. We find nothing particular recorded of him except his liberality, noticed in the Book of Reigns ; but we must suppose on account of the length of his governing, and the peaceable- ness of his exit, that he steadily pursued the maxims of his father. He was taken off by a fever in his palace of Tara, after a reign of twenty years. His brother was his successor. He is distinguished by the epithet of Slanoll, or All-healthy, on account of the very few who died in his administration. He died in the house of Moidh-Cuarta, after a reign of seventeen years. We are told that, forty years after his decease, his body was dug up by his son Olioll, and found pure and uncorrupted. Geide, sumamed Oll-Golhach, or the Strong Voice, and youngest son of Ollamh- Fodhla, was the next monarch. But his nephew could not patiently bear this double exclusion of what he thought his right, and therefore raised great disturbances in the state. Being more active and vigorous than the monarch, he ceased not his at- tempts till he at length slew him in battle, and thus attained the summit of his wishes and ambition. Fiachadh III., the son of Fionnachta, son of Ollamh-Fodhla, of the line of Ir, succeed- ed his uncle, and reigned twenty years, according to the Book of Reigns. His government was frequently disturbed by the son of his predecessor. Many bloody battles were fought, and feats of great prowess performed ; but at length he fell in battle, a sacrifice to the manes of his uncle. A. M. 3244.] HISTORY OF lEELAND. «3 Bearagall, the son of Geide, reigned twelve years. He made fierce war on the posterity of Ith, whose chiefs he banished the kingdom; but at length the sword made way for his successor. OlioU, the son of Slanoll, son of Ollamh- Fodlah, reigned ten years, and was slain by Siorna, of the Ime of Heremon ; and thus by unhappy family feuds, were the effects of all the wise institutions of the great OUamh-Fodhla, if not defeated, at least suspended for a time, and the monarchy wrested from his family. What a lesson of instruction, and a fund for reflection ! CHAPTER II. The reign of Siorna — Of Rotheachta, and the rise of military chariots — Elim — Giallacha — Art, and the origin of fortifications in Ireland — Nuadha — Breasrigh — Eochaidh IV. — Great intercourse between the Irish and Carthaginians — Fionn II. — Seadhna — Simon — Duach — Muiredheach. The convulsions raised in the state in the infancy of the Milesian government, and unhappily fed and cherished by a per- petual flow of maUgnant humours for more than three centuries, we have seen, through the astonishing abilities of one prince, if not totally subdued, at least completely mastered for a time ; and instead of a kind of elective, an hereditary monarchy estab- lished, the most likely to give vigour and permanence to every state. We now vnth regret turn to fresh scenes of tumult and slaughter, the fatal effects of ambition. But the history of nations is the history of morality. It is the clare obscure of human nature ; and the duty of an historian is to paint men and nations, not as they should be, but as they really are. But notwith- standing the scenes of contention we shall be obliged to exhibit, we can still trace improvements in arts civil and military. Indeed, in countries where an exact sub- ordination is established, they can never experience those dreadful calamities gen- erally concomitant on frequent changes of government in less polished states. It is the partizans of both sides only that feel these effects. The literati, the merchant, the artizan, and agrarian uninterruptedly pursue their different avocations ; and these are the most useful people in every state. Siorna, called Saoghlach, or the Long- lived, (from having reached the age of one hundred and fifty,) the son of Dein, grand- son of Rotheachtingh, (says the Leabhar- Lecan,) of the house of Heremon, was solemnly crowned, on the Laigh-Fail, mon- arch of Ireland. The better to insure to himself the crown, he marched an army into Ulster, and attacked and defeated the Irians at Aras Keilter, now the city of Downpatrick. Some branches of the Belgae, leaguing vnth that people, he also chastised. Loagaire, the son of Ludhadh, of the race of Heber, who had called in to his assist- ance the Fomharaigh Africans, or rather Carthaginians, he also defeated ; and killed the African chief, named Ciasral, the son of Dorela. After a glorious and triumph- ant rule of twenty-one years he fell in the battle of Aillin.* Of this prince Siorna, the Leabhar-Lecan tells us that he drew up his army to greater advantage than any pre- ceding prince ; and that by this means, in the battle of Montrogadh, he defeated the troops of Lugar the African, which con- sisted of coige-cathOf that is, fifteen thous- and men. Rotheachta II., conqueror of the race of Heber, was proclaimed monarch. In his days the use of carhuds, or chariots, was first introduced into Ireland.f These char- iots were of two sorts : the first used by princes, by the nobility, and by the ladies, highly ornamented, and for conveyance only; the other, called scarbud-scarradh, was employed in war. To the sides and wheels of this last scythes and hooks were fixed, such as we read most great nations of antiquity used, and such as Caesar tells us were employed in Britain in his days. After a reign of seven years this prince was killed by li^tning at Don-Sobhaire. It is worthy notice that in the year of Rome 456, the Gauls for the first time used these armed chariots against the Romans. His son Elim succeeded him ; but his * Ogygia, p. 247. t Leabhar-Mnmhain. 64 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3296. reign was short and turbulent, being cut off in the first year of his administration by his successor. Giallacha, of the house of Heremon, held the sceptre for nine years, when the sword made way for his competitor. Art, the son of Elim, of the Heberian line, was the next monarch. In his days, we read for the first time of fortifications being constructed in Ireland. Around the different stations in which he garrisoned his troops, he cut deep trenches, and raised high breast-works of earth, which he lined with stone. Into these trenches he con- veyed water, by subterranean passages, to a considerable depth, and the entrances were by a kind of wooden bridges, which, being taken up at night, secured them from sudden attacks. He completed seven of these stations ; but in after periods, partic- ularly in the Danish wars, these duns or fortifications, were amazingly increased, in- somuch that several parts of the kingdom are yet encumbered with them. Modems have attributed these to the Danes, but we see how unjustly. The Psalter of Cashell tells us that in memory of this invention he got the epithet Imlioch, or surrounded by Stagnant Water, as the word imports. He was a very warlike prince, and defeat- ed the Heremonians in several battles, but at length fell in that of Rathlin, having reigned twelve years. Nuadha Fionn-Fail, of the house of He- remon, succeeded. In the fourteenth year of his administration he was slain in battle by the hand of his successor. Breasrigh, the son of Art, son of Elim, of the line of Heber, was the next mon- arch. The Psalter of Cashell tells us that he governed the kingdom with great glory and prudence, and defeated the Africans (who we see were employed to assist the pretensions of his house, about fifty years earlier) in many bloody battles. But the career of his glory was closed by the sword of— Eochaidh IV., the son of Fin, of the line of Ith, uncle to Milesius, who was pro- claimed monarch. His reign was short, and marked by a most fatal plague which carried off numbers of people, fi-om which he got the. surname of Apthach, or the Plague. But the rapidity of this disorder could not damp the fixe of ambition, and we read — ^indeed with astonishment— of his falling in battle in the first year of his reign ! From the very beginning of our history we find the Fomharaigh, or (as it literally signifies) pirates, frequently mentioned ; and nothing is clearer than that these peo- ple were always considered as Africans. This is expressed as full as words can make it, by all our antiquities, as the Book of Conquests, of Munster, etc. And this I think the more proper to remark, as some modems mention them as Scandinavians ; whereas the real time of the invasion of these last people is as exactly noted by our writers as that of the Africans. By these Africans it is manifest no other people could be meant but the Carthaginians, as no other nation of Africa was then known as a commercial or maritime state. And this I find pointed out in a most evident manner, in a very ancient poem, sometimes quoted by Dr. Keating, beginning with " Fuaruis a Saltar Chasil," where he more than twice mentions these Afi'icans by the name of Fine-Fomharaice — ^i. e. the Phoeni- cian Africans ; words which clearly point out their descent, as different from their country — ^not as indigenous, but as a trans- planted people. Diodorus tells us that af- ter building Gades, near the Pillars of Her- cules, the PhoBnicians extended their dis- coveries along the African coasts ; but one of their ships being driven far into the ocean, by a storm that lasted many days, they at length landed on an island in the Atlantic Ocean unparalleled for its fertility and temperature. Aristotle says it was discovered by the Carthaginians, that it was a most fertile land, and many days' sail from the continent. Strabo tells us that this Atlantic isle was partly possessed by the Carthaginians ; and Herodotus affirms that they drew such quantities of gold, and other commodities from it, as to cause them to declare it death to discover to strangers its situation, or this gainful commerce. A. M. 3818.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 65 What lights does not our history reverber- ate on all these passages ! We have already noticed the great im- provements of our ancestors in arts, manu- factures, and commerce; and in Africa and in Spain, we now behold the great vent for their commodities. We shall find many other instances, besides the last, of the plague's breaking out in Ireland — a disorder at all times unknown in Europe, except when communicated from Africa or the Levant. The history of Carthage par- ticularly notes the times at which this dis- order raged with greatest violence among them ; and as none others but they carried on traffic from Africa, it is evident, I think, that from thence we must have received it. Add to this, that the Gadelian colony when coming from Africa, through the Streiits to Galicia, left a part of their people in Ge- tulia, who, history informs us, when Dido landed there, spoke to her in the Phoenician tongue, and of course must have informed this commercial people of this great mi- gration. Masters of the sea, and of part of Spain, Ireland could not be unknown to them ; and the reciprocation of advan- tages arising from commerce to both peo- ple we must suppose soon confederated them. Hence every new improvement in arts, civil or military, on the continent, found its way to Ireland ; hence the beau- tiful colours, particularly the purple, green, and blue, introduced by Tighemmas ; hence the discovery of mines, and the, elegant fabric for arms of all sorts; hence the amazing plenty of gold and silver. The products of these manufactures are clearlv accounted for ! But that no possible doubt should remain of this close intercourse between the Irish and Carthaginians, it appears that Cartha- ginian swords found near the plains of Can- na?, and now in the British Museum, and the old Irish swords, so frequently found in bogs and morasses, are, as to make, form, and mixture of metals, so exactly similar as to appear to have come out of the same mint ! Governor Pownal compared some Irish swords (in the possession of Lord Milton) found in the bog of Cullen, in the 9 county of Tipperary, with those in the British Museum, and was surprised at their similarity.* He requested the assay-mas- ter of the Mint to analyze both. He did so, and found the proportion of mixture of metals so exactly corresponding, that he declared they must have been cast in the same furnace. " They are both (says he) a mixture of copper, of iron, and perhaps of some zinc. They take an exquisite fine polish, and carry a very sharp edge, and are firm and elastic. They are so pecu- liarly formed, as to resist any kind of rust, as appears when taken out of bogs, after lying in them for ages T Upon the whole, the learned governor takes it for granted that our Irish swords were from Carthage, and brought here in the course of traffic ; but as our annals particularly remark the plenty of our mines, and the very flourish- ing state of our fabrics for arms, the can- did reader will, I believe, agree with me, that from us they were supplied veith these, as well as many other useful articles in commerce. I have dwelt the more partic- ularly on this fact, as this correspondence will greatly contribute to elucidate many passages in the Irish history, as well as in that of Carthage, and show the close con- nection between both states. The most ancient ofiensive weapons, next to sticks and stones, were undoubtedly of brass — thus Lucretius, lib. v. : — Arma antiqua manus, ungues, dentesque fuere ; Et lapides, et item silvanim fragmina, rami. Posterius ferri vis est, serisque reperta : Sed prior aeris quam ferri, cognitas usus. Fion II., son of Bratha, a descendant of the great Ollamh-Fodhla, of the race of Ir, by right of conquest, swayed the Irish sceptre twenty-one years. Of this prince I find nothing particular mentioned, but that he fell as usual by the sword of his successor. Seadhna II., son of Breasrigh, son of ^ Art, of the line of Heber, ascended the Irish throne. To the native intrepidity of the Milesian race he added prudence and policy. He wrote a code of laws and dis- cipline for the military, which was a stan- * An account of some Irish antiquities read before the English Autiquariaa Society, Feb. 10th, 1774. 66 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3355. dard for many succeeding ages. To pre- vent oppression, he also regulated their pay, from the colonel to the common sol- dier ; and to prevent the occasion of dissi- pation, so destructive of military discipline, this pay was part in money, in clothes, and in food, as practised at this day. From this regulation he was called lonaruidh, or the Military Stipend. This great prince died in a manner unheard of before in Ire- land, for his limbs were torn asunder by command of his successor. Though this is the earliest account extant of a treatise on tactics, yet we find it well considered by succeeding writers, as Mago, among the Carthaginians, Arrian, etc., among the Greeks. The cruel Simon Breac, or the Speckled, of the house of Heremon, after a turbulent and factious rule of six years, was taken prisoner by Duach, the son of Seadhna, and put to the same cruel death he inflicted on his father. This Duach, called Fionn, or the White, held the reins of government ten years, and then resigned both life and crown to the superior power of — Muiredheach Balgrach, the son of Si- mon. He reigned but one year, and was slain by Eadhna, who became his con- cessor. CHAPTER III. The reign of Eadhna, and the rise of mints in Ire- land — Lugha, Sior-Laimh, Eochaidh Y., and the difference between the currachs and ships of the Irish — Eochaidh invades Greece — Eochaidh VI., Lugha II., Conning, Art II., Fiachadh IV., Air- geadmhar, Duach II., Lugha III. Eadhna II., called Dearg, or the Red, the son of Duach, of the race of Heber, assumed the reins of government. In this reign we read for the first time that a mint was erected and money coined at Airgiod- Ros, on the banks of the Suir, where, at our earlier periods, shields and targets of pure silver were fabricated. Before this, gold and silver were disposed of as mere buUion. The learned foreigner will, no doubt, reasonably demand why are not some of these coins preserved, so neces- sary to the illustration of our history, as we know numbers belonging to other pol- ished nations have been ? To this I shall, for answer, observe, that in A. D. 1639, a large quantity of Irish coins were discov- ered by some countrymen at Gleandaloch, in the county of Wicklow, a parcel of which fell into the hands of Sir James Ware. Mr. Harris confesses them to be of great antiquity,* and both Ware, Har- ris, and Simon,! ^'^ve given us figures of some of them ; and they all agree as to the very early use of money in Ireland ! We find before the Incarnation, that the bons, or pieces of four-pence value, the scrubalj or three-penny pieces, and the pinghin, or penny, were common through the kingdom ; but larger pieces of money, though carry- ing the impress of the monarch, or provin- cial king, were here then, as at this day in China, estimated by weight only. In a commercial country where mines of all kinds were worked — where, in times of Catholicity, the church-plate through the kingdom was mostly of gold — ^where such quantities of it have been from time to time, and still are found in bogs and mo- rasses — to doubt of their wanting so essen- tial an article as money, though our writers had been even silent on the subject, would be absurd. It is but too melancholy a truth, that, from the first introduction of the Normans into Ireland, they established a savage poUcy, which seems, even at THIS day, to operate on too many. They represented the aborigines as barbarians in the eyes of Europe, and their emissaries Jiere were but too successful in their en- deavours to destroy and efface every evi- dence to the contrary ! To preserve med- als, coins, or whatever could contradict this, was not the way to make court to the great; but, to destroy them — ^nay,to impose them on the public as the coins of even the barbarous Dane — was admissible ! I have heard, and been assured, that quantities of gold coins have frequently been found, * Antiquities of Ireland, p. 206. t Simon on Irish coins. A. M . 3392.J HISTORY OF IRELAND. 67 even within these last twenty years past, in bogs and grounds ; that they have been conveyed to Dublin and elsewhere, sold privately, and immediately melted down, by which means many poor families have suddenly become opulent We have in the last chapter, I think, fully proved that these Africans, so fre- quently mentioned in our history, were none others but the Carthaginians ; and a little retrospection will plainly show that the customs and policy adopted in the one state were soon introduced in the other. The Tyrian dye, and the manufactures of arms, so early established here, with the use of armed chariots for war, seem to pro- claim this. Byrsa, the citadel of Carthage, so called, as we have already noted, from its being surrounded by water, explains from whom Art Imlioch borrowed this kind of fortification. The Carthaginians, beyond a doubt, brought this science to great perfection ; since we find by their first alliance with the Romans, about A. M. 3452, they were particularly interdicted building forts in the country of Latium. If the Irish, some centuries before the Romans, introduced a regular discipline, and a con- stant pay among the military, so did the Carthaginians ; and it is singular enough to find by Justin, that much about this time both should be introduced by Mago into Carthage !* In fine, the Irish coins, given by Ware and copied by Harris and Simon, have on the face a human head, encircled with a cap or helmet, and on the reverse of some a horse — and we find some an- cient Carthaginian coins in the same style ! The present prince Eadhna, on whose ac- count we have thus digressed, died of the plague, after a reign of twelve years, as did great numbers of the people. Lughaidh, sumamed Jardhon, or the Colour of Iron, on account of the odd co- lour of his hair, peaceably succeeded his deceased father. Invading Ulster with a considerable army, he was slain by his suc- cessor at Rath-Clochar, after a bloody con- test. The victorious Sior-Laimh, the son of • Lib. six cap. 1. Fin, of the house of Ir, was proclaimed monarch. This name was metaphorically given him to denote the great extent of his power and command — Sior-Laimh, signify- ing Long-handed. He was a great enemy to the house of Heber, and sorely oppres- sed them ; but in the sixteenth year of his reign he fell in battle, and so gave way to his successor. Eochaidh, called Uarcheas, the son of Lughaidh, of the race of Heber, seized on the crown. The reason of the epithet Uarcheas was this. So great was the power of Sior-Laimh, and so much did he dread the known abilities of that prince, that he could not think himself in security till he was totally reduced. Unable any longer to oppose the monarch in the field, he took the resolution of trusting to his fleet. He collected a fleet of thirty large ships, which he manned with the bravest and most faithful of his followers, with which he put to sea. In order to enable him to make sudden landmgs in the most tempestuous weather, we are told he had a great number of cribs made of wattles, and covered with hides, in which his men frequently annoyed the coasts of his enemy. For ceas is Irish for a crib, or large basket of wattles, and fuare denotes cold, as being used in bad weather only ; and in- deed it is astonishing in what rough weather people will, at this day, run out to fetch in such craft. But to prove that the sole use of these craft, for insular or continental in- vasions, was to land men in rough weather, we find Caesar to have successfiilly used them to cross a river in Spain on a similar occasion.* From us, we may presume, the Britons, and most of the neighbouring states, took the method of using such ves- sels. But writers have strangely erred in affirming, as many have, that our invasions of Britain were in this sort of currachs, or boats. Thus, Gildas : " The rude droves •of Scots and Picts throng hastily out of their currachs, in which they were con- veyed across the Scythian channel."f And Solinus affirms, " that the sea between Brit- ain and Ireland is rough and tempestuous ; * De Bello Civili. lib. i. 1 De Excid Britan. «8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3416. yet they pass it in wicker boats, encompas- sed with a swelling covering of ox-hides."* It is evident, from what has been said, that Ireland was very early an extensive commercial country. Should we want foreign evidence, Tacitus is clear and full in this matter. f Could commerce be car- ried on in such barks as the above ? — surely not. Were they fit to transport armies, ammunition, etc., across the sea 1 — they undoubtedly were not. Our histori- ans dedarej — and the Psalter of Cashell is explicit in it — that their use was solely to land troops, in rough tempestuous weather, or re-embark them when necessary. The poet Claudian, in celebrating the glory of his patron Stilico, is very clear that our invasions of Britain were from large ships : — Me qaoque vicinis pereantem gentibas, inqait, Manivit Stilico. Totam cum Scotus lernem Movit, et infetto gpumavit remigc Thetyt. In fine, the venerable Bede tells us that the Scots and Picts crossed that arm of the sea only which divided England from Scot- land, in their boats ;§ nor can we be sur- prised that the Irish carried them in their ships for this purpose, when Caesar tells us, in the above recited place, that he had them conveyed twenty-two miles over land to answer a similar purpose. It is very singular that the Psalter of Cashell should tell us, that with this fleet Eochaidh invaded Greece, and was success- ful in all his attacks. To explain this, we must, I think, agree — and it will hereafter appear more evident — that the Irish con- federated with the Carthaginians, and fre- quently assisted them in their wars ; nor need we here insist much on what is con- fessed, and at the same time censured by ancient writers, as Polybius, Diodorus, Livy, etc., namely, that the Carthaginian armies were mostly composed of merce- naries of different nations, and speaking different languages. We have seen Lud- hadh, of the line of Heber, call in these Africans to his assistance, and in many * Cap. 35. t Vita Jul. Agricol. t Ogygia, p. 250, etc. $ Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. L cap. 12. other instances we find them employed among us. Why not suppose the present prince to apply to them for succour ? In the second century of Christ, we read that Eugene the Great, of this same house, fled to Spain for succour, and by his allies de- feated his enemies and recovered his crown. It is undoubtedly curious to find that, much about the present time the Car- thaginians are confessed to have made a briUiant figure by sea, and to have had strongholds in Sicily and Sardinia. About this time also we may place their famous engagement with the Phocaeans, one of the most formidable maritime powers then in the world, and whose fleet they entirely destroyed. Eochaidh, by means of his allies, as we have seen, was proclainied monarch ; but we are furnished with no other particulars of him after this, but that, in the twelfth year of his reign, he was cut off by his successors. Eochaidh, smuamed Fiadh-Mhuine, or the Deer Hunter, and his brother Conning, called Beg-Oglach, or the Intrepid, of the line of Heremon, became joint monarchs. They divided the kingdom, the first choo- sing the southern, the other the northern half. Eochaidh was successfully attacked by Luighadh Laimh-Dearg, and slain in battle ; and Conning, unable to oppose the torrent, fled the kingdom, but where he retired to we are not told. I am inclined to think it was to France, and that by the aid of the Gauls he was afterwards re- stored. Luighadh, son of the renowned Eo- chaidh, of the Heberian race, was pro- claimed monarch. He was called Laimh- Dearg, or the Bloody Hand, as that was the ensign of his arms, and which is still the crest of his posterity. His antagonist, having raised a considerable army, attack- ed and defeated him, after a reign of seven years. Conning, instead of a partition, now saw himself sole monarch of Ireland. Our annals speak of him as a prince in whose administration the glory of Ireland was raised to a very high pinnacle by his feats ■~»3ej«?; A. M. 3490.} HISTORY OF IRELAND. «9 of arms, and at the same time the most exemplary justice administered to his sub- jects. But neither his virtue or intrepid- ity could shield him from the vengeance of his successor. It is remarkable that, in the beginning of this prince's reign, we read for the first time of the irruptions of the Gauls into Italy. For my own part I do not entertain the least doubt but that the Irish were deep in these schemes, and that this prince in particular greatly assist- ed the invaders. Art, the son or brother of Luighadh, an Heberian, claimed the monarchy, and, as usual with his predecessors, the sword put a period to his life in the sixth year of his reign. Fiacha, the son of Muireadhach, son of Simon Breac, of the race of Heremon, after a sway of ten years gave way to the sword of his successor. Olioll, the son of Art, an Heberian, as- sumed the reins of government, and fell in the eleventh year of his reign by the sword of Airgeadmhar, of the line of Ir. The Heberians, however, flocked to the standard of his son, by which means the regicide and his party were obliged to fly the kingdom, and Eochaidh VII., the son of Olioll, was saluted monarch. In the seventh year of his sway, Airgeadmhar, invaded the kingdom, and being joined by Duach, the son of Fiacha, and other malecontents, attacked and defeated the monarch, at Klnoc-Aine, near Limerick. Airgeadmhar, of the line of Ir, was now placed on the throne. Giolla-Caomhain allows him a reign of thirty years, and in this he is followed by Archdeacon Lynch.* Dr. Keating makes it twenty-three, and Mr. CFlaherty but ten years. We will suppose he ruled twenty years. In gene- ral I am not fond of departing from the Reim-Riogra ; but reason justifies it in the present instance. But the impetuosity of his former associate, Duach, strengthened by the arms of Lughadh, of the Ime of Heber, deprived Airgeadmhar of life and crown. Duach, the son of Fiacha, of the house * Grat Luc, p. 62. of Heremon, reigned ten years. He was called Laighrach, which signifies Sudden or Hasty, because he allowed of very httle interval between the condemning and pun- ishing of criminals. His former ally, Luaghadh, disappointed in a partition of the monarchy, long meditated and at length gratified his revenge by the defeat and death of Duach. Lughadh III., the son of Cobthach, son of Eochaidh, of the line of Heber, was proclaimed monarch, and was cut oflf in battle in the seventh year of his reign. CHAPTER IV. The union of the principal branches of the house of Ir to preserve the monarchy in their family — The reigns of Aodh, of Dithorba, and Ciomb- haoth — Building of the palace of Emania — The earliest account of stone buildings in Ireland — The mistakes of writers with respect to the reigns of the above princes rectified — Of Macha, Mong-Ruadh — Reachta becomes monarch — The nature of his war with the Picts explained. AoDH RuAH, or the Red, son to Bad- hum, son to Airgeadmhar, an Arian, be- came monarch. This revolution was brought about by three cousin-germans, grandsons to Airgeadmhar, to wit: the present Aodh ; Dithorba, the son of De- main, of Uisneach; and Ciombhaoth, the son of Fiontan, of Fionabhar, all young princes of great intrepidity, and nearly of an age. To prevent the fatal efiects at- tendant on disunion, they made a solemn agreement, in case of success, that each should rule in rotation twenty-one years, Aodh, the eldest, to be the first appointed, and so of the others ; and that they should support to the utmost of their power, and obey each prince, according to this com- pact. Of the present prince we read no more but that about the period assigned for his resignation he was drowned, pass- ing a cataract in a river in Tirconnel, from him since named Eas-Ruadh, or Red-falL Dithorba succeeded, according to the original agreement, and died of a malig- nant fever. Ciombhaoth was peaceably proclaimed 70 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3560. monarch, and has been greatly celebrated for his prudence, his fortitude, and his moderation. He married Macha, called Mong-ruadh, or the Red-haired, daughter to his cousin Aodh. This prince revived all the wise institutions of his great prede- cessor, OIIamh-Fodhla, and founded the splendid palace of Emania, next to Tara the most magnificent public structure in ancient Ireland. The remains of this building near Armagh may yet be traced, occupying (as I am assured) an uncom- mon scope of ground. This palace has been celebrated by succeeding writers for its sumptuousness, the splendour and hospi- tality of its princes, and the intrepidity of its troops. The house of Craobh-Ruadh, adjoining to this great building, the seat of the hereditary knights of Ulster, whose fame and glory have been so often sung by our bards and recorded by our sena- chies, was proportionably grand. This noble structure got the name of Emania, or Eamhuin-Macha, we are told, from the Empress Macha, who with the brooch or gold pin of her handkerchief, drew its area on a proper scale. For ea is Irish for a pin or bodkin, and muin, the neck. A very ancient poem on this building begins thus, " Eamhuin a luin aras UUadh," i. e., " Lovely Emania, the seat of Ulster kings." From this palace the succeeding princes of Ulster were called kings of ■ Emania. From the Venerable Bede's account of the church of Lindisfar, which though ele- gant, he adds — ^" tamen more Scotorum, non de lapide, sed de robore secto totam com- posuit ;" and from a similar relation of St. Bernard, of an oratory built by St. Mala- chy,* people have supposed the early build- ^'^ ings of Ireland to have been mostly of *' wood. It is certain that in a country originally covered with woods, prudence would point out the necessity of a speedy consumption of part of it, the sooner to clear the ground, and correct the moisture of the air. I therefore take it for granted, that for a very considerable time, most of the buildings were of timber ; but it is by * vita St Malach. Episcopi. no means a consequence that no other ma- terials were used. The superb remains of stone structures yet standing, and many of them in the most sequestered places, suffi- ciently prove the contrary. We can even trace when stone buildings were first in- troduced into Ireland ; and this St. Cor- moc tells us, in the Psalter of Cashell, was when Failbhe Foalcorthach, grandfather to the monarch Roth6achta, ruled Munster, i. e. about A. M. 3150 ! But of these mighty buildings of Tara and Emania, and indeed of much later times, we may with the poet exclaim — Non indignemur, mortalia corpora solvi ; Cemimns ezemplis, oppida posse mori ! We have hitherto related the union be- tween the branches of the Irian line as we have found it recorded by antecedent wri- ters. A little reflection will, however, show that there must have been some mistake in this account. For at the time of this con- federacy these different princes must have been at least twenty-five years old each, if not more, to entitle them to head armies, much less to sway the sceptre. Ciomb- haoth, by this calculation was sixty-seven years old when called to the monarchy ; a very unlikely period for such election, es- pecially in a country where activity and bravery were two essential qualifications for a candidate. Mr. O'Flaherty, sensible of these objections, allows to each of these three princes a reign but of seven years ; but in this he is contradicted by all preced- ing annalists. The truth of the matter must be this. The three houses confeder- ated, and were to rule alternately, not for a certain numbdt of years, but during the natural life of each elector; just as we know Munster was, for some centuries, governed by two houses, according to a similar agreement ; so that we may affirm that Ciombhaoth was not the son, but the grandson of Fiontan. The Book of Reigns allows this prince to have ruled twenty- eight years, others but twenty, or twenty- one. On the death of this prince, the son of Aodh Ruadh should have succeeded to the throne, according to agreement ; but he A. M. 3587.] HISTORY OF IRELAND, 71 having no issue male, those of Dithorba put in their claim. There was neither law nor precedent in Ireland for a woman's gov- erning, yet Macha, the queen of Ciomb- haoth and daughter of Aodh, possessed of a masculine spirit and great power, insisted upon the succession as her right, and sup- ported her pretensions by the sword. The sons of Dithorba raised a mighty army, and were opposed by the imperial one, headed by this Amazon in person, and the insurgents put to a shameful flight. The disgrace of having the Irish sceptre sway- ed by a woman caused numbers again to enlist under the banners of the sons of Dithorba; and a much more formidable army than the former was raised. Heralds were sent to Macha requiring her peace- ably to relinquish the crown, or try the fate of a fresh battle. She chose the latter, and gained a decisive victory over her com- petitors. We are told that the sons of Di- thorba were taken prisoners, and that the conditions of their liberty were a formal resignation of their rights to the crown, and the building of the famous palace of Emania. But we have no other instances of such tame resignations, even to men. That this palace was built by Ciombhaoth himself, is evi- dent, because our early annalists call him Ceadfhlath na Heamhna, or the first king of Emania. We must conclude that, find- ing by this battle all lost, they fell also in it. After a reign of seven years this in- trepid empress died. Reachta, called Righ-Dhearg, or the Bloody Arm, of the house of Heber, was the succeeding monarch. We are told that he was the son of Lughaidh-Laighe, but this must be evidently a mistake, since we see seventy years elapsed smce the death of this Lughaidh. He must be, there- fore, grandson to this prince ; as we have shown that he was not the son, as supposed, but the grandson to Eochaidh. He trans- ported a mighty army into Albany under command of Fere and Iboth, the sons of Irial Glunmhuir, of his house, with which he effectually reduced the Picts ;* and he is therefore styled in the Psalter of Cashell, * Grat. Luc. p. 63. monarch of Ireland and Albion. But as it is certain that North Britain was tributary to, and dependent on, Ireland from the be- ginning, this necessarily requires some ex- planation. On account of the contiguity of Ulster to Scotland, the alliances by marriages and otherwise were much closer cemented with them than with the other Irish provinces. Hence, in all contests for the monarchy, the house of Ir was sure of sup- port from the Picts, so that humbling them was the sure way to weaken the Irian line. After a reign of twenty years this warlike prince resigned his crown and life to the superior arm of his successor. CHAPTER V. Reign of Jughaine the Great — Fits out a consider- able fleet for the Mediterranean — Attacks the Baleares, and unites with the Carthaginians — Assists Brennus in his irruption into Italy — Transactions of the Gauls misrepresented — ^A mistake in Plutarch pointed out. Jughaine, called More, or the Great, the son of Eochaidh Buadhaigh, the son of Duach Laighreach, of the house of Here- mon, was enthroned monarch. His em- press was daughter to the French king, and called Csesaria, sumamed Crotach, or the Lovely. He, like his predecessor, compelled the Picts to acknowledge his sovereignty and pay their usual tribute. He acquired the title of the Great on ac- count of the glory he gained by his con- quests in foreign countries. Our annals inform us that he equipped a mighty fleet, with which he sailed into the Mediter- ranean, landed in Afi*ica, and from thence sailed to Sicily, and other Islands, and for his great success was saluted with the glorious titles of Monarch of Ireland and Albany, and of all the Western Isles of Europe! But before his departure he summoned the estates of the kingdom at Tara, and laid before them the plan of his intended operations; and such was his power and influence, that he exacted fi-om them a most solemn oath, which was, " By the sun, moon, and stars, and by Nep- ^*Jf^ :-..j-JiUc^iU.v:-. ■ 72 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3587. time," to bear trae allegiance to him and to his posterity, in exclusion of the other royal houses of Ireland. And this, by the bye, is the first instance for above two centuries, of the meeting of the Feis- Tamhrach, or general convention of the estates of the kingdom at Tara, except such a one was appointed by Ciombhaoth, which I have not sufficient authority posi- tively to affirm. Pity it is that our senachies have not been more minute in their accounts of the transactions of this reign ; but the duty of an historian is to elucidate, not to offiiscate, and as Horace says — " Non fumom ex folgore, sed ex fumu dare lucem." We have, I think, already shown the con- nections between the Irish and Carthagin- ians ; and there is a passage in Plutarch's Life of Timoleon, who was nearly contem- porary with this prince, which is worthy attention. He tells us that, at the siege of Syracuse, the Greek mercenaries in the Carthaginian army, in times of truce, fre- quently met and conversed with their countrymen under Timoleon. That one of the Corinthians addressed his country- men in the opposite army thus — "Is it pos- sible, O Grecians, that you should be so forward to reduce a city of this greatness, and endowed with so many great advanta- ges, into a state of barbarism, and lend your aid to plant Carthaginians so much nearer to us, who are the worst and bloodi- est of men ? Whereas you should rather wish that there were many more Sicilies to lie between them and Greece. Have you so little sense as to suppose, that they came hither with an army from Hercules's RUars and the Atlantic Sea to hazard them- selves for the establishment of Icetes?" From the ivhole, I think, we may reason- ably conclude, that the Carthaginians pro- cured powerful assistance from Ireland, as well as from Spain and Gaul, in their wars with the Romans ; nor do I think I should be censured of rashness, if I were to offer a conjecture that the sacred cohort^ the de- jecta and sacra cohors of the Carthaginians, mentioned by Diodorus, Curtius, etc., was a select body of Irish troops, whose fidelity and intrepidity could always be depended on, and who were kept in constant pay. If in those days of distress and persecution which followed the Reformation, the Irish kept up a large body of troops in the ser- vice of Spain, as we know they did in the reign of Elizabeth, and long after ; and if, since the year 1691, a most respectable corps has been kept up both in France and Spain, whose incorruptible fidelity and unexampled bravery added new laurels to their drooping country, why doubt the probability and possibility of their lending their troops to the Carthaginians in days of splendour, especially when the country was so full of inhabitants ? Nay, I per- suade myself that it was a useful piece of state policy in the victorious prince, to en- gage a restless military in foreign wars, to preserve domestic tranquillity ; and this will explain why this body were honoured with the title of sacra cohors, as being denizens of the Infula Sacra. To strengthen this conjecture, as our legions in Gaul were called Fine-Gall, and in Albany Fine-Al- bin, we may well suppose that the Fine- Tomharaig, or African legions, so often met with in old MSS. meant no other than the Irish cohorts in that service. That the Carthaginians were a learned as well as a most powerful people will not be disputed ; nay, from the great numbers of their historians, poets, and philosophers, we may safely affirm that they were a much more polished people than the Ro- mans themselves. Unhappily for arts and letters, the Romans adopted the wretched policy of the Greeks, in representing all their enemies as barbarous ; and this fact cannot be more melancholily proved than by their accounts of these very Carthagin- ians. In destroying their city, they took care with it to destroy their archives, and all their writings ; in short — " almost every thing they wrote that had any appearance of literature or true history," as the writers of the Universal History observe.* On this account many relations of their ex- ploits, and those of their allies, are strangely mutilated, and often without dates. Thus * Vol. xvi. p. 661, octavo. A.M. 3587.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 7S^ we read, that the Carthaginians conquered Sardinia, the Baleares, now called Majorca and Minorca, with other islands in the Mediterranean. Port Mahon, in the latter, we are told,* was so called from Mago, a Carthaginian general and a brother to Hannibal ; but in a case uncertain as this is on one side, I scruple not to affirm that it was so called from our monarch Jug- haine, who is called in Latin, Hugonius, and who we see was the friend and ally of Carthage, and assuredly assisted them in their wars in Sicily, as the Irish did them under Hannibal in Italy ; or what would have brought Irish swords there ?t Add to this, that from the uncommon expertness of the people in slinging stones, these islands got the name of Baleares ; and it is pretty remarkable, that in our ancient armies were always a large body of sling- ers ; and so sure were they of hitting an object with the greatest certainty, that they scarce ever failed of execution, when within the force of their machines, then called cran-tubal. This, with the sword, the javelin, and the broad-axe, were the wea- pons of our military. Thus we may sup- pose, that Jughaine subdued these islands about A. M. 3590 ; and that he, after this, united with Hannibal, the son of Gisco, in his expedition to Sicily, in which he de- stroyed the cities of SeUnus, Himera, etc., and this exactly corresponds with the time in which these last exploits were achieved. Soon after his return from this glorious expedition, we find the Gauls prepared for an irruption into Italy, and Brennus ap- pointed general in this expedition. It is something more than a mere presumption to suppose that a nation so warlike, and so fond of extra-marine expeditions, as we see the Irish were, would not remain idle spectators in this war, especially when we reflect on the close affinity between the Irish and French monarchs at this time. I therefore take it for granted that, if not principals, the Irish were a party in this famous expedition; and this is the true reason why this prince is called, in the * Liv. lib. xxviii. n. 37. t See chap. ii. of this book, p. 65. Book of Reigns, Joughaine More, Maitk* Gall, i. e. Jughaine the Great, a chief friendly to the Gauls. Indeed, the false lights which the transactions of these re- mote days have been thrown into by the Romans, and so viewed by all succeeding writers, would seem to damp every g«Qier- ous attempt to restore part of that dignity to the Celtic and Sythic nations of Europe, which, with their liberty, they were robbed of by the Romans. Thus Voltaire delivers himself on the present subject: — "If we read that three hundred and sixty years after the foundation of Rome, the Gauls spread desolation over all Italy, and besieg- ed even the capitol, is it not to the Romans we are indebted for the information ? If, a century after, others of them invaded Greece, to who, but to these, are we indebt- ed for the account ? There rest no monu- ments of these emigrations among us. It proves only, ^at we were very numerous, and very uncivilized.*^* But had M. Vol- taire given himself time to reflect on this very war, as a philosopher and an historian should do ; did he but consider the spirit and moderation displayed by Brennus, when he' discovered that the Roman am- bassadors sent to him, on the part of the Clu- sians, instead of being ministers of peace, so far disgraced their characters as to be- come active partners in the war ; not to mention the uncommon address and abili- ties necessary to unite different nations, and speaking different languages, in one common cause, he certainly would alter his sentiments, and not hold forth to public view so disgraceful a picture of ancient Europe. He tells us that to the Romans only we are indebted for the account of this war. But were the Gauls so barbar- ous and illiterate as not to be able to transmit to posterity any records of these times ? They surely were not. Caesar will be my w^itness, that arts, sciences and letters were highly cultivated by them.f To whose fault is this silence of the Gauls to be attributed then ? to the Romans — the poUshed Romans themselves ! as they * Avant d propoB a VHiatoire Universelle. t Lib. vi. 74 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3587. treated the Carthaginians, and indeed as they treated all other learned nations who had the unhappiness to fall under their yoke, so they treated the Gauls. They destroyed all their records whatever; and they made it penal to study in any other language but their own, and by this means made it almost impossible for future wri- ters, how well inclined soever, to contra- dict them. But, fortunately for letters, the Irish nation, by their valour and generous love of independence, not only preserved themselves a free people at home, but held forth their arms to support every struggle for liberty in the neighbouring states, and their history alone proves how different the ancient state of Europe really was from what is generally supposed. Plutarch, in his Life of Camillus, tells us, as soon as the account of Rome's being taken by the Gauls reached Greece, that Heraclides of Pontus, who lived at the very time, (though our author says, soon after,) in his book De Anima relates, " that *a cer- tain report came from the West, that an army of Hyperboreans had taken a Greek city called Rome, seated somewhere on the Great Sea.' But I do not won- der (says Plutarch) that so fabulous a writer should embellish his account of the taking of Rome with such turgid words as Hyperborean and Great Sea." And yet for these remarks Plutarch is himself cen- sured by Dacier, Dryden, and other trans- lators. For nothing is more certain than that the ancients called the Mediterranean Sea Mare Magnum, as conveying passen- gers to all parts of the world, in opposi- tion to the Euxine, and other adjoining seas. Nor is Plutarch's remark on the Hyperboreans better founded, since they were, at that time, and long before and after it, a great and powerful people. Nor are these commentators on our author to be at all justified when they affirm that the Greeks called all northern nations indis- criminately Hyperboreans. It is evident that by Hyperboreans, the early Greeks understood the inhabitants of a single isl- and only, which island I have shown in the present, as well as in a former work, to be Ireland.* As then Rome was seated on the Great Sea, and the Hyperboreans at this time a powerful maritime state, we may conclude that Heraclides was better informed in these matters (especially being a contemporary) than our author supposes, and that the Irish made a distinguished figure in this war. This monarch had twenty-five children, of which twenty-two were sons. As he laboured to secure the succession to his own family, it was an act of prudence to weaken the power of the provincial kings. The mode of taxation before this, for na- tional exigencies, was directed by each prince in his own province. Jughaine di- vided the kingdom into twenty-five parts, in honour of his issue, and himself appoint- ed the tax upon each portion, and the officers who collected it ; and this manner of cessing remained in force for three hun- dred years. Of the numerous issue of this mighty prince, two only are handed down to us as the chief supporters of the Here- monian line, namely Laoghaine Lore, and Cobhthaigh-Caolmbreag, and from whom all the succeeding branches of this illus- trious line claim their origin. The Book of Reigns says this prince ruled Ireland forty years; but the generally received opinion is that, after a reign of thirty years, he was inhumanly murdered by his own bro- ther; who, surviving him but a day and a half, has not been placed in the list of Irish monarchs. Roigne, called Rosg-athach, or the Learned in Poetry, a son of Jugh- aine, is highly celebrated in our annals for an excellent code of laws written and pub- lished by him in the life-time of his father. CHAPTER VI. Loagliaire proclaimed monarch — Murdered by his own brother, who succeeds him — Maon, grand- son to Loaghaire, is conveyed to France, and soon arrives at the supreme command of the Gallic troops— Invades Ireland, and gains the monarchy — A curious remark of Cenau explain- ed — Of Meilge, Modh-Chorb, and Aongus, suc- cessive monarchs of Ireland. * Introdacdun to Irish History, p. 1. A.M. 3617.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 75 LoAGHAiBE II., son of Jughame, imme- diately headed a select body of troops, surprised the regicide, dispersed his party, and caused him to be put to an ignomin- ious death. His courage and activity made him thought worthy to reign, and' he was saluted monarch in exclusion of his elder brother. Cobhthaigh with conster- nation beholds himself not only precluded from the monarchy for the present, but his future expectations destroyed, by the great merit and valour of his nephew. Desti- tute of support, he dared not proclaim his pretensions and his injuries, and seemingly applauded the government he so much de- tested. But this concealed spirit sensibly affected his constitution, which increased on hearing of the birth of a grand-nephew ; and he became at length so emaciated as to take to his bed. The monarch, sensibly afflicted at the melancholy situation of a brother whom he tenderly loved, paid him a visit; and then it was that the cruel Cobhthaigh saw the possibility and took the resolution of assassinating his brother. He, therefore, very artfully, while he ac- knowledged the honour of this visit, kindly complained that he came not with the af- fection of a brother, but with the state of a great prince, attended by his nobility and his guards; and he requested, when next he visited him, it might be as a bro- ther and unattended, as it would afford the highest proof of his love. The credulous monarch, charmed with this feigned mark of affection, assured his brother of his compliance ; and accordingly in his next visit, totally unattended, and conversing carelessly with him at the bedside, he suddenly stabbed him to the heart with a dagger he had provided and concealed for that purpose. But we cannot be bad by halves ! more murder must follow to se- cure the succession! Oilliol-Aine, the bi-ave son of the deceased, was privately made away with; and the life of his grand- son, Maon, (like that of Louis XV. in his minority) was only saved, being supposed of so weak a frame as to be incapable of raising any future disturbances. Yet the fallibility of human wisdom, and the small degree of happiness that arises from grati- fying the ambition of the wicked, cannot be more fully exemplified than in the pres- ent instance, where we shall behold this youth, whose tender age and imbeciUties the tyrant despised, in his turn depose and kill the murderer of his father and grand- father, and govern the kingdom with great splendour and glory. Cobhthaigh, by these horrid assassina- tions, gained the crown. He was called Caol-Breag, from caol^ which imports lean or emaciated, and Breag, from Magh- Breag, in the county of Wicklow, where he committed these foul murders. Not- withstanding the atrociousness of his crime, yet we find he reigned peaceably for thirty years. But the friends of the young Maon took care to convey the prince far from the reach of the monarch, fearing the capriciousness of his temper. The King of South Munster received him with great humanity, and had him bred up in his court ; and here the soft passion of love found a way to his tender heart, the object being the lovely Moriat, daughter of his protector. His friends, anxious for his safety, did not trust him long here, but had him conveyed privately to France, with only nine attendants in his retinue. The French king received him with all the honours due to his blood, and to the close affinity between them. He soon rose in the army ; his valour and prudence, much beyond his years, acquired him the su- preme command of the Gallic troops be- fore he was twenty-five. He wanted not for partizans at home to trumpet his fame ; and the greatness of his exploits soon re- vived in the breast of the fair Moriat senti- ments of a much warmer nature than what she had supposed. Love is full of expe- dients, and she found out a method to re- mind this prince of their former amity. Craftine, a musician of her father's court, was her confidant She sent him privately to France, with a letter and a rich present of jewels to Maon. After delivering his credentials, he played on his harp, and sung to it an ode, in which Maon was praised with great delicacy, and his prin- f 76 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. M. 3668. cipal actions boldly recorded, concluding with a wish that he would, for the future, exert his power to recover his country, and revenge the blood of his father and grand- father. He inquired who the author of this ode was. To be praised by the fair is the highest gratification to a generous .mind: Craftine told him it was the lovely Moriat herself. At once all his former tenderness revived, and love and glory now only employed his thoughts. He sent back the harper with private instructions to his friends, and solicited the aid of the monarch of France to support his preten- sions to the throne of Ireland. His request was granted, and, with a select body of Gauls, he invaded both Scotland and Ire- land. He himself landed in the harbour of Wicklow, and being informed that Cobh- thaigh kept his court at Dindrigh, near the Barrow, in Leinster, thither he immediately marched his troops, attacked this fortress sword in hand, and put the garrison to the sword, with the monarch himself, and thirty princes who were with him there assembled. For this I have the authority of a very ancient historian ; and Forche- irethen, a celebrated antiquarian, and con- temporary with Connor, King of Ulster, before the birth of Christ, gives us the names of these different princes, in a poem preserved in the Leabhar-Lecan,* and taken from the Book of Leinster. The words of the historian are these — "Ase an Labhra so do dheacuidh tar muir go Ngallach-buine, do cum Nalban agus Eirin, is leis ro ort Dind-righ for Cobhthach agus fighrigh the uime." i. e. It is this Labhra that crossed the sea, with bands of Gauls, to Scotland and Ireland, and with them destroyed the royal fortress, with the mon- arch Cobhthach, and thirty princes sur- rounding him. From the same authority I find it affirm- ed that no Irish prince extended his power further than this Labhra. For this reason it is, that he is called in the Book of Reigns Laoch ro Cath, i. e. the Hero first in Battle. That besides his conquests in Britain, he became also a king in Gaul ; and it is sin- • Book iii. p. 43, etc. gular enough, and I apprehend highly worth attention, what Cenau, or Cenalis, Bishop of Avranches, in a learned work on the French nation, asserts, which is, " that at an early period, a people called Hermioni- ens, but rather Heremonians, possessed the seacoasts of Brittany." To commemorate this event and their ancestry, he tells us, ** that the dukes of Bretagne placed ermines in their arms."* To strengthen this rela- tion, I have but to remind the reader, how careful our antiquarians have been to dis- tinguish from which branch of the three houses or the royal line of Ireland each monarch descended ; and that the present prince, his grand-uncle, his grand, and great-grandfather, who successively ruled Ireland, were all Heremonians: — add to this, that about the period in question, the Gauls and their allies invaded Italy with a powerful army. The fair Mamonian Moriat was this prince's consort. The reason why he is better known by our annalists by the name Labhra than his original one, M aon, is this : as soon as he had surprised and cut off his predecessor, a Druid, who was witness of the action, and in his inter- est, cried out hastily, Does he speak ? on which account he went by the name of Labhradh, which signifies speech ; to which the epithet Luingseach, or the Navy, was added, from luingios, a fleet. But though this question of the Druid is mentioned to explain the cause of this name only, yet it evidently imports much more, and ought to be adverted to. By the Irish constitu- tion, it was not enough that every candidate for the monarchy should be of the royal line of Milesius, yet he must be also per- fect, not only in all his faculties, but in his make. It had been reported of Maon, when a youth, that he was dumb ; so that the question was pointing out to the people that the report was groundless. He first introduced into Ireland the use of the laighean or Gaulish spear, and as it was mostly confined to the province of Gaillian, it ever after was distinguished by the rest of the nation with the name of Coige-Laig- hean, or the Province of the Spears. After • Mezeray, Origine dea Francais, p. 357. A.M.2767.] HISTOHY OF IRELAND. 77 a glorious reign of nineteen years he fell in battle by the arm of his successor. Meilge, the son of Cobhthach, was pro- claimed monarch. He was called Molbh- thach, or the Praiseworthy, on account of his just administration. The division be- tween the two branches of the Heremonian line, animated the posterity of Heber, and after several conflicts, this prince at length was cut off", and his army defeated. Modh-Chorb was the first prince who had spirit and power sufficient to break through oaths sworn to, and the national decree passed in favour of Jughaine the Great and his posterity, in exclusion of the other royal houses. He is said to have been the son (but I think with more truth the grandson) of Cobhthaigh-Caom, son of the monarch Reachta, of the line of He- ber. He is called in the Psalter of Cashell Modh-Chorb-Claire, as his chief palace and principal residence was in Clare, instead of being at Tara. He was slain in battle, in the seventh year of his reign, by Aongus. Aongus II., called OUamh, or the Doctor, the son of OilioUa, son of Labhra, of the race of Heremon, was saluted monarch. Of this prince the Book of Reigns says — "Aongus OUamh, a hoct-deag, do rad a Socht Sluah saor Ghreig^* i. e. Aongus, for eighteen years, led his armies against the Greeks. When we compare this rela- tion with the accounts given us by Greek and Roman writers of the irruption of the Gauls into Greece, and note how exactly the reign of the present monarch accords with the time of this remarkable invasion, we must, I apprehend, be convinced that our annals deserve the highest credit.^ — During this foreign war, probably en- couraged to rid the kingdom of so many turbulent spirits, Aongus's enemies were not idle. Jarereo raised a potent army, cut off his enemy, and as usual became his successor. CHAPTER VII. The reigns of Jarereo, Feftrcorb, Conla, OilioU III., Adamar, Eochaidh VIII., Feargus — Of Aongus III. — He pssistB the Carthagininiis — The sources from ■whence King George III. is descended — Of Conall, Niadh, Seamhuin, Eanda, Criomthan, Ruighruidh the Grand, Jondhabhar, Breasal, Lu^midh IV., Congall, Duach, and of the Clana Deagha ; Fachtna, Eochaidh IX., and of the different partitions of Ireland — Power of the Heremonians, and origin of tiie palace of Cm- achan. Jabebeo, the son of Meilge, son of Cobh- thach, son of Jughaine, of the blood of Heremon, reigned seven years, and was slain by his successor. He was sumamed Gleo-fathach, as being a prince of great wisdom and accomplishments, as the words denote. • Fearcorb, the son of Modh-Corb, of the line of Heber, ascended the throne. His reign, the Book of Munster tells us, lasted but jive years, when the sword of his suc- cessor cut his way through him to the Irish throne. Conla, the son of Jarereo, son of Meilge, reigned five years, and died a natural death at his palace of Tara. OilioU III., sumamed Caish-fhiaclach, or the Bad Teeth, the son of Conla, weis then his successor. Though he reigned twenty- five years, yet we find nothing remarkable of him in our records, but that he fell in battle, and a& usual, by the sword of his successor. Adamar, called Foltchaoin, or the Smooth Hair, the son of Fearcorb, of the race of Heber, ascended the throne. The Psalter of Cashell tells us that his empress was of the Danaan race, and named FUdhis. He was slain by Eochaidh. Eochaidh VIII., the s»7 140 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A.D. 428. affairs in Gaul, we may presume, were no more overlooked by the Irish than by the other enemies of that people ; however, I am not authorized from our annals to say that they made any formal invasion on the continent at this period, except the one in which this Daithi perished. The Britons being reduced to the lowest ebb, Daithi prepared a formidable army to invade the continent. In the two last reigns, the Irish arms prevailed only on the maritime coasts of Gaul, in Brittany and Normandy ; in the present we see them unite with their allies, and carry terror and ruin to the very foot of the Alps, where Daithi was killed by lightning. The death of this gallant prince greatly discouraged his troops. About thirty years before, an army of barbarians was ruined by tempest and lightning, in at- tempting to cross the Alps ; and this dis- aster, which probably might be resolved into natural causes, was, by the Christians, declared a miracle in favour of the empe- ror Theodosius. The most part of this Irish army were pagans : they did not want for superstition and credulity ; and wished not to engage but with men. Their army therefore, under the command of Laogaire, son to the hero Niall, and cousin-german to the deceased, made a regular retreat, bringing home with them the embalmed body of Daithi, who was interred with great funeral pomp at Roilig na Riogh. When Daithi, from king of Connaught, was called to the monarchy, he relinquish- ed that crown to his brother Amalgad, as Criomhthan before him did the crown of Leath-Mogha. A proof how jealous the people were of their liberty, and how careful they were to prevent the monarchs assuming too great a power. The King of Leath-Mogha in this reign was Nafra- oich, the son of Core, of the Eugenian line, and race of Heber. His power ex- tended over South Munster and the royalty of Cashell only; while Cas, brother to Eana, of the Dai-Gas, governed North Munster, and Randubh, the son of Eoch- aidh, the son of Eana, the kingdom of Leinster. Cas, King of North Nunster, had twelve sons, who were the sources of great fami- lies ; first. Blood, his eldest and successor ; second, Casin, from whom O'Casin ; third, Lugh Delbhoodh; fourth, Seadhna ; fifth, Aongufl Ceannathrach ; sixth, Cormoc ; seventh, Carthan ; eighth, Caineach ; ninth, Aongus Ceanaitin; tenth, Aoh; eleventh, Loisgean; and twelfth, Nac. Cas made an equal partition of his lands between these sons. Lugh Dealbhoodh being an excellent soldier, and having in his pay a select body of troops, lent these out. By this means he gained large estates in Lein- ster and Connaught, which after him were called Dealvnas. These invasions from Ireland, and each army extending its conquests beyond the other, wonderfully elucidate the mutilated accounts delivered by Roman writers, of these days of war and anarchy. Proco- pius, in the sixth book of the wars of the Goths, tells us, that the Germans endea- voured to reduce the Armoricans, (i. e. the people of Flanders, Normandy, and Brit- tany,) on account of their changing their ancient love of liberty to a veneration for Rome and for slavery, and therefore fi^e- quently invaded their territories ; till at length, by force or by friendship, they pre- vailed upon them to join in the grahd confederacy against Rome, which was then strengthened by marriages and other alli- ances. The alliance between the Irish and Germans, particularly the Saxons, Claudian clearly attests ; and the first in- vasions of Normandy and Brittany under Criomhthan and Niall, being mostly con- fined to the seacoast, add dignity to the relation. The Armoricans seeing Rome no longer able to protect them, and finding their trade lessening, and their country exposed to frequent depredations and in- sults, perceived the necessity of altering their system of politics. "The maritime and other provinces of Gaul, says Zozimus, (lib. vi.) intending to free themselves from the Roman yoke, expelled their governors and garrisons." All these convulsions and revolutions in Britain, and the maritime coasts of Gaul, corresponding so exactly with the times of the invasions of Criom- »i A. D. 428.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 141 hthan and Niall, leave not the least doubt of the invasive quarter, or of the primum mobile of this conjuration. The time that the Armoricans united in the grand con- federacy against Rome, must have happen- ed in the reign of Niall : and his second invasion of Gaul, in which we see he ad- vanced far into the country, in all appear- ance was projected m conjunction with these people, to support them in their at- tempts at expelling the Roman garrisons. In fine, in the present reign, we see Daithi march to the foot of the Alps ; and at this time it is known, that the enemies of Rome triumphed both in Gaul and in G^ermany. END OP THE FIRST VOLUME. •e 4^ 'idSW? ; ■ ^ V THE HISTORY OF IRELAND. BOOK VII. CHAPTER I. Loghaire elected emperor — Successfully invades Britain — Attacks the Lagenians, but is defeated and taloen prisoner — Released on conditions which he refuses to observe — New settlements of the Heberians in Leinster — Of the religion of the Diniids, and its effects on the morals of the people — The first introduction of Christian- ity into Ireland, not from Rome, but Asia or Africa — The flourishing state of the Ix'ish church before the landing of St. Pati'ick. Immediately after the interment of Dai- thi, the estates were convened to elect a successor ; and Laogaire, son of the re- nowned hero Niall, and governor of Tara in his father's reign, was unanimously called to the monarchy. Acting under the late emperor Daithi, the present prince, in conjunction with the Saxons and Armor- icans, or maritime states of the continent, to wit: the people of Flanders, Picardy, Normandy, and Brittany, had the honour of displaying the banners of Ireland, and proclaimed liberty even at the foot of the Alps ; and as soon as he had settled the internal police of his country, he now pre- pared for new expeditions, in concert with the ancient national allies. About this time Clodion was called to the government of Gaul. He was called Chevelu, as being the first prince of the ancient race of kings who, for above four centuries, wore his hair in long ringlets round the back.* For it is worthy of notice, that the Gauls under the Roman government were obliged to have (heir * Mezeray, Histoire de Fi-ance, torn. i. p. 10. hair cut short, probably as a mark of sub- jection; or perhaps because the Romans deemed it as a mark of effeminacy ; whereas, in the states it was worn flowing down the back in curls. The Irish, in par- ticular, as we have already observed, were so fond of this ornament, that no soldier or officer dared appear without it ; nay, its loss was a mark of the highest con- tempt, and an indignity to be suffered only by slaves. But to return from this digres- sion, Laogaire with a potent army invaded Britain, and again were the walls and mounds of earth levelled to the ground, and again the Britons experienced all the miseries of a defenceless people, exposed to the outrages of a cruel and exasperated enemy ! At length, united by despair, the Britons made head against the invaders, and gained some advantages over their detached parties ; yet, by a large tribute only, were they enabled to extricate them- selves from these unseasonable visitors for the present. Flushed by this success, the monarch raised new troops, determined to compel the Lagenians to pay their usual tribute, which it seems they had refused; but Criomthan, the son of Eana Cinselach, was too good a politician not to be sensi- ble that such refusal must necessarily draw on him the indignation of the monarch, and therefore wisely prepared for the worst. He applied to Nafraoich, the son of Core, of the Eugenian line, at that time King of ■"^W^.-- 144 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 431. Leath-Mogha, for his support, and entered into particular treaty with Luig-Dealb- hoidh, the son of Cas, who was an excel- lent commander, and always kept a body of select troops in his pay. In the mean- time, Laoghaire entered Leinster; but Criomhthan avoided a general action till the arrival of his auxiliaries. As soon as these joined him, he bade defiance to the monarch, and by mutual agreement both armies met at Atha-Dara, in the county of Kildare. The battle, as usual on all these occasions, was fierce and bloody, and well fought on both sides ; but the superior dis- cipline of the Mamonians at length pre- vailed, and the imperialists gave way on every side. In this general rout, Laog- haire was taken prisoner, and purchased his liberty by swearing to exonerate the province of Leinster from all future demands of tribute ; and which he did in the most public manner, " invoking the sun, moon and stars," as witnesses to this compact. Criomhthan, as a reward for the great services of Luig gave him large estates in Leinster, which from his surname were called the Dealbhnas. Delvin-more in Meath, was the patrimony of the O'Finnal- lans, of this race, till dispossessed by Hugo de Lacy, in the latter end of the twelfth century, who conferred it on Gilbert de Nugent, whose posterity became barons of Delvin, and earls of West Meath. Delvin, or Dealbhna-beg, in the same county, was the lordship of the CMael- Challains, of the line of Heber, Dealbhna- Tean-moi, was the property of the CSco- luighs, or Scullys; and Dealbhna-Eathra, in the present King's County, was the ter- ritory of CCoghlin, or Mac Coghlan, (for I find it wrote in old MSS. both ways,) and which lordship, or at least a consider- able part, is still preserved in that illus- trious line. The present O'Coghlin [1778] wa,s a member in the last parliament. Scarce had Laogaire recovered his lib- erty, when he protested against all pro- ceedings and promises made during his captivity. The Druids absolved him from his oath, and he prepared again to assert the rights of his |ncestors, by force of arms, over the Lagenians. He likewise made some fresh invasions on South Brit- ain ; but our historians in this reign were so taken up with religious affairs, that they have scarce attended to any other matters, leaving us in the dark as to the events of these last preparations. Indeed, the intro- duction and establishment of Christianity is so closely connected with the history of the nations in which it prevailed, that it neces- sarily becomes a part of such works. The remarkable effect it had on the manners and pursuits of the Irish, deserves to be particularly adverted to. Never was a system of religion better calculated to stir up the soul to noble ac- tions than that which prevailed among the Celtic and Scythian nations of Europe previous to the introduction of Christianity. It seemed even to require longer and se- verer trials of probation than the new doc- trine ; for though the immortality of the soul was universally believed by them, yet they never allowed repose to it. They taught that it must pass from body to body, till by a series of ages, and actions of the brightest dye, it became a pure emanation from the Deity, purged from all terrestrial vices, and worthy to be returned from whence it came. Was a man addicted to gluttonry, the soul, after his decease, was judged to animate a hog, or some such unclean creature. The vices in one ani- mation were punished after death by that soul's being tranfused into some quadruped most remarkable for such depravity. The souls of the brave, the generous, and the humane, after death, were revived in other bodies, still more noble and pure ! In time they became pure aerial spirits, and from thence ascended to the Caslum iEmpy- reum. Pythagoras boasted that he remem- bered animating the bodies of Aethalides Euphorbus, Hermotimus, and Pyrrhus, and related the different accidents that hap- pened to him in each personage.* It is true he tells us the reason why he partic- ularly possessed this power of recollection after death, not granted to others, — that in the person of Aethalides, who was sup- * Diogeu. Laertius, lib. viii. ■ >-, ;■ A. D. 431.] HISTORY OF IRELAND, 145 posed to be the son of Mercury, he begged of that god to be enabled to remember after death whatever passed in the differ- ent bodies he animated. Thus Ovid re- lates the tale : — " Morte careut animae : semperque, priore relicta Sede, novis domibus habitant vivuntque receptse. Jpse ego (nam memini) Trojani tempora belli Fanthoides Euphorbus eram : cui pectore quondam Sedit in adverso gravis hasta minoris Atridse. Cognovi clypeum, levse gestamina nostrse Nuper Abanteis templo Jiinonis in Argis." * Nor are we, even at this day, destitute of Druid tales to the same import. Fion- tan, says our old legendary tales, came to Ireland before the Flood, with his wife Ceasair. They shared the same fate with the rest of the antediluvian world, except Noah and his children. He animated a new body after the Flood, and lived for a considerable time. He related, that at the building the ark, he, with his wife's father, Bith, applied to Noah, for room for his family, but which was refused him. They consulted an oracle, and were advised to build such a machine as Noah was about; to store it with provisions, and when the rain began to cover the country, to enter it, and commit themselves to the mercy of the winds and waves — " incerti quo fata ferunt." They did so, and were thrown on the Irish coasts. Here, after some time, they all died ; but Fiontain, like Pythagoras, being endowed with the spirit of recollec- tion after death, on re-animating a new body, related this wonderfid tale, which is all the authority we have for our antedi- luvian history ! However, this tale proves sufficiently that the early Irish Druids were well acquainted with the history of the Jews long before the Incarnation ; and that they wanted neither boldness nor in- vention, where the honour of their religion or the antiquity of their country were the objects. It is recorded in the Psalter of Cashell, in the reign of Fiacha Muilleathan, that the Druid Modharuith, (who, for find- ing out the means of supplying his army with water in a time of great scarcity, was granted lands in the county of Cork, after- * Metamorph. lib. zt. 19 wards the lordships of O'Keefe, and now called Roche's country, about A. D. 260,) boasted to this prince that he remembered the reigns of nineteen monarchs of Ireland. Caioilte Mac Roan is said to have 'lived (or rather to have animated different bodies) many hundred years before the time of St. Patrick, and to have given this apostle several curious anecdotes of the country and of its ancient inhabitants and religion, little known to the pubUc. The dialogue between St. Patrick and Oisin, still pre- served, in which a minute relation is given of the bloody battle of Gabhra, and of the heroes that fell on both sides, is another proof of this. The author asserted that he was Oisin, the eldest son of the famous Fion Mac Cumhal ; though this battle was fought A. D. 296, at which time Oisin must have been advanced in years, his son Osgur being then general of the Fionne Eirion, or Leinster cohorts ! But though the immortality and trans- migration of the soul were, as we have seen, constantly inculcated by the Druids, yet their doctrines and tenets were calcu- lated, in general, rather to inflame than suppress the passions. Thus, the love of glory, ambition, and revenge were the chief themes of the bards and senachies. None were spoken respectfully of in our annals, or celebrated by the bards, but such as indulged these passions to the highest degree. Lucan, who seemed well ac- quainted with their tenets, tell us, that the chief employment of the bards was to celebrate the achievements of those who fell in battle ; and, to confirm this, we have already observed, that in the midst of slaughter the bards attended the fight to animate their patrons by their verse ; to remind them of the achievements of their ancestors, and the disgrace they must en- tail on their posterity should they fall short of such glorious patterns ! Thus Lucan — " Vos qnoque qui fortes animas, belloque peremptos, LaudibuB in longnm vates, dimittitis seviun, Plurima securi fadistis carmina bardi." The Christian religion pointing the road to salvation by doctrines totally opposite • Phanal. lib. i. i^ 146 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 431. to those of the Druids, we must suppose produced a sensible alteration in the con- duct of its votaries ; and it did so. At a very early period Christianity was preach- ed in Ireland. The constant enmity be- tween this country and ancient Rome pre- vented any kind of friendly intercourse. This doctrine came not immediately from thence here, but from the churches of Asia ; and this explains what Tertullian notes — "Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita." Mansuetus, an Irishman, the first bishop and patron of Toul, and canonized by Leo IX., is said to have been a disciple of St. Peter.* St. James, the son of Zebedee, it is affirmed, also preached the gospel in Ireland.f To me it would seem that Mansuetus, and the other early Irish Christians, were rather the disciples of St. John the Evangelist ; and I ground my opinion on what the Ve- nerable Bede relates, with regard to the famous controversy about the celebration of Easter. J He tells us, that in defence of the Irish time of celebrating this feast in opposition to that of Rome, Colman, the Irish Bishop of Lindisfam, among other reasons declared — " that he had received it from his forefathers, who sent him to Northumberland as their bishop ; and that it was the same custom which St. John, Christ's especially beloved disciple, with all the churches under him, observed." In the reign of Con, in the second century, Ireland sent forth the famous St. Cathal- dus § to preach the doctrine of Christ ; and he became bishop and patron of Taren- tum, in Italy. In so flourishing a state was Christianity soon after, that in the next age, Cormoc, as great a legislator and as wise a prince as any nation pro- duced, before his death became a Chris- tian, and died in that faith, as we have observed already; soon after which it is expressly said in the Catha-Gabhra, that the Irish general Fion went to Rome. In the next reign, we read of an Irish bishop's suffering martyrdom in Britain ; and it is * Usher. Primord. p. 747, 8. Braodin. p. 879, etc. t Usher, p. 5. i Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 25. $ Bruodin. p. 879. Vita St Cataldi, etc. evident by the poem of Toma Eigis, chief bard to Niall the Grand, beginning with — " Dail Catha, idir Core, and Niall," that he himself was a Christian ; and Colgan offers his reasons for thinking his master one also.* CHAPTER II. Churches and schools founded, and bishops estab- lished, before the anival of St. Patrick — Pope Celestin sends Palladius to Ireland — A passage in Prosper on this embassy explained and de- fended — Is succeeded by St. Patrick — His man- ner of conducting the mission — The number of bishops consecrated by him accounted for — Is appointed one of the committee to examine the national records — Remarks upon it. The preceding chapter has shown the flourishing state of Christianity in Ireland before the days of St. Patrick ; and if what is generally taken for granted is true, i. e. " that the more polished the nations were, the speedier this doctrine spread itself among them" — we must rank this country among the most civilized stateg^f Europe, and what Cambrensis meant as an insult, the highest encomium on the people ; for he upbraided the Archbishop of Cashell, for that among thehumbers of saints and confessors which Ireland boasted, they could not produce one martyr.f But per- secution and death for religious tenets was never the practice of a truly polished people. The mis8iqp||iigi(k in the fourth century not only preaij||BUlj^ but founded churches, and opened colleges in Ireland. Among these was the holy Diana, whose name a church near Adare, in this coimty, (Limer- ick,) still bears. Heber, or Ibarus soon after founded an academy at a place called Beg-lire, in Leinster, where, as Usher notes, " he instructed very great nimibers of Irish as well as foreigners in sacred and polite letters." J Colgan says, " that people from all parts crowded to his schools, to be m- structed in Christianity and letters."§ St. • Trias Thaumat. p. 175, N. 28. t Topogr. Hib. dist. iii. cap. 29. t Usher, Primord. p. 801. $ Vita St. Abbani. A.D. 431.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 147 Albe, Archbishop of Munster, and his con- temporary, Usher, tells us, after preaching through the whole kingdom, founded his church and schools at Emely. St. Kieran and St. Declan also preceded St. Patrick, and founded churches ; and when this apos- tle required their acknowledging him as primate of all Ireland, it produced some dissensions ; " Ibarus particularly protesting against giving the supremacy and patron- age of Ireland to any one but a native." The zeal and success of the Irish mis- sionaries in Britain and on the continent, at this time, sufficiently proved to the Roman pontiff in what a respectable state Chris- tianity must have been in Ireland ; and though, as we have already observed, this doctrine was not introduced among us by Roman preachers any more than among the early Gauls, (else why would these last, in that terrible persecution raised against them in the latter end of the second cen- tury, prefer their complaints and paint their distresses, to their brethren in Asia and Phrygia, rather than to the faithful in Rome?)* yet they naturally wished to es- tablish their authority here. To this end, in A. D. 431, and in the reign of the pres- ent Emperor Loagaire, Pope Celestin sent Palladius, Archdeacon of the Roman church, as archbishop and apostle of Ireland, with twelve Irish missionaries. This is affirmed by the Venerable Bede, who tells us, **that in the eighth year of the Emperor Theodo- sius, Palladius was sent by Celestin, bishop of the Roman church, to the Scots believing in Christ, to be their first BisHOP."t Pros- per, treating of the mission of Palladius, says, " that he was ordained by Pope Celes- tin, and sent, the first bishop, to the Scots be- lieving in Christ.^'X The great Primate, Usher, whose zeal for his country was equal to his erudition, contended that the word primus was foisted into later copies of Prosper ; and his reason for supposing this, was lest it might be thought that there had not been Christians in Ireland § before this period, a point which he strenuously con- * Fleury, Hist Eccles. torn. i. p. 433. t Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 13. % Chron.lBid ann. 431. $ Prun. Eccles. Brit p. 798. tends for. That there were, cannot be controverted, and yet it does not neverthe- less lessen the authorities of Bede and Prosper. The political enmity between Rome and Ireland cut off all communica- tion between them. The Irish received the faith from the early Asiatic, or African churches ; and Palladius was therefore the first bishop sent from Rome to establish the Roman hierarchy here. This becomes more clearly illustrated by what Prosper says afterwards, in speaking of Celestin — "that having ordained a bishop for the Scots or Irish; while he endeavoured to keep the Roman island, (i. e. Britain,) Catho- lic, he made the barbarous island, (i. e. Ire- land,) Christian." The evident sense of which is — ^that while he attended to the care of Britain, which always acknow- ledged the power of Rome, he forgot not the same zeal and concern for Ireland, though it never admitted of Roman juris- diction. A confession highly honourable to this country, and a further evidence of the truth of our ancient history. His mission was attended with no great success ; for we must suppose, by the op- position given to St. Patrick's ministry in the beginning, that the Irish were very un- willing to acknowledge any spiritual supre- macy in a people whose temporal power they so manfully and successfully opposed. His stay was but of a few months in Ire- land, during which time he founded three new churches, and then retired to Britain, where he died soon after. On the report of his death at Rome, Ce- lestin looked out for a successor, and none was judged so proper for this arduous task as Patrick, who, as we noted in the life of Niall the Grand, had been then take^ among other captives, and sold as a slave in Ireland, where he remained for seven years. After his redemption, he devoted himself to the church, and to the most sub- lime spiritual exercises. His knowledge of the country and language, his piety, wis- dom, and meekness, but above all, his own seeming immediate call from God for this mission, conspired to mark him out for this great undertaking. It is recorded in his 148 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 431. life, and affirmed by himself, that aftet his release /rom captivity, and return to his friends, often reflecting on his future pur- suits in life, in a vision he saw a man com- ing to him from Ireland with letters, the beginning of which was, vox Hihemigen- sium ; and that while perusing it, he heard the natives call to him for instruction. From this time forward he determined for the Church, and to convert the Irish. His baptismal name was Succath; but at the time of his ordination by St. Germain, it was changed to Magonias. After his con- secration, and to add greater weight and dignity to his embassy, Celestin conferred on him the patrician order. This was an institution of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, and more honourable than that of the ancient order ; as these patricii rank- ed next to the emperors, or their declared successors. To prove this, we find Charle- magne and other kings of France to have retained the title of Roman patricians. Patricius was not the real name of our apostle, (though he afterwards retained it,) but the title conferred on him. It is not my intent to give a minute ac- count of the piety, zeal, and wisdom of this great apostle during his mission. His life has been written, and his actions celebrated by so many different pens, that the task seems almost unnecessary. I shall how- ever touch upon such parts as will tend to illustrate the history of the country. When he landed in Ireland, he found the nation replete with holy and learned preachers, and their votaries pious and obedient. It is very probable that Palladius presumed too much on his mission from Rome, and wanted to extort a greater reverence and obedience from the Irish clergy than they thought him entitled to. Patrick conducted himself quite otherwise. He rather gained on them by mildness than severity ; and we see by Ibarus, who opposed his authority most, he insensibly gained the ascendant over and brought him to be of his party. Having thus established his authority over the clergy, he considered of the most effec- tual methods of spreading the new doctrine through the whole kingdom. His princi- pal aim was the conversion of the nobility, m which pursuit he met with great success. After traversing Leinster and Ulster for near two years, everywhere making con- verts among the great, he determined to attend the national estates, soon to meet at Tara. The eves of Bel, or May, and of Samhuin, or Noveipber, were the two principal festivals of the Druids. At each season all culinary fires were extinguished and re-lighted by the sacred fires, kept burning in the temples of Uisneach and Flachta. It was deemed sacrilege to have any fire lighted on those days, but from these temples. St. Patrick nevertheless determined to break through this custom, and sap the very foundation of Druidism. On the eve of Bel, he had a very large fire kindled near the temple of Uisneach. The Druids and their votaries beheld with hor- ror this innovation, and preferred their petition to the monarch. Next day St. Patrick was summoned to appear before the estates. The state of Loagaire is on this occa- sion compared to that of Nebuchadnezzar on the plains of Dura. The apostle ap- peared, produced his credentials, and de- fended his doctrine with such forcible ar- guments, that numbers were converted, and the empress of Laogaire was of the number. This step of Patrick's was cer- tainly a very bold one ; but I suppose he relied on his public character of a Roman patrician, or on the number of friends he had already gained in the council, for his protection. He continued for some time after at Tara, in public disputations with the Druids, and the event proves with great success. From thence he proceeded to Tailtean, where the chiefs of the nation assembled every year to attend the famous exhibitions, and here numbers were con- verted. In a word, so great was the suc- cess of this holy apostle, that in a very few years the princes and chief nobility of the kingdom acknowledged the doctrine of Christ. Not only this, but so great was their zeal, and so pure their intentions, that they did not deem it sufficient to devote the tenth part of their riches, their flocks. A.D.431.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 149 and their corn to God, but bestowed the tenth . son on the Church ! Hence the amazing number of devout recluses, and holy bishops," of the purest blood of Ire- land, whose pedigrees have been preserved with great care, many of whom passed over from time to time to Britain and to the continent, to establish the doctrine of Christ by their precepts and example. It is recorded of Patrick, that during his mission to Ireland, he consecrated no less than three hundred and sixty-five bishops, and ordained three thousand priests, none of whom were received who had not given the clearest evidences of a holy and pious life and conversation. This number of bishops may surprise some readers, and therefore merits an elu- cidation. Among the other causes of Pat- rick's great influence on the people, one was, his attention to avoid whatever could alarm the national pride, or alter the estab- lished policy of the kingdom. As to the first, we find no hint at a foreign suprem- acy during the whole of his mission ; nor any disputes whatever about the tonsure, and time of celebrating the feast of Eas- ter ; though it is most certain that before, during, and for two centuries after his death, the Irish Church adhered most strict- ly to the Asiatic Churches in these modes of discipline. The same prudence gov- erned him with respect to the internal po- lice of the kingdom ; and, provided reli- gion was not materially hurt, he passed over small things* In Ireland all posts of honour and profit were hereditary in fam- ilies. The priesthood among the Irish, as with the Jews, was also hereditary. Dig- nitaries among the Druids, and the lands to support them, were the properties of certain families. Not only this, but besides the present possessor, a coadjutor, who was also to succeed him, was at the same time nominated. Wherever the Christian bishop was elected to succeed the Druid flamen, he also had his assistant and suc- cessor appointed. It was a wise measure, as on a demise the new pastor was well acquainted with his flock, and with his own duty. lie was called a Comharba, or partner in the Church lands, and ranked as a bishop. Of this order of men, no less than four died in the see of Armagh dur- ing the apostleship of St. Patrick ; so that he was himself the first and fifth arch- bishop of that diocese. And when we reflect on the length of his mission, being sixty-one years, and the number of these titular bishops which must necessarily be appointed, this great creation of his will appear neither improbable or surprising. Though St. Patrick had been preaching and converting souls in other parts of Ire- land, since the year 432, yet he came not to Munster till 448. Two reasons are to be assigned for this : first, the flourishing state of Christianity in this province for a considerable time before this period ; sec- ondly, some preliminaries were to be ad- justed between him and St. Albe. At length Aongus, the king, invited Patrick to his court ; and, to do him the greater hon- our, attended by his nobility, his prelates, and clergy, he met him at some distance from Cashell. In his suite were St. Albe and St. Declan. A synod was soon after called, at which the king presided; and it was decreed " that St. Albe should rank as a second Patrick, and patron and Arch- bishop of Munster ; and that St. Declan should be called the Patrick of the Dea- sies, and their chief bishop. After this they blessed the king ; and giving the kiss of peace, each returned to his particular charge."* Thus was this difficult affair of precedency settled, in which Aongus, as King of Leath-Mogha, was deeply inter- ested. That the supremacy of Ireland should be fixed in Leath-Cuin, was but just, as the monarchs of Ireland were of the Heremonian line ; and that the arch- bishops of Munster should rank next to those of Armagh is evident, for in the days of Patrick, the Archbishop of Armagh was generally called Archbishop of Leath- Cuin, or of Northern Ireland ; and the other. Archbishop of Leath-Mogha, or Southern Ireland ; so that though we might admit Leinster to be raised to an arch- bishopric by St. Patrick, yet it is evident * Hanmer's Ckronicle, p. 35, 150 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 450. that it must rank after Munster, because Leinster was always in the southern divi- sion of Ireland, and in a great measure dependent on it, as paying tribute to Mun- ster. For the same reason Tuam was inferior to Armagh. To give my opinion of this matter, the precedency of the Irish archbishops should be thus: Armagh has ever preserved to itself, and with the high- est justice, the primacy of all Ireland ; the Archbishop of Cashell, or of Munster, in strictness should rank next to him as pri- mate of Ireland, on account of the anti- quity of that kingdom, and of its being possessed by the Heberian, or eldest branch of the Milesian race ; and that Leinster was always looked upon as an appendix to it. Leinster should fill the next place on account of its riches, and of its being ruled by Milesian princes some centuries earlier than Connaught. Under these archbishops were no less than one hundred bishops, whose names are pre- served in Colgan and Ward.* It is cer- tain that in these early days, bishops were much more numerous than since. In the Council of Sardis, A. D. 374, it is decreed that no bishop shall be consecrated for a village where a presbyter shall answer ; but a bishop may be appointed over a city, or to superintend many presbyters. Patrick having established Christianity, and his own supremacy, on the most solid basis, nothing of moment was now done without his approbation. He even presi- ded as chief of the clergy at a public ex- amination of the national records ; though it is doubted whether the monarch Laogaire was himself a Christian. A committee, consisting of three arch-druids, three chief antiquarians, 9nd three chief bards, were appointed at Tara every third year, to ex- amine the national records, to expunge what seemed improbable or doubtful, and to transcribe into the Seanachas-More, or Great Book of Antiquity, whatever seemed most worthy to be transmitted to posterity. On the present occasion this convention was honoured with the presence of the monarch, and the kings of Munster and * Trias Thaamat. Vita Sancti Bamoldi, p. 158, etc. Ulster. The bishops, who now succeeded the Druids, were Patrick, Benin, and Cair- nach ; and the antiquarians Dubhthach, the monarch's prime senachie ; Feargus, and Rosa. This remarkable examination of the national records by St. Patrick is placed in the Annals of the Four Masters, in the year of Christ 438. But this cannot be ; for Benignus, one of the assistant bishops at this meeting, was then but a youth ; nor did the King of Munster even receive bap- tism till the year 448. So that by placing it in the year 450, as I have done, we fix it about the exact period. We must suppose, and it is affirmed by the testimony of contemporary and suc- ceeding writers, that in the present exam- ination, the history and antiquities of the country underwent a very severe scrutiny ; and this alone should entitle them to some degree of respect, even though they had wanted collateral proofs; which, as we have seen, was not the case, ^uch as I have delivered them, were they passed and approved of by the present committee ; and could we suppose that they received any addition, it must be, that of Patrick's mak- ing Phasnius, the son of Baath, the son of Magog, the son of Japhet, in order to reconcile our history to that of Moses. For our heathen ancestors preserved their an- nals from the days of this Phaenius only ; and should we even suppose these prede- cessors, which Patrick gave to him, to be imaginary, yet it was one of those pious frauds, innocent in itself, and which helped more to reconcile the public to the new doctrine, than to mislead them. As for those writers who would make the son of Phaenius and Moses contemporaries, it is certain they had no authority, from the present reform, for such assertion. Had this been the case, Patrick's disciple and first biographer Fiech, when he mentioned Phaenius and Niulus, could not fail of men- tioning a circumstance so flattering to the new Christians ; but though he had omitted it, his scholiast, who was a century later, certainly would not. But no such thing : this great apostle was too good a scholar, and too well versed in sound chronology, A. D. 450.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 151 • to attempt so glaring an anachronism. Nay, though he had attempted it, the peo- ple were more knowing, and better inform- ed, than to admit it on his mere ipse dixit. CHAPTER III. The manner in which St. Patrick spread Chris- tianity over Ireland — Said to have been the first introducer of letters there — This charge refuted ; and the great antiquity of our alphabet proved — Origin of the celebration of Easter — The church- es of Asia and Ireland differed from Rome in their time of celebrating this feast — CoUumbanus and Colman, etc., zealous defenders af this mode of discipline — Remarks on, and inferences drawn from, these disputes. By the prudence, moderation, and good sense of the Apostle of Ireland, was the whole kingdom brought to acknowledge the doctrine of Christ ; and this wonderful reform was conducted with so much wis- dom, that it produced not the least disturb- ance or confusion. The Druids and their votaries were unmolested ; and Christian bishops were appointed to succeed the arch-flamens, by those families only, who, being converted, had a right to such nom- inations. One thing more, however, Pa- trick did : the university of Tara, as being the residence of the monarch, had, from time immemorial, a precedency over the other universities of the kingdom ; and the ollamhs or doctors of it held a rank supe- rior to them. Patrick having made Ar- magh the primacy of all Ireland, and also founded here an university, was resolved that it should be the chief of all the Chris- tian seminaries in the kingdom ; and which rank it gloriously supported to the dissolu- tion of our monarchy ; having at one time no less a number than seven thousand stu- dents ! Yet even this we see did not en- croach upon the Druids, or their privileges. I have not once hinted at any of the many wonderful miracles attributed to this apostle. If ancient facts, supported by the fullest evidence of history, cannot stand before modem critics, what chance can ancient wonders have to gain credit, where they have nothing but a lively faith to sup- port them ? My opinion is, that, without recurring at all to miracles, the astonishing success of this apostle may be accounted for from natural causes. Preaching to a learned and polished people a doctrine so elevated and pure as that of Christ ; a doc- trine which taught its votaries to rule and govern their passions, not the passions them, must have had great weight The highest perfection of former doctrines was — ne aUeri feceris, quod tibi fieri non vis — ^but the new religion went further : it directed to forgive injuries, to do good for evil ; nor let the sun go down on our wrath. Such a doctrine preached, and by religious, whose lives and examples added new lustre to it, needed neither miracles from above, nor restraining nor penal laws on earth to sup- port it ! Bollandus, Tellemont, and even Fleury, in his Ecclesiastical History, have asserted that the Irish were unacquainted with let- ters till the days of St. Patrick ; nor should I attend much to these remarks of foreign writers, who, having no opportunities of consulting our annals, might be well ex- cused for their mistakes, did I not see the same falsehood roundly asserted by English, and even some modem Irish writers too. Wo admit this is to annihilate all our pretensions to history and antiquity ; but it will be hard to reconcile it to the Christian preachers being at the same time the found- ers of seminaries for letters, and to this doctrine's blazing with such superior lustre among us. Besides, since we had Chris- tifOn teachers from the first century, who founded churches, and made converts, must we not suppose that they must have known the use of letters ? We undoubtedly must. But to bring it to a point. If St. Patrick introduced any letters into Ireland, they must have been the Roman alphabet. But will any one affirm that the Roman letters were in the same order or structure of the Irish ? The Irish alphabet was arranged in an order peculiar to itself, beginning with the consonants. It consisted of but seventeen (though I think more justly but of sixteen, the F being an interpolation) letters ; but will any scholar advance, that 152 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 450. in the fifth century from Christ, the Roman alphabet contained no more ? Will he be so hardy as to say, that even this number of letters (seventeen) were in the same structure with the Roman ones? If he does, Julius Caesar shall be my witness of his deception; for he tells us, that the British and Gaulish letters, in his days, were like the Greek ;* and such is the Irish at this day ! Now if this letter was not totally different in figure from the Roman, where is the necessity for this remark of Caesar's? But as a gentleman of great eminence in the republic of letters, though he admits the Irish to be as early in the possession of letters as any nation what- ever, yet contends that St. Patrick abso- lutely destroyed their original letter, and in its place substituted the present one, which he brought from Rome; it merits some discussion, more from the reputation of the author, than the solidity of his arguments. He affirms, that St. Patrick gave them the same number of Roman letters which their ancient alphabet contained, and subject to the same rules. We have seen the Greeks, by degrees, reject the signs annexed to some of their original Cadmean alphabet for new letters, and it was a useful altera- tion ; the Saxons did the same, and so did the northern nations of Europe, who, like them, took their original alphabet from Ire- land. But to suppose a learned nation to substitute one alphabet for another, without any visible advantages for the better, as in the present case, is absurd. Besides, by the testimony of Caesar, the Gaulish and Irish letters must differ from the Roman, as in effect they did. But what confusion must not arise in the public records of the kingdom from such alteration? Would all the bishops in England prevail on the parliament to alter the present letter, with- out some uncommon advantages ? In Ire- land, by this hypothesis, none was pretend- ed ; the great influence, the veneration for, and miracles of, St. Patrick, are held forth by our writers in a most conspicuous point of view : every thing relative to him has been preserved with uncommon reverence ; * Commeut. lib. vi. the officers of his household, and even his meanest domestics, are on record ; and yet not the smallest notice taken of this won- derful change, except the crude assertions of ill-informed foreigners ! It is then an uncontrovertible fact, that our present let- ter is the same we had from the most re- mote antiquity ; the same the early Greeks adopted ; the same the Gauls used in the days of Caesar ; and what we find the old- est MSS. in Europe are wrote in. Thus it appears to demonstration, that in the days of St. Patrick, first, the order of the Irish letters was different from that of the Roman ; secondly, that our alpha- bet had seven letters less than theirs ; and, thirdly, that in structure they differed to- tally from the Roman ! It is indeed con- fessed that, before the death of this apostle, the Christian bishops, in imitation of the Romans, altered the old form of our alpha- bet, such as we have exhibited in the sec- ond book of this history ; and instead of beginning it with the consonants, like them commenced it with the letter A ; and that in process of time the whole nation adopted the same mode. It is not improbable but that St. Patrick introduced among us the Roman alphabet ; and that he gave copies of it to different churches, in order to celebrate the rites of the Church in Latin ; but it may certainly with as much pro- priety be inferred, that because the Jesuits in China made their converts, especially the clergy, acquainted with the Roman alphabet, that the Chinese were totally illiterate before this period, as that the Irish were so before the days of St. Patrick. My account of this great apostle shall close with some remarks on the celebra- tion of Easter, because they are curious and historical, and display the genius of the people, the state of the Irish Church at this time and for many centuries after, and the great good sense and moderation of Patrick. We have already noticed that the first Irish converts were the disciples of St. John; at least that they received Chris- tianity from the churches of Asia, and A. D. 450.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 153 adopted their mode of tonsure, and time of holding the festival of Easter. The Jews had their pascha, or passover, to commemorate their being unhurt on the night that the destroying angel killed the first-born of man and beast throughout the land of Egypt. The apostles, after the death of Christ, judged that nothing could be more expressive of our deliverance from sin than the institution of a similar festival. The ievfs were commanded to celebrate their passover the fourteenth day of the moon, of tJie first month, which cor- responded with our March ; this being the time of the vernal equinox, when the sun is in Aries, the days and nights of equal length, and the new year beginning to spring. They put Christ to death while they were celebrating the' feast of the paschal lamb ; and this circumstance de- termined the Christians to celebrate theirs at the same time. St. Peter and St. Paul, after quitting Palestine, judged that the keeping this feast on the fourteenth day of the first moon, was rather adopting the Jewish, than forming a new festival ; they therefore transferred it to the Sunday after, unless that Sunday fell on the fourteenth. But St. John and the churches of Asia and Africa, adhered to the first institution. It was however a matter of mere disci- pline, in which Christians might differ with- out sin or schism. St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, and an immediate disciple to St. John, came to Rome A. D. 158, on purpose to confer with Pope Anicetus on this subject. He de- fended the Asiatic custom on the authority of that saint ; and the pope defended the Western Church on the general tradition from St. Peter and St. Paul. But though they did not agree in this matter, yet they remained in peace and communion as be- fore.* In the year 196 this question was agitated with great heat between Pope Victor and the Asiatic bishops. Several councils were held ; and one by the bishops of Asia, at the request of this pope, at which Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, pre- sided. But the result was that they were * Fleary, Histoire Eccles., torn, i., p. 375. 20 more unanimous in adhering to the origi- nal institution.* The Asiatics and all the churches deriving under them, continued this practice of celebrating Easter till the year 325, when the Council of Nice issued a decree for observing this feast every- where, on the Sunday immediately follow- ing the vernal equinox; and this decree was enforced by command of the Emperor Constantino. But notwithstanding all this, numbers in Asia, and the Church of Ire- land, with all those deriving under it, as the Britons, the Picts, and Dal-Riada, ad- hered firmly to the discipline of St. John in this point. What Patrick's opinion on this head was, does not appear. We do not even find any mention of it during his mission ; and yet it is most certain that the Irish did then observe this feast after the Asiatic manner, and treated the decisions of Rome on this point with great respect. Not only this, but such of them as spread Christianity, and founded churches in foreign countries, strongly inculcated their mode of celebra- ting Easter. Such was the great Colum- ba, apostle of the Picts ; Columbanus, in France ; St. Aidanus, Finian, Colman, etc., in Britain, etc. The Venerable Bede, though he praises Columba, and his monks of Huy, as well as his successors to his own days, for their great piety and virtue, yet censures them for their obstinacy in this point of Church discipline.f In France, Columbanus, with all the monks of his house, followed it. He was of the noblest blood of Ireland, and early dedicated to the service of God. Holy abbots at that time, and for centuries after, erected their retreats in the most sequestered places, that nothing might disturb their prayers and meditations. Scarce an island, or sol- itary spot of ground in Ireland, that spi- ritual retreats were not already made in, and churches and abbeys erected, the re- mains of most of which are yet visible, exhibiting at once, the wonderful piety of our ancestors, and the degeneracy of tfieir successors, at least of the present age. * Fleujy, torn, i., p. 518. t Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 4. «%' 154 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 602. Columbanus, with a number of disci- ples, retired to France,* and, in the year 590, founded, in the midst of a desert in Burgundy, an abbey for himself and his followers ; but these became so numerous that he was obliged to raise two others. The fame of his piety, austerity, charity, and miracles, drew after him numbers of followers ; and this perhaps was the true reason that persecutions were raised against him. He, with his monks, cele- brated the feast of Easter on the fourteenth day of the first moon, without at the same time pretending to stretch this custom beyond his own authority. The Gauls complained to Gregory the Great of this schism. Several councils were called, and Columbanus was cited to appear before them. He appealed to the pope, and, with great learning, sense, and modesty, defend- ed his opinion, and those of his country and ancestors, on this head ; and at the same time wrote to the GauHsh bishops assem- bled on this occasion. He observed that it was established by St. John, Christ's especially beloved disci- ple, by St. Philip, and the churches of Asia ; that it was proved by the calcula- tions of Anatolius, confirmed by St. Je- rome. That those of Victorius (employed by Leo the Great, in the fifth century, to adjust the lunations, and the exact time of the equinoxes) were vague and uncertain. He requested the holy father's decision on this matter, but adds, " that whoever oppo- ses his authority to that of St. Jerome will be rejected as a heretic, by the Western Churchy i. e. the Church of Ireland ! " After all, he observes to the bishops as- sembled, "If I am in ignorance, bear it with charity, since I am not the author of this discipline. Let me live in obscurity in this desert, near the remains of seven- teen of our brethren already dead. We wish to adhere to the customs of our ances- tors to our deaths. You should rather console than distress poor, aged, and af- flicted strangers. In a word, if it be the will of God that you should expel me from this desert, to which I came from so great * Fleury, Hist. Ecclea., Umi. viii., p. 18, ID, 191, etc. a distance, for the love of Jesus Christ, I shall only say with the prophet. If I am the cause of this storm, let it cease by my being thrown into the sea." In the year 664, a council was held in Northumberland, to withdraw the Saxons and Britons from this custom, which they borrowed from the Irish. St. Colman, at the head of his Irish clergy (as Columba- nus did) defended this custom by the au- thority of St. John, and the churches of Asia ; by the calculations of Anatolius, and by the practice of his ancestors, bishops and teachers, who being pious, learned, and godly men, strictly adhered to the same. In a word, finding the majority of voices against him, rather than swerve from the discipline of his ancestors, he resigned his bishopric, and returned to Ireland, bring- ing with him a number of Saxon monks, for whom he founded an abbey in an island in the county of Mayo, which was in a most flourishing state in the days of the Venerable Bede, and for centuries after.* From the remarkable attachment of the Irish to this custom, we have still stronger proofs of the uncommon wisdom of Pat- rick. He probably endeavoured to rec- oncile the Irish clergy to the practice of the Universal Church; and very likely laboured also to make them acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. But he saw clearly by their firmness in these matters, that should he insist much on them, he would endanger his own authority. His silence on these points accounts for his journey to Rome, after his establishment of Christianity here. He laid before the consistory the dangers that he apprehended from insisting on these heads ; and we must conclude, had the pope's approbation of his conduct, since we see, upon his re- turn, that the pope presented him vith a pallium, and that he observed the same prudent silence on these matters that he did before. I as freely censure my countrymen for their obstipacy on this occasion as any man can. We plainly see that the custom was not peculiar to them, and that they • Hist. Ecdes. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 12. A. D. 434.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 155 defended it from its antiquity, the practice of many of the disciples, the authority of the churches of Asia, the astronomical calculations of Anatolius, and from its being the constant usage of their ancestors. They were the last to submit to the deci- sions of Rome on this head ; but they sub- mitted from conviction. These points of the Irish church-discipline, which, before me, no one has attempted to explain, con- vey facts of the utmost consequence to Christianity. They prove to demonstra- tion, that the Church of Christ, as estab- lished by his disciples, immediately after his crucifixion, and before they dispersed themselves into the different quarters of the globe, remained invariably the same in the different succeeding ages ! We have seen in the second, third, and fourth centuries, no differences whatever between the Church of Rome and the Asiatic churches, save about discipline ; and this was confined to the tonsure, and the cele- brating of Easter. The Irish, from politi- cal interest, and their dread of a foreign yoke, were the constant and avowed enemies of Rome. This hatred was as conspicuous in the days of Christianity, as we have seen, as in those of Paganism ; and it will not be now controverted, that they owed not the seeds of Christianity to Roman missionaries. Yet — and indeed it is won- derful to be told — we plainly see, that in the fifth century, in articles of faith, the churches of Rome and Ireland were in perfect unison, though it was the first time they met ! We see the same miraculous conformity — I think myself justified in the expression — in the beginning, and beyond the middle of the seventh century, when, for the second time, they met, and not in the most friendly manner. The question about Easter was agitated at this time both in England and France, with great warmth. The Irish are charged with per- verseness and wilful obstinacy in this mat- ter of discipline, but not the least hint at holding heterodox opinions, either in them- selves or their ancestors. " If it be thought (says St. Colmanus, the Irish Bishop of Northumberland, in his defence of his country) that our most reverend father Columba, and his successors, vir- tuous and godly men, who kept Easter after the same manner, either believed or lived contrary to the Scriptures, especially their piety being so conspicuous, why did God confirm it by miracles ?"* From this period to the middle of the twelfth century Rome and Ireland had no connection or correspondence ; and yet upon the land- ing of Cardinal Papiron at that time, the most exact conformity in faith and disci- pline was found between both churches ! Facts highly meriting the attention ef every reflecting Christian. But while I remark this correspondence between the different churches of the Christian world, let me not be supposed to contend, that there never were heterodox opinions ad- vanced and opposed to the sentiments of the Universal Church. Every age proved there were ; but then these visionaries were only few, from whose enthusiasms the flock was carefully guarded. CHAPTER IV. Civil history of Ireland resumed — Britain continues to be ravaged by the Irish, who thereby make a diversion in favour of the Gauls and Germans, engaged against the Roman power on the conti- nent — Vortigern elected chief of the Britons, after they were deserted by the Romans — Calls in the aid of the Saxons ; who soon make a treaty with the Irish, and establish themselves in Britain. Absorbed in ecclesiastical history and church discipline, the civil history of Ire- land seemed for a good while forgotten; but these matters being now, I hope, satis- factorily elucidated, we can with more pleasure return to our main pursuit. Not- withstanding the rapid progress of Christi- anity, the lust of conquest did not totally subside. New troops from time to time poured into Britain, as well to subdue the country, as to make a diversion in favour of the Gauls and Germans, with whom our monarchs had been long in confederacy, to limit the bounds and conquests of the • Bede, Hist. Eccles., lib. iii. cap. 25. %^- 156 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 434. Romans. At this time, the superior abih- ties of Aetius restored in a good measure, the Roman affairs in Gaul. It was a most alarming circumstance to Ireland. Three times had the Romans been beaten out of Britain by the Irish and their Pictish allies. To prevent another visit, they exerted their utmost efforts. So devoted to Rome were the Britons, that upon the least ap- pearance of domestic tranquillity, their youth- repaired to the Roman standards in Gaul, at the same time adding to their power, and improving themselves in mili- tary discipline. The Irish councils had two objects in view ; the causing such a diversion in Britain as would render them incapable of recruiting the Roman armies, and, at the same time, sending such a force to the continent as would, in conjunction with their allies, afford sufficient employ- ment to the Romans there, without think- ing any further of Britain. That their troops did really join Attila against Rome, Usher I think clearly proves.* How successful their irruptions into Britain were, need not be told : suffice it, that it gave rise to that remarkable British address to Aetius in Gaul : — " We know not (say they) which way to turn. The barbarians drive us to the sea, and the sea forces us back to the barbarians, between whom we have only the choice of two deaths : either to be swallowed up by the waves, or butchered by the sword."t But this general, so far from being able to afford them relief, sent them word, to make the best terms for themselves, for so dis- tracted were his own affairs, that they must not expect from him the smallest assistance. In this situation, they, partly by money, arid partly by the sword, got rid for the present of these daring invaders. Aetius, still enterprizing and persevering, gained fresh advantages over the Gauls, and a complete victory over Gondecaire. The incursions into South Britain again recommenced, and numbers fled to Armo- ric Brittany and the coasts of Flanders. The remainder, in this extremity, proceed- » Primord. Eccles. Brit. p. 406—1108. t Ibid. lib. i. cap, 13. ed to the election of a chief, whose autho- rity in time of war should be absolute. Vortigern was chosen to this high com- mand. Some place his election in the year 436 ; Rapin, in the year 445 ; I think it may be reasonably fixed at 439. But be this matter as it may, his abilities as a general were not equal to public expecta- tions ; and if, from time to time, he pro- cured some relaxation to his poor distress- ed country from these cruel invaders, it was owing more to the force of gold than iron. The people at length growing des- perate, exclaimed against his timidity ; and in this dilemma, he recommended them the calling in of the Saxons. Assisted by these new allies, the Britons successfully made head against their oppressors, and by degrees cleared the country of them. Need it be told, the Saxon auxiliaries, seeing the effeminacy and cowai-dice of the Britons, formed the design of possessing the whole country, and certainly with the advice and concurrence of the Irish, as history proves. Mindful of the close affinity between the two nations, and of their ancestors having frequently in conjunction invaded Britain when the Roman power was in its great- est splendour there, they soon agreed to a private treaty.* This was most probably accelerated by the defeat of Attila in Gaul, by Aetius. The Irish wisely considered, by promoting this treaty with the Saxons, that they laid the seeds of constant dissen- sions in Britain; and should the Romans again attempt to invade it, they added, by the success of the Saxons, a new and more powerful barrier to their own fron- tiers. For their constant policy was, to keep the war out of their own country as long as they could ; justly concluding, that the moment the Romans re-established their power on the continent, their whole force would fall heavy on them. Of what .importance the acquisition of Ireland would be to them, is evident by what Tacitus ob- serves of it ; that by its situation it would wonderfully facilitate the preservation of their conquests in Spain and Gaul.'\ * Bede, Histor. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 15. t Vita Julii Agricola;. A. D. 458.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 157 By this treaty between the Scots or Irish and the Saxons, and the union of their armies, the poor Britons felt greater misery than they had ever experienced before ; and the Saxons soon cut out for themselves, by means of the Irish, lasting settlements in Britain. This accounts for and explains the constant predilection which the Irish ever after had for the Saxons; the care they took to reform their rude manners ; to instruct them in the principles of Chris- tianity, and in letters; to ordain bishops and priests on purpose for the Saxon mis- sion ; and to found schools and seminaries for them in different parts of the kingdom ; all which the Venerable Bede, a Saxon bom, fully proclaims, by a variety of pas- sages in his Ecclesiastical History of Britain. After a glorious reign of thirty years, Laogaire was killed by lightning. Con- temporaries with this prince were. Blood, the son of Cas, King of Leath-Mogha; but he dying soon after, Aongus, the son of Nafraoich, of the Eugenian line, was elected according to the rule of alternate succession; and Carthan-more succeeded his father Blood as King of North Munster. These two last princes were baptized by St. Patrick. Dungalach was King of Con- naught ; Criomthan, the son of Eana, ruled Leinster ; and Muireadhac Mimgdearg suc- ceeded to the kingdom of Ulster. CHAPTER V. Oilioll-Molt elected monarch — The Druids removed from the assemblies of the states, and Christian bishops succeed them — The assemblies of Emana and Cruachan, for the regulating ti-ade and com- merce frequently called together — St. Patrick returns from Rome — Lughnidh claims the mon- archy, and raises an army to depose Oilioll, who is slain in the battle of Ocha. The estates of Ireland were immediately convened at Tara to elect a successor to Laoghaire ; and Oilioll-Molt, the son of the hero Daithi, was by a plurality of voices, declared and saluted monarch. His queen was daughter of Aongus, King of Leath- Mogha, a circumstance which hastened his election. His cousin, Amalgaidh, was King of Connaught, and was celebrated for his courage and success, having triumphed in nine sea-fights, and in as many engage- ments by land, but who fell in the tenth battle.* The same authority tells us, that Oilioll exacted the Leinster tribute three times without a cath, or battle ; owing chiefly to the influence of Aongus over that people. He is highly praised for his frequently assembling the national estates at Tara. Being himself a Christian, and almost all the princes and nobility of the kingdom, it was decreed, that at these meetings, for the future, the Christian bishops should fill the seats of the Druid flamens ; and that three bishops should always compose a part of the committee for inspecting the different provincial histories, instead of the three arch-druids. For this committee was ap- pointed by the national assembly every three years, and was heretofore composed of three arch-druids, three of the imperial antiquarians, and three bards. The mon- arch or his delegate always presided at these meetings, which were held in a house erected for that particular purpose. These meetings, after the reception of Christianity, were more regularly convened than before. By the wisdom of St. Patrick, we see this change in religion produced not the small- est convulsion or confusion in the kingdom ; every engine of the state moving as uni- formly as if no such alteration had ever happened. We should suppose that the bishops were particularly attentive to the national records ; nay, that could they have found any impositions introduced into them, or false chronology foisted up, they would be glad to detect theno, in order to throw an odium on the Druid order ; but no such thing has ever appeared ! and this single consideration, I apprehend, ought to have, and no doubt it will have, greater weight with the impartial public than the crude conjectures of fastidious moderns, too fre- quently opposed to ancient history. Besides the meetings of the estates at * Lecan, book i. 158 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 464. Tara, the conventions of Emania and Crua- chan were frequently assembled in this reign, as they were in the days of Tuathal, and other great princes. These two last aonachs, or assemblies, had for their objects a close inspection into the state of trade, commerce, and mechanic arts. They as- sembled by particular proclamation from the monarch, and made their report of the commerce and manufactures of the king- dom. Sixty of the best informed in these matters were ordered to disperse them- selves into the different great cities and manufacturing towns, to see if the exclusive privileges granted to them were in any manner abused, the monarch or provincial kings defrauded in the duties imposed, or if persons not properly qualified were per- mitted to carry on trade or manufactures to the dishonour and injury of the kingdom. In all, or any of the above cases, on making report to these conventions, which were adjourned from week to week, they had immediately full power granted them to prohibit unqualified persons from meddling in trade ; and to make what other reforms they judged would best promote the general good of the nation. Such were the wise methods by which our great ancestors preserved their country free, powerful, and independent, while they beheld every other part of Europe reduced to the greatest dis- tress and confusion, owing to the want of sound legislation. How differently have affairs been con- ducted in modem times ! Though there is not a nation at this day in Europe that has not judged the state of commerce and manufactures of the highest consequence ; though, to promote this great object. Great Britain has her Board of Trade, founded indeed no earlier than the reign of Eliza- beth ; though France, Spain, Holland, Ger- many, Sweden, and Denmark, have their respective Chambers of Commerce ; even the Hanse-towns, such as Hamburg, Dant- zic, Bremen, etc., direct their sole attention to trade ; yet with all these living examples, no such institution prevailed in modem Ire- land ; and by this means our poor, in the most fertile and benificent soil under the sun, are reduced to such wretchedness as humanity ought to blush for ! We have noted, in the last chapter, the alliance formed between the Irish, Picts, and Saxons, to distress the Britons. These last, aided by their brethren in Brittany, and led on by Ambrosius Aurelianus, the last chief of the Roman blood, says Vener- able Bede,* had many bloody encounters with the Irish and Picts in Britain,! being the allies of the Saxons ; but in general to their loss, as the event proved. About this time St. Patrick returned to Ireland from Rome, whither he went to give an account of his mission, and where he remained since the year 461. The pope, Hilarius, received him in the most aflfectionate manner, presenting him with a pallium, and highly applauded every thing he had done : on his taking leave, he gave him many valuable presents, among others, some church relics. J Aongus, King of Munster, died ; and Eocha Baildearg, of the Dai-Gas line, succeeded him in that title, according to the law of succession. Aongus was a prince of great piety and learning, and a great patron of letters. His son Feidhlim was King of Desmond, or South Munster. The attention and care taken by this monarch OilioU to whatever regarded the good of the nation, deserve highly to be applauded. While with a fostering hand he encouraged trade and manufactures, things of greater moment were not less objects of his care. He kept up a large body of troops in Britain in support of his allies ; but the immature death of Aongus deprived him of a powerful ally. This ap- peared clearly by the Lagenians refusing to pay the famous Leinster tribute, the cause of so much bloodshed, and by their arming themselves to oppose his preten- sions by force. Battles were fought with various successes ; and it was sometimes paid, and at other times refused, according as the force of arms prevailed, and this for some years. The son of the monarch Laogaire, the * Lib. i. cap. 16. t Keating's History, p. 2. t vita Sexta Sand Patricii, p. 101. A. D. 473.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 159 son of the hero Niall, whose youth prevent- ed him from appearing as candidate for the monarchy on the death of his father, had now passed the year of probation, (twenty- five.) He was possessed of the same great qualifications as his ancestors. The love of dominion and glory fked his breast, and he resolved to seize on the monarchy, or die in the attempt. He leagued with his cousin Murtough, the son of Earca ; with the King of Leinster, the Irish Dal-Riada, and other princes ; and soon appeared at the head of a most numerous and powerful army. The monarch was not behindhand with him in his preparations. It was then the custom in Ireland, as it was in all other times, both before and after it, when a prince was resolved to lay claim to a mon- archy, and found himself powerful enough to support his pretensions by the sword, to send his ambassadors, demanding a for- mal renunciation of the crown, or to put the merits to the issue of a general battle ; on which occasion the time and place of battle was agreed upon. Oilioll summoned all his friends and dependants ; and on the plains of Ocha, in Meath, the two armies met. Dreadful was the conflict, and great the slaughter on both sides ; but Oilioll seeing the success leaning to the side of his adversary, with a chosen corps rushed into the midst of the battle, to single out his competitor, by whose hand he fell in single combat. The carnage in this engagement exceeded by far any that happened in any preceding battle for many years, very many of the slain being of the prime nobility of the kingdom. On this account our sen- achies began to reckon a new era from it, as was their custom from all uncommonly remarkable events. During this reign Ulster had three suc- ceeding kings, the above Muireadhac, Cairel Cosgrach, and Eocha, son to Muir- eadhach. Munster had Aongus, of the Eugenian line, for king; while Carthan, of the Dai-Gas race, ranked as King of North Munster. On the death of Aongus, Eocha, the son of Carthan, was saluted King of Leath-Mogha, while Feidhlim, the son of Aongus, was King of South Munster; Breasil Balach was King of Leinster; and Dungalach, and after him, Eogan Bel, were successive kings of Con- naught. Leo the Great, Hilarius, and Simplicius, were popes. CHAPTER VI. Lughaidh raised to the empire — His transactions on taking possession of the throne — Death of St. Patrick — Invasion of Albany by the sons of Ere, who establish a new monarchy in North Britain — Account of the seminaries of learning, learned men, and religious foundations in Ireland — Death of Lughaidh. Lughaidh, the son of Laogaire, the son of Niall, the son of Eochaidh, of the royal line of Heremon, by gaining the bloody battle of Ocha, gained the monarchy also, and was accordingly saluted emperor. His first care was to reward his friends and associates. Mortough, the son of Earca, who brought a large body of troops into the field to fight his battles, had a principal lead in his administration. The sons of Luig, of the Dai-Gas line, and race of Heber, got new acquisitions by this revolution. In the reign of Laogaire we observed that this Luig got several con- siderable lordships in Leinster, which, from his surname, were called the Dealb- hnas. To these now were added Delvin Nugad, in the county of Roscommon ; Delvin Culfabhar, and Delvin Feadha, in the county of Galway. The O'Conrics of this race (so called from Conraoi, one of their ancestors) were proprietors of part of this last tract, till dispossessed by the OTlaherties and O'Hallorans, descendants of Brien, eldest son to Eochaidh, monarch of Ireland in the fourth century. We find this prince deeply engaged in wars, and to have fought several bloody battles ; but though several Christian semi- naries were founded during this century, and that the Druids still exercised great power, yet we are left shamefully in the dark with respect to the causes of these bloody contests; while religious transae-. tions, the numbers of saints, and pious foundations are carefully attended to ! 160 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 498. But the present monarch, if ever a Chris- tian, certainly apostatized ; and this I think will explain the shameful inattention to the political transactions of his reign. We shall represent them in the best manner we can. It is recorded that he fought a most bloody battle against the Lagenians at Cill Osnach, in the county of Carlow, in which Aongus, King of Munster, fell : but this last is a mistake, for he died some years earlier, as the book of Lecan testifies ; it must be therefore his son Eocha, and he fought in defence of the Lagenians. A party war soon after broke out in Leinster, in which Fraoch, the son of Fionachda, fell by the sword of Oilioll, the son of Dun- luing, who succeeded him. Connaught was invaded by the monarch, or rather by Mortough, who seemed to* project these different wars, the better to pave the way for his own advancement. Three very bloody battles were fought here ; in the first fell Eogan-Bel, in the second his son Oilioll, and in the last his successor, a very warlike prince, by name Duach-Team- maigh. Eochaidh, the son of Cairbre, the son of Niall, engaged the Lagenians in several battles. In the midst of these bloody dissensions died the great St. Patrick, apostle of Ire- land, in the one hundred and twenty-first year of his age, after governing the Irish Church with unexampled wisdom, piety, and moderation, for sixty-one years. He died on the 17th of March, in 493, which day is still held as his festival, and was interred in the city of Down ; where, under the same monument, were after- wards placed the bodies of St. Bridget and St. Columba, as these verses note : — " Hi tres in Diino tuniulo, tumulaiitur in uno, Brigida, Patricius, atqua Columba pius." This monument was constantly visited to the time of the Reformation, by pious Chris- tians from different parts of Europe ; and large presents were made, and new deco- rations constantly added to it. The fame of its riches inspired Lord Grey, deputy of the English Pale, in the reign of Henry VIII., to make an incursion into this coun- try, in which this noble remain of piety and antiquity was defaced, and plundered of all its most valuable effects. The cathe- dral of Kildare, where the body of St. Conlaith was interred, to whom and St. Bridget superb monuments were raised, highly ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones, suffered the same fate, as did every other religious foundation, with- in stretch of his sacrilegious power. The minutest circumstances relative to this great apostle are still preserved among us, even to his private economy, and to the officers of his household. With the greatest" piety, moderation, and wisdom, he still preserved the archiepiscopal dig- nity with great eclat. The names of his secretary, the intendant of his household, his librarian, the master of his wardrobe, and of his ecclesiastical dress, are preserv- ed ; the hermits who entertained the poor, the physicians of his household, and even the ladies who superintended the lace and embroidery of the sacred vestments, are handed down to us. Every person who acted under him was looked upon with an eye of respect. The names of his chario- teer, his page, his goldsmiths and jewellers, workers in iron and wood, and his chief masons and architects, etc., are still on record !* The year 498, exactly twenty years after the bloody battle of Ocha, is marked down as the period when the six sons of Ere, the son of Eocha, called Muin-ramhar, or the Fat Neck, invaded Albany, re-pos- sessed themselves of the seats of their an- cestors, and established a new monarchy in North Britain. But as this regal settle- ment did not commence till the beginning of the next century, we shall close this chapter and book with an account of the seminaries of learning, the learned men, and religious foundations of Ireland iu this age. St. Ailbe founded schools for instruction as well as the Church, at Emily, in the county of Tipperary, about A. D. 416. This school was in great esteem ; and among other great luminaries it produced * Lecan, book i 1;^- A X H = >>• ■^ \-- c. ;•■ c ■^ <) r V^" ;_ g ^ \/ 3 ^ S N v' 3 \' ^■' '-■■''^ ■■■''>*' -- .\Ji^S'^ '■ ^ „i.. ?t«^" i m*i iho ■_^- Jte*» ^-.;.;. ... : - " . _ . ■ i-' ■ ■ . 1^>T** .4^.'^»- ««« iten :S?K| .v*?{« ni-:.- jV: "«f^"■-^-■^^^ # .^ ?^; .. .^..^.i^.- •Sf- A.I).498.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 161 were St. Colman and St. Molua; this last, son of Eocha, King of Munster, and who founded the Church of Killaloe, but more properly Kill-Molua, kail being Irish for a church. The church and schools of St. Declan were about the same time erected in the deasies in the county of Waterford. St. Patrick held these two prelates in such high esteem, that he calls the first "the Patrick of Munster;" the other " the Patrick of the Deasies." St. Kieran's College was opened at Sier- Kieran, in the King's County ; and that of St. Ibar, in a sequestered island, in the county of Wexford. To these schools, as Usher* and Colganf affirm, numbers not only of natives, but even of foreigners resorted, to be instructed in religion and letters. St. Patrick himself founded the University of Armagh, which preceded all others for extent, magnificence, and endowments ; and we mav reasonablv suppose, that to every Episcopal Church he founded, he annexed a school for pub- lic education, as his precursors did. It is worth while to attend to the reason, why religion and letters went hand in hand in Ireland. By the Irish constitution, doc- tors in science not only preceded the nobil- ity, but were exempt from all temporal laws, and their persons and possessions unmolested in wars. What greater secu- rity could the early Christians have to pro- mulgate their religious tenets than the sanction of public schools ? we see these schools at this time resorted to by foreign- ers as well as natives ; a demonstrative proof that the crowds of strangers who flowed from all parts of Europe to us, were not confined to the days of Christian- ity only, else what would have brought them then here ? These precursors of Patrick, to wit — Ailbe, Declan, Kieran, and Ibarus, we may suppose were eminent writers as well as preachers. Ailbe wrote "A Rule for Monks." Dubthach, arch-poet to the monarch Loagaire, was a man of great learning, and an early convert to Chris- * rrimord. Eccles. Brit., p. 1062-3. t Colgan, Vita St. Abban, etc. 21 tianity. His poetic talents, which he be- fore often employed in praise of Bel, Crom, and other heathen gods, he now converted to the praise of the great Creator, by whom only these planets act. Colgan affirms to have had several works of this poet in his possession.* St. Patrick himself was not less eminent for letters than for preaching and convert- ing. He is said to have been a master of the Irish, British, Gaelic, and Latin tongues, and also of the Greek. His writings are very many ; they are too numerous to be here inserted ; but in Colgan you will find an ample detail of them.f St. Fiech, Bishop of Sleibhte, or the Mountains, in the Queen's County, was a disciple of St. Patrick, and wrote his life in Irish metre, extant in the Trias Thaumat. Harris at- tributes another work to him.J Binin, a disciple and successor, or rather Cobharb- har, to St. Patrick, wrote his life, partly in Latin, partly Irish. This Binin has been supposed to be the author of the famous Leabhar na Guart, or Book of Rights, by which the subsidies paid to the kings of Ireland by their subjects were stated. « For my part, I think it the work of differ- ent writers, and in different ages. For in it we find among the presents which the kings of Munster, in their royal tours through Ireland, offered at the different courts they visited, that they presf-nted the kings of Emania with seventy steeds, sev- enty suits of armour, and eight corslets. Now it has been already observe^ .that this royal fabric was destroyed in the begin- ning of the fourth century, and of course near a century earlier than the birth of this writer. Again, mention is made in an- other part of this work of the dues paid by the Danes to the kings of Leinster, which proves this last part must have been written some ages posterior to the present era. It is however partly a very ancient and upon the whole a very well-preserved piece of Irish antiquity. St. Mel, St. Luman, and his nephew St. Patrick wrote also, part Latin, part Irish, the life and miracles • Trias Thaum., p. 8. t Trias Thaum., p. 214. X Writers q^Ireland, p. 6. 162 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 498. of our great apostle. From these works Jocelyne, the monk (who was employed by the famous John de Courcey, in the twelfth century, to write the life of the Irish apostle, and which he finished about A. D. 1185) acknowledges having received great lights on the subject.* The cele- brated Bishop Sedulius flourished in this century, whose works, particularly his hymns and sacred poems, have been much admired. Harris is minute in his account of them.f Frideline, an Irish prince, de- voted himself to a monastic life, and trav- elled into Germany and France, where he built many monasteries, and converted numbers to Christianity. He is said to have published some religious tracts.J The celebrated St. Cathaldus, bishop and patron of Tarentum, the writer of some remarkable prophesies, is placed by Har- ris in this century ; but from the authority of Mac Bruodin's Book of Munster, and that of the two Moroni, both brothers and Tarentines born, I have already placed him in the second century. St. Kienan, first Bishop of Duleck, was christened, * instructed, and educated by St. Patrick, and wrote his life.§ Long before the arrival of St. Patrick, Christianity was in a most flourishing con- dition in the province of Munster, so much so, that though he landed in Ireland in 432, yet he did not visit this province till 448. There he met St. Ailbe, their arch- bishop, with several of his disciples, and found many churches and monasteries erected. Those of greatest note were the abbeys of Inis-Catha, or Scattery, and Inis-Lua, both islands in the Shannon, and founded by St. Senan, of Corea Bavi- sein. The abbey of Muingarid, near Limerick, being erected in the fourth century, as was another Adare, in the said county, to this day called Ceil-Dimma, from Dimma, a Christian priest, and to whose care St. Declan was committed, when a youth, for instruction. St. Endeus founded the mon- * Vita sexta St. Patricii, p. 106. t Writers of Ireland, p. 7. t Ibirl, p. 9. $ Trias Thatei.,p. 217. astery of Aran, called Arra na Naoimh, or Aran of the Saints, on account of the amazing number of saints who lived and died in this famous retreat; St. Maidoc, another, at Disert Nairbre, in the county of Waterford. The principal monasteries founded by our apostle, were those of Slane, Trion, and Domhnach-Phadraig, in Meath; Kill-Auxille, near Kildare; Fin- glas, near Dublin ; Achad Abla, in the county of Wexford ; Galen, in the county of Carlow ; Ardah, in the county of Long- ford ; Inis bo Fion and Inis Cloghran, in the said county ; Louth and Druim-inis- gluin, in the county of Louth ; St. Peter «nd Paul's Abbey, at Armagh ; Saul and Nendrum Abbeys, in the county of Down; Rath-Muighe, in the county of Antrim; Coleraine Abbey, in the county of Derry ; Louch-Dearg, in the county of Donegal ; Clogher in the county of Tyrone ; Inis Muigh Samh, in the county of Fermanagh ; Clun-Feis, Tuam, and Kill-Chonal, in the county of Galway; Inis-More, in the county of Roscommon ; Druim-Lias, in the county of Sligo, etc. The first monastery of females on rec- ord in Ireland, is that of Kill-Liadan, in the county of Carlow, founded by St. Kieran before the arrival of St. Patrick. St. Patrick founded those of Cluan-Bro- nach and Druimchas, in the county of Longford ; of Temple-Bride, and Temple na Fearta, or the Temple of Miracles, in the county of Armagh ; the Abbey of Lin, near Carrickfergus ; of Cluain-Dubh- ain, in the county of Tyrone ; of Ross- Oirther, in the county of Fermanagh ; of Ross-Bcnchoir, in the county of Clare ; and Killaracht, in the county of Roscom- mon ! Besides these, St. Bridget founded her famous monastery in Kildare, A. D. 480, for which she formed particular rules, and which was the head of her order. Upon the whole, it is agreed on by the early writers of his life, that no less than seven hundred religious houses were built and consecrated during the mission of this apostle. An amazing number truly at any time ; but more particularly when two out of the three monarchs of Ireland A. D. 503.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 163 who succeeded each other in this period were unbelievers ! If any of them were ever Christians — which I much doubt — they certainly apostatized. To this cause or their want of faith, the pious Christians charitablv resolved their violent deaths ; Laogaire and Lughridh being destroyed by lightning. There cannot, in my opinion, be a stronger proof of the civilized state of the nation, than the adverting to this circum- stance. These early Christians were no doubt highly eminent for letters, and greatly cultivated the fine arts ; and these mo- narchs, endued with a truly great and philosophic spirit, considering their religion as no way dangerous to the state, gave not the least check to it. Like the emperors of China in our days, and for above a cen- tury past, though greatly attached to the religion of their ancestors, yet, far from prohibiting the preachers of Christianity from spreading their tenets through the empire, they grant both liberty and pro- tection to the Jesuits and Dominicans, not only to convert the people, but to erect churches for the use of their vota- ries. After a reign of twenty-five years, this prince, Lughaidh, was killed by lightning. Eocha Baildearg. of the Dai-Gas line, con- tinued for some years King of Leath-Mo- gha, and Feidhlim, the son of Aongus, King of South-Munster. On his death, and during the administration of Lughaidh, Criomthan, the son of Feidhlim, was salut- ed King of Leath-Mogha, and Cor moo Coichin, succeeded his brother Eocha, in the sovereignty of Thomond. Two kings of Ulster, Eocha, and Fergus. Three kings in Leinster, Fraoch, the son of Fin- achda and Oilioll, and Ulan, the sons of Dunluing. Three in Connaught, Eogan, Bel, Oilioll, and Duach-Teanmaigh. BOOK VIII. CHAPTER I. Of the monarch Mortough, and his wars — An Irish governineut erected in Albiny — ^Nature of the connection between the Irish and Picts explnined — Of the first and succeeding Irish who emigra- ted to Albany, to their erecting of a monarchy, and reducing of the Picts — Their successors lose the aits and letters which they possessed — The use made of them on their revival to estab- lish a high antiquity in Britain, and the reason. Mortough, the son of Muireadhach, the son of Eogan, the son of the hero Niall, was unanimously saluted monarch of Ire- land. He is generally called the son of Earca, from his mother's name, who was the daughter of Loam, of the Dal-Riada race. He was the first Irish monarch who lived and died in the Christian faith; not- withstanding that most of the provincial kings publicly professed this doctrine, for above half a century earlier. He is highly celebrated as well for his piety as his in- trepidity. His empress Sabina led so ex- emplary a life as to be ranked amongst the saints of Ireland.* This prince met with great disturbances in his reign. It is recorded that he fought no less than seven- teen bloody battles,t five of which were in the course of one year ! J But, not- withstanding that this was an age in which letters flourished in an eminent degree among us, yet it is not a little surprising, that we find no accounts preserved of the cause of these fatal dissensions: while pious foundations, and genealogies of saints are recorded with a scrupulous nicety. But, wrapped up in holy importance, our Christian senachies, in all probability, thought nothing else worth recording. * Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 679, 690 t Grat. Luc. p. 74. t Keating, p. 2. We shall now return to a most remark- able era, namely, the establishing of a new monarchy in North Britain. We have already observed that in the year 498, ^e six sons of Ere, aided by the monarch, Lughaidh, invaded the modern Scotland. They were called the two Larns, the two Aonguses, and the two Fearguses. But as Irish and North British writers diflfer materially with respect to the period when this regal government began, and that volumes have been written on the subject, to enable the reader to form a clear judg- ment of the whole, it will be necessary to take a short retrospective view of the early state of this country. In the infancy of the Milesian govern- ment, we have seen the Picts established in North Britain. We have there remark- ed the uncommon wisdom of Heremon, when he vouchsafed his protection to these people, in unalterably fixing them attached to the Irish monarchy by the simple bonds of wedlock! a circumstance which may furnish some hints to modern legislators for securing the fidelity of their colonies. But though from time to time this country was invaded from Ireland, yet it was rather to punish them for their too great attachment to one party of the Irish, than from any suspicions of their ever aiming to disturb, much less to overturn the Irish constitution. It was impossible in the fre- quent contests about the monarchy but that they must have a greater desire to support the interest of one party than that of another. The proximity of Ulster, and their more frequent alliances and inter- courses with the Irian race than with the other septs of Ireland, attached them more A. D. 503.] HISTORY OF IRELAND 165 strongly to them. For this reason, the other two houses, particularly the Hebe- rians, laboured to lessen their power, as the surest means of reducing the northern line of Irish. This I thought necessary to remark, as all the Irish writers I have met with regard these invasions of Albany as so many conquests. PJain sense points out the fact as I have noted ; for had it been otherwise, they would necessarily form alliances with the Britons, and other enemies of Ireland, and either shake off their dependence entirely, or become a really conquered people ; neither of which was the case. Their predeliction for the Irish arose from the strongest ties. Their' wives being mostly Irish, infused this love into their husbands and children. The next race caught the same infection from the same cause ; and this cause constantly acting, the effect could not cease. When the Romans over-ran all South Britain, they could not shake off this attachment of the Picts. Even their invasion of Scot- land produced no alteration in their senti- ments. In the days of Agricola, it is evi- dent that the Romans meditated a descent on Ireland: the great utility of detaching the Picts from their connections with the Irish must have struck so eminent a com- mander as Agricola; and I make no doubt but he laboured — though in vain — to bring over these people to the interests of Rome. Thus we see from very obvious causes, that there was a constant intercourse be- tween the two people ; but the moment the Romans entered Britain, their mutual in- terests demanded the strictest alliance. The Irish, from this time forward, kept legions in Britain, which, as the Romans did, they called after the country. Fine Al- bin. Their numbers by this means, in North Britain, became considerable, but still without any fixed order or legislation, till about the end of the reign of Conaire the Grand, or the beginning of that of his successor Art, Carbre, the son of this Con- aire, made a regular settlement in Argyle, whose posterity after him were called Dal- Reudini, as Bede declares,* from his sur- * Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. i. cap. 1. name Riada, or the Long Arm, to which the word Dal, which denotes a sept or family, was added. Mac-Con, who suc- ceeded Art in the monarchy of Ireland, had also a considerable property there, which his son Fatha-Conan greatly enlarged. From Mac-Con, the house of Campbell, the Mac Aliens, etc., claim their pedigree ; and to this day the first are called Siol Mhic- Cuin, or the posterity of Mac-Con. Aon- gus-Fer, grandson to Carbre-Riada, greatly enlarged his family possessions in Albany, and from him the shire of Aongus took its name. About the year 331, the Collas, grandsons to Carbre-Liffecaire,fled to Scot- land, for rebellion, and were graciously re- ceived by their uncle, the Pictish king, who assigned them lands, and at length pro- cured their pardon. From these the Mac Donnels of Scotland are descended ; and to them are they indebted for their posses- sions, as well there as in the isles. Some time after, Maine, called Leamhna, (from a river of that name in the county of Kerry, near^which he was nursed,) the son of Cove, King of Munster, repaired to Albany, that theatre of glory to the Irish nation in those days of heroism ; and after exhibiting prodigies of valour against the Romans, gained a principality there, from him called Leamhna, pronounced Leavna. He got the title of Maor-More-Leamhna, or the Great Steward of Leavna, maor being Irish for a steward ; from which title his suc- cessors assumed the name of Steward. His brother Carbre, called Cruithniach, or the Pict, gained also large territories in North Britain. Ere, the son of Eocha, the son of the above Aongus, the descendant of Carbre-Riada, repaired to North Britain to possess himself of the territories of his ancestor there, soon after, (i. e. about A. D. 440,) and died, according to Usher, and the Book of Lecan, A. D. 474. His eldest son, Loame, in 478, raised the entire clan of Dal-Riada, as well in Ireland as Britain, to fight the battles of Lughaidh, influenced thereto by his son-in-law Mortough, then very young ; by which timely assistance Lughaidh gained the monarchy. From this prince the country of Lorn took its 166 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 503. name. Indeed, the possessions and pedi- grees of the Albanian Scots, in North Bri- tain, are preserved with wonderful accura- cy in our books of antiquity. O'Duvegan in particular notes the subdivisions of their families and patrimonies, their different chiefs, their power by sea and land, etc. From this account it appears that though the possessions of the Irish in Albany were considerable, yet that they were there nei- ther a united or powerful people. For the great chiefs being some of the line of He- ber, others of that of Heremon, or Ith, re- siding mostly in the mother-country, and engaging in their different family disputes at home, attended not sufficiently to their mutual interests in Albany. Mortough, sensible of this, prevailed on his uncles in 498, to return there and strengthen their family interest as much as possible. Soon after he was called to the Irish monarchy, he caused Feargns, the youngest brother, to be proclaimed king of the Albanian Scots, or Irish ; and to add greater solem- nity to his inauguration, he sent over the famous marble chair, on which the mon- archs of Ireland were enthroned. This was the first prince, of the Irish race, who was proclaimed or acknowledged as a king in Albany. He united the diflferent jarring interests of the colonists, compelling such as refused to recognize his title to make their submissions, and formed from this union a respectable power, subordinate however to the mother-country. His suc- cessors, warlike and enterprising princes, gradually extended their frontiers, enabled so to do by the constant assistance sent them, from time to time, from Ireland ; till at length in the ninth century, Kenneth, the son of Alpin, completely destroyed thePict- ish empire, and instead of king of the Al- banian Scots, as his ancestors were styled, he was saluted king of the Albanies, i. e. of the Picts and Scots. This explains the following lines of Fordun on this event : — " Primus in Albanis, fertur regiiAsse Kenethus FUins Alpini, prselia multa gerens. ExpvUis Pictis, regnavit is octo bis annis." Though to this time the Albanian Irish had undoubtedly arts and sciences among them, yet in the reign of his successor Con- stantine, the remains of the vanquished Picts inviting the Danes to their assistance, the whole country became soon one scene of desolation, from which fair science fled ! Ireland too, being about the same time in- vaded, could not afford them those supplies she formerly did. Add to this, that the Albanian Irish no longer paid tribute to the mother-country, as we shall note in its place ; so that what between their wars with the Danes, the Saxons, and Normans, history and chronology became totally lost there. These events were not, neverthe- less, nor could they in the nature of things, be totally forgotten. The only piece of Scottish Albanian history extant is a regal poem, much like ours, of Giolla Caomhain, in which is contained a list of their kings, beginning with Loam, brother to Fergus, and ending with Malcolm, the son of Don- chadh, confirming word for word our ac- counts.* Add to this, that Scotland, s^ncN ly speaking, comprehended only that part of North Britain possessed by the Scots or Irish. This is acknowledged by all their writers. To this purpose Hume tells us — " It is certain that in very ancient language, Scotland means only the country north of the Firths of Clyde and Forth. I shall not make a parade of literature to prove it, be- cause I do not find the point is disputed by the Scots themselves."t In the days of the Venerable Bede, who died A. D. 737, and constantly resided at his monastery at Wearmouth, on the Pict- ish borders, we find the Albanian Scotch or Irish distinguished from the other clans of Irish, by the name of Dal-Reudini, which he justly explains into the posterity of Riada. This proves that they were even then looked upon as an Irish colony only, not as a distinct and independent body of Irish. The Albanian Irish, as I observed, en- gaged in constant wars with different in- vaders, soon lost whatever arts they had been in possession of. An event, however, pointed out to them the necessity of history • Trias Thaumat. fol. 115. t History of England, vol. ii. p. 258. A. D. 503.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 167 and chronology, which they availed them- selves of. The immature death of Mar- garet of Norway, in the decline of the thirteenth century, leaving the kingdom of Scotland exposed to the pretensions of dif- ferent competitors, Edward I., of England, assumed to himself the right of judge, affirming that both Scotland and Wales were but fiefs of England ; for that Brutus the Trojan, who subdued all Britain, had three sons, Laegrus, Camber, and Albanc- tus, between whom he divided his territo- ries. To Laegrus he left Laegria, or England ; to Camber, Cambria, or Wales ; and to Albanctus, Albany, from him so called ; but still as fiefs from the eldest son. In 1301, a memorial to this purpose was delivered by his ministers to Pope Boniface VIII., but the Scots were determined not to be behindhand with him in point of an- tiquity, or forfeit their title to independence for want of invention. Their countryman, Hume, treating of the era in quejstion, has these remarkable words : If the Scots had before this period any real history worthy of the name, except what they glean from scattered passagesof the English historians, these events, however minute, yet being the only foreign ones of the nation, might de- serve a place in it."* The English me- morial to this pope traces their government to above eleven hundred years before Christ ; but the Scots make theirs coeval with Moses ! They affirmed that Eric, the son of Gathelus, who was contemporary with Moses, sailed from Iceland to Albany, and there founded a monarchy, which con- tinued uninterrupted to that time; and which, from these two commanders, took the name of Eric-Gathel, or Argyle ! Here we plainly see a confused memory of their origin, much like what we have remarked of the early Greeks, but replete with ab- surdities and anachronisms. In 1320 another memorial was addressed to John XXII., Pope of Rome ; in this they assure his Holiness that their Eric was the son of Gathelus, and Scota, Queen of Egypt, who were contemporaries with Moses. But Scota, as wc have seen, was the mother, * History of England, vol. ii. p. 255. not the wife, of Gathelus ; and the son of this last was named Easru, not Eric. Nor was it for many generations after, that the sons of Milesius, not Gathelus, landed in Ireland ; one thousand eight hundred years after which period, not sooner, an Irish colony formed a regal settlement in Al- bany. Yet even at Rome we should think that this pompous parade of antiquity met with some censure ; because, in a very few years after their second memorial, John Fordun, a Scotch priest, was employed to write a history of Scotland ; and this is the first historian their country produced. That this work was undertaken soon after, is manifest from this, that he speaks of the year 1341 in it as a present one ; and that it was occasioned bv the strictures on their former assertions must be admitted, because he lops off at once from their antiquity above one thousand five hundred years ; a great falling off truly ! For instead of making the father of Eric coeval with Moses, he admits his reign to have com- menced about three hundred and thirty years before Christ ! Need I dwell long on the subsequent forgeries of Boetius, Dempster, etc., to support this imaginary antiquity. Their affirming that the Scotia of Hegisippus, Claudian, Marcellinus, Gil- das, Bede, and other writers to the eleventh century, meant modern Scotland ; and be- cause it was found that this Scotia was also the lerne of Orpheus, and the Hibemia of Caesar and Tacitus, they at once find this leme to be Strathern ; and instead of a large and potent island, to be but an ob- scure part of Perthshire ! Such flagrant insults on truth, history, and reason, roused up the indignation of the most passive ; and White, Fitz-Simmons, Routh, Usher, Ward, Lloyd, Stillingfleet, etc., etc., soon proved to all Europe the impositions of these writers. 168 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 503. CHAPTER II. The same subject continued — A new system of Scottish history and nntiquity — Mac Pherson's Ossian replete with anachronisms, and the pains taken to impose it on the world for a s;enuine performance Dr. Mac Pherson's Disserta- tions — Ireland the ancient countiy of the Alba- nian Scots ; and these last and the Picts always considered as different nations. It is a remark of the learned Dr. John- son, that " a Scotchman must be a very sturdy moralist indeed who does not love Scotland better than truth." * In no in- stance can this assertion be fuller proved than in their labours to gain a high anti- quity in Britain. Their imaginary history being exposed, their generals, saints, and literati reclaimed, and the conversion of countries and many pious and literary foundations on the continent being ac- knovirledged to be the works of the only people then known as Scots in Europe, i. e. the Irish, their inventive faculties soon planned a new mode of antiquity. The Picts, it is agreed upon all sides, were early inhabitants of Britain. To make these and the Scots one people, would at once secure to them a remote antiquity, and destroy all their connections with Ire- land. What availed it to them, that in so absurd an attempt they went retrogade to every evidence of Albanian, Irish, British, and even Roman history ? The object was, the honour of the North Britons, and truth itself must give way to this ! To this glorious undertaking their different writers are called out, for — " Gi-seculus esurieiis ad ca-lum jusseris, ibit !" The attack commenced by the publish- ing of different detached pieces under the title of Fragments of Highland Poetry. Never did time seem so favourable for the advancement of their cause! The great check to all their former attempts — Irish History — seemed now totally forgotten. The principal nobility and gentry of Ire- land, since the Revolution, with the history neglected the common interest of their country. The most violent outrages of- fered to truth and this lovely island were unnoticed ; and writers of all denomina- tions, domestic as well as foreign, seemed * Tour through Scotland. to have a carte blanche for every thing said or done. These Fragments were succeed- ed by regular epic poems, published under the auspices of Lord Bute, and counte- nanced bv the whole Scottish nation. The main design of these and of the Notes, for which they are intended, was to prove the Scots and Picts but one people, though distinguished by different names, and speaking different languages; that they were the aborigines of Britain, who, giving way to new invaders, retired more north- erly ; that here erecting a new monarchy, and increasing in ppwer, they sent colo- nies to Ireland, by whom the country was in time conquered. The curious reader will probably demand, what further proofs were offered in support of this curious hypothesis? The immaculate James Mac Pherson, and his worthy fellow-labourer the pious doctor, (who only could deter- mine this question,) tell us none ! they were totally illiterate, (notwithstanding the pains of Dempster and others to prove the contrary ;) and from Irish and Saxon ec- clesiastics they first learned that they were but a colony from Ireland ; which from the authority of Bede, and their great veneration for holy priests, they then first adopted. These poems were succeeded by Critical Dissertations on the Poems of Ossian, in which every nerve is stretched to prove them authentic. But that the re- mark of Dr. Johnson should be verified in every sense, soon after appeared the pub- lic aflirmations of different Pictish gentry, one in support of one part, a second of another, and so on of the rest, by which means the whole of James Mac Pherson's poems were declared to be the genuine and pure productions of Ossian ! No doubt too much pains could not be taken to establish their antiquity, and de- preciate the annals of Ireland so hostile to Caledonian vanity. It is but common jus- tice to declare, that all that could be done was done on this occasion ; and that Jemmy Mac Pherson might cry out with iEneas : — " si Perffama dexlra Defeadi posseat, etiam hac defensa fuisseut !" A.D.503.] HISTORY OF IRELAND 169 But though a Scot, for the honour of his country, might well conceive that regular epic poems, composed by an ignorant bard, might be preserved by tradition only for one thousand five hundred years; though the bard of one family could recite but a certain part of them, a second another, and that it appears that a great number of these were consulted ; in «hort, that Mac Pherson went from bard to bard to collect from each his portion of this mighty whole, which parts he threw into the same exact order in which they were delivered by Ossian himself — yet others, not so closely interested in their success, might doubt their authenticity. But to attempt estab- lishing a new system of history, in oppo- sition to all antiquity, on the authority of these poems, after so many former unsuc- cessful attempts, proclaims highly the modesty of the author and of his asso- ciates. It is no wonder that the North Britons should eternally rail at Irish his- tory : it has been a constant obstacle to their visionary schemes, and, in all appear- ance will ever continue so to be. Thus, in the present poem, Ossian has with won- derful judgment synchronized Cucullin, Connal Cearnach, Morni his son GauU, his own grandfather Cumhal, and his father Fion, with the Danes, though the two first were contemporaries with Caesar, though Morni figured in the first century, and that Cumhal fell by the sword of Gaully in the next age ! though Fion and himself lived in the third century, and that the Danes were not heard of till the ninth! But what of all this? the author, endued with second sight, could easily pry into futurity. He was a Pythagorean, and of course could tell what bodies the souls of ancient heroes would reanimate, and prob- ably what prodigies of valour they would perform ! Mac Pherson has declared this a genuine poem ; and my Lord Kaims * as zealously contends for its authenticity as Blair, or any other of the coalition. How- ever, he repeatedly attributes its preserva- tion to nothing less than a miracle ! a mi- racle then let it be. But, instead of flying * History of Man, vol. ii., sect. 7. 22 to Scandinavia, as the poem was confess- edly wrote in Irish ; that Ireland was the scene of action ; and that by Caledonian accounts the Irish were descended from them ; had Lord Kaims consulted Irish history, to illustrate this poem, as he cer- tainly ought to have done, he would per- haps have been better enabled to form his judgment, for all the above heroes were the real sons of Ireland ; and their ances- try, exploits, and the different periods in which they flourished, are as well known at this day as any facts in ancient history. Even in the twelfth century Cambrensis remarks how full the common people were here of their fabulous stories of Fion Mac Cumhal, or Fingal, of Oissin, and Oscar, etc. But notwithstanding all the human en- deavours of the Caledonians, aided by the supernatural interposition of Lord Kaims, these precious poems have by no means answered the proposed design ; yet the persevering sons of imposition could not think of relinquishing the cause. John Mac Pherson, D. D., minister of Slate, in the isle of Sky, devoted the leisure of some years from the care of souls to that of his country. His works were published in London in 1757. He took up this subject on a more extensive plan than his friend James. In vain has he laboured {ani- mated more by his love of Scotland than of truth) by specious arguments, by sophistry, by false quotations, by misrepresentations of facts, and by a smattering in the Erse, (a kind of Patois Irish,) to invalidate the force of Irish history, and to prove that the Picts and Scots were really one peo- ple. But as I have already examined this curious work, I must refer such as think the subject worth inquiry to that criticism for further information.* Too many props no doubt could not be demand- ed to support so tottering a structure ; and Jemmy Mac Pherson sallied forth once more, armed with his Murus Aheneus, in defence of his darling historical hypothe- sis. If we are astonished at the easy con- fidence with which he misquotes authors, * Introduction to Irish History, part III. cap. viii. 170 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 503. and misrepresents facts, since then so fully proved, that he himself has been obliged to acknowledge both ;* we are not less so, to see him in this same work {Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ire- land) fairly give up his beloved Ossian, notwithstanding the labours of Mr. Blair, the declarations of the Highland chiefs, and the miraculous interposition of Lord Kaims in his favour ; for, says he, page 150: " In the present state of the argu- ment, there is no need of his (Ossian's) assistance ; the fabric we have raised needs no collateral proofs." This short sketch of the different opin- ions on Caledonian history, I thought proper to lay before the public. Many volumes have been written, and much more learning displayed on the subject than it merited. That the Scots of Albany were originally a colony from Ireland, the proximity of their country, their language, their surnames, and even their own con- fessions, declare. For a Highlander to this day, in the Erse, calls himself an Alba- nian Scot; and it cannot be denied but that the only name in Latin for a North Briton is Scoto-Britanus; expressions which evidently point them not the original issue of the country, but derived from some other Scots ; and where can we find these but in Ireland ? That Fergus was their first acknowledged king, and began his reign A. D, 503, all our historians declare ; and though his brother Loam was probably possessed of as much power there, yet to Fergus only was the inaugurating chair first given. There is a very valuable old MS. quoted by the learned Usher, and other Irish antiquarians, synchronizing the provincial kings with the respective mon- archs of Ireland, (a copy of which I have in my possession,) in which Fergus is de- clared the first king of the Albanian Scots, and to be contemporary with the present monarch. Upon the whole, that the Scots of North Britain were colonies from Ire- land, and a people totally different from the Picts, will not I believe be now doubt- • Whitaker's History of the Britons. — Appendix to the Introductiou to Irish History. ed ; that by the wisdom of the monarch Mortough, they were first united under one head, all our antiquities declare ; and so far from being known as a distinct body of Scots, even in the eighth century, the Venerable Bede then called them Dal-Reu- dini, just as other tribes were distinguished at home, into Dal-Fiathach, Dai-Gas, etc., from the names of their first founders. This prince Mortough, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, lost his life at an enter- tainment at MuUach-Cleatach, near the Boyne ; the house being intentionally set fire to, and he perishing in the flames. Aodh Caomh, the son of Connal, the son of Eocha Baildearg, a Dai-Gas, was King of Munster. The Psalter of Cashell gives a large account of this prince. It appears that Aodh-Dubh, the son of Criomhthan, last King of Munster, would not consent to his investiture, till he delivered to him hostages to secure his own succession, or that of his sons, after the decease of this Aodh. This was agreed to ; and Brea- nuin, Abbot of Clonfert, and Mac Lenin, his chief poet, the father of St. Colman, were delivered up as sureties to Aodh- Dubh, for the performing this covenant. This last Aodh, or Hugh, of the Eugenian line, was King of Desmond, or South Munster. Fergus and Scanal, or Scanlan, his brothers, succeeded him in this title, according to the Psalter of Cashell, and Book of Synchronisms ; so that he died before his namesake Aodh-Caomh. Fear- gus continued King of Ulster, and Ulan, King of Leinster, who was succeeded by Cormoc, the son of Oilioll. Duach, in Connaught, and after him Eocha. Fear- gus, after him his brother Aongus, and son Domhangard, are marked as kings of North Britain, of the Irish race. CHAPTER III. Tuathal Maolgnrbh chosen monarch of Ireland — Is assassinated — Dearmod elected to the throne — Inquiry into the origin of the ceremony of anointing the monarchs at their inauguration — And Ireland's claim of precedency before any other nation of Europe. A.D. 528.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 171 TuATHAL Maolgarbh, the son of Cormoc- Caoch, the son of Carbre, son to the hero Niall, was elected monarch. Barring the lives of saints, and founding of churches, we find in this reign also a great inatten- tion to public and political events. We read indeed of a fierce war carried on by Earca, the son of Oilioll-Molt (from whom the tribe of Firearcha) and the Lagenians, and of a general engagement ensuing at Tortan, in which this prince lost his life ; but are totally ignorant as to the cause of it. Feargus and Domhnal, sons of the deceased monarch, waged also war with the Conacians ; a battle was fought, in which the Conacians were defeated, and their king slain. But what gave rise to this war must remain for ever a secret. The deceased King of Connaught had a son, called Ceallach ; but he having devo- ted himself to a monastic life, the friends of Guare, the son of Colman, caused him to be proclaimed king of that province. In most countries, and on most occasions, there are seldom wanting factious and seditious people ready to fish in troubled water, and engage in any desperate enter- prise to promote their private interests: though Ceallach had long before the pres- ent event solemnly renounced the world, yet partizans were not wanting to stimu- late him to quit his monastery and proclaim his pretensions to the throne. To gratify their solicitations and his own ambition, he privately quitted his cloister, and, at the head of a considerable party, proclaimed his right to the crown. But the holy Abbot Ciaran, (who should by no means be confounded with St. Ciaran, of Saigir, a precursor to St. Patrick,) hearing of this great defection in a subject of his house, pronounced a solemn malediction on him, if he did not immediately return to his cell, and make public reparation for the pro- faning the clerical habit. The poor affrighted monk immediately retired to his monastery, prostrated himself at the feet of the saint, acknowledged his crimes in the most humiliating manner, and earnestly entreated pardon and absolution. We are told that Ciaran vouchsafed him his bene- diction ; but at the same time assured him that a violent death could only expiate his crime. It would not, we may suppose, require any great gift in prophecy to fore- tel that the life of a person who once pro- claims his pretensions to a throne, espe- cially if well founded, is an object of great consequence to his competitor. Guare deemed the crown tottering on his head, while his rival lived (though in a monas- tery) and found means, even in that sacred place, to have him made away with ; and thus the prophecy was probably proclaim- ed after the fact was committed. After a reign of eleven years, Tuathal was assassi- nated bv the foster-brother of his successor, to pave his way to the throne ; but the regicide suffered the punishment due to so atrocious a crime, being immediately cut to pieces by the monarch's guards. On the death of Aodh-Caomh, which happened in this reign, Finghin, the son of Aodh-Dubh, a Eugenian, and ancestor to the O'Sullivans, by the law of alternate succession was proclaimed King of Muns- ter ; and Forranan, a Dai-Gas King of Thomond. Finghin was a prince of un- common intrepidity, as terrible in w'ar as amiable in time of peace. To the gallantry of the soldier he added the politeness of the courtier, and was particularly attentive to the fair ; all which are comprised in the following beautiful lines m the Psalter of Cashell : — " Finghin, bugh garg, ba gniomhach, Bo baoith, ba gaoth. ba brioghach; Bo min, ba miochair re mnaibh; Bo truadh a geath dha Congmail." Deman, son of Carril, succeeded to the crown of Ulster ; OilioU, and after him Guare, King of Connaught ; Cormoc, King of Leinster ; and Comhghall, the son of Domhangard, was King of the Albanian Scots. Boniface IL, John II., Agapetus I., Sil- verius, and Vigilius, were successive popes of Rome in this reign ; Justinian continu- ed Emperor of the East ; Childebert, King of France, and a great part of South Brit- ain was now possessed by the Saxons. 172 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 528. Dearmod, the son of Fergus-Kerbheol. the son (or indeed I think more properly the grandson) of Conall, son of the hero Niall, was proclaimed monarch. Adam- nanus calls him " King of all the Scots, or- dained by God's appointment." "Totius Scotiae regnator Deo authore ordinatus est."* And as this holy Abbot of Huy flour- ished in the next century, it merits some attention. In the present reign, and for a century preceding it, Christianity was in the most flourishing condition in Ireland. They had, as we have seen, received this doctrine from the Asiatics. These last, in many instances, adhered more closely to the Jewish customs than the Roman Chris- tians did. Though, from Constantine the Great's time, Rome had many Christian emperors, yet the first instance on record of a Christian prince receiving the crown by the hands of a bishop and the chrism, (as the Jewish princes were inaugurated by the hands of the high-priest,) is that of Justinian, who was crowned Emperor of the East by the Patriarch of Constantino- ple.f The stories of the inauguration of Clovis I., King of France, in the preceding century, and of the holy oil sent from hea- ven to St. Remi for that purpose, have been long since justly exploded. Pepin, of the Carlovingian race, was the first prince in France at whose coronation unction was used. As our countryman Virgilius was at this time in France, and in great friend- ship with Pepin, it may perhaps account for its origin there. As then the use of the chrism was so much more early introduced into the churches of Asia than into that of Rome, we may reasonably presume that the mon- archs of Ireland, where Christianity was so highly cultivated, would not want a ceremony deemed so essential to sovereign- ty ; and that at their coronations they were anointed ; at least that this Dearmod was. And this will explain the remarkable words of Adamnanus. But we have something more than bare presumption for what has been advanced. For in the reign of Aodh, • Vita St Columb. lib. i. cap. 36. t Sdden's Titles of Honour, p. 110. and not Very many years from the period in question, Adamnanus tells us,* " that by direction of an angel, Columba was charged to consecrate Aidan, King of the Irish or Scots of Albany. That he had a book containing the form of ordination, which he directed Columba to read, and also a bottle (I suppose of holy oil.) That he appeared to the saint three succeeding nights in the same manner ; after which Columba proceeded to the isle of Huy, sent for Aidan, the son of Guaran, conse- crated him king ; and, in the words of con- secration, foretold the flourishing state of his successors, while they continued friends to the family of Columba ; after which lay- ing his hand on the head of Aidan, he bless- ed him." In my opinion a much stronger testimony cannot be demanded of the con- secrating our Christian monarchs than this. If to a petty prince of the royal line of Ireland, and a tributary to our monarchs as Aidan was, consecration was deemed necessary, and by the hands of Columba too, who, as Bede observes, though him- self but an abbot, yet preceded all the bishops of Albany, it must certainly follow, that it was used by our provincial kings, but especially by our monarchs. Nay, from the words of Adamnanus, we mav pronounce that consecrating our monarchs was before that time in use. Crowns of gold and sceptres (other signs of royalty) were used by our princes and princesses long before this period ; nor did our mon- archs appear in public without these ensigns of royalty. About thirty years before the Christian era, when Maud, Queen of Connaught, in- vaded Ulster, she appeared among her troops in her chariot, with a crown of gold on her head.f In the second century, the afion or crown of the Empress of Cathoire- More, was stolen at Tara. Should any now doubt the existence of such crowns, I can inform the reader, that no less than three such have been found in bogs in this century ; two to my knowledge, and both sold in this city, [Limerick :] the first found in the Bog of Cullen, in 1774, in the coun- * Vita St. Columb. lib. iii. cap. 5. t Tain bo Cualgne. A. D. 498.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 173 ty of Tipperary; the other six years after, at Cathir Mechil, near Newcastle, in this county, in none of which was the cross found, and all were formed like the close crowns of the eastern princes.* The original meaning of the word impe- rator, or emperor, denoted no more than a general, or the commander of an army ; and if Caesar and the other emperors re- tained it, it was not but they knew and thought the name of king more honourable ; but they declined assuming it, as it was a title odious to the Roman people.f In the Eastern empire, where monarchy was high- ly reverenced, the ruler of extensive king- doms was styled king of kings. When Artaxerxes, King of Persia, enjoins the restitution of the temple to the Jews, he directs his commission thus — "Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra, the priest ;" and Cyrus is called ^uadev; Suadrnar, i. e. king of kings. The title of ard-righ, or chief king, constantly used by all our monarchs, imports exactly the same, and proves how well their pre-eminence was distinguished. It is a matter universally agreed on, that princes should rank, not according to the extensiveness of their states, but to the an- tiquity of their countries. Thus, in the contest in Lucian for precedency, even in heaven, between Hercules and Esculapius, Jupiter adjudges it to Esculapius, as having died first. Considered on this ground, Ire- land should have the precedence of every other nation in ancient Europe ; first, be- cause it is the most ancient kingdom ; sec- ondly, because it has been governed by a regular hereditary line of princes (one in- stance only excepted) for above two thous- and four hundred years ; thirdly, its mon- archs may truly rank as emperors, being the sovereigns of kings ; and fourthly, it was the only kingdom in Europe which preserved its independence when the rest were enslaved by Rome. Add to this, the extensiveness of her dominion, both Britains, the adjacent isles, and part of the continent, for a considerable time confessing her sway. To this let me add even a Roman • Harris's Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 95. t Titles of Honour, p. 11, «tc. evidence in support of the rank and dignity of Ireland, namely, Celestin's creating her great apostle & patrician; for a title it un- doubtedly was, not a name ; and a title which preceded all others but that of em- peror, and which was never conferred on any other missionary. It must be confessed that Mr. Selden, in his Titles of Honour, scarcely vouchsafes any notice of Ireland, except when he can show its great inferiority. Not content to make its kings subservient to those of Eng- land, he even asserts that they paid homage to lords of English creation ! However, the learned of Europe have by no means considered this kingdom in so humiliating a light; for nearly two hundred years later than the period he points out for this epoch, the ambassadors of England owed their rank and precedency in the Council of Constance to the title which the popes conferred on their sovereigns as lords of Ireland. As representatives of the King of England, they would not be allowed to take place or rank as the ambassadoi-s of a NATION ; tlie advocates of France in- sisting, that, as being conquered by the Romans, again subdued by the Saxons vvfho were tributaries to the German em- pire, and never governed by native sove- reigns, they should take place as a branch of the empire only, not as a free nation : " For (added they) it is evident from Al- bertus Magnus and Barth. Glanville, that the world is divided into three parts, Eu- rope, Asia, and Africa, (for America was not then discovered ;) Europe was divided into four empires, the Roman, the Constan- tinopolitan, the Irish, and the Spanish." But the English advocates, admitting the force of these allegations, claimed their precedence from Henry's being monarch of Ireland only ; and it was accordingly granted.* * Acta Cons. Const. See also an English translation vol. ii. p. 42, etc. 174 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 549. CHAPTER IV. Dearmod convenes the estates at Tara — Invasion of Connaught by the sons of Mortough — Battle between the Eugenians and CInn Breogan — Another meeting of the estates at Tara ; fatal efl'ects of a private quairel there — Dearmod makes war upon the King of Connaught ; defeats him, and imposes a humiliating ceremony on making peace — Character of Dearmod — Death of his son — Great pestilence in his reign — Dear- mod is slain by the King of Ulster. The first act of Dearmod's administra- tion was the convening the estates at Tara, where the laws were revised ; some je- jected, others amended, and new ones add- ed : the national history also was closely inspected into. Soon after Fergus and Daniel, the sons of the deceased monarch Mortough, again invaded Connaught, en- gaged in battle with Oilioll, a prince of that country, in which action that prince and his brother fell, and their army suffered a complete defeat. From this, and num- berless other instances in this history, it appears evident that the subordinate princes of Ireland made war upon each other with- out consulting the monarch ; that his power was greatly limited ; and that he took not a general active part but when applied to by the national voice; or that an aggrieved prince, preferring the way of negotiation to that of arms, applied to him for his in- terposition. In this case he summoned the states ; the affair was laid before them, and whichever party proved refractory, was compelled by force of arms to submit: each prince being then obliged to furnish a certain number of troops to the monarch, to enforce the national decree. The next year a bloody battle was fought in the county of Cork, between the Eugenians and Clana Breogan, with great slaughter on both sides ; for it was but too common for different petty states to determine dis- putes, often in themselves trifling, by a general engagement. The day of battle was appointed, perhaps at the distance of six, nine, or twelve months ; in the mean- time the parties on both sides met, and transacted business in the most amicable manner ; and the honour of the day was all the victor required. In the year 549 Dearmod summoned the national estates to meet him at Tara. What the particular object of this congress was we are not told, but the fatal effects of a private quarrel there are handed down to us. Cuornane Mac Aodh had in some pri- vate dispute killed another gentleman, who like him was a brughadh, or representative for a borough. To raise up the hand to strike, much less to kill any person at Tara, during the sessions, was from the earliest period decreed to be punished by death, even out of the power of the monarch to pardon ; nor was there to this time a single instance of the infraction of this law. A most useful law it surely was, especially among a proud, warlike, and independent people. Cuornane, sensible of his crime and his danger, immediately fled to Fer- gus and Daniel, princes of great power, the sons of Mortough. But these princes, however well inclined, saw it was in vain to attempt to shelter him, and therefore despatched him to their cousin, the great Columba, imploring his protection, and that he might afford him an asylum in his mon- astery. But a national outrage of this kind was not to go unpunished, and Dear- mod had the murderer seized and put to death, notwithstanding the entreaties of the brothers, and the ecclesiastical privileges claimed by the saint. No people are so dangerous to offend as churchmen. Sequestered from the world, having no other employment but their breviaries and conventual duties, they have greater time for recollection, and brooding over injuries, if not endued with uncommon grace. Columba deemed the violating his asylum the cause of God. High in blood and greatly reverenced, he could not brook this insult. He therefore applied to his relations, the northern Clana Neill, and Fergus and Domhnal, who at the head of a mighty army bade defiance to the mon- arch. A most bloody battle was fought at Cuildreimhne ; the imperial army was de- feated with great slaughter ; with difficulty the monarch himself escaped with life ; and more of the credit of this victory is attri- buted to the prayers of the saint than the courage of the soldiery ! A. D.546.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 175 Scarcely had the monarch recruited the loss of this battle, when we find him in- volved with Guare, King of Connaught, a prince whose uncommon liberality, munifi- cence, and courage, are highly celebrated in our annals. The cause of this war is said, in some chronicles, to have proceeded from Guare's taking from a sequestered religious a cow, which was her only sup- port. She preferred her petition to the monarch, who immediately took fire at the outrage. An assertion so ridiculous carries with it its own refutation. The event of this war proves sufficiently that its cause was an object of much greater conse- quence — the not paying the provincial tribute, or acknowledging Dearmod as monarch. To enforce both he raised a potent army, and marched along the side of the Shannon, we should suppose to a little above Killaloe, because the holy Co- min, who about this time founded the churches and tower at Inis-Cealtra, or the Shannon, laboured as mediator between these princes. The endeavours of Comin to prevent this war were fruitless ; and as Guare rejected all his remonstrances, he predicted to him that his army would be defeated. The imperialists plunged into the Shannon, horse and foot, and gained the opposite shore in spite of all the efforts of the Conacians ; and now engaging them on a greater equality, they were soon com- pelled lo give way on every side. Though their retreat was precipitate, yet they formed again the following day ; but, con- sidering the inequality of the contest, and dreading to make his country the scene of war, Guare, by advice of his council, sur- rendered himself to the mercy of the mon- arch. The ceremony on this occasion was singular, and deserves to be transmitted to posterity, as I take it for granted to be what was usually practised on rebellious chiefs ; because the intrepidity of Guare, and the acknowledged bravery and hu- manity of the monarch, leaves us no room to think that the last would commit, or his antagonist submit to, too degrading a sub- mission. But be this as it may, Guare ap- proached the monarch's tent, and, falling on his knees, presented to him his sword, acknowledging his crimes, and begging forgiveness. The monarch rose, and com- manded him to lie on his back ; he then placed one foot on his breast, and the point of his sword between his teeth ; on which the other in this posture acknowledged his disloyalty, and swore fidelity and obedience during the residue of his life. This cere- mony performed, he was elegantly enter- tained ; and the closest amity subsisted between these princes ever after. Far from injuring a poor helpless woman, the hospitality, humanity, and charity of Guare were proclaimed, and the facts attested in the fullest manner ; as well as the great encouragement he vouchsafed to men of letters. Like a second Titus, he thought the day lost which did not afford him an opportunity of displaying some of those virtues ; and as the fullest proof of his mu- nificence and liberality, to be more generous than Guare became a common proverb in Irish to express a prodigy. Guare, now reconciled to the monarch, thought the opportunity favourable to re- cover from North Munster a large tract of territory severed from the province of Connaught by the brave Luigh Laimh- Dearg in the fourth century. Finghin, of the Eugenian line, did not long enjoy the throne of Munster. On his decease, Dio- ma, great-grandson to Carthan, a Dal-gas, should have succeeded to that crown ; but it seems he had not arrived at the age required by the laws to govern, and was therefore laid aside for the present, and Failbhe-Flan, brother to the deceased, was declared his successor. This was certain- ly contrary to the will of their common ancestor Oilliol ; however, the northern line gained considerable advantages by this concession ; for the archbishop and clergy of Munster seasonably interposing their good offices, it was agreed that, as soon as Dioma was of the age of twenty- five, he should be associated with Failbhe in the command of the whole province. But the territories of North Munster, from Sliabh-Dala, in Ossory, to the west of Ireland, on both sides the Shannon, and 176 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 550. from Sliabh-Eibhline, Cashell, Cnoc-Aine, and the river Feil, its southern limits, to Galway, and the isles of Arran, were to acknowledge no superior, or pay chief rents to any other but their native princes. Besides this exemption, the Eugenians were for ever to renounce any pretences to tribute, or sword-land, over those septs of the race of Ith, and even of the Euge- nian line, which the ancestors of Dioma had formerly bestowed lands on, in Des- mond, or South Munster. These were to be paid in to the kings of Thomond ; and as an invasion was expected from Con- naught, Failbhe also engaged to assist the Thomonians with all his power. I know that it is asserted by Keating, and even in the late translation of the Book of Munster, that Dioma was absolute King of Munster when Guare invaded Thomond ; and of course that Failbhe must have died ; yet, in my copy of this work, it is positively as- serted that Failbhe, in conjunction with Dioma, successfully attacked the Cona- cians at Carn-Fearadhe, or Cnoc-Aine, in the county of Limerick. That the army of Guare consisted of three very large and powerful legions; (by these expressions we should infer that each cath, or legion, exceeded the usual number of three thou- sand ;) that very few escaped the battle; and that among the slain were six princes of Connaught. It is probable that soon after this battle Failbhe might have died, and Dioma continue King of Mun- ster. This monarch is highly praised for his great attention to strict justice, and for supporting the laws of his country. His piety and munificence are not less celebra- ted ; nor would he suffer the smallest act of oppression to go unpunished ; of this we are furnished with a melancholy in- stance in the death of his own son. Bre- asal, his eldest son, had prepared a most magnificent entertainment at his palace at Kells, to which the monarch and the prin- cipal chiefs of his court were invited. No expense was spared on this occasion ; a beef of uncommon fatness, among other things, was wanting ; among his numerous herds none was found in the order his pur- veyors could wish : a recluse in the neigh- bourhood had one exceedingly large and fat ; she was applied to on this occasion, but she could not be prevailed upon to sell it ; she even refused in exchange seven cows and a bull, expecting no doubt still greater offers. Finding her so very un- reasonable, Breasal's people drove the beast off the land without any ceremony, and cooked it for the entertainment. In the height of their mirth, when their retinue had withdrawn, this wretched woman forced herself into the royal presence ; exclaimed against the young prince's injus- tice, and deplored her own defenceless sit- uation in the most pathetic terms. The monarch, shocked at the recital, without vouchsafing to hear the defence of his son, ordered him to be instantly put to death. But in his cooler moments, and better in- formed, reflecting on what he had done, he grew melancholy, and had recourse to St. Columba for advice ; the saint recom- mended him to confess himself to St. Bea- i con, a celebrated penitentiary of Muskery, in Munster, and to submit to whatever pen- ance he should impose. The reign of this prince was marked by a most dreadful pestilence which over- spread the kingdom ; and from which the religious, sequestered in their cloisters, were not exempt. It is remarkable that the plague prevailed much about the same time in Gaul and Italy ; and it is from a remarkable expression of this plague in Jornandes, that Vossius has fixed the time of his publishing his works to 552. He at length fell by the sword of Aodh-Dubh Mac Suine, King of Ulster, and was in- terred in the church of Cluan Mac Noise, which he himself had founded, after a reign of twenty years. Contemporaries with this prince were Finghin and Failbhe, of the Eugenian line, and Forhanan and Dioma, of the Dai-Gas race, in Munster ; Guare and Feargus Mac Rossa, in Connaught ; Car- bre, son to Cormac, in Leinster ; and Betan, and after him Dimham, kings of Ulster. Comhghall continued king of the A. D. 556.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 177 Albanian Scots, or Irish, and was succeed- ed by his brother Gabhran. CHAPTER V. Fergus and Daniel monarchs — Of Eochaidh and Baodan — of Ainmheric — Of Baodan — Is de- feated in battle, and flies for refuge to St. Col- urnba — An account of this famous apostle of the Picts — Of the monarch Aodh — The parliament of Drom-Chette — The objects of its delibera- tions. Fergus and Daniel, the gallant sons of the monarch Mortough, were next called to the throne. Enterprising and warlike, they commenced their reign with the in- vasion of Leinster, to enforce the payment of their famous tribute. They engaged the Lagenians in battle on the borders of the Liffey, in which the provincials were defeated with great slaughter. Some time after these princes departed this life, but whether by the sword or not is uncertain. They were peaceably succeeded by Eo- chaidh, the son of the above Daniel, who associated his uncle Baodan with him in the command of the empire. In this reign lived Cairbre-Crom, the son of Criomthan, of the Eugenian line, who was a prince of great power in Munster. He engaged in the battle of Feimhin with Colman, the son of Dearmod, and gave him a complete overthrow. He it was, says the Psalter of Cashell, who founded the bishopric of Cloyne for St. Colman. Cronan, Prince of KienachtEi, on some private quarrel, attacked the troops of the associated mon- archs, and gained a signal victory, these princes themselves being among the slain. Ainmheric, son to Seadhna, the son of Feargus, the son of Conall-Gulban, son to the hero Niall, was the next monarch. He is celebrated as a prince of great learning ; but nevertheless fell in battle by the sword of Fergus Mac Neill, who joined his competitor and successor. Baodan, the son of Nineadhadh, the son of Feargus, and cousin-german to the de- ceased, was also his successor. Being defeated in battle in the first year of his 23 reign, and closely pursued, he applied to St. Columba, who was his relation, re- questing an asylum in his monastery, wliich he granted ; but his enemies, regardless of this sacred retreat, had him dragged out and murdered. Columba, enraged at this profanation, incited his relations and the whole northern Hi-Neill race to revenge this outrage. A bloody battle was fought against Colman, the son of Dearmod ; with what success we are not told, but we must suppose to the disadvantage of the latter, since he did not gain the monarchy, which was the great object of his pursuits. The violence of Columba's temper involved his country in great distress, about three years before the present period. Comhghall, the renowned Abbot of Benchoir, of the royal line of Ir, had some dispute with Columba, of what nature we are not told ; but his- tory seems to point out this last the aggres- sor: he called his brethren and kindred to his assistance ; the Dal-Araidhe rose in defence of Comhghall ; a bloody battle was fought, much blood spilled, but which side prevailed we are not told, As this Co- lumba makes a conspicuous figure in our history, and that, next to St. Patrick, he was the greatest apostle on this side of the Alps, we judge a more particular account of him necessary. He was the son of Feidhlim, the son of Feargus, the son of Conall-Gulban (fi-om whom to this day the country is called Tir-Conall,) son to the hero Niall. Great controversies have arisen as to the time of his birth, and when he first landed in Britain. Without entering deep into them, both I think can be easily cleared by at- tending to acknowledged facts. He died at the age of seventy-seven, and remained thirty-three years in Britain. It was not in the reign of Dearmod he went there, as most of our annalists assert, but in the third year of the reign of Aodh, i. e. A. D. 569. For the cause of it is agreed upon on all hands to be this : — the quantity of innocent blood he caused to be shed in the above battles, gave great scandal to the church and kingdom. A synod of the clergy met to excommunicate him ; and 178 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 567. St. Molaise particularly exclaimed against him. Columba became convinced ; and whatever other penance was enjoined we are not told, but one article was, that he was to quit Ireland, never to see it more : from this it is evident his banishment must have happened after the murder of Baodan, not before ; and as Colgan's calculations show, it must have been in the year 569, to correspond with 602,* and of course that he was born A. D. 525. His first education was in the north, under St. Fridian, of the Dal-Fiatach race, afterwards Bishop of Lucca in Italy. From this he was removed to the school of St. Finian, at Clonard, near the Boyne, so renowned for its erudition that no less than three thousand scholars have been reckoned in it at one lime, as Colgan and Usher, etc., attest. Here he acquired a complete knowledge of the learned langua- ges, and studied divinity and the scriptures with great devotion ; soon after which he embraced the monastic order, and was held in great reverence. It is probable, that his zeal for the honour and immuni- ties of the church was what hurried him into those extravagances, so fatal to his country; but his public reprehension, and his penitentiary exile do great honour to the clerical order of those days. On his arrival in Albany, Conall, King of the Dal- Riada (not Brudeus, the Pict, with Bede) bestowed on him the isle of Huy. Here he established his chief monastery ; and from thence, with his followers he entered the country of the Picts, and by his preach- ing, his precepts, and example, converted the whole country, so as to die with the glorious title of Apostle of the Picts. Aodh, or Hugh, the son of Ainmher, was called to the throne. His reign is celebrated for a grand national assembly, summoned to meet (not at Tara the usual place, but) at Drom-Chette in Ulster. As soon as St. Columba was ordained, he applied to the present monarch, who was of his own blood, and then a prince in Ulster, who bestowed on him lands, on which he built a monastery, famous in his • Trias T hauiiiat. f. 485. own days, and for centuries after, for the number and learning of its monks. Har- ris,* I know not why, from its Irish name of Daire Collum Chille,or Columba's grove, will have it be Durrogh, in the King's county; contrary to the declaration of Adamnanus, and other early writers ; for it was at a later period that he founded the monastery of Durrogh. Add to this, that the possessions of this Aodh were centred in Ulster, not in Leinster. This prince was a zealous partizan of Columba, and supported him on all occasions. How- ever, his repeated violences (for the two first of which, I suppose he made some public penance) could not protect him from the censures of the clergy; who, on the last occasion, and even in the present monarchy, denounced excommunication on him if he did not quit the kingdom. His submission, his resignation, and making atonement by the most exemplary life for his former offences, proved the sincerity of his repentance, and extorted from his pre- ceptor St. Finian, the following saying — "that his example ought to carry as many souls to heaven as his wars had plunged into hell.t" In the beginning of this reign, Colman- Beg, the son of Dearmod, raised a second army, determined to dispute the monarchy with Aodh. The two armies met at Bal- lach-Dathi; the day was disputed with great obstinacy. At length Aodh and Colman met, and fought hand to hand; but the death of the latter soon decided the contest, and with him fell five thousand of his best troops. In 574, according to the Ulster Annals, Aidanus, the son of Gabhran, was conse- crated king of the Albanian Scots in the isle of Huy by St. Columba. Though the reign of the prince Aodh was long, yet we are furnished with no material political events, till his assembling the national estates at Drom-Chette; and even then, though this parliament continued its session for fourteen months, yet the objects of its deliberations, as handed down to us, seem * Writers of Ireland, p. 17. t Vita St. Fiiiiani. Usher, Primucd. Eccles. Brit. etc. ^■ A. D. 588.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 179 to small for such a period. We will then suppose that a revision of the national his- tory and laws, and a retrospection into the state of arts, manufactures, and commerce, as usual, employed the greatest attention of the members. These being the great and known business of our parliaments, it was supposed unnecessary to mention them — but besides these, Aodh had two other objects of great consequence in view: the reforming the abuses in the schools, and the compelling the tributary princes of Albany to pay their accustomed stipends, which had been for some time neglected. Notices were sent to the different princes of Ireland, to Albany, to the Hebrides, and to the Isle of Man. The assembly was very numerous and brilliant. The names of the chiefs who attended it are yet on record; among others was King Aidan, in behalf of the Albanian Scots ; and Columba, as representative of their clergy. Columba was attended by twenty bishops, forty priests, and fifty deacons. As it may seem strange to see an abbot only, waited upon by such a number of dignitaries, the Venerable Bede will explain it, by inform- ing us, that Columba and his successors to his own days, though but priests, still governed the hierarchy of North Britain.* But as part of the penance imposed on Columba on quitting Ireland was, never more to see the country, he evaded this by having his eyes bound up from the time he left Scotland till he returned. The nature of the first question propounded by the monarch to the parliament, has been by no means rightly explained by modem writers — some remains of these schools have subsisted even to the days of our fathers ; and it was not the use, but the abuse of them, that was complained of. Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. Hi. cap. 4. CHAPTER VI. Privileges of the Irish literati, and their abuse in some instances — The Albanian Scots declared an independent people — The death of the mon- arch Aoidh, and the Archiepiscopal See of Lein- ster transferred from Kildare to Ferns — Flour- ishing state of letters — Of St. Bridget, patroness of Leinster — The number of academies, holy men, and pious foundations. From the earliest periods the literati in Ireland, as in Gaul,* enjoyed uncommon privileges, their persons being sacred, their possessions in all revolutions undisturbed, and their students and followers exempt from all taxations and military laws. We see, in Caesar's time, the Gauls complain of the abuses of this privilege ; and it has been the case in Ireland, in many instances beside the present. The Irish colleges, which were instituted for instructing in the fine arts the princes, the nobles, and the gentry, received also a certain number of students, who were devoted to the studies of divinity, history, genealogy, and poetry, (for this last was a particular and a labo- rious study, on account of the various kinds of metre, and the rules to be followed in each species, examples of which may be seen in O'Molloy's Irish Grammar, in Llhuid, but especially in Colonel Valian- cy's.) The immunities enjoyed by these students, made numbers of idlers resort to these colleges : too lazy to work, and too proud to beg, they found this medium to gratify both. These schools were open from Michaelmas to March. In those days of splendour they were always founded in sequestered places, surrounded by woods of oak; and this explains what Lucan says: — Nemora alta, remotis Incolitis luci8."t Even in ancient Athens the same custom was observed ; hence the saying, — " — Inter silvas academi, quaerere verum." The light of the day was shut out of these schools, and they always studied by candle- light. From May to Michaelmas, they ab- sented themselves from college ; the young nobility and gentry retiring to their friends, and the registered students, like the milita- Comment. Cjes. lib. \i. \ Pharsal. lib. i. 180 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 595. ry, being quartered on the country. The numerous idlers who claimed the protec- tion of these colleges became a real burden to the nation. For want of hands manu- factures were cramped, and agriculture injured. These poor indigent wretches, not content to lead a life of contemptible oscitancy, but having a knack of rhyming, they frequently perverted it to satire; abusing whoever did not show them re- spect enough, or refused gratifying their demands : for no nation of the world were fonder of praise or dreaded satire more than the Irish. To confine the students in each college to a certain number, to re- strain the insolence of these hangers-on, and not to suppress the colleges of the bards, much less banish them from the kingdom, was what the monarch recom- mended to his parliament. For the regis- tered bards were sworn to employ their muses to no other purpose but the glory of God, the honour of their country, of its heroes, of its females, and of their own chiefs. For the time to come, the mon- arch's chief bard was to be president of all the poetic colleges in the kingdom ; he had power to appoint inspectors to examine the state of the different schools, and make what reforms he judged necessary, to en- force this restraining act. But his second proposal, namely, the paying of tribute, was stiffly opposed by Columba, and King Aidan. Besides a certain yearly tribute in mon- ey, (but how much we are not told,) Albany, the Hebrides, and Man, were obliged, in all foreign invasions, to send to the monarch ships and troops ; so that it is more than probable, that if Aodh had met with the same success in his second demand that he did in his first, the consequence would have been an invasion of the coasts of Britain or (Jaul. The great power of the Dal- Riada, as well in Ireland as in Albany, and the influence of Columba, had greater weight with this assembly in this instance than the remonstrances of the monarch or the dictates of sound policy. The Alba- nian Scots were declared, instead of subjects and tributaries, the associates and friends of Ireland, and were exempt from all taxa- tion whatever, excepting only in cases of murder, and devastations committed by the Irish Dal-Riada, when they agreed to pay their proportion of the eric, or retribution, to be raised on these occasions ; but these Irish Dal-Riada were not to be charged with any eric to be paid by their Albanian brethren. Thus ended this famous assem- bly of Drom-Chette, and by their decision was the Irish monarchy ever after confined to the precincts of its own island. Soon after the dissolution of this parlia- ment, whose resolves were so pernicious to the kingdom, (and which proved the freeness of their debates, and how circum- scribed the powers of the monarchs were,) we read that Conall, eldest son to Aodh, inva- ded the territories of Colman-Rimhidh ; but in the end his army was defeated, and him- self numbered with the slain. In the year 594, Aodh raised a great army, which he commanded in person, and with which he invaded Leinster, in order to compel the Lagenians to pay their tribute, the fatal cause of such torrents of blood. In the battle, however, that ensued at Dunbolg, his troops were cut to pieces, he himself falling in single combat, by the hands of Brandubh, king of that province. Soon after this, at a synod of the clergy of Lein- ster, in which Brandubh presided, it was agreed to transfer the archbishopric of that province from Kildare to Ferns, in rever- ence to St. Maidog.* In Munster, Dioma reigned long, and was succeeded by Colgain, the son of Failbhe, a Eugenian. In Ulster, Daigha, the son of Carril, and Aodh-Dubh, the son of Suine, governed : Colman-More, son to Cabre, and Aodh, son to Colman, ruled Leinster; and Maolchothach, and Aodh- Abhrath, were kings of Connaught. In Albany, Conall, the son of Comhghal, and Aidan, son to Gabhran, succeeded each other. Aodh, (called Slaine, as it was crossing the river of that name that his mother took her labour,) succeeded to the throne. He was the son of the monarch Dearmod, the "• Primord. Eccles. Brit. p. 864, 965. A. D. 595.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 181 son of Feargus, the son of Conall ; and he associated with him in the empire Colman- Rimhidh, grandson to the monarch Mur- tough, who defeated the imperial troops in the bloody battle of Sleamhna, and with his own hand slew Conall, son to the last monarch. In this reign St. Augustin land- ed in Kent, in order to convert the Saxon race, being sent by Pope Gregory.* In the year 596, Suine, the son of Colman, fell by the sword of this Aodh, according to the Four Masters ; and in 600, he himself met the same fate by the hand of Conall, son to Colman, as did his associate by that of Lochan. As to the state of religion and letters in this century in Ireland, hear the testimony of Camden, an author who cannot be sus- pected of partiality to us — "The Irish scholars of St. Patrick profited so notably in Christianity that, in the succeeding age, Ireland was termed Sanctorum Patria. Their monks so greatly excelled in learn- ing and piety, that they sent whole flocks of most holy men into all parts of Europe, who were the first founders of Luxieu abbey, in Burgundy ; of the abbey Bobio, in Italy ; of Wurtzburgh, in Franconia ; St. Gall, in Switzerland ; and of Malmesbury, Lindisfam, and many other monasteries in Britain. For from thence came Cselius Sedulius, a priest, Columba, Columbanus, Colman, Aidan, Gallus," etc.f Among the eminent persons of this age, St. Bridget, of Kildare, merits the first place, for her high reputation, exemplary life, and numerous pious foundations. She was the daughter of Dubtlvach, a Leinster captain, and early devoted herself to a mo- nastic life. Her charities were diffusive and boundless, and could only be equalled by her piety and austerity. She was born A. D. 453, and in 467 received the veil from the hands of St. Mac Calle. From this time to her death, which happened in 523, she daily made new advances in every kind of spiritual exercise, and died in the highest reputation for sanctity. She was not only canonized after her death, but declared the perpetual Patroness of Lein- * Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. i. cap, 23, etc. t Hibern. ster, even in her lifetime ; for we read in her life, that Oilioll, the son of Dunluing, then king of Leinster, being attacked by a very large body of the imperialists, called upon St. Bridget, which so animated his troops, that he gained a complete victory over his antagonist. Her festival is cele- brated with great devotion on the first of February. How much more so in former times, may be collected from the following ancient distich : — " Brigida virgo potens, Februi sibi, prima calendas Scotorum miro poscit celebrata fervore." The fame of her sanctity soon spread over Europe, and at Seville in Spain, at Lisbon, Placentia in Italy, at Tours, Besan- con, Namur, Cologne, and even in London, churches were dedicated to her. In some of these places, her relics have been pre- served, and in all, her festival celebrated on the first of February.* In the dioceses of Tuam, Alfin, Kildare, Dublin, and Lis- more only, Colgan reckons about sixty churches and monasteries dedicated to her name. Many works are attributed to St. Brid- get by foreign writers ; but the following she certainly wrote — firstly, Rules for the Nuns of her own Foundation ; secondly, an Epistle to St. Aid, the son of Delghil ; thirdly,aPoemto St. Patrick; and fourthly, the Quiver of Divine Love, or, of Pious Desires. These three last works, in the Irish language, were in the possession of the learned Colgan, as he affirms, f Every religious foundation in Ireland, in those days, included a school, or indeed rather, academy. Such was the school of St. Fridian, in which Columba received his first education ; of Cluan Fois, founded by St. Jarlath, where St. Brendan, of Cluan- Feart, was educated, etc. St. Fachanus founded an academy at Ross, in the county of Cork, in this century, around which soon grew a large city, and which is ranked by Ware as one of the principal academies of this age. He was titular saint to the O'Driscols, CLearies, etc. But the uni- versity of Clonard, next to that of Benchor, * Trias Thaum. p. 624. t Ibid. p. 610. 182 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 595. was the most celebrated : in it, under St. Finian, were no less than three thousand scholars at one time. Among the multi- tude of Finian's scholars are reckoned the twelve apostles of Ireland, so called for their piety and learning ; to wit — the two Columbas, the two Keirans, two Brendens, Comghill, Cannechus, Ruadanus, Nennidh, Mobhas, and Molaise. The number of religious only.in the monastery of Benchor, founded by St. Comghill, in this century is astonishing. The great St. Bernard, a writer of the twelfth century, and too warm an advocate for papal authority to be an admirer of the Irish of those days, shall be my authority on this occasion.* He affirms, that in the sixth century, under St. Comhgill, or Congell, as he calls him, " the monastery of Benchore was a most noble one, containing many thousand monks, and itself the chief of many monasteries. So fruitful was it of holy men, and multiplying so greatly to the Lord, that Luanus alone, a subject of this house, founded no less than one hundred monasteries. This I mention that the reader may form an idea of the number of religious in these days in Ire- land." The zeal and piety of these holy monks, he tells us, was not confined to Ire- land, but, like an inundation, their saints spread piety and virtue over all Europe ! St. Brogan wrote the life of St. Bridget in Irish verse about three years after her death; and which life Colgan gives us en- tire, with a literal Latin translation-! Nennidh is said to have been a writer of Latin hymns, and other works. He was a disciple of St. Finian, and afterwards himself founded an academy and monas- tery at Loch-Erne. St. Dermod wrote a litany in elegant Irish metre, in my possession, says Colgan. J Geman, a poet, wrote a copy of verses in praise of the great Finian. St. Cogitosus, contemporary with St. Bridget, but who survived her for many years, wrote her life in Latin, extant in the Trias Thaumaturga. He was himself a monk, (supposed of Kildare,) because he * Divi Bernai-di Opera, p. 1934. t Trias Thaum. p. 515, etc. { Act. 8. Hib. p. 52. describes that town and church minutely. The work he addresses to the monks his brethren. Amergin, the son of Amalgaid, chief poet to the monarch Dermod, wrote a book of etymologies, or an explanation of the topographical names of countries and territories in Ireland. This work the learned Lynch quotes as authority against Cambrensis, and as an authority then sub- sisting.* Probably from it Mac Eagan might have enlarged his Labhar-Breac. That the scholiast on St. Fiech's life flourished in this century cannot be doubt- ed, from his calling Armoric Brittany by the names of Letania and Letavia ; names which, in the first book of this work, I have shown it was then known by. To St. Brenden, of Clonfert, many works are attributed by Bale ; and St. Brenden, of Birr, Berchanus, and Dallanus, wrote different works in praise of St. Columba. This last wrote also another work yet ex- tant, and in high esteem, called Amhra Col- lum Chille, or the Vision of St. Columba. Ruadan, one of the famous twelve Irish disciples of this age, wrote a Latin treatise. Contra Dearmod Regem, I suppose in de- fence of St. Columba. He also wrote De Mirabili Fontium in Hibemia Natura. The works written by Columba himself are too numerous to be here recited, but they are to be found in the Trias Thaumaturga, p. 471. St. Cannic, to whom the cathedral of Kilkenny is dedicated, wrote the life of Columba. CHAPTER VII. The state of arts and sciences, in these nges, much more respectable than has been supposed — The archbishoprics of Leinster and Connaught found- ed in this century — Remarkable synod of the clergy at Clonard — Many new bishoprics erected — An account of some abbeys, particularly of Benchoir, etc., and the manner in which the religious employed their time. The learned Dr. Warner closes the seventh book of his History of Ireland with an account of Irish writers, and though he * Gmt Luc. p. 132. A. D. 595.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 183 advances that the learning of those days was not very great, yet, such as it was, he confesses that it flourished with the great- est splendour in Ireland, and from thence was communicated to other countries. But though I am happy in acknowledging the candour and abilities of this gentleman, yet I can by no means agree with him in sen- timent on this occasion. From the list of Irish writers of this age, it is but too true that most of their works seem confined to litanies and lives of saints. Yet one point they had in view, and indeed the most important, namely, mending the heart, and calling forth from its recesses, philanthropy, charity, hospitality, and a thorough contempt of wealth the moment it became diverted from its proper chan- nel. But besides this, the learning of these times was by no means contemptible. The Irish professors were complete masters of what are called the learned languages, (i. e. Greek and Latin,) and opened schools, as well in Britain as in Ireland, for these studies. That they were highly skilled in divinity and church history in this age, I have but to refer to Fleury's account of our Columbanus, etc.* That they were also eminent in astronomy, his defence of the calculations of Anatolius, and of the Asiatic custom of celebrating the feast of Easter, proves. To this let me add, the arguments after this, oflfered by Colman, as recited by Bede,t on this subject, and a work published also by him in its support. Where but in Ireland, where he was bom and educated, could Virgil ius have learned the doctrine of the antipodes, and the sphericity of the earth ? These sure are incontestible proofs, that to a knowledge of the Greek and Latin, of divinity and church history, the Irish professors of those days added mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy. That poetry was particularly cultivated in our schools, and classical poe- try too, I have but to refer to the writings of the famous Sedulius ; and to the confes- sion of Aldelm, a writer of the seventh century, who was a pupil of our famous * Ecclesiastical History, vol. viii. t Hist. Eccles. Brit lib. xxiii. cap. 25. Maildulph, and the first Saxon who at- tempted to write Latin verse. Where he acquired this knowledge, the following lines of his, quoted by Camden, will tell : — " Primus ejro in pntrium meciim. modo vita sapenit, Aonit rediens, deducain vertice musam."* In no country of the world, was history, both natural and civil,t better cultivated than in Ireland ; and their chronology was more exact than that of any other nation. That not only the sciences, but even the fine arts, flourished among us in an emi- nent degree in these early days, when the rest of Europe was involved in ignorance and barbarity, we have yet some proofs. As to sculpture, witness the poem of Toma Eigis, president of the Irish poets in the fourth century, in which he enumerates the names of the diflferent Irish monarchs, in- terred at Cruachan, and describes the mar- ble busts of some of them. J In the Life of St. Bridget, written by her contemporary Cogitosus, he informs us from his own knowledge, that in the Cathedral of Kil- dare, on the right and left sides of the great altar, were placed the bodies of Bridget and Conlaith in monuments highly finished, and ornamented with gold, silver, and pre- cious stones, and over which crowns of gold and silver were suspended.^ From his description of this church we plainly see a taste for architecture ; and he partic- ularly mentions many pieces of painting in it. To this let me add, what Cambrensis himself confesses to have examined with astonishment, namely, that among other relics and curiosities of the church of Kil- dare, he was shown " a Concordance of the Four Gospels, hy St. Hieronimus, wrote by, or for the use of St. Bridget. The margin was ornamented with mystic pictures, most wonderfully and animatingly finished. The writing, but particularly the capital letters, so highly ornamented, that (says he) neither the pencil of an Apelles, nor the chisel of a Lysippus, ever formed the like. In a wordf they seem to have been executed by some^ • Britannia; under Wiltshire, t Introduction to Irish History, p. ii. c. ix. X Keating, p. 1. Vallancey's Grammar, etc. $ vita secuuda St. Brigid. c. 35, 36. 184 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 595. thing more than a mortal hand /" You find in many dismantled churches, even at this day, when carefully examined, remains of ancient fresco paintings ; and to go no further than Adare, in this county, you there behold many figures, and some heads well done. Those of St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columba, are very conspicuous. As to the ancient Irish music, it is con- fessed to be original ; and in what remains of it at this day, there is found a wonderful softness and pleasing harmony. The ab- bey of Benchoir got its name from the mel- ody of its psalmists ; and when, in the next century, the abbey of Niville, in France, was founded, the wife of Pepin sent to Ireland for doctors to instruct in church discipline, and for musicians and choristers for the church music. Cambrensis, who visited Ireland twice, first with Henry II., and afterwards with his son John; and who, from the station he enjoyed, we must conclude was acquainted with the best music in Britain and Gaul in his days, yet declares the Irish music the most pleasing, and its masters the first performers in the world.* Mr. Warton produces his au- thorities for affirming, that so late as the eleventh century, "the Welch bards re- ceived their instructions in Ireland, and brought with them to Wales divers cunning musicians, who devised in a manner all the instrumental music that is now used there, as appeareth, as well by the books written of the same, as also by the names of the tunes, and measures used among them to this day."t This last relation furnishes a reflection greatly in our favour, on the sub- ject in hand, namely, the great superiority in composition and execution of the Irish over the Welch. For, as Cambrensis was himself a Welchman born, and also Bishop of St. David's, their music, adapted to the Irish scale a century earlier, must have been well known to him — yet we see the powers of harmony softened even in his prejudiced mind, and in this instance he has done us ample justice. In this century we find two more arch- bishoprics erected in Ireland. That of * Topogr. c. xi. t Hist, of English Poetry, dissert. 1. Leinster, 'affixed to the church of Kildare, in honour of St. Bridget ; except it may be supposed, that St. Fiech was appointed to that honour by St. Patrick himself; and that it was only transferred from Sleibhte, in reverence to Bridget, which I think was not the case ; because in the days of St. Patrick, Ireland still preserved its ancient divisions of Leath-Mogha, and Leath-Cuin ; so that neither Leinster or Connaught were strictly deemed distinct kingdoms. Kil- dare, we may then suppose, was now for the first time declared a metropolitan see, and Conlaeth, the first Archbishop of Lein- ster. About the same time, (i. e. the be- ginning of this century,) St. Jarlath was consecrated Archbishop of Connaught. Pal- liums St. Patrick certainly brought from Rome on his second visit there ; but these must have been for the archbishops of Leath-Cuin, and Leath-Mogha only ; so that the first archbishops of Connaught and Leinster, though consecrated, had not pal- liums. We are indeed told, that in the year 695, and soon after the bloody battle of Dun-bolg, Brandubh, King of Leinster, summoned a solemn meeting of the clergy of that province, at which he presided. ' In this synod it was unanimously decreed to transfer the archbishopric of Leinster from Kildare to Ferns, in honour of St. Maidoeg, who was accordingly consecrated archbish- op, says Hanmer, (Chronicle, p. 64,) and which city, to the reign of Henry II., was the capital of Leinster. This proves the regularity observed in the proceedings of the Irish clergy. Many other synods of our clergy are noticed in this century ; but one among those should not be omitted, as it reflects the highest honour on this body of men. In the year 569, and immediately after the third bloody battle which the violence of Columba's temper involved his country in, a synod of the clergy met at Clonard to deliberate on the public penance and punishment necessary to be inflicted on this monk for his repeated outrages. Some were for excommunicating him ; but, on his submission, and promise of obe- dience, he was, by public decree of the A. D. 595.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 185 clergy present, banished from the kmgdom, never more to behold it again ; and it was declared that he never could hope for sal- vation, till by his austerities, his preaching, and his prayers, he had converted as many souls to God as his violent temper had hurried to immature death ; and thus was the conversion of the Picts projected, and happily completed by this great apos- tle. Several new bishoprics were founded in this century ; as that of Clonard, by St. Finian, that celebrated philosopher, who was of the line of Ir, and titular patron of the Magenises ; Clonmanois, by St. Kier- an, of the sept of the Arads ; Clen-De, or the Valley of God, as it was first called, afterwards Glen-da-loch, or the Vale of Two Lakes, was founded by St. Coem- hene, or Ceivin, and to whom the church of that name in the liberty of Dublin is dedicated. He is the patron saint of the O'Bymes and O'Tooles. St. Edan, or Maidoc, a descendant of Colla, called Uas, or the Noble, monarch of Ireland, and the titular saint of the O'Cinellachs, etc., founded the bishopric of Ferns, afterwards, in honour to him, erected into an archbish- opric. St. Brenden, of the house of Ir, and the patron saint of the O'Connors Ker- ry, erected at Hi-Ferte, or the Territory of Miracles, commonly called Ardfert, or Adart, a see. His successors were some- times called bishops of Kerry. The re- mains of churches, abbeys, and religious houses, with inscriptions, remarkable tombs, etc., at this day sufficiently proclaim its ancient magnificence. An anchorite tower of one hundred and twenty feet high, the finest in Ireland, and standing near the cathedral, fell down in the year 1771 ; and as, in all human probability, it fell never to rise again, I leave this memorial of it. Of this noble city, the ancient capital of Ker- ry, no other monuments but the above remain, except its being the seat of the earls of Glendor, an ancient family of this county. I have taken no small trouble to ascertain when Limerick was erected into a bishopric ; and, though out of its place, I here observe, that it was soon after the 24 arrival of St Patrick ; a proof of the great antiquity of this city. Its founder was St Manchin ; but of this name Colgan notes eight different saints, whose eras are very uncertain.* However, by the Book of Lecan, I find that our Manchin was the son of Seadhna, the son of Cas, the son of Conall, of the Dai-Gas race, and nephew to Blod, King of Thomond, in the days of St Patrick. He was first Abbot of Mu- imgharid, near Limerick; and, for his great piety and learning, ordered by St. Patrick to the instruction of his new converts in Connaught.t From this he became first bishop and patron of Limerick. Aongos Mac Nise founded a little be- fore his death the see of Connor. In the beginning of this century, Cork was erected into a bishopric by St. Bar, or Finbar, i. e. Bar the White, as he is called ; and here I find a great anachron- ism in Harris. He makes him flourish in the seventh century,J while he admits him to be preceptor to the famous St Colman, of Cloyne, who was one of the associates of St. Maidoeg, founder of the see of Ferns, and who died, according to Colgan, in the year 600 ! He first founded here an academy, which, on account of the number of students, soon raised it to a considerable city, of which he was conse- crated the first bishop§ and patron. St Colman, the son of Lenin, the son of Gancon, (for there were many other saints of this name,) descended from the famous Lugha-Lagha, brother to Olioll, King of Munster, founded the bishopric of Cloyne. Colman, the son of Duach, and chief of all the numerous saints of the race of the Hy-Fiacres, or of the O'Douds, O'Shaugh- nessies, O'Heynes, O'Killhellies, etc., etc., founded the bishopric of Ceill Mac Duach, so called from his father. The great Finian of Clonard founded the bishopric of Achrony, which he be- stowed on his pupil Nathi.|| The O'Haras were the patrons of it * Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 332. t Vita sexta St. Patricii, c. 59. X Vol. i. p. 556. $ Acta Saact. Hib. p. 607. || Ibid, p. 395, c. xxvi. 186 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 695. The abbeys and monasteries founded in this century are astonishingly numerous, and proclaim the piety and liberality of the people. St. Columba, the patron of the O'Donnells, founded no less a number than one hundred churches and religious houses. St. Luanus founded as many as St. Bernard notes ; but the abbey of Ben- choir, the largest, may be called the mother of all the abbeys in Europe, and exceeded every other for the number and piety of its monks. St. Comhgill, of the house of Ir, and the patron saint of the Mac Geni- ses, Mac Cartans, etc., founded this great monastery, in whose days, as St. Bernard notes,* were no less a number than three thousand monks, so disposed that the choir was constantly full of religious, chanting hymns to the Creator, as well by night as by day ; hence it got the name of Ben- choir, or the harmonious choir. Nothing could exceed the regularity of these monks. The times of recess from prayer, refresh- ments, and natural rest, were devoted to tillage and other useful employments, (for they lived only by the products of nature, and the labour of their own hands.) St. Brenden, the son of Finlogha, and first • vita St. Malach. p. 1934. Bishop of Ardfert, founded so many mon- asteries in different parts of Ireland, that he is said to have presided over no less than three thousand monks,* all of whom supported themselves by their own labour. Nay, in the monastery of Muingharid, near Limerick, (anciently called the city of Deochain-assain,) were formerly one thousand five hundred monks — five hun- dred of whom were devoted to preaching and instruction; five hundred others so divided as to have a perpetual full choir, both day and night ; and the remainder being old, gave themselves up entirely to spiritual exercises. Mainchen, the founder of this monastery, as well as of the see of Limerick, and Molua, who erected Killa- loe into a bishopric, being of the royal blood of North Munster, are the chief tit- ulary saints of this sept. These we have given as a specimen only of the numerous pious foundations of this century ;'to which we shall add, that many of them were in the most sequestered and least cultivated parts of the kingdom; and that through the labour of these holy monks were these wastes reclaimed and made profit- able grounds ! • Usher, Prim. Eccles. Brit. p. 910, etc. BOOK IX. CHAPTER I. Aodb-Uraiodhnach elected monarch — Attacked by Aongus, whom he defeats — Is slain by Maol- cobha-Clearach, who succeeds him — Suibhre- Mean raised to the monarchy — Slain in battle, and succeeded by Daniel, who engages and de- feats Conall, King of Ulster — Marches into Meath to attack the descendants of Niall the Grand, who implore the aid of St. Fechin — A panic siezes his army, and he is obliged to make submission to the offended monk — Death of Daniel — Conal-Claon made emperor, who asso- ciates his brother Ceallach in the government — Dearmod and Blathmac elected monarchs — A great plague in Ireland. AoDH, called Uariodhnach, (on account of an acute pain in his side, which seized him periodically,) the son (though, to cor- respond with sound chronology, I think more justly the grandson) of the monarch Daniel, the son of Mortough, the son of Muireadhach, the son of Eogan, son of the hero Niall, of the Heremonian race, was elected monarch : though infirm, and sub- ject to great bodily complaints, yet neither the vigour of the mind, nor the activity of his body, were impaired by them ; for, trusting to his bad state of health, Aongus, the son of the last Colman, conjured up a strong party against the reigning prince. A most bloody battle was fought, called Cath-Odhbha, in which Colman and his chief associate Conall, son to Aodh-Slaine, were numbered among the dead. This great defeat did not intimidate the enemies of Aodh. Maolcobha, called Clearach, (I suppose from being originally intended for the Church,) appeared at the head of a more formidable army. The imperial troops met them on the plains of Da Fear- ta. The battle was well fought, and con- tinued for a long time doubtful. The com- petitors at length met ; Aodh fell by the sword of his antagonist, and so cut his way to the throne, after a reign of seven years. Maolcobha was the son of Aodh, the son of Ainmeric, of the race of Niall the Grand. At the end of three years, as some chronicles assert, he fell in battle by the sword of his successor ; but the most probable account is, that he peaceably re- signed the crown, and ended his days in the service of the church.* Suibhre-Mean, the son of Fiachra, the son of Murtough, of the Hi-Neill race, was elected monarch, whose queen was daugh- ter of the prince of Dartri, of the Oirgil- lians, (for there was another territory of the same name in Connaught.) Daniel, brother to the abdicated monarch, made several attempts on the crown, and in his last was successful. For having leagued, among others, with Seangal, (called Seith-Leathan, or the Broad Shield,) King of Ulster, he sent his son Conall, at the head of six ca- thas, or legions, (eighteen thousand men,) to his assistance. With these and other chosen troops, he engaged the imperial army in the bloody battle of Traighbrene, and gained a complete victory, Suibhre falling by the sword of Daniel, after a reign of thirteen years. Daniel, brother to Maolcobha, was pro- claimed monarch. He is highly celebrated in our annals for his great piety, charity, and mortifications: Wc find , however, that his old associate Conall, as soon as he suc- ceeded his father in the kingdom of Ulster, proclaimed war against him, and at the head of a large army advanced towards Tara. At Maigh-rath the two armies met • Vita Septima Colnmbse, lib. i. cap. 56. 188 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 639. and engaged. The Ultonians were put to the rout, and among the slain was the gallant Conall himself. This monarch is celebrated for many other victories over his enemies, as well as for his strict jus- tice. In the partitions of the large domains of Niall the Grand between his children, as we observed in his life, the southern line by degrees encroached upon the territory of Tara, the Mensal lands, annexed to the monarchy. To restore these to the crown, (finding negotiation useless,) Daniel raised a formidable army, which, from the purpose for which it was intended, was called Sloigh-an-mheich, or the army for parti- tion ; with it he marched into Meath. The sons of Aodh-Slaine, the chiefs of the south- em Hi-Nialls, in vain opposed him with troops, inferior in number and discipline. In this distress they applied to St. Fechin, a descendant of their own house, request- ing his prayers and interposition with the monarch in their behalf We are told, in the life of this holy abbot, that Daniel re- jected his mediation, on which he was threatened with divine vengeance.* He despised these threats ; and the night fol- lowing an uncommon fall of snow dispirited his soldiers, who superstitiously concluded that this (which no doubt proceeded from a natural cause) was a mark of divine wrath for rejecting the offers of so great a saint as Fechin. An aurora-borealis that followed this, convinced the empress, and the weak and timid, that this war was an unrighteous one. The panic spread through the camp : the monarch found that he must make peace, or carry on a war without troops. Articles were soon agreed upon between the contending parties ; but it was not so easy to be reconciled to the monk. The disrespect shown, not to himself, but to the character he represented, demanded the most ample atonement ; and we are told, with astonishment, that this great prince was obliged, in the presence of both armies, to prostrate himself before the saint, who, with wonderful humility, trod upon his neck — fulfilling thus the text of * Act Sanct. Hib. p. 137. cap. 34, 35. Scripture, " Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis," etc. From the uncommon piety and austerity of Fechin, I am ready to believe that in thus insulting the king, he really thought that he was advancing the cause of God and of religion ; and had the Church seemed any way interested in this war, some al- lowance might be made for an over-heated zeal; but as this was not the case, we must only hope that some uncommon in- temperance of the monarch (and it would be hard to say what it could be) made it necessary. We are furnished with no other accounts of him, except his sending missionaries to Britain, and that for the last eighteen months of his reign he was confined to his bed, which time he spent mostly in prayer and pious meditations, re- ceiving the sacrament every Sunday. At length a period was put to his suflTerings on the last day of January, 639. Conall, called Claon, or the Subtle, the son of Maolcobha, was saluted emperor. He associated with him in the government his brother Ceallach. At this time a war broke out between the southern Hi-Nialls, and the Eoganachts of Munster. The cause was this : Carthagh, of the Irian line, and race of O'Connor Kerry, (who after- wards founded, or at least increased the fame of the university of Lismore,) went on a pilgrimage to the borders of Meath, and there founded a religious house. The piety, austerity, and industry of these monks acquired them great veneration among the people ; but the heads of a neighbouring convent, jealous of their growing reputa- tion, and looking on Carthagh as a foreign intruder, applied to Daniel and Blathmac, princes of this territory, to expel them from their convent. This violation of hospitality and insult to Carthagh were highly resented by the Mamonians. They raised a con- siderable force ; a great battle was fought at Cam-Conuil, in which Cuan, the son of Amhalghadh, King of Munster, Cuan, of the race of Finighin, or O'SuUivan, and the Prince of Ui-Liathan, in the county of Cork, fell on the side of the Mamonians, and their army was put to flight. A.D. 674.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 189 Flushed by the fame of this signally important victory, the brothers formed the resolution of dispossessing the reigning monarchs. An accident accelerated the accomplishment of their views ; for Ceal- lach being unfortunately drowned in the Boyne, they raised a very large army; and in the battle that ensued, the imperial- ists were defeated, and Conall numbered among the slain. Dearmod, called Ruaidhnigh, or the Charitable, and his brother Blathmac, the sons of Aodh Slaine, the son of Dearmod, were elected monarchs. In their reign an invasion was made from Britain. A battle was fought at Pancti, in which the invader, thirty of his principal officers, and almost the whole of his army were put to the sword. Scarcely had the nation recovered from this invasion, when we read of a dreadful plague breaking out, which swept off numbers of the inhabitants, and from which even the reigning monarchs did not escape. It is called in our MSS., an Bhuidhe-Chonuil, or the yellow plague, as those attacked with it appeared immedi- ately as if jaundiced. The Venerable Bede takes notice of this plague ; but by him it would seem to have reached Ireland from Britain. By our accounts it raged here for some time before the Britons caught the infection.* The contemporary provincial kings with the preceding monarchs, from Aodh-Slaine, according to the Book of Synchronisms, and to the Psalter of Cashell, were the fol- lowing : in M unster, Feardomhnach, or Ferdinand, the son of Dioma, was chief king ; and Amhalghadh, of the Eugenian line. King of South Munster. His son Cuan succeeded as King of Leath-Mogha, and fell in the battle of Carn-Conuil. Aim- leadha, grandson to Dioma, succeeded Cuan in the province of Munster, according to the law of alternate succession. In Ulster, Fiachna, Congall-Caoch, son of Seanlan, and Donacha, son of Fiachna, successively reigned. Ronan, son of Col- man, Criomthan of Culagne, son of Aodh- Cear, and Felan, grandson of Colman, ruled • Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 27. Leinster ; while Uatach, son of Aodh, Col- man, son of Cobthach, and Raghallach, son of Uatach, alternately governed Connaught. In Scotland, Eocha, called Buie, or the Yellow, the son of Aidan, his son Conadh, Fearchard, son of Conadh, and Donald- Breac, the son of Eacha-Buie, successively reigned. CHAPTER II. Seachnasach raised to the monarchy — Ulster in- vaded by the Picts, who are repulsed — Death of Seachnasach, who is succeeded by his brother — The Picts again invade Ulster — Fionachta at- tacks the monarch, whom he kills in battle, and is saluted emperor — Loingseach succeeds him. Seachnasach, the son of Blathmac, peace- ably succeeded to the monarchy. The Scotch, or Irish colony in the Highlands, had greatly extended their frontiers since the reign of Aidan, being enabled to do so by the powerful assistance given them by their relations, the Dal Riada of Ulster. To be revenged on them for this, and the better to weaken the Caledonian Irish, the Picts with a powerful army invaded Ulster, where they were gallantly opposed by the Ultonians. A bloody battle was fought, called the battle of Feirt, in which, after a terrible carnage on both sides, the remains of the Pictish army were obliged to retreat. Some time after, Seachnasach fell by the sword, and was succeeded by his brother. Ceanfoaladh, son of Blathmac, ruled Ire- land four years. In the second year of his reign, the Picts again invaded Ul- ster, spreading desolation everywhere ; and among other instances of sacrilegious bar- barity, they destroyed the noble monas- tery of Benchoir, and put to the sword or dispersed above one thousand monks residing there ! His successor, active and enterprising, raised a great army in order to dethrone the monarch. By mutual con- sent the time and place of action was ap- pointed. The two armies met; the slaugh- ter was dreadful on both sides; but the death of Ceanfoaladh by the hand of his rival soon determined the contest. Fionachta, called Fleadhach, or the Con- 190 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 698. vivial, son of Donchada, the son of Aodh- Slaine, was saluted emperor. Though his reign was long, yet considering an age of erudition like that, the transactions of it are not so minutely detailed as we could wish. The first act of it, however, was an inva- sion of Leinster, to enforce the payment of their ancient tribute. The Lagenians, according to their usual manner, opposed it sword in hand. A great battle was fought near Kells, in which the provincials were defeated with great slaughter. St. Moling was at this time Archbishop of Ferns, or Leinster, a prelate of noble blood, and highly revered for his sanctity. At the head of his clergy he advanced to meet the victors. The clergy and literati were ever sure of respect and protection from all parties. The monarch respectfully re- ceived this venerable cohort. Moling, with great force and dignity, deplored the dis- tresses and hardships his country had suf- fered, and the torrents of blood that had been spilt, from time to time, for about six centuries, to enforce the payment of a trib- ute, in itself both unjust and oppressive ; that its continuance was in manifest contra- diction to the express words of God, which says that the sins of the parents shall not be punished beyond the third and fourth generation. The monarch being naturally pious and just, was sensibly touched with the many miseries the Lagenians suffered on this account, and therefore solemnly ex- onerated them from any further payment of this iniquitous tribute. After this, it is mentioned, that Fionachta was inclined to retire from the world, and take the monas- tic habit ; but was in this strongly opposed by his friends, who found out a medium to indulge his pious inclinations, and at the same time preserve the crown on his head, by having him entered in a religious fraternity. To this moderation it is that we may impute the many invasions of Ireland in this reign. For a large body of Britons or Welch landed in a hostile manner, burn- ing and destroying the country, not even sparing churches or monasteries, which they prostrated and despoiled of their riches and ornaments, and timely retreated to their ships with their booty. Soon after this, i. e. A. D. 684, the Northumbrian Saxons, led on by their general, Birtus, with unrelenting cruelty, spread desolation through the country, not even sparing the churches, "of that inoffensive and most friendly people to the Saxon race," as Bede expresses it.* However, at Rath- more, a period was put to their sacrile- gious rapacity, being, after much blood- shed, put to the rout and obliged to fly the kingdom. Soon after this defeat of the Saxons, and in the same year, (say the Annals of the Four Masters,) Adamnanus was sent ambassador to Egfrid, the king, to demand, in the name of the monarch, satisfaction for this outrage, which was immediately granted. Bede mentions this embassy to Das- Adamnanus. After a dis- turbed reign of twenty years, Fionachta fell in battle, on the fourteenth of Novem- ber, which day the Irish Church held as a festival, in honour of him. In this reign (says Adamnanus) a dreadful plague raged over Gaul, Italy, Britain, and Ireland. Loingseach, the son of Aongus, the son of Aodh, cousin-german to the deceased, was elected monarch. The beginning of his reign was marked with a fresh inva- sion of the Welch and Picts united, who miserably wasted the northern parts of the kingdom. Soon after this, a contagious disorder raged among the horned cattle, so as to destroy most of them through the kingdom, by which the public were re- duced to great straits. This infection con- tinued for three years. A. D. 704, the Welch and Picts again united, making a fresh incursion into Ulster, the better to distress the Irish colony in North Britain. The Ultonians, on their guard, by so many repeated depredations, had their military so posted on the seacoasts, as to be soon united upon any emergency. On the pres- ent occasion, they fell upon these foreign- ers, making a miserable slaughter of them, so that very few returned back. Adam- nanus, the celebrated monk of Huy, con- vinced of the erroneous time of celebrating * Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iv. cap. 26. A. D. 698.] HISTORY OF IRELAND 191 Easter, at this time, returned to Ireland, and contributed largely to the reformation of his countrymen in this matter of church- discipline. During these accumulated dis- tresses, the spirit of ambition was not idle. Congal, a branch of the royal line, formed a deep and formidable league against the monarch ; having, besides the partizans of his own house, engaged in his cause Ceal- lagh» the warlike King of Connaught. With a well-appointed army, he attacked the imperialists at Cormin, and gained a complete victory over them, Loingseach himself being among the slain. Ainleadh reigned long King of Mun- ster, and was succeeded in that title by Eidirseoil, the son of Maolmhuadh, an Eugenian, Maolcobha, the son of Fiachna, his son Blathmac, Congal, Fergus, the son of Aidan, and Beg-Bairche, the son of Blathmac, succeeded each other in the kingdom of Ulster. Bran Mac Conall, Ceallach, son of Gerrthige, Murcha, son to Bran, and Muireadhach his son, governed Leinster ; while Loingseach and Guare, sons of Colman, Cinfoala, the son of Col- gan, Doncha, son to Maoldubh, and Ceal- lach, the son of Raghallach, ruled Con- naught in succession. CHAPTER III. State of learning in Ireland, and of the Church — Account of illustrious men and eminent writers, their works, and religious foundations — And of the part they took in the conversion of the Sax- ons to Christianity. The illustrious men and eminent writers of this age were very numerous. St. Evinus, Abbot of Rosmic-Treon, near the Barrow, which was founded by St. Abba- nus, wrote the Life of St. Patrick, part Latin and part Irish, which work is quoted by Jocelyne the monk.* Colgan pub- lished it entire, under the title of The Sev- enth Life of St. Patrick.^ He wrote also the life of St. Comhgill in Latin, in which * Vita sexta St. Patricii, cap. 186. t Trias Thaumat. p. 117, 170, etc. may be traced the original of priories, and how they became subordinate to abbeys ; for in it, he tells us, " that after the founda- tion of Benchoir, by St. Comhgill, the sub- jects of his order multiplied so fast, that he found his monastery could not contain them. He was therefore necessitated to build numbers of houses, not only in Uls- ter, but in most other parts of Ireland." * St. Molua, called the Leaper, a disciple of Comhgill, and Abbot of Cluan-Feart, in Ophaly, wrote a Rule for his Monks, in Latin ; a copy of which was presented to Pope Gregory I. by St. Dagan, about A. D. 596 ; who publicly declared it a most excellent performance, directing the road to Heaven, and therefore sent him his prayers and his blessing.f Such were the exemplary lives and writings of the Irish of those days ! Munu, of the North- ern Hi-Neils, the founder of an abbey near Wexford, from him called Teagh-Munu, was an abbot of great erudition, but most zealously attached to the Asiatic time of celebrating Easter. Pope Honorius ad- dressed a letter to the bishops, to the priests, and to the doctors and abbots of Ireland, exhorting them to a conformity with the Universal Church, in this custom of church-discipline.J A synod of the clergy was held at Legh-Lene, called the White Plain, near the river Barrow, on this occasion. St. Lasrian, appointed le- gate by Pope Honorius, appeared to de- fend the Roman custom, and which I find, by the annals of this synod, called the new ordinance, while Munu warmly supported the old rules. But after much altercation, the veneration Munu was held in for his sanctity by this assembly, prevented them from coming into any resolutions on this very point; so the synod broke up. He wrote the Acts of St. Columba, and a Treatise de Pascate. He died soon after, i. e. A. D. 634.§ St. Dagan, Bishop of Achad-Dagan, was * Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 192. t De Britan. Eccles. Primord. p. 920. X Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. ii. cap. 19. $ Prim. Eccles. Brit., p. 934, 937. Hanmer's ChrtJii- icle, p. 62. 192 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 698. a prelate of great piety, but enthusiastic- ally attached to the old mode of celebra- ting Easter. He it was that presented to Pope Gregory, St. Molua's " Rules for his Monks ;" and was an active partizan of Munu, in the debates at Legh-Lene. So attached to the old discipline was he, that in a visit he made to Lawrence, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, and the succcessor of St. Austin, finding him to adhere to Rome in her time of Easter, he refused not only to eat at one table, but even in the same house with him.* He wrote, accord- ing to Bale, Ad Britannorum Ecclesias, lib. i. St. Columbanus, of a noble family in Leinster, after passing part of his youth at the public schools, was committed to the care of the holy Senellus, a man deeply versed in Scripture ; and so much did he profit by his instruction, that before he arrived at the age of maturity, he wrote "In Psalterium Commentar, lib. i." Un- der the great St. Comhgill he embraced the monastic habit, and was highly revered for his piety and learning. From Ben- choir, with the permission of his superior, he removed to Burgundy in 589, where, in a sequestered wood, he founded the Abbey of Luxieu. In this pilgrimage he was attended by St. Deicol, St. Gall, and ten other holy recluses. He was after- wards joined by many others. The sub- jects of his house increasing very fast, he was obliged to erect two others, subject to the first, as it was to Benchoir. Notwith- standing his mortifications, fasting, and humble manner of living, (being supported, as were his brethren, by the labour of his own hands,) yet his great sanctity procured him numbers of enemies. He was accused by the bishops of Gaul of celebrating the feast of Easter contrary to the time fixed on by the Universal Church. Pope Greg- ory had a council of bishops assembled on this occasion ; and his defence was learned and masterly. In fine, he quitted Gaul, though pressed by Clotaire to re- main there; and was most honourably received by the King of the Lombards. * Bede, H. B. lib. ii. cap. 4. In his jdumey he staid some time in Ger- many, where, says Capgrave,* he erected monasteries, into which, to this day, none but Irishmen are admitted. At Bobio, near Naples, he founded a noble abbey, which he hved to govern but one year, having quitted this life for a better November 21st, 615. He was author of many pious £md learned works, besides the foregoing ; as Regula Coenobialis Fratrum, being daily regulations for the prayers and mortifica- tions of his monks ; Sermones Five In- structiones Variaj ; De Paenitentiarum Mensura Taxandi ; De Octo Vitiis Princi- palibus ; contra Arianos ; some other works of piety and morality he also pub- lished ; but what raised against him the most formidable enemies in Gaul, was his book Adversus Theodoricum Regem Ad- ulterum. His eulogy cannot be better pronounced, than by noting the many emi- nent men who wrote his life ; as, first, Jonas the Abbot, his countryman and dis- ciple, who undertook it soon after his death, at the public request, at a time when the fame of his piety, learning, and mira- cles, were well known and acknowledged. Capgrave, Bale, Surius, Baronius, Lippelo, Stainhurst, Fleming, Colgan, etc., etc., have been also his biographers. For the disciples of St. Columbanus, and their foun- dations, see Fleury's Ecclesiastical His- tory, vol. viii., p. 266. St. Murus, lineally descended from Niall the Grand, by his son Eugene, and of course of the house of Tyrone, or CNeil, flourish- ed in this century. He founded the abbey of Fathen, near Derry, which ranked for many centuries as a royal one ; and was himself the great patron saint of the house of CNeil. This abbey, formerly so nobly endowed, was in later times converted to a parish church, but still retaining his name, as its patron. Among the many works of this abbey, was preserved even to our times the acts of St. Columba, the apostle of the Picts, written by our saint.f A most ancient Chronicle of Irish Antiquities, high- ly esteemed, was another work of his. The * Hanmer's ChroD. p. 57. + Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 587. A. D. 698.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 193 Staff of St. Murus, covered with gold, and ornamented with precious stones, is said to be still preserved by the family of the O'Neil's. To swear, Dar an Bhacuil-Mura, or hy the Staff of St. Mura, was the most sacred oath that could be tendered to any of this great sept. His festival is still cel- ebrated at Fathen on the 12th of March. St. Gall, one of the disciples of Colum- banus, and of the same blood, was left be- hind him in Germany, to - superintend his pious foundations there. So highly rev- ered was he for his sanctity, that, though a stranger, when the bishopric of Constance became vacant, Gonzo, prince of that country, wrote to him, requesting he would attend a synod of the bishops and clergy, assembled for the purpose of filling up that vacancy. St. Gall, attended by two sub- jects of his house, presented himself to the assembly ; who unanimously agreed to con- fer this great charge on him, whose learn- ing, humility, and piety beamed forth so conspicuously. But nothing could disen- gage him from his sequestered life ; and being then requested to recommend them a holy pastor, he named John, one of his attendants, who was accordingly consecra- ted Bishop of Constance. After this he was called upon by his countrymen in Bur- gundy, to take on him the superintendence of the abbey of Luxieu, which he also de- clined. He died A. D. 635. Though he chose for his retreat a narrow cell, in the midst of a wood, and supported himself by the labour of his own hands, yet so great a veneration was his memory held in, that people flocked to dwell round a place in- habited by so holy a recluse ; it by degrees increased so as to' become a considerable city. A noble abbey was there founded, and both are called, from their patron, St. Gall. This abbot was a prince of the em- pire. The life of St. Gall has been written by Strabus, Notkerus, etc. He published a Sermon, which he preached on the con- secration of his disciple John, as Bishop of Constance, some Epistles, and a Psalter, called after his name. Jonas, at the request of many holy monks, and for the edification of posterity, wrote 25 the Life of his master, Columbanus ; he wrote also Vitam Attalae Monachi, lib. i., Vitam Eustachii Abbatis, lib. i., and Vitam Bertolsi Abbatis ; these three were disci- ples and successors to Columbanus ; Attala and Bertolf in the abbey of Bobio, near Naples ; and Eustache in that of Luxieu, to whom our Jonas succeeded. Ultan, Bishop of Ardbraccan, wrote the Life and Miracles of St. Bridget. This work was published in the beginning of the last century, by Stephen White, a most learned Jesuit and antiquarian, and from this copied by Colgan :* he also wrote a Life of St. Patrick. Though St. Austin is the reputed patron saint of England, and the converter of the Anglo-Saxons, yet, as Rapin confesses,! the honour of this should by no means be as- cribed to him alone ; to the monks of Ire- land, much more than to St. Austin, should this great work be ascribed. No one is fuller and clearer on this head than the Venerable Bede. Soon after the restora- tion of Oswald to the kingdom of Northum- berland, says Bede, he applied to the peers of Scotland or Ireland for some learned prelate to instruct his people in Christiani- ty. J Aidan, an Irish monk, of the race of Amhalgadh, King of Connaught, and of the abbey of Huy, was pitched upon for this mission ; which, says he, he executed with unremitting zeal and piety. This apostle of Northumberland, after converting that people, and governing their church for about seventeen years, died the 31st of August, 651, on which day his festival is kept. He wrote Commentaria in Sacras Scripturas, lib. L, Homil. and Concion., lib. i. On the death of Aidan, Oswald request- ed from the Irish nation a successor, to govern and direct his bishopric ; and Finan, of the line of Ir, not his inferior in zeal, piety, and erudition, was consecrated for this mission.^ About this time the disputes about Easter were carried to a great height; * Trias Thaumat. 527, 542. ^ t History of England, fol. edit, p, 79. t Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 3, 5, etc. $ Hist. EkxleSi lib. iii. cap. 25. 194 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 698. an Irish priest, who from his zeal for con- formity with Rome, was called by his countrymen Romanus, had public confer- ences with Bishop Finan on this head ; but though he could make no impression on him (says Bede) yet others were reformed. But this difference did not abate the zeal of Finan. In the city of Admurum* he baptized Penda, King of the Marshes, with the knight and peers that waited on him, and their servants. He sent four monks to preach and convert the rest of this people ; and converted and baptized the King of the East Saxons and his subjects. He governed the church of Northumberland ten years, and died A. D. 661. He wrote in defence of the ancient time of celebra- ting Easter, Pro Veteri Paschatis Ritu, lib. i. St. Fiacre, inspired with the epidemic zeal of his countrymen, retired to France, and in a wood, in the diocese of Meaux, built a monastery, which he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. He died the 19th of August, 662 ; and his festival is observed on that day by an office of nine lessons, as may be seen in most of the Breviaries of France.f He published, says Dempster, Ad Syram Sororem, de Monasticse Vitae Laude, lib. i. Mons. Bireal, (says Harris) one of the French king's preachers, pro- nounced the eulogium of St. Fiacre, which is printed among the select panegyrics of that celebrated orator, J St. Fursey, patron of the church of Pe- ronne, in Picardy, is said to have wrote a Prophecy, and some Hymns. St. Aileran, called An-Teagnaidh, or the Wise, was a successor to the great St. Finianus, in the university of Clonard. He wrote the Life of St. Bridget ; which made a subsequent anonymous writer on the same subject introduce his work thus : — " Scripserunt multi, virtutis Virginia Almse, Ultanua doctor, atque Aleranius ovans."§ He was also the author of a Life of St. Patrick, pubUshed by Colgan entire, || as * Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. 21, 22. + Hist. d'Irelande, tome i. p. 345. t Writers of Ireland, vol. 2, p. 34. $ Prim. Eccl. Brit. p. 1067. |1 Vita quarts Patricii. well as that of the famous St. Fechin of Foure, so inimical to the monarch Daniel ; but his most celebrated work was publish- ed in 1667, by Th. Sirin, an Irish Francis- can of Louvain, and the editor of Ward's Vita Santi Rumoldi. It was transcribed from a MS. in the abbey of St. Gall, in Switzerland : the title he gave it was Aile- rani Scoto-Hibemi, cognomento Sapientis, Interpretatio Mystica Progenitorum D. Jesu Christi. He is the patron saint of the O'Flaherties and O'Hallorans, etc. He died, according to the Ulster Annals, A. D. 665, and his festival is celebrated the 11th of August. St. Cumin, of Connor, wrote (says Col- gan, Act Sanct. Hib. p. 5, n. 7) a Treatise on the singular Virtues of the Saints of Ireland. Cumain, called the White, of the house of O'Donnell, was abbot of the monastery of Huy. The disputes about the time of celebrating Easter were at this time car- ried to a great height in Britain and Ire- land. The southern Irish had already adopted the Roman time ; while their northern brethren were inflexibly resolved to adhere to the custom of their ancestors.* Cumian retired from the world for an en- tire year, to read and consider (as he him- self observes) whatever had been advanced on this subject by Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, and Latins. A synod (he says) was called at Lene ; and pious divines were sent to Rome, to see if what report said was true ; i. e. that all other Christians but those of Britain, Ireland, and Albany, cele- brated Easter at the same time. On their return, after an absence of three years, they confirmed this account, with this addition, that in celebrating this festival, the Irish differed from them an entire month. But the monks of his house highly resented this defection of Cumain from the usage of his ancestors, and treated him as a heretic.f St. Colman succeeded Finian in the gov- ernment of the church of Northumberland. In the Synod called there A. D. 664, to * Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 3. t Usher, Syllog. Epist. Hib. Ep. xi. Harris's Writers of Ireland, page 37. A. D. 698.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 195 determine this famous Easter contest, and in his relation of which Bede is so particu- lar, Colman defended the ancient custom ; but the plurajity of voices being against him, rather than submit, he threw up his bishopric, and retired to Ireland ; here he wrote Pro Sociis Quartodecimanis, lib. i. Three brothers, the one a bishop, the second a lawyer, and the third an antiqua- rian, formed from the different laws a num- ber of decisions, which were so highly revered, as to get the title of Bratha- Neamhadh, or Heavenly Judgments. Cionfaola, of the house of Ir, was a cel- ebrated antiquarian ; he wrote the Voyages of the Gadelians, from their first Departure from Phoenicia, to their landing in Ireland, and some other pieces of antiquities, yet preserved. St. Maildulph, from whom Malmesbury took its name, wrote De Paschae Observat. lib. i., Regulas Artium divers, lib. i., De Disciplin. Natur. CHAPTER IV. Continuation of the ecclesiastical history and state of learning in Ireland — Mezeray's testimony of the great improvements made in the manners of the people, and the cultivation of the lands in Gaul, by the Irish missionaries — Saints of Ire- land ranked in three classes — Enumeration of Irish saints — Affinity of the Celtic and Irish lan- guages instanced in an ancient copy of the Pater- Noster in those tongues. Early in this century Dromore was erected into a bishopric by St. Colman, but not he of Lindisfam. Some time after Raphoe was raised to a see, and St. Eu- nanus was its first bishop. St. Laserian, who had so notably exerted himself in the famous synod of Legh-Lene, about the Easter controversy, was consecrated its first bishop. St. Carthagh, of the line of Ir, and house of O'Connor Kerry, being expelled from his abbey of Ratheny, in Meath, as already related, returned to Mun- ster with his monks, and found a generous protector in the prince of the Deasies, (the ancestor of the O'Felans,) who assigned him the city of Lismore, and a track of land, to support his monastery. Here he erected a university, whose fame and glory extended to distant regions, and soon filled it with learned men, from different parts of Europe. In consequence of this, it was some time after dignified with the title of an episcopal see, and St. Carthagh was its first bishop. By St. Fachanus was Kil- fenoragh erected into a bishopric, and he was its first pastor and patron. Another Fachanus founded the bishopric of Ross ; of whose family were no less than twenty- seven succeeding bishops, according to the Leabhar-Lecan. The abbeys, and other pious and munifi- cent foundations of this age, seem to have exceeded the former ones. They are too numerous to be recited particularly in a work like this : one particular, however, is worthy recording, namely, that as Ireland was now the only country in Europe in which arts and sciences blazed in their full lustre, it became not only the common asylum of learned men from all parts, but such as chose to excel in letters flocked here from distant countries, to become the pupils of our regents and doctors — " Exemplo patrum, commotus amore legendi, Ivit ad Hibemos, Bophia mirabili claros !" It was not enough that Ireland became so renowned for the piety and erudition of her sons among the neighbouring states, as by common consent and pre-eminence to obtain the glorious title of Insula Sancto- rum et Doctorum, but her princes and great men founded the numerous universities of the kingdom on such generous and exten- sive plans, that not only the foreign students were found in clothes, diet, and lodgings, but even with books (then so scarce an arti- cle) gratis ! Bede,* among the ancient Saxons, and Camden,t Spencer, J Hanmer,§ Llhuid,|| Rowland,!! etc., all of later times, agree that here the Saxons flocked in shoals to be instructed in religion and letters. How much foreigners from other parts of Europe availed themselves of this unex- ampled liberality of the Irish nation, with- * Bede's Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 27. t Britannia. t Dialogues. § Chronicle. II Archaeologia. IT Mona Antiqua. 196 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 698. out producing further authorities, may be collected from the following lines on the university of Lismore, taken from the first book of the Cataldiad, or Life of St. Ca- taldus, Bishop of Tarentum in Italy, of Irish birth, written by Bonaventura Moro- nus, a Tarentine born :* — " Undique convenient proceres; quoa dulce trahebat Discendi studium, major num cognita virtus, An laudata foret. Celeres vastissima Rheni Jam vada Teutonici, jam deseruere Sicambri: Mittit ab extreme gelidos Aquilone Boemos, Albis et Avemi coeunt, Batavique frequentes, Et quicunque colunt alt& sub rupe Gebenas. Non omnes prospectat Arar, Rhodanique fluenta Helvetios : maltos desiderat ultima Thule. Certatim hi properant, diverse tramite ad urbem Lismoriam, juvenis primes ubi transigit amios.' ' Nay, so universally known was the fame of our universities in those days, that when a man of learning in Britain, or on the continent, was missing, the common adage was — Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hibemia ! But this munificent liberality was not confined to students ; the pious and austere Christians of other nations, who repaired to Ireland for their improvement in divinity and ascetic exercises, experienced the same generous reception ; and not only from Britain, Gaul, Germany, and Italy, but even from Greece and Egypt did holy monks repair to us, where they lived in learned ease, and died honoured and re- vered. The reader can form some idea of their number and consequence, from an abstract I have already given from a litany of the holy Aongus, a writer of the ninth century, who, on account of his employ- ment of classing and writing the lives of the Irish saints, was called Hagiographus.f Nay, so much superior to their neighbours did the Irish then deem themselves, that in the Life of St. Chilian, the apostle of Fran- conia, we are told St. Fiacre, on meeting him in Gaul, thus addressed him : " Quid te, charissime frater, ad has barbaras gentes deduxit ?" Not content with this, numbers of our saints, of the purest blood, and most exalted * Usser. Primord. p. 755, etc. t Introduction to Irish History, p. 175. sentiments, became voluntary pilgrims, and, like the Jesuits in later days, devoted their lives to the reforming and converting dif- ferent nations. They sought not for gold or silver, honour or command ; all these they had early at home sacrificed to the service of God. They built their cells in woods and sequestered places, and lived by the labour of their own hands. From these they entered the cities and great towns, preaching and converting the peo- ple as much by their examples as precepts. The historiographer Mezeray mentions with astonishment the numbers of Irish who from Ireland and Britain entered Gaul to instruct and convert that people. Among these were Columbanus, Eustachius, Gall, Man- suetus, Furseus, Fridolinus, Fiacre, etc. He highly extols their piety and learning, and proclaims the new face the country took by the very labour of their hands. Hear his own words: "It must be ac- knowledged that these crowds of holy men were highly useful to France, considered merely in a temporal light. For the long incursions of the barbarians having quite desolated the country, it was still in many places covered with woods and thickets, and the low grounds with marshes. These pious religious, who devoted themselves to the service of God, not to a life of indo- lence, laboured with their own hands to grub up, to reclaim, to till, to. plant, and to build — not so much for themselves, who lived with great frugality, but to feed and cherish the poor ; insomuch, that unculti- vated and frightful deserts soon became agreeable and fruitful dwellings. The heavens seemed to favour the soil reclaimed and cultivated by hands so pure and disin- terested. I shall say nothing of their hav- ing preserved almost all that remains of the history of those times!"* What a picture of real piety! The frightful wastes of Italy and Germany were alike reclaimed, and the people instructed in religion, fru- gality, and industry! Among the Irish apostles of Italy were Cataldus, Donatus, Columbanus, Frigidianus, etc. ; and in Ger- many were St. Gall, Fridolinus, Deicola, * Histojre de la France, torn. i. p. 117. A. D. 698.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 197 Kilian, Fintan, Albertus, Rupertus, etc.; and in Armoric Brittany were Geladsius, Briochus, etc. ; Folianus was martyred in Flanders, where a monastery was built and dedicated to his name ; Fridegond converted the people of Antwerp, where, to this day, his memory is greatly revered ; Authbert, Bishop of Cambray, converted Hannonia, and is styled the Apostle of Flanders ; Ru- moldus. Archbishop of Dublin, is the patron of Mechlin ; Columba is the Apostle of Scotland ; and it needs not to be recapitu- lated how much South Britain was indebted to us for religion, for arts, and for letters. The flourishing state of the Irish Church may be collected from very old litanies, yet preserved.* Their saints were divided into three distinct classes : the first was called the Most Holy ; this comprehended St. Patrick, and three hundred and fifty bishops of his ordination. In the second class, or the More Holy, were three hun- dred priests and holy doctors of the Church, but very few bishops. The third, or Holy Order, was composed chiefly of holy monks and anchorites. These built their cells in woods and desert places, living on an an- tediluvian diet, and making it a part of their vows to reclaim and cultivate these deserts, not for their own, but the emolu- ment of the poor.f From this it is that we are indebted for so many commons adja- cent to old abbeys and monasteries ; for the ground, originally waste and barren, was claimed by no one ; and when the succes- sors to these abbeys began to relax from the severity of their first institution, they gave up the reclaimed land for the use of the poor of the place. Thus the reader will perceive what unexampled piety per- vaded the different orders in the Irish hierarchy ! So amazingly great were the numbers of our saints, that, in the islands of Ara, for instance, their conflux was so rapid, that in the old litanies, after invoking the principal of them, it concludes with — "and all the other saints here deceased, whose numbers are so great as to be known to the living God only." Succeeding wri- * Vita. St. Rumold, p. 204, etc. t Primord. Eccles. Brit. p. 513, etc. ters were obliged to class these saints ac- cording to their names. There were four Colgas, ten of the name of Gobhan, twelve Dichulls, twelve Maidocs, twelve Adrands, thirteen Camans, thirteen Dimins, fourteen Brendens, fourteen Finians, fourteen Ro- nans, fifteen Conalls, fifteen Dermods, fif- teen Lugads, sixteen Lassarae, seventeen Serrani, eighteen Emini, eighteen Folbei, eighteen Cominei, nineteen Foilaini, nine- teen Sullani, twenty Kierani, twenty Ul- tani, twenty-two Cilliani, twenty-three Aidi, twenty-four Columbae, twenty-four Brigidae, twenty-five Senani, twenty-eight Aidani, thirty Cronani, thirty-seven Moluani, forty- three Lafreani, thirty-four Mochumii, fifty- eight Mochuani, fifty-five Fintani, sixty Cormocs, and two hundred Colmani. We must suppose, that in a country which was for some ages the centre of arts and sciences, to which not only the youth from neighbouring as well as distant na- tions resorted for instruction, but the more enlightened for edification; whose sons, not contented with affording an asylum to these strangers at home, generously braved the dangers of winds and waves, and more merciless barbarians, to spread religion and letters far and wide — we must, I say, suppose that their language also became pretty universal. Should any doubt this, there are proofs that it did. For the Ven- erable Bede tells us, that when our Bishop Aidan was sent to convert the Northum- brians, being ignorant of the Saxon tongue, he preached and instructed in the Irish language, which King Oswald explained to the people.* Numbers of monks were in his retinue, who, we must suppose, used no other tongue ; nay, there is more than pre- sumption for advancing, that thirty years after, his successors in Britain made use of the same language ; for in the famous synod assembled to determine the true time of holding the Easter festival, and which was composed of different nations, we read that Bishop Ceadda was appointed interpreter between the Irish bishop. Col- man, his clergy, and these people.f From • Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. ii. cap. 3. t Ibid. lib. iii. cap. 23. 198 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 698. these acknowledged facts in Britain, we may infer that on the continent they were often obUged to look out for faithful inter- preters between them and the people. This being the case, the prayers and Christian doctrine in the Irish, in all probability, be- came pretty universal on the continent; and this will at once explain the Celtic Paternoster, and be an additional proof of the truth of our records at this period. The learned Dr. Raymond, a fellow of the university of Dublin about the begin- ning of the present century, [1700,] was profoundly skilled in the antiquities of his country. Llhuid had, before him, demon- strated that the Irish language was the true glossary to the obscure words and names in the Celtic, as handed down to us by Pezron, Menage,* etc., and the doctor luckily met with a very ancient Celtic Paternoster which he found to be pure Irish, and which he judged to be the high- est proof of our early acquaintance with letters.f This prayer has been republished by Mr. 0'Connor,J Dr. Warner,|| and Lord Lyttleton ;§ and it is offered as a proof of a general Celtic language. Nothing appears to me more repugnant to both reason and history than the general- ly received opinion of a universal tongue. Moses, one of the earliest historians in the world, is' as full on this point as pos- sible. Caesar says that, in his days, there were three different languages spoken in Gaul ;* and Bede affirms, that the languages in Britain, in his time, were the British, Saxon, Irish, and Pictish. To this let me add, that even admitting an early and universal Celtic, yet how far does the prayer in ques- tion, being found to be pure Irish, prove this ? The Irish are, beyond controversy, a Scythian, not a Celtic colony — the de- scendants of Magog, not of Gomer. Their languages therefore were immediately after the general dispersion of mankind different. The remarks of Llhuid, and the prayer in question, prove evidently what history has advanced, and no more — namely, that the early Irish often instructed, both in Britain, Gaul, and Germany, in their native tongue ; and that numbers, particularly among the literary, preserved these prayers, and hand- ed them down to their successors. This is the evident induction from the premises ; and it is remarkable enough, that in all the ravages and revolutions of subsequent times, so singular a piece of antiquity, and so honourable a testimony of the truth of Irish history should be preserved to this day! Here follows this ancient prayer, and the same in Irish : — The supposed CELTIC or Continental one. 1. Our name ata ar neamb. 2. Beanie a tanim. 3. Go diga do riogda. 4. Go denta du hoil air talm, in marte ar' neamb : 5. Tabuar deim a niugh ar naran limb' ali. 6. Agus mai duine ar fiach amhail pear marmhid ar fiacha. 7. Na leig sin amb'aribh ach saor sa shin on ole. 8. Or fletsa rioghta, comtha, agus gloir go sibhri — Amen. • Archieologia. % Introduction to the History of Ireland. X Dissertations on Irish History. II History of Ireland, vol. i. $ Life of Henry II. IRISH. 1. Ar' nathoir ata ar' neamh, 2. Beannathair a thainim {or naomh thar hainim) 3. Tigiodh do rioghacht. 4. Deantar do hoil air an talamh. mar do nither air neamh : 5. Ar n'naran laetheamhnil, tabhar dhuim aniudh. 6. Ahgus maith dhuin ar bhfiacha, mar maithmid-ne dar' feitheamhnuibh fein. 7. Agus 'na leig inn a geathughadh act saor inn o ole. 8. Oir is leat-fein a rioghaet, agus an chum- hacht, agus an gloir go siorruidhe — Amen. * De Belle Gallic, lib. i. cap. i. A. D. 734.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. IM CHAPTER V. Conghal, son of Fergus, elected monarch of Ire- land — Succeeded by Fearghal — Who attempts to exact tribute from the Lagenians, and is slain in the battle of Almhuin — Fogartach raised to the monarchy — Succeeded by Cionaoth — Flab- hertach, who resigns the throne, and retires to a monasteiy — Succeeded by Aodh-Ollan — A synod at Tirdaglas — Battle of Athseanuigh. Conghal, the son of Fergus, of the race of Conall-Gulban, and line of Heremon, was proclaimed monarch. He is represented by Lynch as a warlike prince, and at the same time a cruel one.* Keating tells us that he was a great persecutor of the clergy ; however, it is somewhat remarkable that the Reim Riogra, of Giolla Moduda, pro- claims him a most beneficent prince, in whose administration there was neither battle or contest, and that he died in peace after a reign of seven years. This last writer died about A. D. 1 148. Fearghal, the son of Maolduin, son of Maolfithrich, son of Aodh-Uariodhnach, of the Heremonians, succeeded to the crown. In the beginning of his reign, the Welch and Picts in conjunction invaded the northern parts of Ireland, and committed great outrages ; the Ultonians, however, soon collected a good body of troops, and sought for, and overtook the enemy : a most bloody engagement ensued, in which for some hours its success seemed uncer- tain ; at length the aliens gave way, after the loss of almost the whole of their army. This, by our writers, is called the battle of Cloch-Mionuire. From this period to the battle of Alm- huin we meet with nothing interesting. Fionachta, in the last century, by the ex- hortations of St. Moling, had exempted the Lagenians from the payment of any fur- ther tribute. The present prince was, however, resolved to enforce it ; for which purpose, at the head of twenty-one thou- sand chosen troops, he invaded Leinster. Murrough, King of Leinster, assembled what troops the suddenness of the notice could afford him. These amounted to no more than nine thousand strong. With these he engaged the imperialists at Alm- huin, and gained a complete victory, not- * Cambr. Evers. p. 77. withstanding the great disproportion of troops. Our writers attribute this great success to the execration of a hermit, who had been ill-treated by some of Fearghal's people, and to their plundering the church of Cillin of its plate. It is certain that the invaders were seized with an unusual panic at the very first onset ; which I am readier to attribute to the exhortations of this her- mit in upbraiding Fearghal and his people, for wantonly breaking through the solemn engagement made by Fionachta, for him- self and for his successors, no more to in- vade Leinster on this score. In this battle, besides many thousand men, there fell the monarch himself, with one hundred and sixty select knights. Fogartach, descended from Aodh-Slaine, was the next monarch ; he fell in the battle of Beilge, by the sword of his successor. Cionaoth, the son of Jorgalaigh, of the same house, ascended the throne. A for- midable competitor soon arose ; the armies met at Drum-Curan : in this battle the troops of Cionaoth received a complete overthrow, and he himself was among the slain. Flabhertach, the son of Loingseach, of the house of Aodh-Ainmheric, became mon- arch. Aodh-Roin, King of Ulster, greatly oppressed the 'clergy of that province. Some of his followers had taken conse- crated vessels out of many of the churches, and Congus, Primate of Ireland, and con- fessor to Aodh-Ollan, stimulated this prince, by a poem he addressed to him, to avenge the cause of the Church. He accordingly invaded Ulster. The armies met at Muir- theimhne, in the county of Louth, and Aodh-Roin's troops were defeated, and himself slain. After a reign of seven years, Flabhertach resigned the throne, and retired to Armagh, devoting the re- mainder of his life to the service of God. He died A. D. 760, in great reputation for sanctity. Aodh-Ollan, son to the monarch Fearg- hal, was called to the throne. He was remarkably attached to the Church and clergy. The dues, called in other parts of Europe St. Peter's penpe, were here 200 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 763. paid to the see of Armagh yearly. These payments had not of late years been so regular as before. A synod of the clergy was called together at Tirdaglas, in Or- mond, at which the monarch presided. It was also honoured by the presence of Ca- thal, King of Munster, and many other princes ; and a decree passed for the more regular collection of this tribute for the future. Soon after, a fierce war broke out between the Mamonians and the King of Leinster; (but we find no mention made of the cause.) A bloody battle was the consequence, which, by mutual consent, was fought at Ballach-Feile, in Ossory, in which the King of Munster was victor. The monarch some time after declared war against the Lagenians, and entered that province with a well-appointed army. Aodh Mac Colgan opposed him with his provincials. A battle was fought, great intrepidity displayed, and very much blood spilt. The Lagenians were at length obliged to give way, with the loss of their king, the choicest of their knights and no- bility, and nine thousand of their best troops ! Nor was the slaughter among the victors much less. Among those of greatest note were Aodh, the son of Mor- tough, general to the monarch ; and this last was dangerously wounded. This bloody engagement is called the battle of Ath- seanuigh. Soon after this, his successor began to form a dangerous league against the reigning monarch. He appeared at length at the head of a powerful army, and publicly announced his pretensions to the throne. By mutual agreement a battle was fought near Kells, in Meath, in which the imperialists were defeated, and Aodh numbered among the slain. Pity it is that we are furnished with no other particulars of this reign, because we have reason to think it was a very interesting period, as all our annalists begin a new era from his death. Daniel III., the son of Murtough, the eleventh in descent from Niall the Grand, ascended the throne. In his reign the Picts invaded Leinster, but were defeated by these last in the battle of Rath-Beo- thach, in which engagement, among other persons of note, Cathasach, their general, the son of OilioUa, King of the Picts, was slain. The Mamonians some time after declared war against the Lagenians. A battle attended with unusual carnage was fought at a place called Tabur-fionn, or the White Spring, but which it is said, with the road and lake adjoining, were coloured with the blood of the slain. Hence this memorable fight has been called Cath- Beallach-Cro, or the battle of the Bloody Path. The monarch seems to have been a tame and inactive spectator of these bloody scenes ; and given up to a religious turn, attended more to litanies and proces- sions than to feats of arms. After a rule of twenty years, he made a pilgrimage to the abbey of Huy, where he ended his days with great piety and resignation. Niall II., son of the monarch Fearghal, was elected emperor. He was called Frassach, or the Showers, because it is said in his reign there were three preter- natural falls from the sky : one, seemingly of blood, at Magh-Laighion ; another of honey, at Fothan-beg ; and the third of sil- ver, at Fothan-more. As these are noted in the Book of Reigns, and in the Annals of Tigemach, a writer of the eleventh century, I thought it my duty to mention them, leaving to the reader's judgment the degree of credit he thinks they merit. Certain it is, that Mac Curtin, who is not above forty years dead, declares, that bits of fine silver called twelve-grain pennies, were then in being, and supposed to be part of this money* — but, Credat qui vult. Very many uncommon phenomena seemed to predict the approaching miseries of Ire- land. In the reign of Aodh-Slaine, the appearance of fleets and armies were seen in the skies ; in that of his successor, a monstrous serpent seemed to float in the air. The fall of blood in the present times seemed to announce their nearer approach. This was followed by dreadful earthquakes in different parts of the king- dom ; and to these succeeded so severe a famine as to carry oft' numbers of the in- • History of Ireland, p. 170. A. D. 770.] HISTORY OF IRELAND, 201 habitants. The good monarch shocked at such accumulated miseries, resigned the crown, and retired to the abbey of Huy ; where, after eight years spent in remarka- ble piety and austerity, he resigned this life for a better, and was interred there, in the same vault with his predecessor. The covering stone of this vault is yet pre- served, with the following inscription on it — "Tumulus regum HibernicBJ' On the resignation of Niall the estates proceeded to a new election, when Dono- chad, the son of the monarch Daniel, was called to the crown. Notwithstanding that he reigned twenty-seven years, yet, during this uncommonly long period, we are fur- nished with no remarkable events what- ever. Bruodinus notes, that in his admin- istration died St. Sedulius, Bishop of Dub- lin, St. Colchus, called the Wise, and oth- ers ; and all our annalists are in unison as to his exemplary piety and justice. The learned Dr. Warner on this occa- sion deplores the great destruction of our annals, and his induction from it is sensible and judicious. " In so long a reign (the present one) says he, it is impossible but that many things must have occurred both in Church and State, that were wor- thy of a place itf the history of these times. The want of these materials is itself a con- vincing proof that we have little more than annals and registers of the succession and genealogies of their kings, extracted from the histories that were deposited in their archives; and that these valuable originals were destroyed at different times, in the rage of plunder by their enemies. At the same time, it must be observed that this is so far from being an objection to the genuineness of what remains, that it rather demonstrates how scrupulous suc- ceeding historians were of adding a syl- lable of their own, where so much room was left for invention and imposition." In the reign of this prince, and year 790, the North British writers affirm, that the solemn and indissoluble alliance be- tween France and their kings commenced. Mezeray mentions this alliance,* but as a * Histoire de France, tome i. p. 161. 26 fact asserted by these people only. He says, that Charlemagne sent four thousand men to their assistance, and that in return, they sent Claude Clement and Alcuin to France, who opened public schools there, which were the origin of the University of Paris. This relation is taken origi- nally from Boetius, whose veracity as an historian, has long since been thus sung, by the celebrated antiquarian* Leland : — "Heetorit historici, tot quot mendacia scripait. Si vis ut numerem, lector amice tibi : Me jubeas eXxoinx Jluetut numerare marinot, Et liquidi ttellas enumerare poll ! " Hector says that Achaius, King of the Scots, on this occasion sent his brother William as his ambassador to France, in whose retinue were Clement, John, Raban^ and Alcuin; that the two last returned home, the others remaining in France. Not to advert to what has been long since DEMONSTRATED by Ushcr, Ward, and oth- ers, i. e. that North Britain was not called Scotland for three centuries after the period in question, that is, till the Dal-Riada, or Irish colony in the Highlands, had totally subverted the Pictish government, and firmly established their dominion over all North Britain, and, of course, being at this time but a small body of people, pent up in the narrow precincts of Argyle, they could be but little known as a distinct peo- ple inhabiting Britain. Not to advert to all this, I say, the very tale carries its own refutation. For, first, the name of Wil- liam was not used either in Ireland, or among their colonists in Britain for some centuries after the period in question ; therefore, as O'Flaherty observes, William was a Eviopian prince. Alcuin was a British Saxon, invited to France by Char- lemagne, (who met him at Pavia in 780,) and there residing before the year 788 ; f but so far from returning to Scotland, it appears that he died at Tours, A. D. 804. Raban was a German, Abbot of Fulda, and Archbishop of Mentz, who never quit- ted the continent, and died A. D. 856 ; and Clement and John were Scots of Ireland, * Histor. Scot. lib. x. t Usher, Syllog. Epist. Hibem. p. 61. 202 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 770. the only country then, and for above three centuries after, known by that name. The fame of Charlemagne indeed, ex- tended to distant climes, says his secretary and biographer, Eginhard.* "Alfonsus, King of Galicia, addressed letters to him, in which he desired to be numbered among his vassals. The kings of Scotland or Ireland tasted so much of his munifi- cence, as to call themselves his vassals. There yet remain their letters (says he) to this effect. The Saracens of Spain and Africa courted his alliance. Aaron, King of Persia, the haughtiest prince on earth, sent a most superb embassy to him." Now, as Irishmen had a principal hand in converting the French nation, and that our famous Virgil was in great favour with Pepin, father to Charlemagne, it is highly probable that in these mutual and friendly communications the Irish princes might, at his request, send learned men to form schools there on the plan of ours, as in effect we shall show they did. CHAPTER VI. Account of eminent men, and their works — Ad- amnanus, Abbot of Huy, attempts a reform in the discipline of the Church of Ireland — Virgil arrives in France on his way to the Holy Land ; is caressed by Pepin, and becomes his confessor — Has a dispute with the Bishop of Mentz ; and the pope, on an appeal, decides in favour of Virgil. Adamnanus, of the race of Conall-Gul- ban, and house of O'Donnell, a person of uncommon virtue, learning, and piety, was elected Abbot of Huy, A. D. 679. He was sent twice as ambassador to Britain, as he himself declares, in 684,f to demand satisfaction for the invasion of Ireland, and restitution for the outrages then commit- ted ; in 687, he went a second time. The cause of this second embassy is not known. Bede tells us simply that this Abbot of Huy was sent ambassador by the princes * vita Car. Magiii. t Vita St. ColumbiB, lib. ii. cap. 46. of Ireland to King Alfred,* where re- maining for a time, and being strongly admonished by persons of great piety and learning, particularly the Abbot Caelfridus, to adhere to the customs of the Universal Church, in opposition to those of his an- cestors, he adopted this mode, and, on his return to Huy, laboured to convince his monks of their error, but in vain. From thence he sailed to Ulster, and reclaimed the people in those points of Church disci- pline ; for the southern parts had long be- fore this conformed to the practice of the Universal Church. His success at home made him return back to his monastery, but he could not prevail upon his subjects to alter their ancient mode. He died, ac- cording to the Four Masters, September 23rd, 703, in his seventy-seventh year. He wrote the life of St. Columba in three books, published entire by Colgan.f Also, the Life of St. Bathild, the wife of Clovis II. She was an English Saxon, of great beauty, surprised very young by pirates, and sold as a slave in France. She was at length married to Clovis ; and dur- ing her widowhood governed with great prudence. She invited numbers of holy monks (particularly from Ireland) to her court, and died in a convent about 684. This work, it is said, is yet extant, in the Benedictine Convent of the city of Mentz, in Lorraine. He published likewise a de- scription of the Holy Land, which he ded- icated to King Alfred, by whose bounty, says Bede, many copies of it were made out, and given to different people. Be- sides these, some Epistles, and a book De Paschate Legitimo, said to have been writ- ten after his conformation, arc attributed to him. Colman, called the Scribe of Armagh, wrote the Life of St. Patrick. St. Co- man, Bishop of Roscommon, wrote a Rule for Monks. He died in 746, say the Annals of Ulster, and we find his rules soon after adopted by most of the monks in Connaught. Albuin, called the Apostle of Thuringia, * Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. v. cap. 16, 22. t Vita quarta St. Columba". A. D. 770.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 203 it is said, wrote a work for the use of this people. Ciaran, Abbot of Bealag-duin, Ermedach, Bishop of Clogher, and CoUait, a priest of Druim-Roilgeach, according to Usher, were different writers of the Life of St. Patrick. Virgil, animated with a desire of visiting the Holy Land, and seeing those places described by his relation, Adamnanus, quit- ted his native country, (Ireland,) accom- panied by seven bishops. The abject state of Christianity in Gaul, and the great re- formations there necessary, determined him to remain among them for a time. He was in the highest confidence with Pepin, (and for some time his confessor,) then nominally, but major domo ; so that in the reign of Childeric III., he arrived in France, as I find, from the earliest accounts of him.* He remained two years at the court of Pepin, who sent him on the mis- sion to Bavaria. Here, with unremitting zeal, he laboured for conversions of souls, and Boniface, Bishop of Mentz, intending to rebaptize such as had received this sa- crament by the hands of an ignorant priest, who had pronounced the formula in bad Latin, he opposed, being supported by Si- donius, the archbishop: he insisted, that the sacrament of baptism was conferred by virtue of the ministry more than by the words, provided the priest was properly ordained, and that he administered it in the name of the Trinity. An appeal was made to Pope Zachary, who determined it in favour of Virgil. He addressed on this occasion **An Epistle to Zachary, the Ro- man Pontiff" This decision happened in the year 747. This triumph of Virgil was highly re- sented by Boniface, who was greatly in favour with this pope. He complained to him, that Virgil boasted that he was to be nominated to the first of the four sees that fell vacant in Bavaria ; and he charged him with doctrines repugnant to Christian- ity, particularly in publishing, "that there was another world, another sun and moon ; that this world was spherical, instead of * Vita St. Bamoldi passim ; Fleory, Hist. Eccles. torn, ii. p. 306. 7, 8, 9. being flat, and that we had our antipodes." The pope in his answer directed that, if these statements were proved before a council, Virgil should be degraded. He also observed that he had written to the Duke of Bavaria, to send him to Rome, to be examined by himself; and that he had written to Virgil himself on this head. It appears, however, that he was neither de- graded or sent to Rome ; but that he was made first, rector of St. Stephen's abbey, and afterwards Bishop of Saltzburg ; and Zachary was himself suspected of favour- ing Virgil's opinion as to the plurality of worlds. In 751, Pepin was elected, and afterwards consecrated witli the holy oil, King of France ; and as this is thte first instance of the use of the unction in France, according to the mode of the kings of Israel, I strongly suspect that Virgil, who was a great divine, and a prelate of univer- sal erudition, first suggested this thought, to take off the odium of usurpation, and so make the title of king in his family more reverenced. The reader has already seen the reasons I have offered for its early in- troduction into Ireland; and if he will recollect them, he will be able to judge with more precision of the reasonableness of the present supposition. St. Colga wrote Oratio Colga Sancti, which Father Colgan possessed, and who tells us it is a small collection of the most ardent prayers, in the manner of litanies. Aongus, the famous hagiographer, of the royal line of Ir, flourished in this cen- tury. An account of his life and writings may be seen in the Acta Sanct. Hib., p. 579, etc. Dicuil is said by Harris * to have written a Treatise on the Survey of the Provinces of the Earth, according to the authority of the persons commissioned by Theodosius, the emperor, to measure the same, and that this treatise is yet extant in MSS. * Writers of Ireland, p. 55. 204 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 770. CHAPTER VII. Account of eminent men continued — Pepin, King of France, obtains missionaries from Ireland, to convert the Frieslanders to Christianity — The revival of literature in Europe more probably to be ascribed to the Irish, than the Arabians — The first universities of Europe established by Irish- men ; and the form of passing the degree of doc- tor derived from the Irish — Of knighthood, and the estimation it was held in by the Irish — In- quiry into the origin of the feudal law and cus- toms — Allodial tenure — Knight service — Titles of honour, duke, earl, and baron, of Irish origin. The Venerable Bede confesses that at the request of Oswald, St. Aidan, with other priests, were sent from Ireland to the conversion of his people.* Oswald him- self, with his brothers fled thither in the reign of the monarch Daniel, at whose court they were educated, and converted to Christianitv ; and to him after his resto- ration, A. D. 634, did Oswald apply for missionaries, for the conversion and instruc- tion of his people. In like manner I sup- pose Pepin, (major domo,) the grandfather of Pepin, the first King of France of the Carlovingian race, and who was zealous in the cause of Christianity — as indeed were his successors — applied to the monarch Fionachta, A. D. 690, for missionaries to convert the people of Friesland, which country he had just reduced. But be this as it may, certain it is, that Egbert, a holy Saxon priest, then residing in Ireland, pre- pared, with many others for this mission from hence ; but obstacles arising, he sent Willibrord, his countryman, educated and living in Ireland, with twelve disciples, to the conversion of these people.f They waited (says he) on Pepin, who graciously received them, and directed every favour and protection to be shown them. That all these were educated, and resided for many years in Ireland, Bede, their contem- porary, declares ; from whence they sailed directly for Gaul. The famous Alcuin, his countryman, and preceptor to Charlemagne, confesses all this ;J and even begins his second book thus : — " Venerat de occiduis quidam, de riNiBas orbis Vir, virtute potens, divino plenus amore; Ore sagax, et mente vigil, et fervidus actu. * Hist. Eccles. Brit. lib. iii. cap. 3. t Ibid, lib. V. cap. 10, 11. t In vita ejus. Ad te, temporibas Peppini, Francia fceliz, Quern tibi jam geunit fscunda Britannia mater, Doctaqae natrivit studiis, sed Hibemia tacrit, Nomine Willibrordus." . Should it be asked why these were pitched upon by the Irish monarch for this mission? Bede will mform you that it was because they were themselves of the Saxon race, and very probably understood the language. To this, let me add, that at an earlier date, (i. e. A. D. 653,) Grimaold, (major domo) sent Dagobert, son of Sigebert III. to Ire- land, in order to become a religious, where he remained twenty years.* I suppose that King Pepin in like manner applied to the monarch, Daniel III., for a new recruit of missionaries to further the same good end, who sent the famous Vir- gil, and his associates. We have already seen Eginhard acknowledge the friendly intercourses between our princes and Charlemagne : and at his request it was, that Claude Clement, and John Scott, sur- named Albin, repaired to Paris. There is an epistle of Alcuin to Colga or Colcua, regent of the school of Clonard, which Usher transcribed from the Cotton library.f It is thus addressed : " Benedicto magistro et pio patre Colcuo" From this epistle, it would appear, that Alcuin was a pupil of Colcuo ; that he kept up a correspondence with him, and acquainted him from time to time of the most material transactions of the French church and state. This letter was accompanied with presents of money from Charlemagne, and from Alcuin him- self, to be distributed in some convents in Ireland, to pray for the success of this prince. As this letter was written before the year 790, and that it is evident from it, other letters had passed between them of an earlier date, we may presume that Clement and Albin, the founders of the universities of Paris and Pavia, visited France at the request of Charlemagne, /or this particular purpose, not that they came unsent for, as has been generally imagined. * Mezeray, Hist, de France, torn. i. p. 96. Fleury's Hist. Eccles. t Sylloge Epist. Veter. Hibem. A. D. 770.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 205 This will naturally account for the honour- able reception he gave them, and for his immediately assigning to them the differ- ent cities in which these great schools were to be founded. When the reader recollects the flourish- ing state of arts and sciences among us, for some centuries preceding the present era; when he considers from the pater- noster already exhibited, that our language became a kind of universal one among the literati of the continent, and now beholds universities founded by Irishmen, under the patronage of Charlemagne himself, will he any longer attribute to the Arabians the revival of letters in Europe ? These peo- ple were, from religious and political prin- ciples, the avowed enemies of Christendom, and sought by the sword to extend their power, and establish their religion, not to plant the seeds of piety, peace, and learn- ing. Besides, the facts we have asserted are admitted by all the early writers ; and to add still greater force to this, has not Mezeray* (and the best-informed French antiquarians) acknowledged that to our monks they are indebted for what remains of their early history ? Are there any such testimonies in favour of the Arabians ? It may appear to the present age a thing of little consequence, to whom their ances- tors were indebted for the revival of letters; and were I not satisfied that this knowledge would greatly help to elucidate and explain many things hitherto little understood, I should not be so detailed on this subject. As then the revival of letters in Britain and on the continent were the acts of Irish- men, we should suppose that their history and legislation ought to throw more lights on these matters than those of any other nation ; and the fact is they do so. And first, the very form of passing doctors in different sciences, and the diplomas granted in consequence, prove the fountain from whence these customs originated. We have the copy of a diploma for a doctorship in physic and philosophy, at Rome, in which, among other insignia of this office, we read, that " a biretrum was * Hist, de France, torn. i. p. 161. placed on his head, and a ring on his fin- ger."* Now the word biretrum is not Latin, (notwithstanding that the cap of a cardinal has no other name,) but a manifest Irish word latinized. It was the cap worn by our ancient doctors in different sciences, and is to this day called by us a birede, from bar, a man of letters, and eadach, a covering. By the famous sumptuary law called Illbreachta, or the Law of Colours, passed about A. M. 2815, doctors had the privilege of wearing six different colours in their garments, being one more than the equestrian order, (whom they preceded,) besides a birede for the head. About the year of the world 3075, a further regula- tion of the literati was made. A few years earlier it was decreed that knights, besides five colours in their garments, should also be distinguished by a torques, or chain of gold, round the neck ; and it was now enacted that, besides garments of six colours, and the birede, doctors should wear gold rings on the finger. From this custom, the prince in whose reign this law passed, was called Aldergoid, or the De- creer of Gold Rings. Besides, the biretrum and the ring, we read, soon after the re- vival of letters on the continent, that doc- tors disputed with knights for precedency ; and, to compose this strife, many were knighted ; but others refusing this mark of degradation, as they thought it, preserved their rank, and were called Milites Clerici. As then the first universities in Europe, were regulated and established by Irish- men, behold how easily the clue to these customs is found out, and how satisfactorily the whole is explained ! Colleges of poets were early established in Germany; and the arch-poet presided over this order of men.f On passing doctors, they were sworn to avoid satire, misrepresentation, or whatever could reflect on the emperor, or on their country. In Ireland, such colleges were established from the beginning of our monarchy ; and does not the abuse which this order of men among us sometimes made of their power prove the necessity * Seidell's Tides of Honour, p. 332. t Ibid, p. 333, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. 206 HISTORY OF IREI.AND. [A. D. 770. of this regulation? More than twice were severe decrees passed against them ; and in the year of Christ 588, it was decreed, that the monarch's chief bard should, for the time to come, be president of the poets, have power to reform their colleges, and punish, or otherwise expel from the order, such as descended to satire and misrepresentation ! About the time that universities were established on the continent, we read that orders of knighthood were also founded in different places. It is confessed that this custom did not originate from the eques- trian order of ancient Rome ; and though the contrary had been asserted, yet it could be easily refuted ; for we know that such an order subsisted in Gaul long before they had any connection with Rome. They are mentioned by Caesar, by Tacitus, by Livy, etc. Above three centuries before Christ, Manlius, a noble Roman, got the title of Torquatus, (and which continued in his family,) for having killed in a single duel, a Gaulish knight, whose torques, or chain of gold, he ever after wore. Had the torques been a Roman badge, the title would be absurd. That the destruction of annals and early records on the continent, and the total abo- lition of all ancient customs among them by the Romans, should leave no traces of this order of men, so renowned for their bravery and virtue, is not surprising ; nor that the revival of this, among other re- mote customs, in days of freedom, should be placed as the very time of their institu- tion. Deprived of every clue to the histo- ry of remoter times, what had writers but conjecture to offer ? The history of Ire- land, the only country in Europe which had preserved its independence in those ages of tyranny and oppression, however, we see, dispels the clouds, and, instead of conjecture, proves to a certainty the very great antiquity of the equestrian order among the Celtae ! After the revival of chivalry on the con- tinent, we behold emperors and kings deem knighthood a new accession of honour ; and at this day there is no prince in Europe who is not knighted. We see it so revered in ancient Ireland, that no prince could be- come a candidate for the monarchy who had not received the Gragh-Gaische, or order of chivalry ; and to prove this, we have but to remind our readers, that in the fourth century, an Irish prince, who had possessed himself of the palace of Tara, in order to strengthen his claim to the mon- archy, was obliged to quit it, as unqualified, having never been knighted ! If from this we carry our inquiries into the origin of these usages and laws called feudal, what new lights will not our history throw on them ? As they regarded ten- ures of every kind, and as the first act of possession, from the prince to the pea- sant, consisted in turning up some ground, they were in general denominated feudal laws, from the Irish word /oc?, a clod of earth turned up, and dlighe, a law ; hence the Latin fodioy to dig, and feudum, a fee or tenure. These tenures acquired differ- ent names, according to the manner they were held in. The most honourable ten- ure was called allodial, as being held from the most remote antiquity. The learned Dr. Robertson derives it from an and lot, German words, which import land got by casting lots :* but this gives no idea of allo- dial property. It was by this kind of ten- ure that the right of governing was con- fined to the blood-royal in every country in ancient Europe : it was by it that offices were hereditary in certain families, as mar- shals, treasurers of countries, commanders of horse and foot, etc., and it explains why these offices still continued in families, not- withstanding any act of rebellion of the present proprietor. For being but tenant for life, and the post elective by the family or sept, any overt act of the present pos- sessor could only affect himself. When a most iniquitous inquiry commenced in Ire- land, in the reign of Elizabeth, by what right many of the most noble families in the kingdom held their ranks and fortunes ? they answered, by the most indisputable ; by a right as ancient as the monarchy it- self; a right which, till then, was never * Life of Cfaarles Y. p. 225, Irish edit. A. D. 770.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 207 called in question — allodial tenure. How- ever, some consented, and others were obliged to make a surrender of their he- reditary rights. She and her pious minis- ters garbled them out in what manner they liked best. In these partitions the good queen did not forget herself, and her worthy ministers followed the royal example. Sir John Davis's letter in the reign of James I., shows more of this.* This word, like the other, is derived, not from the German, but the Irish word allod, old. Knight's service, called by our lawyers fearan cloim, or sword-land, was another kind of tenure, different from allodial. This last was from the original partition of countries ; but sword-land was allotted to foreigners, called in in times posterior to this. This tenure we have instances of from remote antiquity. In the latter end of the second century almost all Leinster was overrun by the Mamonians. In this distress Cucorb applied to Eochaidh, bro- ther to the monarch Con, and Laighseach, an intrepid hero. By their means the Ma- monians were defeated, and on Eochaidh he bestowed sword-lands in the county of Wexford, and on Laighseach the country from him called Lais. When the mon- arch Cormoc, in the third century, engaged the grandson of OilioU, King of Munster, in his interest, he gave to him and his offi- cers large grants of land in Leinster and Connaught, which were held by military tenure, and part of which the issue of these heroes possess at this day, as O'Con- nor-Cianachti, O'Hara, CGara, CCoghlin, etc. In the fourth century, the attempts of the Conacians to add the present county of Clare to their province were so frequent and so bold, that Lugha, King of Leath- Mogha, made fearan-cliomh of the whole county, from the borders of Galway • to Loops-Head. These few instances will prove — first, the great antiquity of the feudal system, in opposition to modem assertions ; secondly, that allodial property was a branch of this system, and never fluctuating ; and thirdly^ that it was not a barbarous system suggested by necessity, * Letter to the Earl of Salisbuiy. after the destruction of Rome — for by it property was better secured than by the Roman code — see the revolutions in an- cient Rome — behold emperors often from the dregs of the people, deposed and mur- dered at pleasure, and new ones chosen, according to the power of faction and ca- price ! Does the feudal system exhibit such outrages, or does it afford instances of such revolutions? It does not. The supreme command was confined to the blood-royal, and all subordinate stations were the honours and properties of par- ticular families. But besides these, there was a part of this code which gave singular privileges. By it, the possessors of certain lands were exempt from every mark of tribute or vas- salage, which was not the case with allo- dial proprietors ; since the hereditary titles of marshal, standard-bearer, generals of horse and foot, etc., point out their differ- ent employments in the state. We may form some idea of the consequence of this tenure by the will of Cathoir-More, in the second century, who, afler bequeathing to his son Ceatach certain lands, concludes, as a remark of the great wisdom of this prince — ^"that to separate him from his brothers would be a grievous loss to them, though it were even on (saor forhd) free lands." Estates on the continent descended to, and were divided among the male line only, in exclusion of the female. This law was called Gavel-kind, from the Irish, gavel, land, and cinne, a family ; and instead of receiving, the husband always settled a dowry on the wife. She, nevertheless, brought with her a considerable stock of cattle, according to her rank. In Ireland this was called callp an spre, or the mar- riage cattle. The custom was here, that every friend, relation, and follower of the family, brought his present to the bride. This rule is yet observed in many places, and exactly accords with the rules of the old Franks and Germans. Among the old Britons, Gauls, and Ger- mans, all crimes, not even murder excepted, were punished by mulct, and this was set- tled according to the rank and dignity of 208 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 770. the deceased. At all times, even to the last century, this law, which was called Eric, prevailed in Ireland. When the State in Dublin requested that Mac Guire would permit them to send a sheriff into his county, (Fermanagh,) he refused till they first settled his eric ; by which means, in case he should be cut off by his people, he should know what fine he was to raise on his subjects for the offence. Freemen who held land under allodial proprietors were called Arimani, from the Irish araimh, to plough ; and by the tenure of soccage, rent was paid in com, from soc, a ploughshare. The word Dux, Mr. Llhuid thinks is derived from the Irish tus, a beginning : it also signifies noble ; hence the Irish tuiseach, a chieftain or leader. In like manner the word Earl seems de- rived from the Irish earlar, noble, generous ; and with us ear-fhlathas signifies an aris- tocracy. A Baron, perhaps from bar, power ; hence Rug se an Bar, he carried the sway. A Marshal, from meirge, a standard ; and slua, an army. From what has been said, I think it must be admitted that our history is the true clue — indeed the only one — to the ancient laws and customs of Europe ; and who- ever will study it closely, and compare it with what has been advanced by Craigs,* Montesquieu,! Robertson, J Dr. O'Sulli van,|| etc., will throw this great desideratum to the history of Europe in the clearest light. Consult also Blackstone's Commentaries, Vol. 11. * De Jure Feudal! apud Scotus. t L'Esprit des Lois. t Hist, of Charles V. book i. n Lectures on the Feudal Laws. f BOOK X. CHAPTER I. Reign of Aodh VI., and first appearance of the northern pirates, not Danes, strictly speaking, but an assemblage of different nations — Their incursions not caused by a redundance of inhab- itants — Associate to preserve their religion and liberties — The monarch invades Leinster, and exonerates the clergy from their attendance on the army — Ravages of the Danes — King of Munster demands tribute from Thomond, but relinquishes this claim — The Danes defeated near Waterford — Return in greater numbers. Aodh VI., called Oirdnidhe, the son of Niall-Friasach, was saluted monarch. About this time the Annals of Ulster notice an invasion of the isle of Rechrin, to the north of the county of Antrim, and of its being plundered by pirates ; and these the learned Usher observes, were the first Danish invaders.* As these people were for above two centuries highly formidable not only to Ireland, but to all Europe, some rational attempt to investigate the ctiuse of their repeated depredations, may not be unac- ceptable to philosophic inquirers. It is generally agreed that these pirates were a motley aggregate of Livonians, Saxons, Frisians, Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes, whose residence on the coasts of the Ger- man Sea and the Baltic, made them natu- rally fond of that element. The various names by which our writers have distin- guished them, plainly prove them to have been of different nations. One tribe of them were called Leth-Manni ; and these Archbishop Usher and Dr. O'Conryf judge were Livonians, whose province is called Letten, and by geographers Letta, hence Leth-Manni, or the people of Letta. * Brit. Eccles. Prim. p. 958, 1172. t Laws of Tanistry Illustrated, p. 489. 27 Others were called Fionne Gail and Dubh- Gail, or White and Black Strangers, from the colour of their hair. The first were, to all appearance, the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians, who are generally fair-haired ; and the others, Germans. A territory near Dublin yet retains the name of Fin- Gall ; and Dunegal is probably a corrup- tion of Dubh-Gail, or the country of the Black Strangers. But the most general names they are distinguished by, among us, are Dubh-Loch-Lannice and Fionn- Loch-Lannice ; the word loch-lonnach sig- nifies powerful at sea, and the adjectives dubh, or black, and fionn, or white, were added to denote their differ^ countries by the hair. We also sometimes find them called Danair-Fohn and Dan-Fhir ; but I believe these were rather words of re- proach than an implication of the country from whence they came, because they are rarely met with, and Irish writers were not fond of reproachful epithets to their enemies. They were called Dan-Fhir, I conjecture, from dana^ bold, impetuous, oppressive, and fear, a man ; hence dan- fhir, or dan-airimh, oppressive men. But nothing can more fully prove the exactness of our historians in their distinctions of these people, than when the black Loch- Lannics invaded Leinster in 851, they at- tacked and dispossessed the white Loch- Lannics of their territories about Dublin. If ancient historians are sometimes cen- surable for too easy a credence of improb- able relations, and for mixing fable with history, what shall we say to modem wri- ters, who oppose their own assumptions to both ? It must be confessed that, with respect to the depredations of the northern 210 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 797. pirates, we have little of certainty to ex- plain to us the cause "why, for about two centuries, the European seas should be covered with lawless pirates, and different nations feel the force of their power ; and why these different depredations should begin almost everywhere about the same time, and cease at nearly an equal period ! Semblance of truth too often precludes truth ; and superficial readers sometimes embrace the shadow for the substance. The cause of the sudden bursting forth of such numerous northern hives, at this time, has been attributed to a superabund- ance of inhabitants. The north, say lazy speculatists, has been always a country the most prolific : it is the officina et vagina gentium! From it nations have been over-run from time to time, and hardy warriors have acquired in other countries those settlements which the too great pop- ulation of their own refused them. But, however plausible this appears, like many other refined theories of modern historians, it is but a bare assumption. Every evi- dence that can be demanded proves that, at all periods, population has been greater in southern than northern climates. The great quantity of unreclaimed ground, even to. this day, in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, shows these countries were never overstocked with inhabitants. Whole tracts covered with wood, and the ama- zing quantities of it exported, particularly from Norway, prove the thinness of its inhabitants. What are Copenhagen, Stock- holm, or Drontheim, compared, for extent or inhabitants, to London, Paris, or Dub- lin ? Or what the inhabitants of Europe to those of Asia ? Population, to a certainty, is much greater in warm than cold cli- mates ; but were we to grant the reverse to be the case, why confine this amazing conflux of people to particular periods? Nature is uniform in all her effects ; and the same cause that produced a plethora of inhabitants at one particular period, should, while existing, at every other. Were the inundations of Europeans into Asia in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, ever attributed to a redundancy of inhabitants ; notwithstanding the Asiat- ics might well suppose it, from seeing at different times such astonishing armies cover their countries ? Were the differ- ent migrations to the East and West In- dies, and the vast continent of America, for two centuries past, resolved into an overstock of inhabitants in Europe? If they were not, why should we vapidly assign this as a cause in the present in- stance ? We have already noted how anxious Charlemagne, Pepin, and their predeces- sors were, to convert the northern nations of Germany ; and the active part which the Irish missionaries took in this great work. In all appearance, policy united with religion in these pursuits ; as every convert they made was a new subject ac- quired. These German nations, who so manfully defended their liberties, plainly saw that the religion of their invaders was as inimical to them as their swords, and began to form a general confederacy against both. Driven into a narrower compass they became more compact and numerous, and their religion and their lib- erties, being equally the objects of the con- querors, they confederated to defend both.* Not numerous enough to face their enemies by land, and being powerful at sea, they determined to make diversions this way. Very probably necessity first drove them to try the expedient, and unexpected suc- cess increased their confidence. The his- torian Mezeray attributes the depredations of these northern nations to their love of liberty, and their detestation of those priests and religions who had destroyed their gods and their altars ; hence, says he, their greatest cruelty was exercised on monks and monasteries.f For this reason it is, that they are frequently styled in our annals Dubh-Geinte, or Black Infidels, and Fionn-Geinte, or White Infidels. And as a further proof of this, it appears, that as * Both Pepin and Charlemagne formed holy confed- eracies to convert these people by fighting as well as praying ; and where is the absurdity to suppose these unite to oppose both 7 t Hist de France, tome i. p. 165. A. D. 804.] HISTORY OF IRELAND 211 Christianity began to spread among them, this rage of invasion began gradually to subside. What avails it that the acts of nations and communities are the result of some general principles, if the historian, whose duty it is, will not be at the trouble of exploring them ? In the vear 798, and second vear of the reign of Aodh, the west of Munster was invaded by a large body of the white Loch-Lannics, or Danes, who for some time ravaged the coasts, destroying churches and monasteries, and putting to the sword all the clergy they found. Art, or Airtre, the son of Cathal, was at this time king of Munster, who, hastily collect- ing the forces next to hand, engaged these foreigners in a pitched battle, defeated them, and, but for the night's coming on, would have cut off their retreat to their ships, which the remainder of them with difficulty reached. In 799, the monarch raised a great army with which he invaded the province of Leinster, to enforce the payment of the Tuathalian tribute. It seems that the royal army was always attended by the Arch- bishop of Armagh, and his suffi-agan bish- ops. Conmac was at this time the successor of St. Patrick, i. e. the primate, and com- plained and remonstrated to the monarch, at the head of his clergy, how improper and indecent it was to see the ministers of peace, upon all occasions, witnesses to the horrors of war and desolation ; and pray- ing, for himself and for his successors, a dispensation from so unclerical a duty. The Abbot Fothadius, who, on account of his great knowledge in the canon laws, was called De Canonibus, was appealed to on this occasion. He drew up his opinion in writing, which he entitled Opus'culum pro Cleri Defensione et Immunitate, and presented it to the monarch. In this he proved that the clergy ought for ever to be exempted from this duty ; and it was decreed so.* Six years after the first defeat of the Danes in Munster, (i. e. A. D. 804,) say our annals, and when Feidhlim, of the Euge- • Act. Sanct. Hib. p, 581, 583. nian line was king of Munster, a second fleet of Danes landed on these coasts, burn- ing and destroying whatever stood before them, particularly the churches and clergy. Feidhlim collected a considerable body of troops, and attacked these barbarians, who, after a long and bloody conflict, gave way on every side, and were pursued to their ships with great slaughter.* Soon after this we read of an invasion of Ulster by these barbarians, and of the uncommon cruelties thev exercised there. They plundered the famous abbey of Ben- choir of all its riches, carrying with them the rich shrme of St. Comghill, and putting to the sword the abbot with nine hundred monks ! Muireadach, King of Ulster, at- tacked these incendiaries with great reso- lution, and after the loss of twelve hundred of their best troops, the rest fled to their ships. Feidhlim, the Munster king, being for the present rid of the Danes, by the advice of his ministers was resolved to compel the people of North Munster to pay tribute to the kings of Cashell. To give greater weight to negotiation, he raised a consid- erable army, with which he followed his ambassadors. The Dalgais, astonished at the novelty of the demand, boldly answered that they would never pay it ; that they and their ancestors had been at all times exempt from taxes of every kind; that their possessions, particularly the county of Clare, were fearhan forgahhala na cloidhimh, (ancient conquest of the sword,) and as it had been hitherto preserved free, in spite of the power of Connaught, they would take care to transmit it so to their posterity.! The bishops of Limerick, Kil- laloe, and Inis-Catha, softened this answer by remarking to the ambassadors of Feidh- lim that, since the fourth century, by com- mon consent, the territory of Thomond was declared sword-land, and, of course, the people free from every tribute, while they preserved this barrier to Munster. But, besides this, Lachtna, the son of Core, son of Auluain, (who then governed the * Cogadh-Gail, re Gaoidhealaibh. t Leabbar-Maimhean. 312 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 812. province,) repaired to the court of Feidh- lim, representing to him the injustice of his proceedings ; that his family had been long deprived of their right of alternate succes- sion to the crown of Munster, according to the will of their common ancestor Oilioll; and, that now, instead of raising them to their former rank, they wanted to make them their tributaries. Feidhlim and his chiefs were sensible of the justness of Lachtna's remarks, which became of more weight on finding that the Dalgais were collecting their troops from all quarters. Lachtna paid him homage as king of Mun- ster, and was splendidly entertained by him. Feidhlim relinquished, in the most solemn manner, all claims on the Dalgais ; and this invasion, in the beginning so for- midable, ended in amity and festivity. Feidhlim soon after embracing a monas- tic life, Olchubhar, the son of Ceanaodha, a Eugenian, succeeded him, in whose reign the Danes made a fresh invasion into Munster, committing uncommon atrocities, particularly on the churches and clergy. They landed at Waterford, and every- where fire and sword marked the footsteps of these inhuman wretches. The city of Lismore was burnt to the ground, and its university, then so renowned in Europe, destroyed, with its very valuable library ; churches were every where prostrated ; and wherever they found any clergy they were sure to put them to the sword. Ol- chubhar, King of Munster, attacked these aliens in the country of the Deasies, and, after a most bloody battle, gained a com- plete victory over them.* Twelve hun- dred Danes were killed on the field with two of their chiefs, Tomar and Eric, and numbers fell in the pursuit. But the loss of the Mamonians was very considerable, among others Olchubhar himself, with many nobles of prime note, fell that day. To this defeat, I bejieve it is that Eginhard alludes, when he tells us in his annals, un- der the year 812, " that the Danes landed an army in Ireland, which was defeated, and put to a shameful flight, by the Irish."t Notwithstanding these defeats, the re- * Toruigheact Cealachan Chaisel. t An. Franc. Contr. ports made by the fugitives to their coun- trymen of the wealth of Ireland, the splen- dour, magnificence, and number of its churches and monasteries, and the fertility of the soil, encouraged others to make new attempts, and to endeavour at some settle- ment in the kingdom. A considerable fleet appeared off" Kerry Head, and plundered and destroyed the monastery of Skelig Mhichel ; they then landed on the continent, and laid waste the country as far as Loch- Lene, or Killarney. Here they were boldly attacked and defeated, leaving be- hind them a considerable part of their booty. A fresh force appeared soon after in the Shannon, and the noble churches of Scat- tery, or Inis-Catha, were plundered, the clergy put to the sword, and the rich mon- ument of St. Sennan defaced. Their troops suddenly landed, at different times on both sides the Shannon, and Corcabaiscan, and Tradeuighe on the north, and Ui Connal Gabhra on the south side, with all the churches, were laid in ashes. A large party of these incendiaries were, however, overtaken at Seannued, near Glin, and put to the sword. But though it appears that wherever the Irish and these foreigners met. the latter were, in general, defeated, yet the country was destroyed beforehand by reason of their commanding the sea, and being at all times able to land where least expected. Though the ravages of these Danes were alone as great afflictions as could be well borne, yet the very ele- ments seemed to conspire to the ruin of this afflicted kingdom. On the northern side of the Shannon, in the month of March following, such violent and uncommon claps of thunder and lightning burst forth, that above a thousand people were de- stroyed by it ; at the same time the sea broke down the banks with great violence, and laid a considerable part of the coun- try under water. Of the monarch Aodh we are furnished with no accounts till that of his death, which happened in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, and in the battle of Deafearta, by the Conacians. A. D. 835.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 213 CHAPTER II. The reign of Connor — Battle of Druim-Conla — Fresh devastations of the Danes, and death of the monarch — Of Niall III., and the landing of Turgesius — Miserable state of Munster, and an- tiquity of its cities — Leinster overran, and the reduction of the kingdom projected — Death of Niall — Of Mnlachie I., convention of the states of Leath-Cuin, and several defeats of the Danes, but triumph at length. Connor, son to the monarch Donochada, now filled the throne. The Gailiongachs, leaguing with the Danes, this prince at- tacked them, on the plains of Tailtean in Meath, and defeated them with great slaughter. The Danes had already over- ran a great part of Leinster and Connaught. The Lagenians, headed by their prince Lorcan, the son of Ceallach, collected a considerable force, and attacked these for- eigners at Druim-Conla. The action was very bloody, and for a long time doubtful. Fortune at length declared in favour of the aliens, and for the first time, were the Irish defeated with very great slaughter. This year the clergy of Connaught agreed to pay Patrick's pence to the see of Ar- magh. A body of Danes landed suddenly near Cork, set fire to the town and church of St. Finbar ; but the people, recovering from their surprise, attacked and defeated them with considerable slaughter. A large body of Danes landed at Inbher-Chin-Tra- gha, or Newry, and committed, dreadful cruelties. They, for the first time, attacked Armagh, and set fire to the churches and university, plundering them of all their plate and riches. The monastery of Ben- choir again felt the fury of these fiends, and several parts of Connaught were laid waste by them. The monarch, either unable to unite the nation in a body against these invaders, or, perhaps, perceiving the im- practicability of it, as their attacks were so sudden, so unexpected, and distant, we are told, died with grief, and was succeeded by- Niall III., called Caille, the son of Aodh VI. The year 836 was remarkable for the arrival of Turgesius in Ireland. Most of our writers place it earlier by twenty years ; but this would be giving to this ty- rant an unreasonable length of years, and making him play the fool, as we shall see, at a time when such vagaries must have long left him ; add to this, that his seizing on Armagh, (which he did soon after his arrival,) and expelling St. Ferranan, the clergy, and all the students, is placed in the year 839. This prince Turgesius, with a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships, made two descents in Ireland. One fleet of fifty ships entered the river Boyne, and landed near Drogheda ; the other in Dub- lin. Encouraged by so considerable a re- inforcement, and sensible of the utility of having one common chief, all the foreign- ers in the kingdom (though of difierent na- tions) agreed to acknowledge and act un- der the command of Turgesius as such, and to endeavour to conquer and settle in a country, which their first intentions were only to plunder and distress. Already had Munster suffered unheard- of afflictions. The northern and southern Mamonians, or the Eoganachts and Dal- gais, had not been well united. These last, constantly in arms to defend their fron- tiers from the Conacians, could not enforce their right of alternate succession to the crown of Munster, and were, in a manner, excluded by the Eoganachts ; and the writer of the actions of Ceallachan Caisil, now before me, complains, that in all the miseries of those days, the monarchs, and province of Leath-Cuin, never aflforded them the smallest succours. Thus divided among themselves, and unsupported by the other provinces, the Danes, wherever they landed, had nothing to fear but from the military, and people of that quarter only. Their fleet a second time sailed up the Shannon, and destroyed a most spacious monastery near Carrig a Foile, the remains of which, at this day, proclaims, in part, its former extent and grandeur. All the other reli- gious houses, on both sides the river, suf- fered the same fate. They landed a con- siderable body of troops near Limerick, surprised, and set on fire the ancient city of Deochain-Assain, and with it the noble college of Muingharid, with the monastery, and other religious houses, having fiivt S14 HISTORY OF IRELAND. A. D. 835.] plundered them of their richest effects. Soon after this they possessed themselves of Limerick. We are not told how, nor the exact time, but the Ulster Annals, un- der the year 843, mention St. Ferranan's being taken prisoner at Cluan-Chomharda, and, with his family and the ornaments and relics of his churches, conveyed by water to their fleet at Limerick. From this we must suppose them in possession of it before that period. And here let me for once observe, en passant, the manifest absurdities of foreign writers, in asserting that Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and most of our seaport towns, were built by those merciless barbarians. Limerick was so noted for its commerce from the earliest ages, that it was never mentioned by our ancient writers without the epithet Long annexed to it. When Ceallachan-Caisil at- tacked and expelled the Danes from thence, we then find him call it Luimneach na Lu- ingas, or Limerick of the Ships or Fleets. We see St. Munchin, its first bishop, in the days of St. Patrick ; and Cork was soon after erected into a bishopric, etc. It need not be told that, before the Council of Nice, it was decreed, that bishops should never be ordained but to preside over large cities, or considerable tracts of land, where num- bers of inferior clergy were. The Mamonians must have received some considerable cheeks in this last inva- sion, because I find it mentioned, that after the decease of Ailghenan, King of Cashell, (and he ruled Munster but seven years,) Maolgula, who was his successor, was killed in battle by the Loch-Lonnachs. Turgesius, as we see, having now the command of these aliens, wherever dis- persed through the kingdom, with great wisdom availed himself of this power, and his different detached parties were every- where in action, while he possessed him- self of Drogheda, and another party of Dublin. And^now was the whole country one scene of ruin and desolation ! Churches and monasteries, religious and laics, no- bles and peasants, without discrimination, suffered the utmost cruelty of sword and fire! Maigh-Breagh, and Maigh-Liffo, which, before this, exhibited such scenes of opulence, splendour, hospitality, and pi- ety, became now destitute of inhabitants, cities, or houses; and the country, instead of being covered with flocks and com, was replete with barbarians, who were a dis- honour to humanity ! In this general con- flagration and carnage, churches of the greatest fame were particular objects to satiate the vengeance and rapacity of these infidels. They plundered and burned the noble abbey and churches of Kildare, tak- ing with them the rich shrines of St. Bridget and St. Conlaeth. The city of Fearna- Maidog, or Ferns, then the capital of Lein- ster, they laid in ashes ; having first plun- dered the archiepiscopal church of St. Mai- dog of all its riches. They erected forts and castles, in these now desolate places ; so that whoever ventured to return to their old habitations, must do it on terms of sub- mission to them. In vain did the Irish op- pose them manfully everywhere ; and wherever they engaged them, in general defeated them. Our annals are minute enough in their accounts of these different encounters, (for battles they could not be called,) and note in what place three, in an- other five, and six hundred of these people were cut off. It is evident by their num- bers and the power they in fact acquired, that, upon the whole, the Danes were suc- cessful. This was not enough : the inte- rior parts of the country had been hitherto free from their incursions ; and poured forth new men, to defend those parts near- est them. Turgesius, in imitation of the Irish, having penetrated far into the coun- try, caused light barks to be built, and the interior parts of the Shannon, and other rivers and lakes, were soon filled with en- emies, who, by sudden landings, laid the country everywhere waste. The prospect of a complete reduction of the kingdom animated these people to make new efforts. Turgesius sent to his friends for a fresh reinforcement of troops. Early in 839, a fleet of Danish ships appeared on the coasts of Ulster, and landed a large body of troops near Dundalk ; and after laying waste the ooimtrv, took Armagh sword in hand, and A. D. 848.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 215 set fire to all its sumptuous churches, col- leges and public edifices. As had been already done in the south, they built ves- sels ; and Loch-Neagh and Loch-Erne were covered with small craft, from which they suddenly landed, spreading ruin and desolation over all the adjacent country, and particularly destroying churches and monasteries. These scenes of devastation, the mon- arch, we must suppose, laboured to re- dress ; but the attacks were so frequent, so unexpected, and so general, that it would be hard to find a remedy for all. He en- gaged them, however, in two different places, and defeated them both times with considerable slaughter. He laboured now to unite the jarring interests of the king- dom. To this purpose he made a royal tour into Leinster, but was unfortunately drowned in the river Caillen, (in attempt- ing to relieve a gentleman of his train, who, in trying whether it was fordable, was washed off his horse,) to the unspeakable loss of his country. In the disordered state in which the kingdom must have been left by the pre- mature death of Niall, we cannot suppose that the election of a successor was so sol- emn and magnificent as upon former occa- sions — indeed it would be hard to think how the national representatives could safely meet to proceed to such election — yet as he is placed next in the regal list, we must suppose that Maolseachlin, other- wise Malachie, the son of Maolruana, and brother to the monarch Connor, was imme- diately nominated monarch of Ireland. He is called in the regal list Flaith na Feine go Fior-Bhuadh, or Prince of the truly Con- quering Legio^is. Soon after his accession to the throne, he summoned the states of Leath-Cuin, (i. e. of Connaught, Ulster, and Meath,) to meet at Armagh, (which had been recovered from the Danes,) to delib- erate on the state of the nation. There appeared besides the monarch and his suite, Madaghan, King of Ulster, Flaithri, King of Connaught, with their nobility; and Diermod, successor to St. Patrick, with his clergy, and those of Meath, opened the convention by a solemn high mass. From their effects only, are we enabled to determine what were the resolves of this august assembly, and these, it appears, were to attack the Danes in all quarters, at nearly the same time. The monarch himself, at the head of a chosen band, de- feated a large body of them in Meath, with the loss of seven hundred of their best troops left dead on the field of battle. The brave Dalgais cut to pieces several hundreds of them at Ard-Breacan, about the same time ; and the people of Tyrcon- nel gave a signal overthrow to a large body of them near Easruadh. The same success attended the people of Cianachta ; and at Loch-Gobhair, they lost several hundreds more. The monarch soon after, in conjunction with the Lagenians, gave them battle at Glas-Glean, and seventeen hundred of them, with Saxolb, a comman- der of special note, fell in the engagement. But these successes were but transitory; and the Danes had resources which the Irish had not. Besides the numbers of them constantly crowding from their own barren soil, by their superiority, both in Britain and France, they could recruit more expeditiously upon emergencies, than to wait for new succours from the Baltic. Accordingly, in a little time, the power of Turgesius was more absolute than ever ; and he availed himself of this power by imposing the severest hardships, and taking the most effectual methods to depress the spirit and destroy the power of the Irish that barbarous and uncultivated cruelty could suggest. CHAPTER III. Tyranny exercised by Turgesius — Case of the Btooi-s of Granada and Hupuenots of France after their reduction, very different from that of the Catholics of Ireland — Justified for taking up arms on revolution principles — Unprecedented i-estraining laws passed against them, and the consequences of them. The numerous and well-appointed forces of Turgesius, by the spoils of Ireland and ine HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 848. the adjacent countries, in their turn took the lead of the Irish and triumphed every- where. The will of the conquerors be- came laws to the vanquished, and these were of the most oppressive nature. Every district in the land in which an Irish taoi- seach, or lord, resided, was obliged to en- tertain a Danish chief, to whom he was obliged to submit, and from whom he was to receive orders for governing his people ; for these last would receive no commands but directly from their own chiefs. This preserved the appearance of freedom among the people, and at the same time riveted their chains more strongly. Every town, besides its old magistrates, was su- perintended by a captain with his company ; every village had a serjeant ; and in every farm-house in the country was a soldier lodged. All these the people were obliged to support. Had this support been such as they could have afforded, it would have been some alleviation to their miseries; but this was not the case. Nothing the gentleman, the citizen, or the farmer pos- sessed, could he safely call his own. The cattle, the corn, and provisions were at the disposal of the rapacious soldiery. The citizen and the farmer dared not sit down to their meals in their own habitations, nor partake of the fruits of their industry, till these banditti were first satisfied. All or- ders in the state were laid aside, and the different coloured garments by which the nobility, the literati, and the military were distinguished, were forbidden under severe penalties. Universities and schools were filled with soldiers, churches and monas- teries with heathen priests, and such of the clergy and literati as escaped the sword, fled to deseft-ts and wildernesses, where many perished through want and cold. Religion and letters were interdicted ; the nobility and gentry were forbidden the use of arms ; and the very ladies of the education proper for their rank and state ! This was not enough : the master of every house in the land was obliged to pay an- nually to Turgesius's receivers an ounce of gold ; and this was exacted with such rigor and cruelty, that such as could not comply were to forfeit the loss of their nose, or become slaves ! hence this tax was called Airgid-Srone, or nose-money. Such were the terms of peace which the haughty Dane offered the Irish ; and these they thought were better than a total ex- tirpation, which must have followed their refusal. Thus, though Malachie was the nominal monarch of Ireland among his countrymen for many years, yet Turgesius was in fact the dictator. The colouring in this picture of national distress is very far from being heightened, and is strictly consonant to the records of those days. But if we reflect on the characteristic bar- barity of this motley aggregate of different nations, enemies to the religion and to the liberties of Europe, and at the same time consider that their tenures in different countries were by the sword only, we shall be less surprised at the savage cruelty with which they supported their dominion everywhere. Should we be able to produce, even in the present enlightened age, not the lawless behests of savage ban- ditti, but the cool and deliberate acts of national assemblies, in their effects as op- pressive as those already recited, and still less defensible, as being contrary to the faith of treaties and of nations, what will the public think of the framers and en- forcers of them ? and yet — lamentable to be told — such is the case of Ireland at this very day ! The Spaniards have been severely ani- madverted on for their banishing the Moors from their territories, and France has been highly censured for the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Viewed in a political light, nothing can be offered in vindication of either act ; but considered in a moral one, much may be said to extenuate the charge of injustice in both instances. With respect to the Moors, their ances- tors were Africans, enemies to Europe by religion and by principle: they not only kept Spain under galling fetters for some centuries, but invaded France, and intended everywhere to establish the crescent at the expense of the cross. They were expel- led from France, and at length subdued in A. D. 848.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 217 Spain by the union of the houses of Cas- tile and Arragon; and being completely conquered, they were, by the law of arms, ai the mercy of their enemies. In sound policy, the moment they were deprived of power, that moment should they cease4o be regarded with an inimical eye ; and wise legislators would have considered only how they could best make so considerable an accession of new subjects useful to the state. The wisdom of Spanish counsels on this occasion may be arraigned, but not their justice. As to the treatment of the reformed in France, it is evident from history, that the concessions made to them were extorted by force and violence. They leagued with England and Germany, possessed themselves of several cities, and bade de- fiance to their natural sovereigns. By the NULLUM TEMPU8 act — eveu in England a law of the land — it is acknowledged that no length of time or possession, no pre- scription whatever, can deprive the crown of a resumption of her natural rights. It should follow, then, that graces extorted by force and rebellion in more settled times may be legally recalled. But let me not be supposed an advocate for any violence whatever offered to people on account of religious principles. My soul abhors the thought; and I think every man should be permitted to adore the Deity in what form he judges best, while his religious tenets are neither injurious to the state, or to individuals. With avowed principles of universal toleration I wish not to offend any party of men ; and if I have hinted at the above facts, it is that the reader may plainly see in how different a light the hardships imposed on the Irish Catholics should be considered from those inflicted on the Moors of Granada, or the Protestants of France. The only moral light in which the Rev- olution of 1688 can be considered, in order to be justified, is by admitting, what the church of England formerly denied, and what numbers of its clergy deny at this day — i. e. " That whenever the ruling prince forfeits his coronation oath, that 28 moment the subjects become absolved from their allegiance ;" and to give to this position its full force, we shall even grant what this Revolution sufficiently proves — i. e. " That any infraction of this oath, on the part of the sovereign, is a full acquittal of every tie of allegiance on those of the subject." Still the Irish could not be justi- fied in being even passive, in this extraor- dinary revolution. They, as well as the English, swore allegiance to James : if he trampled on the laws and liberties of the latter, the former had no charge of this kind to make. On the contrary, princi- ples of gratitude, as well as of duty, called upon them to defend and support his right to the kingdom of Ireland. I say of grati- tude, because it is evident, from the mo- ment he came to the crown, that he had determined to repeal the act of settlement^ and to restore to the Irish those estates and honours, which both he and they thought that act had most unjustly de- prived them of. This is not the place to enter into the nature of the last Irish war : it is sufficient for our purpose to observe, that it was terminated by the famous capit- ulation of Limerick, agreed to on the third, and signed the thirteenth of October, 1691, confirmed by the then lords-justices on be- half of King William, and, after this, recog- nised by this prince in the most ample man- ner. By this peace, the Irish Catholics con- tinued possessed of their estates and prop^ erties, and the full exercise of their reli- gion, such as they enjoyed in the days of Charles II., on taking new oaths of allegi- ance to the present government ; and the merchant, the artizan, and the agrarian, had every assurance of support and pro- tection. Such Irish as thought they could not in honour and conscience transfer their allegiance to the new government, were at liberty to depart from the kingdom, and carry with them their money, jewels, and other valuable effects, (William obliging himself to supply them, at his own expense, with seventy transports ;) and no less than twenty thousand embraced this alteraative ! By the voluntary emigration of such a num- ber of bold and restless spirits, an ample 218 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 848. field was now opened to restore to the peaceable sons of Ireland, that ease and tranquillity which cruel intestine wars for above five centuries had deprived them and their ancestors of; but that happy day was still very remote ! The same zeal for religion which ani- mated the reformed to take up arms against James, and to expel him and his posterity, seemed, now that they were possessed of national power, to absorb every other pub- lic consideration ; and to it, arts, manufac- tures, commerce, tillage, and whatever else is deemed to create national wealth and felicity, were sacrificed! For, instead of conciliatory acts, instead of acts of general oblivion, instead of labouring to make the horrors of war be forgot in the happiness of peace and plenty, the succeeding Irish par- liaments seemed to direct all their views to convert and reform their new subjects by penal laws, and to make wilful, obstinate recusants feel the utmost force of them ! These laws were not simply confined to the nobility and gentry, but, with wonder- ful impartiality and perspicuity, materially affected every order of men. Catholics were forbidden, by severe penalties, to send their children abroad for education, while, at the same time, persons of that persuasion were disqualified from instructing them at home ! Papists were declared incapable of purchasing estates ; and the estates of Papists were decreed, to descend in Gavel-kind, ad infinitum ; but if the eldest, or any other son reformed, he became heir-at-law ! That the children of Papists should be under no kind of dread or restraint of their parents, whoever chose to become Protestants, was allowed by the court of Chancery a stipend equal to the father's fortune during his life, and the inheritance on his decease, howsoever dissolute and abandoned he might be ! Pa- pists were rendered incapable of inheriting, by will, descent, or otherwise, any estate of Protestant relations, unless they reformed within the course of six months : they could not lend money on mortgages ; and they were forbidden even to wear that com- mon mark of gentility, a sword. Besides these and many other acts, lev- elled chiefly at the Catholic nobility and gentry, others were calculated to affect the farmer, the merchant, and the me- chanic. An act passed, declaring Roman Catholics incapable of taking lands, farms, or houses, for a longer term than thirty- one years ; but in this act there was a clause of the most pernicious tendency to the industrious farmer, and through him to the kingdom at large. For it was not enough that by circumscribing the length of his tenures, the interest of the land-holder was, at best, but short and precarious, and his inducements to improve, but few ; by this act he was obliged to pay two-thirds of the improved yearly value of such land^ otherwise it became the property of the first Protestant discoverer. Papists were for- bidden to reside in Limerick or Galway, (then great commercial cities,) except fish- ermen and labourers ; nor even these, if they paid a greater rent than forty shil- lings a year each for his holdings. Nay, popish artizans were rendered incapable of taking more than two apprentices. Whatever wise and pious intents were proposed by these, and many other acts of parliament, equally new and unprece- dented, yet the fact is, that they have been productive of the greatest calamities, as well to the nation at large, as to the par- ties more immediately affected by them, as they contributed very little towards the conversion of the Catholic natives ; they of course laid them open to every scene of distress, poverty, and misery that can well be supposed. By their effects, the bonds of society became dissolved, and the peace of families destroyed ! Parents were de- prived of rewarding their dutiful, or pun- ishing delinquent children ! The kingdom swarmed with perjurers, blood-hounds, and discoverers ; the lawyers were deeply in- terested in extending the spirit, force, and meaning of these acts, to their utmost lim- its ; and the courts had little other busi- ness but enforcing them. The act con- fining Papists to leases of thirty-one years, but particularly obliging them to pay to the landlord full two-thirds of the profit rent [A. D. 848. HISTORY OF IRELAND. S19 was one of the most oppressive and iniqui- tous that was ever dictated ! The reader will easily perceive that the other third was scarce sufficient to pay the expense of tillage, much less to yield a profit rent to the farmer. If he took a lease below this valuation, after building and improving for three or four years, he was sure to be dispossessed. The distress and ruin brought on families, and on the kingdom, by it, are not to be expressed. The coun- try became desolate, country-towns dwin- dled into wretched villages, and these soon mouldered into dust for want of trade and employment ! Still the cities continued opulent by their commerce, and the large exports, particu- larly of woollen goods, gave employment to thousands. Their situations and cir- cumstances were no more overlooked than those of the very common peasants, who were forbidden by law to take more than two acres of land each ! Very soon after the Revolution an act passed, directing two shillings in the pound duty to be paid for all Irish broad-cloths exported, and one shil- ling in the pound on narrow goods ! This was succeeded by a second, which obliged the merchant to pay four shillings in the pound on broad-cloths, and two shillings in the pound on narrow goods shipped for foreign markets. A third followed, con- fining the exportation of woollen cloths to four pounds worth to the captain, and forty shillings worth to the sailors of every ship, and no more; and this was soon after closed by a total prohibition ! The government of corporate towns be- ing transferred to new hands, their rulers, the better to ingratiate themselves with the higher powers, followed the example. Catholic merchants agreed to pay them the extraordinary duties, such as aliens pay, for permission to follow trade in their na- tive cities ; the manufacturers were obliged to pay heavy fines and quarterage to enti- tle them to pursue their different callings ; nay, the very journeymen were compelled to pay these impositions, and these, in too many instances, were extorted with un- heard-of cruelty. I shall not dwell upon these facts : they have been proved before the House of Commons ; they have been declared unlawful; and, notwithstanding the reiterated endeavours of heads of cities and corporate towns for some years past, they have not been able to gain for these acts of monopoly and oppression the force of law. Thus a profound and undisturbed peace of eighty-six years, has proved, to a large majority of the natives of this king- dom, a period of most unheard-of afflic- tions; and laws, operating against indus- try, arts, and sciences, have had the utmost success. The poor of Ireland, one of the most lovely and fruitful islands in the world, are, at this day, the most wretched and oppressed set of mortals the sun ever shone on, and we are the last nation in Europe in arts, commerce and letters ! In vain do " THESE SONS OF LIBERTY** cry out against the banishing of the Moors from Spain, and exclaim at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. It had been a happy circum- stance for the Irish had they been obliged, like the Moors, to sell their estates and quit the kingdom ; they then would have car- ried their property with them; but the penal laws deprived multitudes of this, and considerable families soon mouldered away. The laws of France operated, not on the properties, but the religion of the Hugue- nots ; those of Ireland unhappily militate against both 1 The bad policy in enacting these laws is now acknowledged by men of sense and candor, and some faint unsuccessful at- tempts have been lately made to repeal, or rather to mitigate a few of them ; but no notice is taken of their injustice, or how ruinous they have been in their conse- quences both to Britain and Ireland ; being the efficient cause of no less than four hun- dred and fifty thousand Irish enlisting them- selves under the banners of France from the year 1691 to the year 1745, inclusive! 220 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 862. CHAPTER IV. The Danes still triumphant — Turgesius demands the daughter of Malachie for a mistress — Mala- chie conspires to circumvent him, and restore liberty to his country — The Danes everywhere subdued — Mistake of Keating, and singular character of Malachie. The oppressions the Irish nation la- boured under, continued during almost the entire of Malachie's reign ; and, for a pe- riod of thirteen years, we read of no gen- erous effort made by this prince to restore peace and liberty to his country, except the few attempts made in the first year of his administration. The event, however, proves that, far from wanting abilities, genius, or courage, he was, in the main, as great a statesman and general as any na- tion produced ; but the nerves, by which only these latent virtues could be called forth, had not yet suffered the smallest vi- bration. Neither the love of glory or of his country were the predominant passions of Malachie, as is evident by his abject passiveness for so many years; but the measure of the iniquities of Turgesius, and of his barbarous hosts, was now filled, and the vengeance of an afflicted people was to be satisfied. Turgesius, accustomed to the most pas- sive obedience, and wantonly indulging every lawless passion, had seen the lovely Melcha, daughter to the monarch, and was resolved to enjoy her. He found means ! to make his desires known to her, but they j were rejected with disdain. He applied j to her father, and probably with an intent \ to make her his wife, thereby to give some appearance of justice to the entailing of the supreme command of Ireland in his family ; but this last is a mere surmise of mine, unsupported by any authority. That he requested the father's interest to procure him the daughter is certain ; and now it was that these passions, which the love of his country could not inspire, blazed forth, and, in the insults offered to his name and family, Malachie wept over the distresses of his country, and sought to remedy them. In order to gain time, he requested of Tur- gesius two days to prepare his daughter for this sacrifice; and, in return for this condescension, he engaged that she should be attended by fifteen of the finest virgins in Meath, (for this tyrant's residence was near Tara,) in order to be disposed of among his principal favourites. The Dane agreeing to this, Malachie became more composed, and, we are told,* proposed to him the following question, probably to de- termine his own future conduct : " What (says he) shall we do to clear the coun- try effectually of a parcel of foreign birds, lately come among us, who are of a most pestiferous nature ?" The tyrant, not aware of the tendency of the question, answered, " If they build nests, you can never hope to root them out without destroying these nests every where." This plainly pointed out to Malachie that, in his meditated scheme of ruining the Danes, to insure suc- cess he must destroy their castles and strongholds also. Malachie, immediately after this, retired to his palace, to consider more at leisure the conduct he should pursue. To sacri- fice his daughter to a heathen Dane, the tyrant and usurper of his country ! his soul recoiled at the thought ! The shortness of the time, and the numbers of Danish enemies, and spies in every nook in the kingdom, could not shake him from his purpose. With wonderful secrecy he had procured fifteen beardless young men, but with hearts burning to avenge the cause of their country ; and these were to be attired in female habits, each with a dirk concealed, to attend the princess of Ireland to the castle of Turgesius. He, at the same time, called together a few of his most faithful adherents and opened to them his intentions. Expresses were also sent, with the greatest privacy, from prince to prince, and from chief to chief, exhorting them to fall everywhere on the perfidious Danes, as expeditiously as possible, on the day marked down, by which means they would be disabled from affording relief to each other. During these preparations the thoughts of love only filled the breast of the amorous Dane. He prepared a most sumptuous banquet, to which he invited his * rambreiia. Topogr. Hibem. Dist. 3. c. 42. A. D. 863.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 221 chief favourites, to celebrate the reception of his mistress with great splendour. The evening of the fatal day approached ; the princess, with her attendants, advanced to- wards the castle of Turgesius, and the father, with a throbbing heart, anxious for the issue of these great events, prepared, with his forces, secretly and speedily to follow. The directions given to the young men were, the moment they perceived the Dane advancing towards the princess, they were to seize and manacle, but by no means to kill him. A sign agreed on was then to be given, the gates to be burst open, and Malachie and his party without, were to force in and put the garrison to sword, Turgesius only excepted ; all which were executed with as much courage and exactness as they were planned with se- crecy and wisdom. Malachie, now in pos- session of the tyrant, had him led in fetters in'the midst of his troops, the better to en- courage his countrymen and intimidate the Danes, who, without head or hearts, fell everywhere an easy prey to the enraged Irish. In a short time the kingdom became clear of their hostile troops, either falling in battle or escaping by their ships, and an armed Dane was not to be seen in the land ! Liberty was proclaimed, the re- mains of the clergy and the literati came forth from their lurking-places, and many of those who fled to France returned. Churches and monasteries were re-conse- crated, colleges and universities again opened, and such works as could be glean- ed, or had escaped the Danish conflagra- tions, were carefully collected. The glory of Malachie, and the greatness of his ex- ploits, were the themes of the senachies and bards, and the kingdom re-echoed the sound. The foreigners being thus subdued, and their castles and strongholds everywhere prostrated, a national assembly of the es- tates was convened at Rath-Aodh, or the Palace of Hugh, in West Meath. That no private animosities should obstruct the public concerns, the clergy, who attended this assembly, took care first to reconcile the disputes between the diflerent great chiefs. The case of the remains of these aliens who escaped the first fury of the enraged Irish was taken into consideration ; they were still numerous, and at the mercy of their enemies. Sound policy succeed- ed rage; and it was evident that they might be converted, with care, to useful subjects of the State, possessing some arts, and not totally unacquainted with trade.. It was, however, decreed that Tur- gesius should be put to death; and it was done in the most public manner, being thrown into Loch-Ainin, bound hand and foot, in the presence of his surviving coun- trymen, and thousands of spectators. This public sacrifice being over, a general am- nesty passed, by which the captive Danes became emancipated, and liberty was granted them to live in the maritime towns, and pursue commerce and manufactures under certain regulations. What other useful acts were passed in thi^ assembly we are not told ; and it is surprising that the state of their navy, and the necessity of keeping up a considerable fleet, did not then occur to them. It is, however, highly probable that it did, though no knowledge of it has come to us. Internal peace and order being happily restored by one of the most sudden, vio- lent, and successful revolutions that history can produce, the next care of Malachie was to announce this glorious event to his foreign allies. We are particularly told that, by his ambassadors to Charles the Bald, King of France, he sent rich pres- ents — probably some of the spoils of the Danes* — and a request to grant him, and his retinue, safe-guards through France, in his passage to Rome, where he intended going on a pilgrimage, to return God thanks for the happy delivery of his coun- try from foreign tyranny; but a natural death soon after prevented the execution of his pious intentions, and he was interred with great funeral pomp at Chean-Mac- Nois. We are surprised to read in Keating, and other historians, that, after this de- * Ware's Antiqaides, chap, zxiv., fix>m the Chroni- cles of Normandy. 222 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 863. struction of the Danes, and the prostration of all their castles and forts, which Mala- chie gave a particular charge to see execu- ted, that he was again obliged to make war on them ; and particularly for their putting to death Maolguala, King of Munster; but this proceeds from not properly advert- ing to dates ; for this prince fell in the be- ginning of Malachie's reign, nor was there for some years after any of these people capable of molesting the public tranquillity. The glory which this prince acquired in the decline of life, shows how little we can depend upon the general tenor of conduct in kings to determine their real abilities. We see him, in the beginning of his admin- istration, exert himself with activity in the cause of his country ; but fresh enemies constantly pouring in, so harrassed his troops and dispirited himself, that, like the present king of Poland, [1778,] he judged the very shadow of monarchy, though at the ruin of his country, preferable to a desperate exertion of power to recover the whole, or perish in the attempt. For thir- teen years, timid, passive counsels governed his conduct ; and we should have known little of his real character or amazing abil- ities, had not the spring to these passions been happily put in motion. No measures of prudence were now regarded. The Danes, possessed of all the strongholds in the kingdom, powerful at sea, with resour- ces easy to be procured from Britain and Armoric Gaul in case of necessity, dis- persed over every part of the land, and commanded everywhere. Yet all these dangers appeared as nothing in his eyes ; but the moment the honour of his family was attacked, he projected and succeeded in one of the boldest enterprises that human genius could imagine, to preserve his daughter, while, with half this vigour, and not half the danger, he might have, long before that, destroyed them, had he been as active in the cause of his country ! CHAPTER V. Of Aodh VII., and the artifices of the Danes to gain a new footing in Ireland — They become again terrible to the natives — Reign of Flan, and his invasion of South Munster — Singular reason for entering North Monster, and his defeat there — The Danes avail themselves of these intestine broils — Of Cormoc, King of Munster — Cause of his invading Leinster — His will — Defeat and death in the battle of Maigh-Ailbe. Aodh, or Hugh VII., the son of Niall- Caille, now succeeded to the monarchy. Though the Danes, as a military people, were expelled from the kingdom, yet the fertility of the soil and beauty of the coun- try, and still more, its immense riches, were continual stimulants to them to pant for a re-possession of it. They saw it was impracticable to attempt this by force, as, by the convention at Rath- Aodh, all parts of the kingdom had confederated to oppose these foreign invasions. After much consultation, the following project, says Cambrensis, was agreed to. Three brothers, Amelanus, Sitaracus, and Ivorus, commanders of great abilities, fitted out a considerable fleet, consisting of merchan- dise, but in which large quantities of arms were concealed ; and the better to deceive the vigilance of the Irish, they were divided into three squadrons. One sailed up the Shannon, to dispose of their goods at Lim- erick, commanded by Ivorus. He waited upon Lachtna, King of North Munster, presented him with some rare curiosities, requesting his permission to settle in that city, with his people, in the way of traffic, and promising extraordinary duties for this liberty. In like manner Amelanus was permitted to settle in Dublin, by the king of Leinster ; and Sitaracus in Waterford, by the prince of the Deasies. Cambrensis and the Polychronicon aflirm, that by these three leaders were these cities for the first time built; but the reader cannot forget that they were cities of note long before Christianity, and that the trade of Dublin, in particular, was so great in those early days, that a most bloody war broke out, in the decline of the second century, be- tween the monarch Con and the king of Munster, to determine to whom the duties upon exports and imports in that city A. D. 869.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 223 should be paid. Add to this, that St. Pat- rick celebrates it for its great trade, riches, and splendour ; and, as to Waterford, the name of it in Irish, sufficiently declares its ancient commerce, being called Port- Lairge, or the harbour in form of a thigh ; so that if it had not been noted for trade, it would not have got the name of Port. These chiefs now laid themselves out to pay their court to the different princes in whose territories they had got footing. They entered into their interests, soothed their passions, and engaged to support their different claims. It must be confessed that the Irish have a greater milkiness of tem- per than any other nation; and English writers, and English governors, while they have been plundering them of their pro- perty, and forming the most iniquitous schemes against them, abundantly acknow- ledge how much gentle words could pacify them. We must not then be surprised that the Danish intrigues proved so successful. As the fast friends and allies of these Irish princes, they were permitted to purchase land, and erect castles and strongholds for their security ; and by this means, and the accession of fresh forces, under the disguise of merchants and travellers, they became very formidable friends in a short time. Thus Amelanus, (or as he is called in our annals Amhlaoibh,) uniting with the Lagenians, attacked the forces of Connor, the son of Donough, Governor of Meath, and defeated them at Clonaird. Among the slain was this Connor, who fell by the sword of Humphry, a Danish prince. Encouraged by this success, and joined by fresh forces, Amelanus, the spring follow- ing, made a sudden incursion into Ulster, surprised Armagh, and, after plundering the churches and sacred places of their riches, set fire to them, putting at the same time to the sword, above a thousand people, clergy and laity. The monarch hastily collected a body of men and came up with the incendiaries, and their Irish allies, at Loch-Foil, in the county of Don- egal. The action was long and severe, but victory at length declared in favour of Aodh. Of the Danes only, twelve hun- dred were slain in the field, with forty officers of note : how many of their allies fell on that day is not said. Encouraged by this success, the monarch attacked their castles and garrisons, recovering a considerable part of the booty they had taken. Among other exploits, he set fire to the castle of Cluan-Dalcham, near Dub- lin, and put the garrison, and numbers of their best commanders, then shut up there, to the sword. To revenge these affronts, Amelanus, soon after, laid an am- buscade, and surprised, and put to the sword, or made prisoners, above two thousand Irish. Encouraged by this suc- cess, Amelanus, with his Irish associates, took the field ; but Aodh, at the head of one thousand cavaliers, and as many foot, mounted on the troop-horses, for greater expedition, attacked their army so cour- ageously and seasonably, that, of above five thousand men of which it was com- posed, few escaped the slaughter. Soon after, Amelanus and his brother Ivorus collected their best troops, and hastened to the assistance of Hinguar and Hubba, their allies, then hard pressed by the Welch. For it was a policy successfully practised by this people, when they found themselves too closely pressed in different places, to give up one or two, for a time, in order to be more successful in a third ; and, when they had established their power in the last place, to return with greater forces to the former. The histories of France and England, as well as Ireland, sufficiently prove this, and will clearly explain why they so speedily recruited their forces, and triumphed over troops which, a little before, they retreated from. Their success in Wales was so great, in this last expedition, that Roger, the son of Moirman, King of the Britons, fled to Ire- land for refuge, and was most honourably entertained by the monarch. For the remainder of this reign, we read of no further hostile attempts of the Danes ; and in this time many churches and pub- lic edifices were re-built and re-edified. Among others, Armagh, Kildare, Skelig, St. Michael, in the county of Kerry, etc.. 224 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 888. resumed their former splendour; but the Danish depredations on the English and Scottish coasts were so great, that the rich shrine of St. Columba was, for its greater security, in 875, conveyed to Ire- land, from the Isle of Huy. The monarch at length departed this life in peace, the twentieth of November, 879, with the character of a good prince, a good soldier, and a good Christian. Flan-Sionna, son of the intrepid Malachie, was called to the throne. His reign com- menced with a sudden invasion of Munster, in which he carried everything before him. Cean-Faola (not Maolguala, with Keat- ing) was at this time king of Munster, and at the same time abbot of Emely ; and we cannot be surprised at the success of the monarch against such an enemy. We are told in the Psalter of Cashell, that the mon- arch became so elated at this success, that one day, in the presence of his generals and his court, he declared that he would enter hostilely into any territory in Ire- land, and that with as much safety and as little fear of an enemy as if he had been on a royal tour ; and, in consequence of this confidence, he announced his intention of amusing himself at chess on his march home. Mac Lonnan, the chief bard, who thought it his duty to check such vain sallies, answered, that if he went into the Dai-Gas territories, or those of Thomond, in the same manner, and offered such marks of contempt to that intrepid race, he would soon see the difference between invading the territories of a warrior and of a priest. Enraged at this tart remark. Flan ordered the tents to be immediately struck, and directed his march towards Thomond; but Lorcan, king of that country, alarmed at the invasion of South Munster, had al- ready collected his forces, apprehensive of such a visit. As soon as Flan had crossed the Shannon, and advanced some miles into the country, he pitched his tents, and ordered the chess-tables to be produced, that he and his chief commanders might sit down to play. Lorcan was a prince of uncommon intrepidity, and possessed besides of great abilities for the field or the cabinet: he deemed this mark of contempt a greater indignity than the invasion itself. Scarce had Flan and his officers began their games, when the Dalgais broke into their camp, overturned the tables, and call- ed the monarch to another party. Both armies immediately engaged with great fury, and night only ended the contest for the present. The battle was renewed next morning with the rising sun, and continued till night. It was a point of honour that gave rise to the whole dispute ; and this only could end with the destruction of one party or the other, for neither would re- treat. It ended indeed the evening of the third day, but with the destruction of al- most the whole of the imperial army ; and Flan himself was obliged to send this very Mac Lonnan to Lorcan, to beg a safeguard for himself and the remainder of his shat- tered forces, which was immediately grant- ed. This battle, and the consequences of it, proclaim but too much the natural dis- positions of the Irish to contentions ; and how ready they were, on the most trifling occasions, to rush wantonly into battle. It however proves that their very manner of giving offence had something in it noble and manly. In 888, Cean-Faola, King of Munster, died, and was succeeded by Donogh, the son of Duibh-Dabhorean, of the same Eu- genian stock. The Danes, from their successes in Bri- tain and Gaul, were enabled to reinforce their garrisons in Ireland ; and they avail- ed themselves of the supineness of their enemies, for in 883, they invaded Leinster, and plundered many rich churches and abbeys, particularly those of Kildare and the Naas, returning to Dublin, laden with spoils, and two hundred and eighty cap- tives, among whom was Suine, the son of Duibh-Dabhorean, prior of Kildare, and other ecclesiastics of prime quality, who were ransomed at a very great expense. In 885, the monarch Flan attacked Dublin, but his army was defeated, and among the slain was Largisius, Bishop of Kildare. The death of this prelate shows that the ordinance of Aodh VI. dispensing prelates A. D. 906.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 225 from attending the royal army, was not perpetual. In 890, the Danes made a sud- den incursion into Ulster, plundering the churches of Armagh, and returning with an immense booty, and a vast number of captives. They at the same time established a colony at Loch-Foil; and the lake was covered with their sloops and boats, from which they at times sorely distressed the adjacent parts. The monarch enraged at these repeated depredations, and partic- ularly for their again plundering Kildare, the Naas, Cluanaird, etc., engaged then in a most bloody battle, remarkable only for its carnage, without any visible advantages to either party. The next year gave rise to a fresh engagement, in which the mon- arch kept the field, but his loss was very considerable. In 893, the Danes about Loch-Foil, collected a considerable force and plundered Armagh ; and the year after, notwithstanding the distresses of the king- dom, instead of convening the national estates, and renewing the general confed- eracy of Rath-Aodh, we find Flan collect- ing a mighty army, again to invade Mun- ster ; but what the success of this second expedition was, we are not told. Our annals are silent as to other public events till the year 902, when Cormoc, the son of Cuillenan, was proclaimed king of Munster, on the death of Donogh. He was at the same time archbishop of Cash- ell or Munster, and thus united the regal and pontifical dignities. However, there was pothing singular in this in Ireland, any more than in other countries ; for two of his predecessors, and of the same Eugenian line, to wit, Olchubhar, and Cean-Foala, were abbots of Emely, while kings of Mun- ster ; and Muredach, the son of Bran, con- temporary with Cean-Foala, was at the same time abbot of Kildare, and king of Leinster. Not to mention sacred history, where we find many Jewish princes high- priests, Mahomet, and many of his suc- cessors, under the title of Caliphs, ruled both in spirituals and temporals. The reign of the immaculate Cromwell and his pious hosts will not be soon forgotten. He 29 was at the same time protector and high- priest, and his officers acted as justices, clergymen, and soldiers occasionally; so that his administration might be called the church militant. Thus Anius in Virgil : — " Rex Anius, rex idem hominum, Phcebi^ue sacerdos !" Sofme time after Cormoc was proclaimed king of Munster, he paid a visit to Lor- can. King of Thomond. This prince, not content with punishing Flan for his inva- sion of his territories, by defeating his army, fitted a large fleet of sloops and small craft on the Shannon, from which he made sud- den incursions on both sides that ri\wr, and returned home with considerable booty, both from Meath and Connaught. Cormoc and his retinue were entertained by this prince, with all the expensive profiision of Irish banquets, and returned to Cashell with hostages from eleven out of twelve of the counties of which Thomond was then composed. The next year Lorcan returned Cormoc's visit, and was assigned the northern half of the palace of Cashell, for himself and his retinue ; but these visits were something more than ceremony. Domhnal, the son of Cathil, and king of Connaught, was collecting a large army to invade Thomond ; and it was necessary to be prepared for this event. The invasion took place, but with little success. The next year Flan again entered Munster, and penetrated with his forces as far as Lim- erick ; but was obliged to retreat. Lorcan uniting his forces with those of Cormoc, composed a very considerable army, and with it they invaded Meath. The monarch met them on the plains of Maigh-Lena, so memorable for the bloody engagement be- tween the monarch Con, and Eogan, King of Munster, in the second century. The battle soon commenced, and Flan and his army were defeated. Cormoc is represented by our historians as a prince of exemplary piety, justice, and learning. The causes generally assigned for his invading Leinster, and in which at- tempt he lost his life, by no means justifies this character. It is said he undertook this war to reclaim the tribute paid to Munster, fi-om the days of Conaire the Great, by the 326 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 910. Lagenians, for the murder of his father, but which had not been demanded for near two centuries, and therefore, by disuse, was in a manner abolished. The fact was not so ; and that valuable tract, the book of Lecan, proves it. In the beginning of the eighth century were six brothers, all descendants of the Eogonachts of South Munster, men of un- feigned piety, and who had dedicated them- selves to monastic lives. Eminus, one of them, had obtained from the Lagenians a tract of ground, near the river Barrow, on which he erected a monastery, and endow- ed it with particular privileges. By the religious vows of his order, they were to taste neither meat or butter, and no Lein- ster subjects was to be received into this house, except approved of by the abbot. The fame of this monastery, and the great austerity of its monks, drew numbers of people to it, so that it became in some time a considerable city. It was called Ros- Glas, and as the abbey was composed en- tirely of Munster men, the word Muim- neach, was added to it. It was named also from this Eminus, or Evinus, Monaster Evin, and which name it goes by to this day. Cearbhuil, King of Leinster, had taken possession of this house, for the use of his own people, and the exiled monks applied to Cormoc. It was a religious dis- pute, and he entered into it with alacrity. His confidant and first minister, was the abbot of Inis-Catha, or ,Scattery, of the same blood with himself, but violent and positive in his temper. He represented it as the cause of God and of religion ; and nothing but a most exemplary punishment could atone for this sacrilege. The mon- arch interfered, and the king of Leinster sent ambassadors, and oflfered his son as a hostage, to restore all matters to their pris- tine order. This proposal, though it satis- fied Cormoc, could not appease the abbot. In short, he so worked on the temper of the king, that an invasion of Leinster was resolved on ; and in which we find the two Munsters engaged ! For he sent for Lor- can. King of Thomond, and declared in the presence of his council, that he should in justice, and agreeable to the will of their common ancestor, Oilioll, succeed him as king of Leath-Mogha. While the army was collecting and preparing for this ex- pedition, he seemed to have a prescience of his own death. He made his last will, and prepared for a speedy dissolution. This will is yet extant, both in prose and verse. In the last, he bequeathed to the abbot of Inis-Catha, his most costly sacred vestments ; his clock, which called him to his devotions, to the nunnery on the river Fergus ; his royal robes, embroidered with gold, and set with costly jewels, were to be deposited in the monastery of Roscrea, to the care of the order of St. Cronan ; his armour and coat of mail, he bequeathed to the king of Ulster ; his gold chain to St. Muchuda ; the rest of his wardrobe to Mac Gleinin ; and his psalter, which he faith- fully transcribed from ancient records, he ordered to be deposited at Cashell, as a monument to future ages. He left gold and silver chalices, vestments, and presents of gold and silver to the principal churches of the kingdom. The Munster army at length entered Leinster in three divisions. The first was commanded by the abbot of Inis-Catha, and the prince of Ossory ; the second by Cormoc himself; and the third by the the prince of the Deasies. The Lagenians were not behindhand in their preparations, yet they still made one effort more to pre- serve peace. It was the custom on those occasions, to send heralds to announce the time and place of action ; and in return to the challenge of Cormoc, the Lagenians again sued for peace, which the principal officers thought equitable, but which the counsels of the abbot Flabhertach over- ruled. The battle that ensued was fatal to the Mamonians ; and it is agreed on, that neither their officers or soldiers entered into it with spirit. But had they con- sidered that though this war was not to their liking, yet still when the battle com- menced, that on their own bravery their safety depended, their defeat would not have been so considerable, nor their loss so great as it was. This bloody battle was A. D. 916.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 227 fought in the barony of Idrone, in the coun- ty of Carlow and from the place is called the battle of Belach-Muga, or of Magh- Ailbe. It is said that as soon as the signal for engaging was thrown out, Ceilliochar, one of Cormoc's leaders, who commanded a body of horse, rode through the ranks, and called aloud to his men to retreat: that the war was a wanton one — a war of priests — and to them it should be left to decide it. On this he clapped spurs to his horse and quitted the field, followed by many of his people, which greatly dispirited others. The engagement, however, con- tinued with great obstinacy for many hours, notwithstanding that the monarch fought on the Leinster side ; but the Mamonians at length suffered a most complete defeat ; six thousand of their bravest veterans, with numbers of officers, besides Cormoc him- self, fell that day, with many princes and nobles. Among these were O'Felan, prince of the Deasies, in the county of Waterford ; O'Keefe, prince of Fermoigh ; O'Liathan, prince of that territory, now called Barry- more ; CShaghnessy, prince of Aidhne, now called Killtartan, in the county of Gal- way, (then in exile ;) Mac Ennery, prince of Ui-Connell, or Upper Connells, in the county of Limerick ; O'Sullivan, prince of Dunkerman, in the county of Kerry ; Mad- igan, brother to Donogh, late king of Mun- ster ; Fitz Patrick, prince of Ossory, and many others. To account in some meas- ure for the numbers of prime quality that fell in this battle on the side of Munster, it is to be noticed, that this Eminus, was deemed the chief saint and protector of the Eogonachts. So much so, that his conse- crated bell, which was called Bernan-Em- hin, was what was swore upon in solemn trials by all this tribe, and always deposited with the Mac Egan's hereditary chief- justices of South Munster. The bell of St. Sennanus (or some other for it) is still religiously preserved in the west of the county of Clare ; and to swear by it false- ly, it is agreed upon by the common people, would be immediately followed by convul- sions and death. If these are acts of su- perstition, the sensible reader will, however, agree with me, that they are arts innocent in themselves, calculated for the best pur- poses, and for the meridian in which they prevail. After the battle, the body of Cor- moc was searched for, and his head, taken off, was presented by some soldiers to the monarch Flan, in hopes of a great reward ; but this generous prince upbraided them for their cruelty, ordered them out of his presence; and it is said even kissed the head, lamenting the loss of so wise a prince, and so religious a prelate. He then di- rected the body to be sought for, and ordered both to be delivered to Monach, the confessor of Cormoc, to be interred with suitable honours, where his will had ap- pointed. Among the prisoners of note taken in the above battle was Flabhertach, the cause of all this dreadful carnage. It is highly honourable to the ancient clergy of Ireland, that though they had some hot-headed priests among them, who were the cause of much blood being spilt, as St. Columba in the sixth, and the abbot of Inis-Catha in this century, who were both of the blood- royal, yet far from being countenanced in these hostile deeds, (though both contended for the privileges of the church,) we find them punished by the clergy. The first was banished to Scotland, and this last im- prisoned for two years, and then ordered to a severe penance in his monastery of Scattery. Dubhlactna succeeded to the throne of Munster and reigned six years. After a long reign of thirty-six years and some months, Flan-Sionna departed this life, the 8th of June, 916. Whatever his abilities might have been, his actions dis- played little of magnanimity or sound pol- icy. A small exertion of either, consider- ing the length of his administration, would have effectually freed his country from those vile incendiaries the Danes, and saved the nation from new scenes of cruelty and barbarity. 228 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 950. CHAPTER VI. State of letters in the tenth age — Clement and Albin first regents of the universities of Paris and Pavia — A mistake of M. Fleury's corrected, and a further account of Clement — Of Dungnl, Donatus, Moongnl, Feidhlim, the Abbot Pat- rick — Of the celebrated Scotus, and some ac- count of his works — A different person from John Scotus, professor at Oxford — Of Ornulphus and Buo — Remarks on the erection of schools in France — Decay of Irish hospitable houses there. It is agreed on that the first universities founded on the continent were those of Paris and Pavia, and that Claude Clement was regent of the first, and Albin of the other, who were both Scots. They got the title of universities to distinguish them from schools ; as in the first, professors were appointed to instruct in every science, whereas in schools, particular branches of literature only were taught — as philosophy in one, divinity in another, and so on. From the name of Scots given to Clement and Albin, former North British writers have vainly claimed them as their countrymen ; but nothing is more clear than that they were Scots of Ireland, which was the only country known by that name, from the third to the eleventh century, as the learned Usher, and all our historians and antiqua- rians have proved. I have said former North British writers have attempted to make them citizens of Caledonia, because the present race seem in unison that their ancestors were totally illiterate, so that the fact does not now admit of litigation ; but to such as may entertain the least doubt of this matter, I must refer them to authori- ties that cannot be controverted.* Some epistles of Albin are yet extant, and the works of Clement were ^o many, and so erudite, that a learned writer of the fourteenth century affirmed, " That by the works of Clement, an Irishman, the French might be compared to the Athenians and Romans, f" Fleury makes of Claude Clement two distinct persons. J The first, he says, was a * Hibern. Resurgeus. Act. Sanct. Hibern. p. 696. Prim. Eccles. Brit. Lynch's Letter, at the end of Ogy- gia, vindicated. Harris's Irish Writers, p. 54, etc. t Bebenburgius de Zelo Veter. Princip. German. t Hist Eccl. vol. X. p. 28. Spaniard, and bishop of Turin, the last an Irish Scot, the successor to Alcuin in the schools of the palace of Charlemagne. However, all ancient writers agree that, not the schools of the palace, but the uni- versity of Paris was founded by Clement, and this before Alcuin put his foot in that capital. Some affirm that he was, after this, consecrated bishop of Auxerre ; but this is a manifest anachronism, as Claude of Auxerre flourished much earlier. The great probability is that he was made bishop of Turin, and, under that title he became so noted for his writings ; and of course, suppressing his surname, he might be easily taken for a different person. M. Fleury acknowledges that Clement was regent of the school, and that Claude lec- tured in divinity there, and was, after this, bishop of Turin : but the fact is, that the regent was also professor of divinity, and of course bishop of Turin ; and that this was the case, we see, by the works, which M. Fleury attributes to this writer, appear- ing to be the very same which Colgan, Usher, Harris, etc. give to Claude Clement.* The great erudition of Clement, his ex- positions of many books of the Old and New Testament, and his talents as a preacher, determined Louis, the successor of Charlemagne, to have him consecrated bishop of Turin, in which diocese many abuses had arisen. The Greek Church had been long divided about the question of images^ and our new bishop proved him- self a violent /conoc/asf. It appears that in his diocese, great abuses had been com- mitted through the extreme ignorance of the people and clergy, insomuch that these images, which were intended to excite de- votion, and a lively imitation of the sanc- tity of those they represented, rather in- creased the superstition of the people ! He endeavoured to reclaim them by preach- ing and exhortations ; but his zeal carried him so far as to break and destroy most of these images, and even to remove the crosses from several churches. He de- fended these outrages by several learned writings, and was answered by some, but » Hist. Eccl. vol. X. p. 345. [A.D. 950. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 229 by none in so masterly a manner as by a countryman of his own — Dungal, a cele- brated theologian, who was one of the clergy who happily escaped the first Dan- ish proscription, fled to France, and be- came a monk of St. Denis, near Paris. He wrote a treatise Pro Cultu Sacrarum Ima- ginum, etc., in which he distinguished be- tween the use and abuse of images, con- formable to the doctrines of the Church ; and accused Claude, in his intemperate abuse of images, of reviving the heresies of Eunomius and Vigilantius. This work he dedicated to the emperors Louis and Lothaire. Fleury tells us he was a for- eigner, without ascertaining his country ;* but had we no other proofs of it but his name, it would sufliciently point out his country.f Donat was one of the number who fled from Ireland to avoid the butchery by the Danes in this age ; he retired to a hermit- age in Tuscany, from whence he was called to the bishoprick of Fiesole. Some works are attributed to him ; but a Latin Description of Ireland, beginning with " Finibus Occidius describitur Optima Tel- lus," it was agreed on was written by him. Colgan promised to publish his life in his List of Irish Saints for the month of Octo- ber ; but of this great work, his Trias Thaumaturga, and Lives of Saints for the first three months, only have appeared. Moengal, called by the Latins Marcel- lus, was an Irish monk of the order of St. Columbanus, who escaped the fury of the Danes, with his uncle Bishop Marcus. Returning from Rome, he came to the ab- bey of St. Gall, to visit Grimoald, abbot of that monastery} and others, his country- men, there residing. He was requested to remain there and superintend the schools of that house, to which the children of the princes and nobility, from a great distance, were sent for education. He wrote Ho- mil. in Lect. Evangel, which work is said to be yet extant. Feidlemid-Mac-Criomthan, who had re- signed the crown of Munster in this cen- * Hist. Eccles. vol. i. p. 256. t Act Sanct. Hib., p. 256, 257. tury for a monastic life, is said, in his re- treat, to have written some tracts, as well historical as devotional ; but both the works and their very titles are lost. Patrick, Abbot of Armagh, wrote a Book of Homilies and Letters to the Irish Nation. He retired to Britain from the Danish fury, and died in the abbey of Glas- tonbury : his feast is celebrated on the twenty-fourth of August; and from the name many have asserted that it was not this Patrick, but the celebrated apostle of Ireland that was interred in that famous abbey. Usher gives a large account of this matter.* The celebrated Scotus, called John Eri- gena, escaped the Danish persecution in 846, and fled to France with other reli- gious. His great erudition, his assiduity and penetrating genius, so far gained the affection of Charles the Bald, then king of France, that he lodged him in his palace, and even made him eat at the same table with himself.f At the request of this mon- arch, he translated from the original Greek into Latin, the works of St. Denis, and, through his influence, he was prevail- ed upon by Hincmarius, Archbishop of Rheims, and Pardulus, Bishop of Laon, to undertake the defence of the Church against the attacks of the Predestinarians. This work is addressed to these prelates, in which he acknowledges the great hon- our done him in deigning him worthy of so great a task. Questions concerning grace, predestination, and abstracted sub- jects of this kind, often bewilder the ima- gination and are perpetual sources of skep- ticism. He professed to follow closely the doctrine of St. Augustine ; but this work was condemned in the third Council of Valence, as was, in later times, a similar work written by Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres ; though like our Scotus, he also pretended the authority of Augustine for what he advanced ! Soon after the appearance of this work of Scotus, we find it warmly attacked by Prudentius, Bishop of Troyes ; the church of Lyons also employed the * Primord. p. 890, etc. t Hist. Eccles. tom. x. p. 440. 830 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 950. Deacon Florus, a celebrated theologian, to refute it ; and many others entered into the controversy. In their answers they charge Scotus with the doctrines of Pela- gius ; and it would seem, by them, as if his writings were not only condemned, but he himself confined for publishing them. The controversy of the eucharist became a new subject of dispute among these subtle theologians ; and Charles, who knew nothing of the matter, was frequent- ly appealed to by both sides. Hincma- rius and Scotus were, however, his ora- cles ; to them he mostly appealed, and, at this time, Scotus was particularly con- sulted by him.* This would seem to re- fute the insinuation of his being confined ; but be that as it may, the treatise he wrote on this subject met as many opponents as the former, and was at last condemned in the Council of Verceil, A. D. 1050. Even his translation of Dionysius's works were not well received, particularly at Rome. We are told that Pope Nicholas wrote to Charles about this translation, complaining that the author, though a man of great erudition, was suspected of not being or- thodox ; and therefore that the book should have been first sent to him for his appro- bation, before it was published.f So many, and such powerful enemies, united against a single man and a stranger, made Charles apprehensive for his safety, and he recommended him to return to his na- tive country, especially as by the late destruction of the Danes, religion and lib- erty were again established there. Sco- tus returned to Ireland in 864, and died there in 874. Some writers suppose our John the same who was invited by King Alfred to superintend the schools at Ox- ford; but Fleury tells us, that this last was a Saxon born, but educated in France, and by no means to be confounded with John Scotus. J The writings of this great man were very numerous ; and we sup- * Dupin's Ecclefl. Histoiy, cent. 9, t Spotswood's Charch HiBtory. Harris's Writers of Ireland. t Hist. Eccles. lib. liv. sect. 8. pose his astonishing erudition, abilities, and high favour with Charles the Bald, made him be treated with much greater severity by his contemporaries than he deserved. He was not only a complete master of the Greek and Latin, but also of the Oriental languages; and this circumstance alone proves the flourishing state of letters in Ireland in these days. How distinguished a figure our literati cut in France at this time, may be collected from what Eric of Auxerre, in his letter to Charles the Bald, says — " Why do I speak of Ireland ? That whole nation, almost despising the dangers of the sea, resort to our coasts with a nu- merous train of philosophers, of whom, the most celebrated, quitting their native soil, account themselves happy under your pro- tection, as servants of the wise Solomon." And in another place, he tells us, " that Charles drew Greeks and Irish, with flocks of philosophers, for the instruction of his people." Omulphus and Buo directed their course from Ireland to Iceland, to propagate Christianity, with other monks in their retinue. They were of the order of St. Columba, and erected a monastery in the town of Esinburg. They converted the natives, and are esteemed the apostles of Iceland, as Angrim Jonas, in his history of that country declares.* Buo is said to have written Homil. ad Islandos, lib. i. Early in this century we read of num- bers of public schools being established in France ; and the great advantages arising from them were so visible, that, in the Council of Langres, held A. D. 859, the princes and the bishops were exhorted to erect schools in convenient places, as well for improvement in the learned languages, as for the better understand- ing of the Holy Scriptures. When the reader recollects that, from the first intro- duction of Christianity into Ireland, the missionaries opened schools to instruct, in religion and letters, and that the number and fame of these schools increased as their doctrine spread, when he also calls to mind the numbers of holy doctors who * Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 256, A. D. 950.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 231 afterwards quitted this country to reform the neighbouring states, and especially in the present century, he will be apt. to con- clude that the French (as the Britons and Saxons did before them) not only adopted our mode of propagating Christianity, but employed also our doctors to establish it. Hence the crowds of our philosophers and doctors pouring into France, as noted by Eric, are accounted for. Indeed, the in- tercourse between both countries, from a remote date, seems to have been very considerable. When the abbey of Ni- velle was founded in favour of St. Ger- trude, daughter to the illustrious Pepin, mayor of the palace to Dagobert and Sige- bert III., in the seventh century, her mo- ther, while she sent to Rome for relics, and copies of the Lives of Saints, sent, at the same time, to Ireland for lettered men to instruct her community, and for musi- cians and chanters to teach them psalm- singing. Among the first, were St. Foil- Ian, St. Ultan, etc., and she erected for them a monastery, or rather, a house of hospitality, for the reception and entertain- ment of pious and other Irish, travelling that way, at Fosse, near the abbey of Ni- velle.* Many others were erected through France by pious Irishmen for the same purpose ; and in the Council of Meaux, held in 845, among other acts, they direct, "That complaint shall be made to the king of the ruin of hospitable houses, but particularly of those of the Irish nation, founded by charitable natives of that coun- try. Not only (say they) have these in- truders refused to receive or entertain such as present themselves for relief, but they have even ejected these religious, whose duty it was to relieve the sick, the dis- tressed, and the stranger." f The erection of those houses is surely an incontroverti- ble proof of the close correspondence be- tween the nations, and of the numbers of Irish thereto resorting from time to time. * Fleury, Hist. Eccles. torn. viii. p. 421. t Idem, torn. z. p. 382. BOOK XI. CHAPTER I. Of the monarch Niall, with a retrospective view of Irish affnira — A fresh invasion of the Danes — Battle of Cennnfund — A more fatal one near Dublin, in which the monarch fell — Storm of Armagh — Donachad elected monarch ; engages and defeats the Danes — Review of the affairs of Munster — Invaded from Connaught — Lorcan succeeds to the crown of Munster — Battle of Roscrea, and defeat of the Danes. NiALL IV., called Glun-Duibh, or the Black Knee, son of the monarch Aodh, was successor to Flan. The very bad policy pursued by his predecessor, who, during his long reign, instead of uniting all parts of the kingdom against the common enemy, studied only how to distress the other provinces, and particularly Leath- Mogha, gave the Danes full leisure to es- tablish their power, which they promoted with less suspicion, by engaging in the interests of the different competitors. Cormoc, King of Munster, misled by weak heads, contributed not a little to increase their influence in that province. Lorcan, of the Dalgais line, notwithstanding Cor- moc's declaration, was, we see, excluded from the crown of Munster, and even after the death of Dubhlactna, Flabher- tach. Abbot of Inis-Catha, was appointed to that honour, to his prejudice ; so that these two great houses lost that mutual confidence so necessary to make them respectable. Such was the situation of the kingdom at this time. Private animos- ities directed public counsels ; the national chiefs were more jealous of each other than of the common enemy ; and the Danes availed themselves of these unhappy feuds.* The times seemed favourable to reduce the kingdom once more to their obedience; and they waited only for reinforcements to throw off* the mask entirely. A part of these arrived in Ulster, committing every- where their usual depredations. The mon- arch, at the head of a considerable army, soon came up with them. Both parties prepared for battle ; but the fortune of the day at length declared in favour of the Irish. The foreigners were defeated with great slaughter ; but the victors purchased the day very dearly, most of their principal officers and best soldiers having fallen in the combat. The next year a fresh party of Danes entered the harbour of Dublin, and landing their troops, were joined by numbers of their countrymen, so as to form a very considerable body, with which they invaded the province of Leinster; leaving everywhere marks of their fe- rocity and cruelty. Lorcan, the son of Felan, king of that province, collected his troops from all quarters to oppose them. A bloody battle was fought on the plains of Ceannfuad, in which the Lagenians were defeated with great carnage, and among their slain were many princes and nobles of prime quality. Animated by this suc- cess, they sent for fresh forces, to make a complete conquest of the kingdom. In 919, a considerable fleet appeared in the harbour of Dublin, commanded by God- frey, the son of Jomhair : to the superior capacity of this last general were the Danes indebted for their late victory : and now both armies uniting, Dublin was at- tacked with incredible fury, and, after a gallant resistance, taken sword in hand, and the garrison put to the rout. All Leath-Cuin became alarmed at these uncommon successes of the enemy, whom they, before this, seldom engaged without ?** A. D. 934]. HISTORY OF IRELAND. 233 a certainty of victory. The imperial standard was set up, and to it troops re- paired from all quarters. A very consid- erable army was soon formed ; and it was judged proper to attack the enemy before they possessed themselves of other strong- holds. The two armies met near Dublin on the 16th of October, and the engage- ment soon commenced. Never was great- er intrepidity displayed than by both ar- mies. The fight continued for many hours ; but the Irish at length gave way on every side. In vain were they called by their leaders to return to the charge : unable to resist the number and impetuos- ity of the enemy, they betook themselves to a shameful flight instead of a regular retreat The monarch determined not to survive the disgrace, and, with a chosen band, consisting of the prime knights and nobility of the kingdom, rushed into the thickest part of the Danish troops, where he and his whole party were cut off, hut by no inglorious wounds ! With Niall fell that day, Aodh, King of Ulster, Connor, son of Flan, and prince of Tara, the prin- ces of Orgial, Breagh, with many other princes and nobles ; and from this we may judge how great the loss in general must have been. This battle, though fought so late in the season, did not prevent the en- terprising Jomhair from improving his advantages ; while he laid the adjacent country in ruin and ashes he detached his son Godfrey, with a considerable body of forces, to make an irruption into Ulster, in revenge for the defeat he received there in the year 917 ; and in the middle of No- vember, he took Armagh, sword in hand, and put the garrison to the sword ; " hut sparing the churches, the clergy, and the infirm" say the Annals of the Four Masters. Donachad II., son of the monarch Flan, was elected monarch, and began his reign with some eclat. He collected the shat- tered forces of Leath-Cuin, which he con- siderably reinforced by fresh troops, and led them forth, without loss of time, against the Danes. These last, accustomed of late to victory, did not decline the combat; they 30 even marched into Meath, to meet the enemy. The engagement was desperate and bloody ; but, notwithstanding the great abilities of Jomhair as a general, seconded by the valour and discipline of his troops, they were at length obliged to give way on every side, and the slaughter in the field, and in the pursuit, was incredibly great. Our annalists note, that their loss in this battle amply compensated for that of the Irish, the preceding year. Dona- chad detached flying parties to cut off the enemy's retreat, and destroyed all their garrisons and strongholds ; so that nothing remained to them in Leinster and Meath but the city of Dublin, which was too well fortified, and had too formidable a garrison for Donachad to sit down before it Munster was still divided about the suc- cession to that crown. The posterity of Cormoc-Cas, had been long deprived of their right of alternate succession ; and engaged in protecting their frontiers from the Conacian invaders, they wanted that power so necessary to support right among princes. The great abilities of Lorcan, as a general and statesman, and the length of his reign, gave new force and vigour to the territory of North Munster. The king of Connaught prepared again to invade that province, both by land and sea. A party of his men landed near Loch-Dearg, and surprised the fort which defended the palace of Lorcan, put the garrison to the sword, and plundered and set fire to the palace, but were disappointed of their principal object, which was the capture of the prince him- self, who happily at that time was engaged elsewhere. They now formally demanded of Lorcan hostages, as vassal to the king of Connaught or to surrender to them that part of North Munster included in the present county of Clare. To so insolent a message he returned a proper answer, and ordered the beacons to be lighted up, which was a notice for the whole province imme- diately to repair to him, with horses and arms. It is curious, even at this day, to observe the judgment with which these beacons were placed. I have examined several of these eminences, and am there- 234 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 942. fore a judge of the matter. Not only through the whole county of Clare were forts so disposed, that in two hours the entire county could receive the alarm, whether the attempts were made by sea or land, or both, but in Lower Ormond, stations were so judiciously placed, that the least attempts or preparations towards the Shannon side were quickly made known. By these means Lorcan soon collected a considerable force — for the whole province took fire at the attempt on his person. Not satisfied with repelling the invaders, and defeating them both by land and sea, he, in his turn, entered Connaught, carrying fire and sword through a great part of the province, and returned home laden with spoils and glory.* Flabhertach, the abbot of Inis-Catha, who, from a penitentiary, was called to succeed Dubhlachtna on the throne of Mimster, dying after a reign of twenty-six years, Lorcan, though greatly advanced in years, insisted on the right of succession in his house, and marched towards Cash- ell with a considerable army, (where the estates were assembling to choose a suc- cessor,) the better to support his claim. This ultima ratio gave uncommon weight to his negotiations, and he was proclaimed king of Leath-Mogha, an honour which his ancestors had been long deprived of. The Rev. Dr. 0'Conry,t possessed with the modern spirit of skepticism, will not allow to the Eugenian line the number of kings which antiquity has attributed to them. To prove this in part, he affirms that from the death of Cormoc, the son of Cuillenan, to that of Ceallachan, who in truth succeeded Lorcan, but one Eugenian ruled Munster, namely, Flabhertach, and he places him after Lorcan. The fact, however, is, that Dubhlachtna and Flab- hertach, both Eugenians, preceded Lorcan ; and that the reign of this last as king of Munster, was but eighteen months. How- ever, even in this short time, an event hap- pened which added greatly to his former laurels. * Leabhar Muimhean. t The Law of Tanutry illostrated, p. 471. A great annual fair was held at Roscrea, on the festival of SS. Peter and Paul, but which continued for fourteen days. As this was nearly in the centre of the king- dom, merchants resorted to it not only from different parts of Ireland, but from foreign countries, to dispose of their wares ; for the country was even then by the mercan- tile world called — " Insula dives opum, gemmarum, vestis, et auri !" The Danes of Limerick and Connaught had formed a bold scheme to surprise the merchants at this fair, where they expected immense treasures. Olfinn, chief the Conacian Danes, conducted this enterprise, and marched his men in detached parties to the borders of the Shannon, where they were to meet at an appointed day the forces from and about Limerick. As they took different routes, and no very considerable bodies appeared together, their intentions were more secret and less alarming. But no sooner did they appear on the side of the Shannon, but notice was given by light- ing fires at the different stations in Lower Ormond, by which the country became alarmed. They plunged into their barks as soon as possible ; and of this, and of their landing in Ormond, which was ef- fected in little more than two hours, notice was also given. From the place of their landing, the object of their destination be- came suspected, and soon known. As every thing depended upon expedition, they formed and marched off as fast as they landed. The soldiers who guarded the approaches to the fair assembled, and were joined by the merchants, their clerks, ^nd numbers of gentlemen and others as- sembled from all quarters on such occa- sions. On consultation it was resolved not to remove the shops, the stages, the warehouses, or merchandises, but let them remain where erected; by which means these people, more immediately interested, would acquit themselves the better. It was also agreed on to march out and meet the enemy and not wait to be attacked by them. These resolves inspired the people with confidence ; for troops advancing to the charge must collect more resolution A. D. 942.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 235 (if they acquit themselves well) than those who wait to be attacked. As soon as the Danes appeared, they gave them no time to form, but assailed them on every side with such firmness and resolution, (neither of which was expected,) that they were very soon broken ; and in this battle, and in the pursuit that followed, above four thousand Danes were slain, with most of their principal officers, among whom was Olfinn himself. About this time Donochad invaded the province of Connaught, and a battle was fought near Athluan, or Athlone, in which the imperialists were defeated and obliged to retire. As this was the time in which the celebrated Ceallachan flourished, we shall bestow a particular chapter on it. CHAPTER II. Contest between Cineidi and Ceallachan for the crown of Munster — Cineidi relinquishes his claim to Ceallachan — Manner of proclaiming him — A confederacy formed against Cineidi — He unites with Ceallachan against the common enemy — Battle and defeat of the Danes near Limerick — Again at Cork, with the taking of Cashell and Waterford — Bad policy of the Irish with regard to these foreigners — Deliberations of the parUament of Munster, at Cashell. On the decease of Lorcan many can- didates appeared for the crown of Mun- ster, but they were soon reduced to two : Cineidi, son of the intrepid Lorcan, and Ceallachan, the son of Buadhchain. Cineidi marched into the county of Cork to solicit the suffrages of different princes. Cealla- chan was proceeding on the same business. Both parties met, an engagement ensued, in which Ceallachan's party were defeated, and three hundred of his own followers, besides many others, were left dead. This Cineidi, as the Book of Munster observes, was a prince of great intrepidity, and every way worthy the royal stock from whence he sprang. By this little essay, the Eoga- nachts were not so forward in their sup- port of Ceallachan ; and it was imagined the majority of voices would be against him on the day of election, notwithstand- ing that the Eoganachts reckoned seven- teen counties, while in North Munster were only twelve. The mother of this prince being a lady of great spirit, and apprehen- sive that her son would be excluded from the throne, waited upon Cineidi in person to remonstrate on the violence and injus- tice of his proceedings. "She reminded him of the will of their great ancestor Olioll-Ollum : that by it, the crown was to go alternately between the posterity of Fiacha-Muilleathan, and Cormoc-Cas ; and that as his father was the last king of Munster, it was unjust in him to attempt to succeed to that crown." In vain he urged, " that his ancestors, for some generations, were deprived of that right by the descend- ants of Fiacha ; and that this was a suffi- cient justification of his proceedings." She did not pretend to support the usurpations of her house, but dwelt much on the pres- ent act of injustice ; employed the rheto- ric of tears, and concluded her speech thus: " Cuimhnigh a Cineidi-Cas ; dail Fiacha is Cormoc-Cais ; gur f hagsad in Muimhin da roin ; go ceart idir agcomhchloin :" — ^i. e. " Remember, gallant Cineidi, the agreement between Fiacha and Cormoc : they divided Munster in two partitions, and decreed it should be governed alternately by the is- sue of each house." So bold and ani- mating a speech — the majesty and dignity with which it was delivered — a fine wo- man pleading the cause of justice — and a tender and afflicted mother the defence of a son, unmanned the whole assembly ! The gallant Cineidi was the first to ac- knowledge the power of female eloquence ; and what the forces of half Ireland united with difficulty could effect, the tears of a woman performed ! Cineidi gave up his claim to the sovereignty of Munster, and his competitor was unanimously appointed to that high station. In the history of the renowned hero Ce- allachan, now before me,* is related the manner of his inauguration, which, as it is curious, I shall literally translate. " The princes and nobles of Munster, (says my author,) waited on Ceallachan at Cashell. Each put his hands between those of the * Toruigbeacht Ceallachan Caisil. 236 HISTORY OF IRELAND A. D. 804.] prince; the royal diadem was placed on his head ; it was then announced to the people, that Ceallachan, the son of Buadh- chain, the son of Lachtna, the son of Airt- ghoile, the son of Sneadhasa, the son of Donghoile, the son of Daolgusa, the son of Nadfraoich, the son of Colgan, the son of Failbhe-FIan, the son of Aodha-Dubh, the son of Criomhthan, the son of Feidhlim, the son of Aongus, the son of Core, the son of Luigheach, the son of Olioll-Flan-Beg, the son of Fiacha-M uilleathan, the son of Eogan-More, the son of Olioll-OUum, (and so on to Phsenius,) was sovereign prince and ruler of Leath-Mogha ; and the royal shout declared the public approbation." Soon after this, the Book of Munster tells us, a most formidable confederacy was formed against the generous Cineidi, the son of Lorcan, king of North Munster. It mentions the confederates in the following manner: Corcam-Ruadh, Dealbhna, Meath, the Muscrys, Eile, the Eoganachts, with Ceallachan at their head, and Connaught ! Such very formidable enemies, surround- ing his dominions on every side, seemed formed with intent to annihilate the power of North Munster ; and there is reason to think that Ceallachan and the Eoganachts were the very soul of this great confede- racy. The intrepid Cineidi, like the pres- ent king of Prussia, [1778,] far from being intimidated, prepared valiantly to oppose his enemies on every side. He called to- gether his brave Dalgais : these were his hereditary troops, and the most warlike and best disciplined in Ireland. In all at- tacks they were the van, and formed the rear on a retreat. Their banner was the bloody hand, £uid the motto, " the first in the attack, and the last in the retreat." He caused the beacons to be lighted up, and every man fit to bear arms prepared to attend his standard. The particulars of this war we are not told ; but that it soon terminated in an honourable peace; and one of the conditions of it (we must sup- pose) was, that Cineidi delivered up his son Duineachan as a hostage to Ceallachan, because we find this young prince con- stantly after in his court. By this peace the two Munsters became united, and of course formidable to their enemies. Actuated by public principles, Ceallachan and Cineidi everywhere at- tacked the common enemy. In fourteen different battles, says the Book of Munster, did Cineidi engage and defeat the Danes, so as to clear his dominions of them. But the " Wars of Ceallachan Caisil," are more minute in the exploits of this last hero. He called his chiefs together, and exhorted them to arm everywhere against the Danes; and Limerick was pitched upon as their first attack. A thousand Eoganachts, or hereditary troops of South Munster, (a most select body,) with many others of less note, headed by Ceallachan, under whom were the young Duineachan, O'SulIivan, O'Keefe, O'Rierdan, O'Leahan, Aodh Mac Cuillenan, and other great chiefs, marched to this assault. Heralds were sent requiring the Danes to surren- der the city, and give up hostages for their future behaviour, or prepare to defend themselves ; but the Danes returned for answer, " That far from waiting to be at- tacked, they would march out of the city and give them battle." They marched out in four divisions, four hundred select men, mostly armed with coats of mail, in each division, besides light-armed troops ; and the battle was fought at Sain-Aingil, called now Singleland. O'SulIivan, who acted as general under Ceallachan, addressed his men in a most animating speech, which was answered by the shouts and clashing of the swords and shields of the soldiery. The fight began, we are told, by the discharge of stones from the slings of the light-armed troops, by the discharge of arrows, by spears, and by lances. The heavy-armed troops now engaged, breast to breast, and long and dreadful was the conflict. The Danish commanders left nothing unessayed to give firmness to their troops ; and the greatest efforts of their antagonists made little im- pression on them. Ceallachan at length singled out Amhlaobh, or Aulavus, the Danish commeuider, and with one stroke of his sword split his skull through his hel- A. D. 943.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 23T met, and he immediately fell dead at his feet. In like manner CSuUivan engaged Moran, who is called " Son to the king of Denmark" and cut off his head, by a well pointed blow between the helmet and breast-plate. CKeefe ran Magnus, who is called " the standard-bearer," through the body, and after a gallant defence, Loch- luin, called Na-Ureach, or the Spoils, re- ceived his death by the hands of CRierdan. The Danes now gave way on every side, and were so hotly pursued, that the Irish entered the city with the fugitives, putting to the sword all the foreigners they met, as well in the streets as in the castles and lofty towers. But instead of keeping pos- session of the town, yve find Ceallachan contented with exacting large contributions from the inhabitants, part of which was paid down in gold and merchandise, and hostages taken for the security of the re- mainder. Next morning the army marched off for Cork with the utmost secrecy and expedi- tion ; for, it seems, the Danes were so pow- erful there as to exact hostages from the Eogonachts, aod from among these was a natural son of Ceallachan's. Prudence therefore demanded this precaution, lest the Danes might ship them off for the con- tinent. They appeared before Cork in the afternoon of the next day, horse and foot, and immediately summoned the town ; but these, slighting the summons, the signal for attack was directly given, the walls were scaled, the Danes defeated, and the prison- ers restored to liberty. From thence they proceeded towards Cashell. On their march an ambuscade was laid for them ; but three hundred Danes were cut to pieces in the attempt, as were five hundred more soon after. At Cashell, Ceallachan presented CKeefe with a hundred helmets, a hundred swords, a hundred shields, a hundred horses, and a hundred slaves. From Cashell the army marched to Wa- terford, the very day that Sitric, his wife, and family landed there, with seven ships. The citizens, hearing the rapid progress of the Irish, and the many defeats which their countrymen received, instead of marching out to attack the enemy, shut the gates and manned the walls. But their caution availed not ; for while on one side the gates were attempted to be broken open, others mount- ed the walls, which so dismayed them, that they lost all courage, and the town was speedily taken with considerable slaughter. But Sitric and many of the principal Danes escaped to their ships, and sailed for Dub- lin. After this, parties were sent to pun- ish different Irish chiefs who meanly sup- ported these barbarians. Large sums were extorted from them, and they were obliged to send hostages to Ceallachan for their fiiture good behaviour. Thus was all Munster, in the space of a few weeks, delivered from the tyranny of these wretches, by the vigour and intre- pidity of Ceallachan and Cineidi ; but there seems to have been a great defect in the policy of these princes; for though it is evident that far from meaning to exter- minate these strangers, the great object of Irish counsels, from the first of these trou- bles, was to reduce them to obedience, and make them useful to the nation by arts and commerce, yet they always overlooked the true method of bringing them to this. They left them in possession (or, at least, the ruling part) of most of their seaports, by which means, on future occasions, they were enabled to create fresh troubles. Had they, indeed, suffered them to remain in their cities for the sole purpose of trade, and conferred the government of them on magistrates of their own appointment, all the calamities, or at least a considerable part of what fell on the nation, might have been avoided. But this we see was not the case ; and the only way to account fo. this great oversight is, to confess what was really the truth. The Irish, though they knew the value of trade, and highly en- couraged and protected it, yet deemed it dishonourable. Enthusiastically fond of arms and of letters, they looked upon other avocations with contempt. Hence we have seen the amazing numbers of the first nobility who devoted themselves to the church, and to different learned professions, as law, physic, poetry, history, music, and 238 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 943. genealogy; and these professors ranked even before the miUtary. Commerce and manufactures were mostly carried on, before the arrival of the Danes, by the Belgae and Damnonii. The trading cities were mostly Hanse-towns ; the monarch and provincial kings were paid certain sub- sidies from them in money, \<^ines, and merchandise every first of May and No- vember. They had a police of their own ; and we may safely affirm that the ancient citizens leagued with the new comers, whose chief power depended on their ships. Even at this day ceanuighe, which is the Irish for a merchant, conveys with it a contemptible idea ; and from the old law ■word cain, tribute, is the word ceanuighe derived. Upon restoring peace and tranquillity to Munster, a feis, or parliament, was sum- moned by Ceallachan to meet at Cashell, where were assembled the chiefs of the seventeen counties of South Munster ; and Cineidi, with the twelve princes of North Munster, O'Felan, prince of the Deasies, and others. At this convention Cineidi was declared tanaiste, or successor to the crown of Munster, and received the usual presents, and tuarasdal, or pay, annexed to that rank.* Reforms were made (but what, we are not told) in the government of cities; and the case of the people of Ossory came next under consideration. It appeared from the registers, that for one hundred and forty-one years, (says my copy,) that is, from the first coming of the Danes, the Ossorians had withheld their usual tribute to the kings of Munster.f Ambassadors were immediately sent to make a formal demand of this tribute, and, in case of refusal, to denounce war against them. But the prince of Ossory, aided by the Lagenians, refused to comply with this demand. His territories were soon in- vaded, and he was obliged to submit, and • Thii was ten gold cups, thirty gold-hilted swords, thirty horses, ten coats of mail, and two embroidered cloaks ; and to be continued annually, till he succeeded to the cro'wn of Munster. t This (says my author) was three hundred scarlet cloaks, five hundred horses, and their contingent of troops when called on. send his son as a hostage for his future good behaviour. CHAPTER III. The Danes form a deep-laid conspiracy, under the pretence of marriage, to get CetUlachan into their hands, and succeed — The terms on which they propose to release him, and his own private in- structions to his ministers — The Mamonians raise a large army, and fit out a powerful navy, to redeem Ceallachan — Armagh taken by assault — Naval engagement oflT Dundalk, and prodigies of valour performed by the Irish, and release of Ceallachan — Triumphant return to Munster. Upon the arrival of Sitric in Dublin, he called together an assembly of the princi- pal Danes, in order to consult upon the means of recovering their lost power in Munster, or, at least, of preserving what remained to them in the other provinces. His wife was an Irish princess, so that he preserved, by her family, some native weight in Leath-Cuin. Munster, as has been often before noted, was, to all intents and purposes, totally independent of, and owed no obedience whatever to, Leath- Cuin, or the monarchs of the Heremonian line. This it is proper to repeat, because it has been affirmed that Ceallachan's re- fusing to pay the usual tribute to Donachad was the reason that he countenanced Si- tric in a conspiracy against Munster, the particulars of which we shall now relate. The Danes had been too long in the kingdom not to be acquainted with the particular interests of its different chiefs. It was by entering into their views that they gradually gained a new ascendancy after their first expulsion by Malachie. This knowledge they now, with profound policy, availed themselves of. They art- fully represented to the monarch that, by the late success of Munster, its princes had acquired a new power, and might, as they formerly did, dispute the monarchy with the Heremonians, and so bring all Leath- Cuin under their subjection ; that they themselves had formed a scheme by which that province could be soon reduced; that, provided they had no interruption to A.D. 944.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 239 their designs, they would, in a short time, have Ceallachan and Dunchuain at their mercy, and of course all Munster in their power ; and that whatever dominion they might acquire by this means, they would hold it under Donachad and his posterity only. By this artful representation, and speaking to the passions and the seeming interests of the Heremonians, they not only disarmed their jealousies of them- selves, but made them view the successes of the Mamonians in a formidable light. Secure of one party, they now proceed- ed in their attack upon Ceallachan. Am- bassadors were sent to Cashell in the names of Sitric and his brothers, Tor and Mag- nus, and of the sons of the king of Fuar- lochlon (I think Norway) and Fionlochlon, or Denmark, and their adherents, request- ing a lasting peace and amity with Mun- ster; engaging for themselves, and for their posterity, to relinquish all claims or pretences whatever on any of the cities and seaports of that province, and to pay the expenses of the late war themselves. They were then directed, if they found this pro- posal favourably heard, to insinuate the wishes of Sitric, to cement this friendship more closely, by marrying his sister, the lovely and accomplished Beibhion, to Ceal- lachan : — that by this union he could have nothing to fear from Leath-Cuin, as Sitric would always assist him with money, arms, and shipping ; Ceallachan, at the same time, engaging to defend him against all attacks of the monarch ; and thus their mutual power and independency would be supported. Never was negotiation more plausible, or more artfully managed ! Ceallachan assembled his council : the dif- ferent proposals were separately examined, and they appeared so advantageous to both parties that the least doubt of their sin- cerity could not be harboured. It was evi- dent that Sitric and his party could not exist in Leath-Cuin without support ; and Ceallachan, dreading the union of that party against Munster, was glad of so powerful an ally in their own dominions. These agreements were formally ratified on both parts, and Ceallachan prepared for Dublin, to meet his intended bride, with all the splendour and magnificence which the ancient Irish were so fond of. He pro- posed marching his army to Kildare, there to wait his return, and attend his bride to Cashell ; but this was opposed by Cineidi, and by O'Keefe, his general, who said they could by no means agree to leave the coun- try defenceless ; but by keeping the troops at Cashell they would be ready to assist him in case of any unforeseen accident At the head of the young princes and nobles of Munster, namely : of Dunchuain, the son of Cineidi ; of Aodh, the son of CFelan, prince of the Deasies ; of Aon- gus, the young prince of Ossory, with the sons of O'Keefe, O'SuUivan, O'Connor- Kerry, O'Driscol, O'Moriarty, O'Rierdan, and the other young chiefs of the twenty- nine counties of both Munsters, and his guard of Ossorians, gallantly attired, did Ceallachan proceed on his way to Dub- lin, attended by the Danish ambassadors and their retinue. So unnatural and so unexpected a union astonished the public ; and nothing was spoken of but the prepar- ations and expenses over all Munster, to receive their king and his queen with joy and splendour. The real intentions of Sitric, were so impenetrable — most prob- ably he reserved them to himself — that it was not till the morning of the arrival of Ceallachan in Dublin, that he announced his designs to his wife, who had often be- fore expressed her astonishment at this sudden union between her husband and his mortal enemy. Sure of his prey, he now told her in confidence, that nothing was further from his mind than giving his sister to the king of Munster. That it was a train he had laid to get him and Dunchuain into his hands, with all the young nobility of Munster, whom he intended shipping off for Denmark, or else destroying them, if the repossession of all the strongholds he had been deprived of were not restored to him, with a proper eric, or ransom, for every Dane who fell in the late war. The blackness and perfidy of the act, and probably some affection for her native country, whose liberty she saw would be 340 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 944. endangered by it, determined her to con- vey immediately a private account to Ceallachan, of the intentions of her hus- band. This prince, who was preparing with great magnificence to enter the city of Dublin, received this notice at Cill-Mhogh- nion, vulgarly called Killmainhim. He communicated its contents to his attend- ants, and asked their opinions. They agreed to retire as fast as possible ; but Sitric was too profound a politician to leave much to chance. He ordered, the night before, troops to file oflf silently, and line the hedges on both sides the road, so as to prevent the possibility of an escape, in case Ceallachan should penetrate his designs ; and in the morning, by way of doing him greater honour, a body of horse were to usher him into town. The troops seeing Ceallachan and his party turning their backs on Dublin, quitted their reces- ses, in order to oppose them ; but several of them were cut to pieces, and they would have made good their retreat, but for the horse, who being near at hand, and hear- ing the shouts, spurred on, and soon came up with this handful of heroes, contending with hundreds ! On sight of the horse, these young nobles formed a resolution worthy of their birth and valour. They requested Ceallachan and Dunchuain to retire as fast as possible, while they sold their lives as dear as they could for their country's safety. But cour- age was vainly opposed to numbers ; and though the enemy fell in heaps on every side, yet the strength of these young com- batants was soon exhausted, and they themselves received from others that death which they had so liberally bestowed. Ceallachan and Dunchuain, finding all hopes of liberty lost, determined to sell their lives dearly ; but the Danes had it in charge to take them alive, which they at length effected. Sitric received them with all the cruelty of an insulting tyrant, and had even the heads of their young nobility exposed in their presence — up- braiding them with all the Danish blood they had spilt, and vowing that they should never return to Munster, till all the cities were restored to him, and a proper eric paid for every Dane who fell since the taking of Limerick. The news'of the capture of the king of Munster, and of the destruction of all the young nobility in his train, filled that whole people with horror and consternation; since there was scarce a great house in the province, that had not lost a son or a bro- ther. With this melancholy account came the Danish proposals, from which they would not recede ; but Ceallachan sent private instructions toCineidi, by no means to hearken to them, but to arm all Mun- ster, and pursue the Danes to Armagh, where they intended to remove him. At the same time, he recommended him to collect all the naval power, and proceed to Dundalk, where the Danish fleet then lay, and which he apprehended was to carry him to Denmark. " Should these manoeu- vres (said he) prove unsuccessful, have no further regard to our situations, but pursue the barbarous Danes. Assume the crown of Munster, which your virtues so justly entitle you to, and take ample revenge on the kings of Tara and Leinster for their base treachery." On consultation, it was agreed to pursue the advice of Ceallachan. Expresses were sent to collect the troops, and for those chiefs whose duty it was to be always ready with their ships, to attend the calls of their country, to proceed to sea by that day week for Dundalk, which day was also marked out for the march of the land forces. At the appointed day, appeared two thous- and of the Dalgais, completely armed with helmets, coats of mail, broadswords, and shields, headed by Congalach, Cosgrach, and Longargan, the brothers of Cineidi. Three thousand Eugenians, armed in like manner, arranged themselves under the standard of O Keefe, who was apf)ointed commander-in-chief. Another body from Hi-Conn uil, Hi-Carbre, Hi-Caille, and Hi- Liathan, appeared. These were joined by a large body of volunteers ; so that the army consisted of four catha, or twelve thousand men, besides archers, slingers and A. D. 944.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 241 other light-armed troops. On a review of the troops, Cineidi first addressed himself to his brothers and the brave Dalgais ; he reminded them of the explojts of their an- cestors, the cause in which they were em- barked, and the perfidious enemy with which they were to engage ; and charged them to return with victory or die glorious- ly. O'Keefe, and his intrepid Eugenians, he also harangued. It is all in verse, ani- mating, noble, and poetic ! It may not be here amiss to inform the reader, that the Irish princes and nobility were early in- structed in history and poetry, as well as in feats of arms, and that a thorough knowledge of both, were absolutely neces- sary in all public stations. Every man's rank was thus known, and the degree of attention necessary to be paid to him. Pub- lic discourses of every kind were concluded, and often recapitulated, in verse ; and this will explain why all our MSS. contain prose and verse; and the meaning of the adage among antiquarians — ^*Laoi no litir coithigkuas — prose or verse proves ;" that is, that the poetic part is as authentic as the mere literal. The number of ships in this expedition are very particularly specified. (yDriscol, CCobhtach, and O'Flan, armed and manned ten ships each ; Corca-Duibhne, in the coun- ty of Kerry, the principality of OTailbhe, or O'Falvy, who was hereditary admiral of South Munster, equipped thirty ships ; O'Connor-Kerry, twenty ships ; from Cor- cumruadh and Burrin, in the county of Clare, twenty ships ; and from Corca- Bhaiscin, twenty ships : in all one hundred and twenty sail. For it is to be noticed, that there was at this time thirteen sea- ports in South, and but five in North Mun- ster. These ships, well-manned and ap- pointed, and commanded by their diflferent chiefs, rendezvoused at Beal-Atha-Laigh- ean, on the day appointed, and immediately proceeded to sea. In the march of the army, they were joined by one thousand Conacians, the pos- terity of Teige, the son of Cian, the son of Oliol-OUum, who got large estates in Lein- ster and Connaught, in the third century. 31 At the head of these were OUara, O'CJara, O'Connor, from this Cian, called Cianachta, etc., and soon after by five hundred foot completely armed, from the Delvins, head- ed by O'Coghlin, 0*Fennellan, etc., being the posterity of Luigh-Dealboaodh. These chiefs informed O'Keefe, that as being themselves of the lineofHebcr, they thought they were bound in honour to engage in this cause, and therefore voluntarily offered their service, which he gladly accepted, applauding their generosity and bravery, and that of their ancestors, in an extempore poem. It is to be noticed, that seven hun- dred years had now elapsed since the an- cestors of the Gaileangas, or first body of these auxiliaries, gained estates in Con- naught and Leinster ; and above five hun- dred since those of the Delvins got acqui- sitions in Leinster and Meath ; yet we see how well preserved was the memory of their ancestors ! The army, in high spirits, soon reached Armagh ; but in their march through Tir Connel, some excesses were committed, which that prince complained of; but get- ting no redress, and unable to oppose force to force, through vexation he sent a private express to Sitric, at Armagh, that the whole power of Munster would be immediately on his back. On receipt of this intelligence, he quitted the town with his army and prisoners, and proceeded to Dundalk, where his ships lay, leaving a strong garrison be- hind him, to delay as much as possible the Munster troops. Immediately on their ar- rival, O'Keefe took a view of the city and proceeded to form the attack. To the Dal- gassians, and the troops from Delvin and Connaught, he assigned the western side of Armagh ; to those of Hi-Connuil and Hi-Garbre, or of Upper Connellac and Kerry, in the county of Limerick, and of Hi-Liathan, or Barrymore, in the county of Cork, etc., the attack of the old town. The troops from the Deasies, or county of Waterford, were to form the southern at- tack ; and the Eogonachts, with himself at their head, were to make their approaches at the east side of the city. All these at- tacks were to commence at precisely the 242 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. D. 944. same time. The troops took their differ- ent stations ; the signal was given, and the projection of large stones from the machines, and arrows from the archers, were for a time so constant and thick, that the air was almost darkened. Scaling ladders were fixed against the walls; the soldiers as- cended them with loud shouts, and death stalked round on every side. Part of the troops gained the tops of the walls, and the first Irish standard that was planted, was the Dalgassian. The Danes everywhere defended themselves with uncommon bra- very and desperation, as they had every thing to apprehend from the enraged as- sailants. At length they gave way, but not till late in the evening did the Irish get possession of the town. But the general, apprehensive that in the darkness of the night, should the fight and pursuit continue longer, the troops advancing from different quarters, might through mistake engage each other, gave orders that none should stir from their stations, but remain under arms all night, and to take care that none should be suffered to quit the town. In the morning early they heard with astonishment that Sitric had been informed of their intentions by the prince of Tir Connel, and had marched off for Dundalk with his prisoners. After burying the dead, which it appears were very considerable, (five hundred of the Eogonachts only being among the slain,) they proceeded for Dun- dalk, or Dun-Dealgan, the ancient residence of the famous hero Cucullin. Here they found that Sitric with all his forces had embarked, and the fleet laying in the bay ready for sea. CKeefe sent off a flag of truce to demand of Sitric the bodies of Ceallachan and Dunchuain, at the same time upbraiding him with his breach of public faith. But the Dane returned for answer, " that the prisoners should not be restored till an eric was first paid for the Danes who fell in fifteen different battles with Ceallachan and his forces ;" and at the same time he ordered Ceallachan to be bound to the round-top of his own ship, which was the largest in the fleet, and directed that Dunchuain, who was in that of the king of Norway, should be served in like manner in view of the whole Munster army. But if the rage and grief of the Irish were extreme at this insult offered to their princes and to the nation, in their sight, but out of their power to revenge, what must not have been their joy on viewing the Mun- ster fleet, now in sight, with oars and sails moving up the bay ? When they beheld distinctly the admiral's flag, and knew to a certainty the different squadrons of which the fleet was composed, by their ensigns, they expressed their satisfaction by loud and repeated shouts, which were returned by the navy ; and now both parties pre- pared for action. O'Failbhe drew up his ships in an extended line, but so as to leave room enough for the ships to work and fight, but not to let the Danes escape them. Both parties were resolved on victory or death, and with cool determination ap- proached each other. O'Driscol, O'Cobh- tach, and OTlan, who led the van, began the attack on that of the enemy by showers of arrows and stones, darted from ma- chines and slings, and of lances. But these missive weapons dealt death too slowly for the enraged Irish. The ships still ap- proached nearer, and they were directed to grapple the enemy and board them. It appears that heavy-armed troops were dispersed through both fleets, and these fought hand to hand, and breast to breast. The Irish admiral now approached the central division under Sitric, while the distant war was conducted as above. O'Failbhe grappled the Danish admiral, the rest of his squadron did the like to others, and all leaped into the enemy's ships. The North Munster division attacked the Danes commanded by the princes of Norway and Denmark, and boarded them also. Never was greater intrepidity displayed than by both parties on this dreadful occasion. The Danish fleet was much better manned than the Irish ; and this superiority made the conflict long doubtful. The Irish ad- miral advanced at the head of a select party with a sword in each hand, deter- mined to restore Ceallachan to his liberty, or die in the attempt. Sitric and his bands A. D. 944.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 243 resolutely expected the attack. Courage, strength, and experience, were opposed to ^ each other ; but the Danes were at length driven from the main deck, and Cealla- chan relieved. O'Failbhe gave him one of his swords, and desired him to take possession of his ship and show himself to the fleet, while he returned to the charge. The liberty of their prince gave new spirits to the Irish, and they everywhere pressed the enemy closer. The gallant O'Failbhe now renewed the fight with re- doubled vigour ; but Sitric, who knew how much depended on his own ship, gallantly opposed him, and he at length fell, pierced by a thousand wounds ! His head was immediately displayed on Sitric's mast- head, and this sight gave fresh courage to the Danes. But Fingal, second in com- mand, vowed ample revenge on Sitric. He reanimated his wounded and dispirited associates, and conjured them to make one generous attempt more in the cause of their country. They caught the sacred flame, and bravely seconded their gallant com- mander. The fight was now more despe- rate than ever, and not only in this, but in every ship of the Danes; and we are par- ticularly told that the different combatants fought almost knee-deep in blood. Fingal and Sitric at length closed, surrounded by crowds of Danes ; Fingal saw his death certain, but determined to die gloriously. By a sudden effort he grasped Sitric in his arms, and hurled his enemy with himself into the unfathomable deep ! The like did Connal and Seagha, the ancestors of O'Connor Corcumruadh, and O'Loghlin, who engaged with the ships commanded by Tor and Magnus, brothers to Sitric, and reduced to the same extremity with Fingal ; like him, they grasped these different chiefs in their arms, and with them rushed into eternity ! O'Connor-Kerry, and his divi- sion met the same opposition ; and he, in particular, after much carnage, attacked, hand to hand, the Danish commander, whose head he cut off ; but while he was eiposing it to his men, he met the same fate from another Dane ! After performing every duty which could be expected from experienced com- manders, and gallant soldiers and seamen, the aliens began at length to lose their courage at such unexampled instances of heroism and perseverance ; while their antagonists more eagerly sought for death, provided they could drag some Danish an- tagonist to eternity with them ! In a word, the Danish fleet was all taken or destroyed; and of that numerous host, which in the morning exhibited so glorious a sight, not a single man remained alive at night ! History cannot produce another instance of so well-fought a battle, or so dreadful a carnage ! Of all the Irish chiefs that en- gaged that day, not one escaped death; the like of all the captains, and very few of the soldiers or sailors, who were not killed or wounded ! The enemies' ships being everywhere taken or destroyed, Ce- allachan and Dunchuain landed ; and the sight of these princes, with the glory of the well-purchased day, soon made the army forget all the losses attending it. The bards, as usual, congratulated them in adulatory odes ; and the shouts of the soldiery proclaimed their joy and appro- bation. Ceallachan gave orders to set fire to such of the enemies' ships as were totally disabled ; and after distributing their spoils among the troops, he detached a considera- ble body of men to punish the prince of Tir Connell for his perfidy, with orders to join him afterwards in Meath. He at the same time sent heralds to the monarch Do- nachad, upbraiding him with his baseness, and informing him that he would soon be at Tara to lay waste his country if he was not able to fight him. The monarch de- clined the challenge, and Ceallachan raised heavy contributions on the country, with which and many hostages, he returned tri- umphant to Cashell. As the MS. which details the wars of this prince, is more minute in relating the manner of engagements both by sea and land than any other I have met with, I have here given the substance of it entire. By it it appears that soldiers, armed at all points* fought as well on ship-board as op 244 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 945. shore ; and that the distant war, in both instances, consisted in hurling of stones and the discharge of arrows and lances. The projection of stones from slings seems to have been the first missive weapon that was used ; and Pliny attributes its inven- tion to the PhoBnicians. In the armies of Israel were slingers of stones : by this art David killed Goliah;* and among those who came to his assistance afterwards, were men, " who could use both the right hand and the left, in hurling stones /"f In the army of the children of Benjamin were seven hundred chosen men, left-handed — ** Every one could sling stones at an hair breadth and not miss."J The Gauls suc- cessfully used them in their wars with the Romans ;§ and these last afterwards em- ployed the Balearians, or inhabitants of Majorca and Minorca, in their armies for this purpose. In Ireland, men were partic- ularly trained to this exercise ; and were so expert at it as to be certain of hitting any object within its reach. By it, Con- nor, King of Ulster, near the birth of Christ, had his skull fractured, and some years af- ter the famous Meibh, Queen of Connaught, received her death. Besides stones, the Irish slingers used a composition of quick- lime, coarse gravel, brick-dust and blood, which they worked into a mass, and of this formed balls of different sizes for their cran-tubals, or slings. CHAPTER IV. Death of the monarch Donochad, and election of Congalach — Defeats the Danes in two pitched battles — State of Munster and death of Cealla- chan — Objections to his history amrWered — Suc- ceeded by Feargradh — History and exploits of Mahon, King of Thomond — Succeeds to the crown of Munster, and defeats the different leagues formed against him, but is at length treacherously slain. The spirit of Ceallachan and of Cineidi seems to have been caught by some north- em princes; and Mac Neill fitted out a * 1 Samuel, xvii. 49. t 1 Chronicles, xii. 2. t Judges, XX.. 16. $ Cssar de Bello Gal. lib. ii. cap. 7. fleet on Loch-Neagh, with which he at- tacked and destroyed that of the Danes, and killed more than twelve hundred of their men. In like manner the Cona- cians encountered the Danes on Loch- Oirbhsion, who had long distressed the ad- joining inhabitants, sunk or burned all their vessels, and put to the sword every man of them. In this year Donachad, the monarch, died suddenly, after a reign of twenty-five years, during which long pe- riod he displayed no great talents or patri- otism. Had he, after the rapid successes of Ceallachan, leagued with this prince, or even, as he did in Leath-Mogha, humbled their power in Leath-Cuin, in all appear- ance the remains of these people from in- veterate enemies might have been con- verted to useful subjects. But he envied these exploits which he ought to have im- itated ; and, like a modem patriot, would rather see the nation totally destroyed, than rescued from its dangers by other hands than his own! Congalach, the son of Maoilmhithe, sixth in descent from Aodh-Slaine, of the Here- monian line, was proclaimed monarch. He was an active and enterprising prince, and a determined enemy of the Danes. On some depredations of these pirates, Congalach declared war against, and led forth an army to chastise them. The Danes withdrew their distant garrisons, and waited the motions of the monarch. The armies engaged near Dublin, and in the battle, four thousand Danes were slain ; and so hotly were the fugitives pur- sued, that the victors entered the city with them, and put the garrison to the sword. It does not appear that Congalach left troops in that city to secure its possession to himself; and therefore Blacar the Dane, entered it the next year, and fortified it stronger thanit had been before. They at the same time collected a considerable force to carry on their usual depredations ; but were attacked by the imperialists near Slane, where the Danes lost sixteen hundred of their very best troops, with their general Blacar. Godfrey succeeded Blacar in the command of the Danes, and, impatient to A. D. 953.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 245 revenge the many defeats which his coun- trymen had lately suffered, he collected troops from all quarters, and auxiliaries from Britain and Gaul ; and at the head of a larger force than had ever appeared before of these aliens, he entered into ac- tion, laying waste the country for nearly thirty miles round Dublin, with sword and fire, and plundering the churches, monas- teries, and other houses, of whatever was most valuable. In their return, laden with spoils, they were overtaken by the imperialists at a place called Muinbrocan, in Meath, where, after a most bloody con- test, they received a complete overthrow, having had no less a number than seven thousand killed, besides above one thou- sand prisoners taken ! But this victory was dearly purchased, for the Irish suffered considerably; and among the slain was Roderic O'Cannanan, prince of Tir Con- nel, righ-damhna, or declared successor to the monarch, and general of the imperial army. In the meantime the Danes got to a great head in Munster, having received considerable supplies from the Baltic : they fortified Limerick by new works, and made Scattery a place of arms. Cork and Wa- terford received also great recruits of men and arms, but they acted so circumspectly during the reigns of Ceallachan and Ci- neidi, that their real power was neither known nor suspected. Towards the end of 950, the gallant Ci- neidi. King of Thomond, died, without en- joying the crown of all Munster, which his virtues and intrepidity so jaiitly entitled him to. He was succeeded by his son Lachtna ; and the same year Dunchuain and Eichthiam, sons of Cineidi, were slain by the troops of Congalach, as they were gallantly opposing their passage into Tho- mond. In 952, Ceallachan-Casil, King of Munster, died, as is expressly mentioned in his life and exploits, an epitome of which I have already given. And here let me advert to the objections made by the translator of the Book of Munster, to the account which Keating* gives of this * Law* of TaniBtry illtutrated, p. 458, Sue. prince ; because it appears that Cineidt and Ceallachan were early at variance, he presumed that they could not afterwards^ become friends, and that Cineidi would never suffer his son Dunchuain to accom- pany this prince to Dublin, or Ceallachan entrust Cineidi with the government of Munster in his absence. And as Sitric i& said by Keating to have been the son of Turgesius the tyrant, who was destroyed by the monarch Malachie about a century earlier, his sister Beibhion (says the trans- lator) must have preserved her beauty to a wonderful old age to match Ceallachan* For these reasons, he treats the union of Ceallachan and Cineidi, and the exploits- attributed to the Mamonians, in redeeming^ the first, as mere fables, and is very severe in his animadversions on this reverend wri- ter. That princes at variance may be recon- ciled, and afterwards become warm friends^ cannot be doubted ; and though the author- ity from which I have faithfully extracted the exploits of Ceallachan expressly says that Sitric was the son of Turgesius, yet it does not affirm that this Turgesius was the tyrant before alluded to. Turgesius^ like Sitric, Ivorus, Avlavus, etc., was a name peculiar to these foreigners. We read of many Sitricses, Ivoruses, etc., in our annals, and why not many Turgesiuses? Thus, though this Sitric is said to have been the son of Turgesius, yet it is not a consequence that he must have been son to that Turgesius drowned in Loch-Ainin. Besides, our history mentions him, with his chiefs and family, to have been cut off, so that there could be no authority what- ever for even supposing it Thus his proofs, when examined, appear, like most modern attacks upon ancient history, but merely presumptive. But had this gentle- man perused the work relative to this prince, he would have been convinced, from its style and language, not only that it was genuine, but written immediately after the transactions recorded therein. From this hero, Ceallachan, his posterity assumed the name of CCeallachan, and preserved a considerable part of their an- cient property even to the days of Crom- 346 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A.D. 959. well. This tyrant obliged them, as he did many other great families, to exchange their ample fortunes at home for smaller ones in other counties. It was a policy he adopted, in too many instances, in order to weaken ancient family-interests, to trans- plant people from one county to another ; and then it was that the chief of this prince- ly line was removed from the county of Cork into the county of Clare, where his posterity have still an ample property. On the death of Ceallachan, Feargradh, the son of Ailgenan, a Eugenian, was pro- claimed king of Munster in preference to Lachtna, who should certainly in justice have succeeded Ceallachan ; but I suppose the incursions of the Danes into his terri- tories (who were now possessed not only of Limerick, but of all the islands in the Shannon near it) disabled him from sup- porting his right by arms. Lachtna, how- ever, had war on his hands ; and in the third year of his reign, the Book of Mun- ster tells us, he fell in battle by the hands of O'Flin and O'Cearny. Mahon, brother to Lachtna, was his suc- cessor in the kingdom of North Munster, a prince of uncommon bravery and con- duct ; and such a one was highly necessary, as the Danes already possessed most of the strongholds in the province, from which they made sudden and dreadful incursions. Mahon, for a time assisted by his brethren, particularly his brother Brien, unable to face them in the field, carried on a kind of partisan-war against them, watching op- portunities of surprising and cutting off their different scouting and detached par- ties, the success of which gave new spirits to his people, so that in some time his forces became considerable and respectable. The Lagenians, Danes, and Normans, of Ulster and Leinster, entered into a confed- eracy against Congalach. He raised an army to oppose them, but fell in the action that ensued near Armagh, as the Annals of the Four Masters note. His successor was Domhnal O'Neil, the son of Murtough, the son of the monarch Neil-Glundubh. Soon after his inaugura- tion, Daniel, son of the deceased monarch Congalach, leagued with the Danes and Lagenians, and, at the head of a potent army, avowed his pretensions to the throne of Tara. The monarch prepared to meet him ; and at Cill-Moha a most bloody battle was fought, in which Argal, son of the king of Ulster, the young prince of Oirgial, and other persons of prime quality fell, and with them the hopes of the son of Conga- lach. The Conacians had not sent hos- tages to the monarch, nor yet recognised his title. To punish them for this neglect and disrespect, he invaded that province, raised contributions on the country, and brought hostages to Tara from the differ- ent free states. The active and enterprising king of North Munster, and his brother Brien, were perpetually in arms against the Danes, constantly harassing them, but, at the same time, never attacking them but where they had the advantage of situation ; so that far from repeating their depreda- tions on the public, they dared not now venture from their strongholds but in large bodies. Alarmed at the success of Mahon in this kind of partisan-war, the Danes of Cork, Waterford, and Limerick agreed to raise a body of men to crush for ever this rising spirit. Three thousand picked men were raised for this purpose, commanded by Muiris, chief of the Danes of Limerick, under whom were four colonels of great military experience, and other officers of approved valour. Mahon's troops, in fly- ing parties, constantly hovered round them in their majrch from Cashell to Limerick, sometimes skirmishing in front, sometimes in the rear, or wherever they found the least advantage. At length, at Sulchoid, a noted pass, they attacked them with such spirit and impetuosity, and with such vis- ible advantage, that the front ranks fell in upon the centre, and all was soon in confu- sion. In vain did their chiefs exert all their courage and skill, and oppose themselves to the greatest dangers to reanimate the troops. Two thousand of them were cut to pieces on the spot, with their general and principal officers, and the remainder fled towards Limerick, whither they were A. D. 960.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 247 SO closely and eagerly pursued, that the victors entered the town with them, put- ting to the sword all opponents, breaking down the walls in several places, and set- ting fire to all the gates of the city. This victory having .secured and en- larged the boundaries of Mahon's territo- ries, he thought the opportunity favourable to be avenged on the Conacians. These last always deemed the present county of Clare as part of their dominions, (though in the original partition of Ireland, be- tween Heber and Heremon, as well as in the subsequent one, between Eoghain-More and the monarch Con, it was determined that it belonged to LeathrMogha, or south- ern Ireland,) and made several unsuccess- ful attempts to recover it during the late scenes of distress of that people. Mahon, having made a truce with the Danes, col- lected at Cin-Currtha, and the places adja- cent to Killaloe, a large number of sloops and flat-bottomed boats, in which he em- barked on the Shannon, with a select num- ber of his brave Dalgais, making descents on different places on the Connaught coasts, and raising contributions everywhere, till he went beyond Loch-Righ. Here he landed his whole force, and marched far into the country. Feargal, the son of Ruarc, narrowly watched his motions, and near the banks of a river which runs into that lake, Feargal with his whole force attacked Mahon ; but the Dalgais, (Caesar like,) unacquainted with fear, received them with their wonted firmness and intre- pidity, and, after a very bloody contest, put them to a shameful flight. This was so precipitate, that Feargal plunged into the river, and in his hurry and confusion, threw away his shield, which Mahon got, and which was ever after carefully pre- served by the posterity of this prince, and used in all succeeding wars with the Cona- cians. To lose one's shield or arms in battle, much less to throw them away, was deemed, not only in Ireland, but among the ancient Celtae, the greatest reproach, as Tacitus observes ; and Horace himself acknowledges by his "relicta non bene parmala,** how dishonourable it was even in ancient Rome. This transaction, and the loss of Feargal's shield, are preserved in a well-pointed poem in the Book of Munster. The late translator of this work says, that the invasion of Connaught was by land ; but not to advert to the im- probability of Mahon's being able, at this time, to raise forces enough for so great an undertaking, the Book of Munster assures us that it was an aquatic expedition. Feargradh, King of Munster, being cut off, Mahon claimed the crown as his right, according to the law of alternate succes- sion ; and the better to support his claim, marched a respectable army to CashelL This gave such weight to his solicitations, that he was elected king by a considerable majority, and was consecrated by the archbishop of Cashell or Munster. But nothing could be more disagreeable to the foreigners than this dignity conferred on their mortal enemy. The Danes of Cork, Waterford, Limerick, and Dublin, formed an alliance for their mutual defence ; and most likely were privately encouraged, if not supported, by some of the Eugenians. This they kept secret till sufficient provi- sion was made for carrying on the war ; this being effected, the troops from the different quarters rendezvoused at nearly a central place — I suppose about Tburles, since the march of the confederates com- bined was towards Limerick, by the way of Cashell. Their leaders, says the Book of Munster, were Corran, chief of the Danes of Leinster. Magnus of Limerick, Toralp and Sithmoll. Mahon waited for them at the pass of Sulchoid. The Danish horse, who came to reconnoitre his situa- tion, were briskly attacked by the Irish cavalry, commanded by his brother Brien, and very roughly handled. This brought on a general engagement, in which the Danes were defeated with very great slaughter. This battle is said, in the Chronicon Scotorum, to have been fought A. D. 968: after this, it is said, he defeated the Martini of Munster in a general en- gagement. This same year, Murrough, King of Leinster, leagued with the Danes, and -248 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 950. committed great depredations in Meath ; but the monarch attacked them with such vigour and spirit, that their army was cut to pieces or dispersed. The Eugenians, who had so long gov- •emed Munster, but particularly Maol- muadh, the son of Brain, could not bear to see Mahon so strongly riveted in the throne of that province. He leagued with the common enemy, but Mahon defeated their whole combined forces, in two differ- ent battles. Maolmuadh, despairing to succeed by open force, had recourse to treachery. The bishop of Cork, and other clergy of Munster, interposing their good offices, it was agreed on that both princes should meet, with a few friends on each side, in order to settle their differences amicably. The house of O'Donovan, chief of Carbre-Aobhdhda or Kenrv, in the county of Limerick, was the appointed place of meeting ; and thither Mahon re- paired, with only twelve noblemen, and their suite, in his train. In the interim, Maolmuadh tampered with the infamous O'Donovan, and he was base enough to promise to secure the body of his prince. The son of Brain, attended with a strong party of horse at some distance, and the gallant Mahon were carried off to the county of Cork, and basely murdered at a place called Leacht-Mathuin, near Mac- roon, in that county. By this insidious action, Maolmuadh was proclaimed king of Munster. CHAPTER V. History and exploits of Brien till crowned king of Munster — Dispossesses the Danes of Inis- Catba and other islands of the Shannon, whose churches and monasteries he caused to be re- built and re-edified — Other reforms of Brien — Annual revenues of the Munster kings, and the stipends paid by them to their tributaries — Re- view of the military power of Munster — State of Leinster and Ulster, and death of the mon- arch Domnald. Bkiek, the son of Cineidi, succeeded his brother in the crown of North Munster, and, after securing internal peace and good order, his next object was to be revenged on the betrayer and the murderer of his brother. But though all our writers agree as to the great exploits of this immortal prince, yet they are by no means in unison as to the length of his reign. Keating, M'Curtin, and others, reckon fifty-six years from his being called to the crown of North Munster to his death ; and Bruodi- nus makes it still more. The Chronicon Scotorum reduces it to thirty-eight years, in which opinion is the translator of the Book of Munster. The first writers con- found these actions which he performed under his brother with his own exploits when king of Thomond, and so extend his reign as much beyond the true time as others unreasonably contract it. The Leabhar Oiris, or Chronicle of the CMaol- conneries, which is an express relation of the wars of this prince from his first en- thronement to his death, clearly affirms that the whole of his reign was forty-nine years; the first thirty-seven of which he was king of Munster, and from that time to his death was monarch of Ireland. He was bom in the year 926, and fell in the battle of Cluan-Tarbh, in 1014 ; from which it must follow that he commenced his reign in 965, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. But as I wish to bring the exploits of this great hero into as clear and comprehen- sive a light as I can, in hopes some future biographer may eternize his own name in transmitting to posterity his great ex- ploits, I shall observe, for more accuracy, that of these forty-nine years he was, for the two first, but king of Thomond, Maol- muadh being then king of Munster ; that during the ten succeeding ones he was king of Munster; the twenty-five years following, he was king of Leath-Mogha ; and the remaining twelve, monarch of Ireland. O'Donovan was too well acquainted with the spirit and resolution of Brien not to ap- prehend every thing from him, and there- fore took into his pay, besides his own troops, fifteen hundred heavy-armed Danes, commanded by Avlavus, a soldier of great A.D. 969.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. S49 experience. Brien, as was expected, in the spring of 966, entered his territories, and was opposed by the combined forces. A battle was fought with such fury and obstinacy, that not only O'Donovan and Avlavus, but their entire party fell by the sword ! Brien then sent a herald to Ma- olmuadh, denouncing war against him, and acquainting him that he would invade his territories early the next year. Such was the established custom of those days. At the head of an army more respecta- ble for courage and discipline than for numbers, Brien entered into action. Ma- olmuadh, besides his provincials, had col- lected a large body of Danes, and by mu- tual consent a battle was fought at Beal- lach-Lachta, in which Brien was again vic- torious. In this bloody engagement Mor- rough, eldest son of Brien, by More, daugh- ter of O'Hine, prince of Jobh-Fiacre-Ai- dhne, in Connaught, made his first cam- paign, and though but thirteen years old, engaged hand to hand with Maolmuadh, and slew this murderer of his uncle ! This victory was doubly glorious for Brien ; by it he avenged the blood of his brother, and secured to himself the crown of the two Munsters. After his coronation at Cashell, which was performed early next year, he returned to his palace at Cinn-Corradh ; and now, having leisure and time, he be- gan to consider the situation of his subjects nearer home. The Danes still possessed all the islands on the Shannon from Limer- ick to the sea; and while they monopo- lised all the trade of that city, the country on both sides was grievously infested by sudden landings from those islands. Brien prepared a large number of ships and flat- bottomed boats, and at the head of twelve hundred brave Dalgais he landed at Inis- Catha, or Scattery. In this island St. Senanus founded an episcopal see in the fifth century. In it were no less than eleven churches for the use of his monks, besides a fine anchorite tower yet standing. A superb monument was erected to his memory, and was resorted to by pious per- sons from the most distant parts ; but it is very remarkable that no women were per- 32 mitted to land on it from its first founda- tion to the coming of the Danes. This rich and lovely little island these barba- rians had long possessed, and were deter- mined to preserve. The landing of Brien in his flat boats was supported by his ships, from which they discharged showers of stones and arrows. The Danes, how- ever, prepared to give them a warm recep- tion, but were soon routed with the loss of eight hundred of their best men. After the re-consecration of the churches, Brien returned solemn thanks to God, who had enabled him to restore them to his glory. From Scattery, Brien embarked troops who possessed themselves of all the other islands. The churches and monasteries were repaired, the clergy restored, and schools again opened for instruction in piety and letters. After this he laid siege to Limerick, and, on its surrender, he dis- placed the Danish magistrates, appointing others in their stead. Having subdued the Danes and restored peace to Munster, his next care was to give vigour to the laws, and see justice and subordinaticm again established. The ru- ined churches and monasteries were rebuilt or repaired, and the bishops and clergy restored to their livings. At his own ex- pense he rebuilt the cathedral of Killaloe, the church and steeple of Tuaim-Grein, and the churches on Scattery, Inis-Cealtrach, and other islands in the Shannon. He repaired and re-edified all the palaces or royal houses in Munster, which were thir- teen in number. But, lest the reader might be surprised at this great number, I should inform him that, by the established laws of the land, among other requisites for roy- alty, as being of the blood-royal, and of the equestrian order, the candidate must also be possessed of three royal bouses, the better to support the regal state. The pub- lic roads in times of anarchy and confu- sion had been neglected and torn up, and bridges and causeways destroyed. All these he caused to be repaired, and the forts and strongholds strengthened by new works. He summoned a feis or parliament at Cashell, in which many new and useful 950 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D.970. ordinances passed. The lands which had been unlawfully usurped by the Danes were restored to the issue of the original proprietors ; and for such as clear titles could not be made out, they were sold and the money converted to the establishment of universities and public hospitals. Such foreigners as did not openly profess Chris- tianity, were allowed twelve months time to dispose of their effects and quit the king- dom. The records of Munster were care- fully examined, and new copies distributed to the different senachies. Houses of hos- pitality (of which no less a number than eighteen hundred belonged to the two Munsters) were rebuilt, and the lands ori- ginally appropriated to them restored. Brien himself, with a magnificence truly royal, lived in the palace of his ancestors at Cinn-Corradh. The reader will be ena- bled to form some idea of this from the annual revenues of the Munster kings, which, according to the Leabhar na Cleart, or Book of Rights, agreed to by the states of Ireland assembled at Tara, A. D. 450, in the presence of St. Patrick, and drawn up by his disciple St. Beanan, or Benignus, consisted of six thousand two hundred and forty bullocks, six thousand cows, four thousand sheep, five thousand hogs, five thousand common, one hundred green, and forty scarlet cloaks, four hundred and twenty tons of iron ; and the annual reve- nues of the city of Limerick only were three hundred and sixty-five tons of claret, besides spices, cloths, and silks ! This work, now before me, mentions the pro- portions which the different territories or counties of Munster paid of this great reve- nue. Besides this, each chief was to have a certain number of light or heavy-armed troops ready to attend the prince's sum- mons ; and the maritime places a certain number of ships ready for sea. The num- ber of these last in the reign of Ceallachan, we have seen, were a hundred and twenty ships, of which South Munster produced eighty. Had Cork, Kinsale, Waterford, Youghal, Limerick, etc., been then pos- sessed by this prince, as they were by his enemies, the reader may well suppose how much more numerous they would have been. This work mentions, with great accu- racy, the annual presents made by the kings of Munster to the different states or territories, in return for the troops and ships they were to keep in readiness when called for. They are very considerable both in gold, silver, horses, and arms, and bespeak the splendour and riches of the kingdom. The prince of Gabhran or Os- sory received annually ten horses, ten swords, ten shields, two suits of armour, and two cloaks with gold clasps and rich embroidery. When a Dal-Cassian was elected king of Munster, he presented to the chief of the Eogonachts, ten men and ten women slaves, ten gold cups, and ten horses with gold bits, and in full furniture. The prince of Ara (a district of the county of Tipperary, bordering on the Shannon, opposite Killaloe) received six gold-hilted swords, six shields of curious workman- ship, and six scarlet cloaks. O'Fogerty, prince of Eile, in the said county, was pre- sented with eight coats of mail, eight shields, eight swords, eight horses, and eight cups. CRyan, chief of Unaithne, (the country about Tulla in that county,) received six shields, six swords richly mounted, and six horses with gold bits and complete furniture. To OFelan, chief of the Deasies, in the county of Waterford, eight ships, eight men and eight women slaves, eight coats of mail, eight shields, eight swords, and eight horses were given. The chief of Kenry had seven slaves, seven freemen, seven swords, and seven cups. Mac Ennery and CSheehan, chiefs of Co- nal Cabhra, or Upper Connello, received ten swords, ten shields, ten horses, and ten cups, and the honour of sitting at the king's table at Cashell. CCoUins and O'Kineale, chiefs of Lower Connello, in the county of Limerick, received the like. The chief of Aine-Cliachall, in the said county, or CCiarwic, eight swords, eight horses, eight cups, two suits of armour, and two cloaks. O'Keefe and CDugan, chiefs of Gleanam- hain and Fearmuighe, in the county of Cork, were each presented with seven A. D. 981.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 251 horses, seven shields, and seven cups. The chief of Aobh-Liathan, or Barrymore, in the said county, who was O'Lehane, was sent a sword and shield of the king's own wearing, a horse in full furniture, and an embroidered cloak. To CFlin, chief of M usgry, one of the king's swords, one of his horses in full furniture, and a hound. To CMahony-Fionn, chief of Rathlean, ten horses, ten shields, ten scarlet cloaks, and ten coats of mail. To O'Driscol, chief of Dairinne, or Carbery, seven ships, seven suits of armour, seven horses, seven swords, and seven cups. To O'Driscol -Oge, chief of Leim-Con, all in the said county, the same. O'Donoghue, chief of Loch-Lein, or Killamey, in the county of Kerry, re- ceived the same tuarasdal, or military sti- pend, with O'Driscol. O'Shea, chief of Iveragh, O'Failbhe, lord of Corcaduibhne, O'Connell, O'Moriarty, and other great lords of that county, received similar presents. The number of troops which each chief was obliged to support is not mentioned, so that the military state of Munster can only be guessed at. They held by different ten- ures. The above, and others in their line, were allodial proprietors. Each held an hereditary employ in the state, and of course kept in pay a certain number of troops. Those who were of the blood- royal neither paid tribute or received sub- sidies, yet supported a standing force ; and those who held by fearan-cloidhemh, or sword-land, as almost the entire county of Clare, Ormond, and the borders of the county of Limerick, etc., must necessarily keep up a more considerable force, being exempt from every other kind of tribute. Upon the whole, the following calculations may be safely admitted. The naval force of Munster, when its chief cities were held in obedience, may be estimated at three hundred ships. This may be safely inferred, because we have seen that Cealla- chan's fleet, when they were possessed by the enemy, consisted of a hundred and twenty sail. We can by no means sup- pose them to be any thing equal to such ships of war as we see now. Even thirty years ago, seventy-gun ships were not much larger than fifty-gun ships now. The land forces of Munster — ^by these I mean the cavalry and heavy-armed infant- ry ONLY, consisted of ten catha, legions, or thirty thousand men. Each legion had five hundred horse ; so that the two Mun- sters when united, could bring into the field on a short notice, a regular force of twenty-five thousand foot and five thou- sand horse, well armed and well disci- plined, and with little or no expense to the state. Thus the revenues of the crown were very great ; especially when it is considered, that in this estimate, we have not noticed any duties paid by foreign ships, or the revenues arising from the many rich mines that were worked, or from the mines of amethysts and topazes, for which the kingdom was then so noted as to be called — "Insula dives opum, gemmarum, vestis, et auri !" From this slight sketch, the reader may form an idea of the power and splendour of Brien. But this was not all : to avoid all occasion of dispute among a haughty and warlike people, Brien revived the law called II- breachta, by which the diflferent ranks of the people were known by their dress; and the law which regarded rank and pre- cedence was again put in force. So exact was his police, that it stands on record that a beautiful virgin travelled from one extremity of the province to another with a gold ring on the top of a white wand without receiving the least injury or mo- lestation ! Probably Brien himself might have directed the experiment to be made. Encouraged by the example of Brien, Domnald, King of Ulster, attacked and de- feated the Danes in many battles; and to be revenged on the Lagenians who openly assisted them, he marched his army into Leinster, and committed great depreda- tions on that people and their associates. Soon after this, Keating tells us that Cion- nath O'Hartegan, primate of Armagh, openly assisted the Danes of Dublin, by which means Ugaire, prince of Leinster, was taken prisoner. I have examined the catalogue of archbishops, not only of Ar- J52 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 961. magh, but of Dublin, etc., and cannot find one prelate of or like the name in that century ; so that he must have been some clergyman of inferior degree, if we admit the fact. But let him be taken how he may, it appears, that after his release he raised a large body of troops, and engaged the Danes of Dublin, in which action his army was defeated, and he himself was among the number of the slain. The monarch Domnald, tired of the pageantry of royalty, quitted the throne of Tara and retired to Armagh, where he died some time after, in great repute for piety and sanctity. CHAPTER VI. Malachie elected monarch, and triumphs over the Danes — A confederacy formed against the king of Munster, which he disperses, and is saluted king of Leath-Mogha — The distinctions between a king of Thoniond, a king of Munster, and a sovereign of Leath-Mogha Wars between Malachie and Brien — Revenue paid by Leinster to the king of Leath-Mogha — Battle of Glean- Maniha — States of Irekind propose to depose Malachie — He gets time to prepare for his de- fence — Is disappointed, and is granted further time — Surrenders the diadem to Brien — Pres- ents received on such occasions. On the abdication of Domnald, the es- tates of Leath-Cuin chose for his successor Malachie II., the son of Domnald, prince of Meath, the son of the monarch Dona- chad, son of Flan Sionna, etc. The Danes about this time invaded Meath with a powerful army, exercising their wonted cruelties, but particularly plundering and setting fire to churches and monasteries. Malachie collected the forces of Meath, and gave them battle. This is called the fight of Tara, and a most bloody one it was ; for in it fell five thousand Danes and their associates, with Regnald, the son of Aomhlabh, their general, and most of their best oflUcers. After this he laid the dis- trict of Fingal, near Dublin, waste ; and having thus cut ofif their supplies, he laid siege to Dublin itself, in conjunction with Donachad, prince of Ulster. The third day a general assault was given ; the gates were attacked, the walls scaled, and, after a bloody contest, the Danish ensigns were torn down, and Irish ones put in their place. Though taken by assault, yet Mal- achie acted with caution : in the city were many captives of prime quality ; among others, Domnald, King of Leinster, and O'Neil, prince of Tyrone, etc. To have all these prisoners restored to their lib- erty, he saved the lives and effects of the citizens. But though Malachie was triumphant over the Danes, yet he regarded with a jealous eye the great power of Brien. It was an hereditary quarrel ; and his grand- father Donachad, as we have seen, encour- aged the designs of Sitric against Munster, seeming thereby better pleased to have that rich province possessed by the barba- rians, than by the ancient proprietors. The knowledge of this I suppose deter- mined O'Felan, prince of the Deasies, to form a powerful confederacy against Brien. In it were joined the king of Leinster, the prince of Ossory, and the Danes of Cork, Waterford, and Leinster. At the head of these allies, O'Felan march- ed towards Cork, spoiling the country as he advanced ; but on the approach of Brien, he retreated precipitately towards Waterford ; thither Brien followed him by forced marches. Near that city the ar- mies engaged ; but, after a gallant resist- ance, the confederates were broken, and fled with great precipitation. The troops of Brien entered Waterford with the fugi- tives, putting numbers to the sword, and setting fire to the city. From Waterford, Brien marched to Ossory, where he re- ceived the submission of hostages from Fitzpatrick, chief of that territory. From thence he proceeded to Ferns, where the king of Leinster paid him homage as king of Leath-Mogha, and delivered hostages for his future good behaviour. Brien marched to Cork, whose citizens he chas- tised for their rebellion, altered its magis- trates, raised heavy fines on the old ones, and carried away hostages for their future good behaviour. As I have distinguished Brien in his A. D. 999.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 253 regal capacity as king of Thomond, king of Munster, and king of Leath-Mogha, it is necessary to observe that, as king of Thomond, his power was confined to the present counties of Clare, Limerick, Tip- perary, and a part of the present Leinster; that as king of Munster, he commanded the whole province ; and, as king of Leath- Mogha, or Southern Ireland, the king of Leinster was his vassal. Malachie, envious of the success of Brien, invaded Munster, and returned to Tara laden with spoils and captives. The next year he took into his pay a body of Danes, and was joined by some Conacians. They laid waste a good part of Leinster and the Deasies. Domnald Cloan, King of Leinster, engaged them in battle, but was defeated with great loss. Enraged at these depredations, Brien made great pre- parations by land and water to invade Meath and Connaught. He drew together a very great number of shallops, and flat- bottomed boats, in which he embarked a select body of troops on the Shannon, at Loch-Dearg, who were to sail up that river as far as Loch-Righ, and lay the country on both sides under contributions. At the same time he marched a powerful army into Meath. Malachie saw he had in Brien too powerful a prince and too able a general to contend with, and therefore made a speedy peace with him. By it, he was to make lestitution for the outrages committed by the late invasions of Mun- ster, and restore all the prisoners he had taken. Brien also returned such as fell into his hands ; and they mutually agreed to support each other ; that is, that if any of the provinces of Leath-Cuin refused paying their subsidies to the monarch, Brien was to assist him ; and should the provinces of Leath-Mogha in like manner becomp refractory, he was to receive sim- ilar help from Malachie. The translator of the Book of Munster, mentions the pres- ent invasion as intended against the Lage- nians. I however adhere closely to the Leabhar-Oiris, which mentions its destma- tion to be against Meath and Connaught ; and adds, that in the incursion of the Mamonians into Connaught from Athlone, they defeated the Conacians, commanded by Maurice O'Connor, their king, who fell in this battle. We have seen the revenues of Brien, as king of Munster, to which we shall add, that as king of Leath-Mogha, they became more considerable — the Leinster tribute consisting of three hundred gold-handled swords, three hundred cows with brass yokes, three hundred steeds, and three hun- dred purple cloaks. The Lagenians ill bore this galling trib- ute irViposed on them by Brien, and there- fore confederated with the Danes of Dub- lin : they invited into their service many foreigners, and bade defiance to that prince. At the head of a powerful army he invaded Leinster. A bloody battle was fought at Glean-Mamha, in which Brien was as usual victorious. He pursued the Danes to Dublin, and they saved the city by com- position ; how much we are not told, but that Brien received a great quantity of gold, silver, rich silks, and manufactures. Grat. Luc. p. 79, attributes this defeat to Malachie, the monarch ; and the translator of the Book of Munster to him and Brien united. The Leabhar-Oiris, declares it to have been the act of the Mamonians only. The Danes waited a favourable opportu- nity to recover their distressed affairs ; and this offered soon after, for having re- ceived some considerable supplies from Normandy, from Britain, and Denmark, they again rebelled against Brien, and were again defeated by this victorious prince. Among their slain were Harold, son of Amhlaobh, and Carolus, called Cloidheamh, or the Sword, prince of Den- mark. Brien was for ever in arms against these foreigners; in twenty-five pitched battles, says my author, did he engage them and their Irish associates, and victory ever attended his standard. He not only reduced them from a state of independence to absolute subjection in Leath-Mogha, but assisted the Conacians against them, by which means four thousand Danes fell in the battle of Succa. The great power. S54 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. D. 1000. magnanimity, justice, and patriotism of this prince, contrasted with the passive temporizing spirit of Malachie, who, after the first five years of his reign, sank into indolence and apathy, made a strong im- pression on the chiefs of the kingdom. With such a prince as Brien at the head of the nation, they hoped the whole people would feel the blessings of peace and sub- ordination, which at present were confined to Leath-Mogha. In a convention of the diflferent states of Connaught and Munster, it was agreed to request Brien to assume the monarchy, and they engaged to support him to the utmost. Deputies were then sent from both states to inform Malachie that as he neither exerted himself like a prince in defence of his country, nor yet protected his subjects — the ends for which , he was elected monarch — they judged him ■no longer worthy to fill the throne of Tara, and desired he would relinquish the crown to one worthy of it. This kind of lan- guage from the electors of Ireland was not unusual. In the reign of Con of the Hun- dred Battles, the states convened at Tara, before the battle of Cnucha, addressed him thus — " Resign, O king, the throne of Tara to some prince more worthy, since you do not protect your subjects from the incursions of Cumhal, and the children of Cathoir-More."* Malachie heard the proposal with sur- prise and indignation, and declared, as he lived, he would die monarch of Ireland. But Brien, whom we must suppose the very soul of the intended revolution, was too sensible a politician not to expect such an answer, and to be prepared against it. At the head of an army of twenty thou- sand veterans, besides a large body of Danish curassiers, (who from rebels he made good subjects,) Brien marched to Tara. Malachie was again required to resign the throne ; but his ambassadors represented to Brien that their master would by no means consent to the pro- posal ; that it was true he was at present destitute of troops, but if Brien would allow him a month to collect them, he * Catha-Cnucba. would then give him battle, or if not in a condition to oppose him, he would surren- der the regalia into his hands. At the same time he requested that his army might not be suffered to commit any ex- cesses on the country. These terms Brien agreed to. Malachie sent expresses to all the princes of Leath-Cuin, requiring of them as their chief, and conjuring them as their friend, to repair to Tara with their forces to oppose the ambitious designs of Brien. He showed them that in manfully supporting him they defended their own cause, and that of the entire line of Here- mon, now ready to be crushed by the Heberians. But whether through want of opinion of his capacity, or reverence for glorious deeds, or a dread of the power of Brien, they all declined meddling in his affairs. He then summoned the Clan Colman, or southern Hi-Nialls; but they were unable to oppose the power of Mun- ster. Malachie, thus destitute of all support, on the day appointed, at the head of twelve hundred horse, waited on Brien at his camp near Tara, with the crown on his head, the sceptre in his hand, and all the regalia. Being introduced to Brien, who was surrounded by a great assemblage of his princes and chief nobility gallantly attired, he thus addressed, says the Bruo- din Chronicle — (the Bruodins were the hereditary historians of North Munster) — the king of Leath-Mogha : " Through the defection of my subjects, and the inabil- ity of my friends, I find myself, great prince, unable to oppose your pretensions to the monarchy. I surrender to you this sceptre, (presenting it,) and this crown, (taking it off his head,) which my ances- tors of the royal line of Heremon for so many generations bore, and which I have now worn for above twenty years. They are the rewards of your virtues,* and I submit." Here he stopped short : the in- ward conflict was too visible not sensibly to affect the spectators; and Brien with great humanity approached the distressed prince, and embracing him, said : " Since, most serene monarch, you have not only offered the crown, but surrendered your- A. D. 1000.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 855 self into our hands without demanding hostages for your safe return, or making any stipulation whatever, it would ill be- come us not to reward such confidence with equal generosity. Take back these trappings of royalty. I consent that you should retain the crown of Ireland in your hands for twelve months more from this day. This will afford you opportunities of showing your virtues equal to so great a dignity, and of supporting your title by the sword ; but should you, in the end, find yourself unable to oppose our pretensions, I shall then expect your peaceable surren- der of the monarchy." So saying, the conference ended. Brien broke up his camp, dismissed his auxiliaries, and re- turned to Cinn-Corradh, at the head of his intrepid Dalgais. Malachie employed the time granted to him in the best manner he could to raise up a spirit against Brien. He sent ambas- sadors to Connaught, to Ulster, to Orgial, and to every territory within the district of Leath-Cuin. He employed all his rhet- oric to engage Hugh CNeil in his inter- est, who was the most powerful chief in Ulster. The abbot of Benchoir remon- strated to him on behalf of the monarch, that if he did not powerfully exert himself on the present occasion, he sacrificed for ever the power of the Heremonians ; that the monarchy had been for some centuries confined to their houses — i. e. the northern and southern Hi-Nialls — and that by pre- venting the present revolution, the crovm might revert to him or to his posterity. But CNeil, for a general answer to all these solicitations, observed, "that when the crown of Tara was possessed by his ancestors of the house of Tyrone they bravely defended it against all claimants ; that Brien was a prince whose virtues, bravery, and patriotism, merited the ap- plause of all good men ; and that he could not think of unsheathing his sword against the gallant tribe of Dalgais, whom he so highly esteemed." It was of the last con- sequence to the monarch to make O'Neil of his party, as his example would greatly influence the other princes of Leath-Cuin ; and not willing to confide the method he proposed to gain him over to any one. he in person visited the king of Ulster, in hopes his own presence would have greater influence. Hugh seemed unmoved by all his solicitations. At length Malachie pro- posed to him a formal surrender of the throne of Tara, provided he united with him to give battle to the troops of Munster. On this a provincial feis, or parliament, was assembled to consider these proposals ; but after maturely weighing every thing for and against them, they were unanimously rejected — so formidable did the power of Brien appear to them. It was, however, proposed to Malachie, that if he surren- dered to them half the domain of Tara and of Meath, (which they contended, by the will of their common ancestor, Niall the Grand, was their property,) they would then unite heart and hand in his cause. These terms seemed to Malachie so exor- bitant, that he quitted the court of Ulster without coming to any resolution. Much time had been spent in these different ne- gotiations; and Malachie informed Brien exactly of his situation, and proposed that if he ceded to him the peaceable posses- sion of Tara and Meath, he would no fur- ther oppose him. To this Brien consent- ed, more from principles of generosity and compassion, and to avoid the effusion of Christian blood, than through any doubt of his own power and influence. At the time appointed, Brien appeared on the plains of Tara at the head of his invincible legions ; and then and there, in the presence of the princes and chiefs of the land, Malachie made a formal surren- der of the crown and regalia of Ireland to him, at the same time paying him homage as his vassal. Brien then dismissed him and his retinue with large presents. The custom of making presents when diflTerent competitors appeared as candidates for the monarchy, was always observed in Ireland. It was the mark of sovereignty in the monarch, and of acquiescence to his power in the others. It was a tuarasdalj or wages received, and an acknowledgment of superior sway. Core, King of Munster, 856 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1001. received presents from his competitor Niall the Grand, in the fourth century, and thereby gave up his pretensions to the monarchy. In the year 1260, tired with the cruelties and outrages committed by the foreigners, the chiefs of the Irish at length saw the necessity of forming a gen- eral confederacy and restoring the consti- tution to its original state, by electing a monarch among themselves. A meeting was held at a place called Caoluisge, on the borders of the river Erne, in Ulster. The candidates were O'Brien of Thomond, and O'Neil of Tyrone. O'Brien, who was an excellent commander, and who some- time before this defeated the English and their Irish associates in a general battle near Limerick, imagining that the majority of voices was in his favour, sent to O'Neill one hundred beautiful steeds, with gold bits and in full furniture, by way of sub- sidy ; but his competitor, persuaded that he was elected, returned the present, and with them sent two hundred horses to O'Brien, with rich gifts to his courtiers, none of which were received. By this means the assembly broke up without form- ing any general resolves ; and thus were the public at large left exposed to the out- rages and base machinations of these pre- tended reformers,* through the ambition of the two chiefs, neither of whom could be prevailed upon to acknowledge the su- periority of the other. CHAPTER VII. The conduct of Brien and Malachie in the pre- ceding revolution justified — Brien receives hos- tages from the different princes of Ireland, and is crowned at Tara — Holds an assembly of the national estates — Surnames established, with ob- servations on them — His attention to justice and to the restoration of religion and letters — His exchequer revenues as monarch, and improve- ments at Cinn-Corradh, with the etiquette of his court. In perusing the above extraordinary rev- olution it is necessary to guard the reader against misconceptions. Though he will * Caithreim Thoirdhealbhaicc. be apt to consider Brien as a usurper, yet will he deem his conduct in general great and noble. Malachie may also probably be censured for carrying his hatred to Brien so far as even to offer a surrender of the crown to another prince, provided Brien would be disappointed, and this af- ter his granting him a further time of twelve months to establish his affairs. If we judge of the conduct of the Irish on this occasion by what is generally pursued in other nations in similar circumstances, or by the general line of politics, we shall think Brien's behaviour, with his enemy in his power, to be rather romantic than prudent ; but the Irish seemed of a differ- ent cast from the neighbouring states, and viewed objects through mediums peculiar to themselves ; so true is that character of the nation, given many centuries ear- lier — " Inclyta gens hominum, milite, pace, fider That Brien should form the resolution to dethrone Malachie had nothing of novelty in it ; too many similar instances have oc- curred in the course of this history ; and, provided the claimant was of the royal line of Milesius, had received the order of chiv- alry, and could show three royal seats in his family, his success was not deemed a usurpation. In all our history a single in- stance only occurs of usurpation, and this marked down so, namely, that of Carbre, called Cin-Ceat, in the first century, who got himself proclaimed monarch, though a Danaan ! Certain it is that the throne of Tara had been possessed by the Heremo- nian line for some centuries in exclusion to the other royal houses, particularly that of Heber, eldest son of Milesius. But their antiquarians contended that — ** It was not seniority but intrepidity, not a vain claim, but the power of supporting it that gave a solid title;" according to a stanza of one of their most celebrated bards and advo- cates : — Sinsireacht ni ghabhan Ceart Attir do ghabhtar le neart : Calmacht no bhfear is Ceart an, Sin sinsireacht f hear nanbhan. But in the case of Brien there was not only seniority (being descended from Heber) A. D. 1002.] HISTORY OF IRELAND, 257 but power to support it ; and thus much to obviate the charge of usurpation against this prince. As to the notice and time given to Malachie to collect his forces, it was the constant practice in Ireland from all antiquity. Did a prince attempt any other mode he would not only be aban- doned by his own party, but he would be held forth as a mirror of baseness to the latest posterity. In the beginning of the third century, when Mac Con denounced war against the monarch Art, this last de- manded twelve months' time to prepare for the battle ; but Mac Con's ambassa- dors showing the impossibility of grant- ing so long a time, as their master's army was mostly composed of foreign merce- naries, hired for a certain time only, this plea was admitted by Art's ministers, and the battle fought much sooner. Had his army been natives he could not have refused the demand. The same mode was observed in every other revolution ; heralds were constantly sent and the day of action was mutually agreed on. Thus the time granted to Malachie was not, we see, a single case, nor the use he made of it to be censured. Brien now received hostages from Mal- achie as sureties for his peaceable beha- viour. He also demanded fresh ones from the king and princes of Leinster, and the Danes of Dublin. He marched his army to Athlone, requiring the king and princes of Connaught to meet him there by a cer- tain day to render him homage as monarch of Ireland, and to give sureties for their dutiful demeanour. From thence he pro- ceeded to Ulster, where the like ceremo- nies were performed and hostages put into his hands. Marianus, the successor of St. Patrick, at the head of his clergy, paid his duty to Brien. He received the holy com- munion at his hands, and made an offering on the altar of the great church of an ingot of gold of twenty ounces. He also made large presents to ornament the cathedral of Armagh at the request of Marianus, and declared his intentions of being interred there. He returned to Tara, where, in the presence of the princes and chief no- bility of the land, he was solemnly anointed 33 and crowned by the archbishopjof Cashell ; and it was then announced to the people, " that Brien, the son of Cineidi, the son of Lorcan, and so on to Milesius, was mon- arch of Ireland ;" which was confirmed by their giving what is called, the royal shout. After his coronation, says the Bruodin Chronicle, a feis, or national assembly, was convened at Tara, where many new and wholesome laws and regulations were made, the national history revised, and a decree was passed by which great families should, for the future, be distinguished by certain surnames to avoid confusion. But these were not to be arbitrarily imposed as in other countries. Each chief was to be called after some certain ancestor whose particular virtues would always re- mind him of his origin. This custom had been introduced into Munster in the days of Ceallachan, and into other provinces, but it was confined to a very few families : from the present reign it came into gene- ral use. Thus the successors of the pres- ent prince from him assumed the name of O'Brien, or the descendants of Brien. The issue of his brother Mahon were called Mac Mahon. The O'Neils were so called from Niall the Grand, or of the Nine Hos- tages ; and so on of other families. The adjuncts O' or Mac, which imported the son, or the descendant, were prefixed to each name. The chief of each family was distinguished from its branches by pre- serving the surname only, as O'Brien, O'Neil, Mac Carthy, etc., while to all the rest the Christian name was added. These titles were so highly esteemed in Ireland that when it was known to a certainty, in the reign of Henry VIII., that O'Brien had rejected his for the more degrading one of earl of Thomond, the chiefs of his own blood set fire to his noble mansion at Cluanroad, near Ennis, and would have consumed him in the flames but for the timely interposition of Mac Clanchy, chief- justice of North Munster. John O'Neil, in the reign of Elizabeth, returned the pat- ent of the earl of Tyrone, granted to his father, and complained of the dishonour he 258 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1002. affixed to his blood in accepting of it. He also bitterly reproached Mac Carthy for accepting of the title of earl of Clancarthy. In short, the Irish chiefs regarded these titles of nobility as degradations ; and this is the reason why in the Irish peerage so few Milesians are to be found. Certain it is that the few Irish who have still pre- served their family honours, should, in jus- tice, take precedence of the present nobil- ity of Europe, as being allodial, or titles from the most remote antiquity, whereas these last are at best but of modem date. Having wisely regulated the national system, Brien dissolved the assembly and sent ambassadors (says the Bruodin Chron- icle) to the different princes of Europe, an- nouncing his election to the Irish monarchy. With these embassies were sent presents of fine horses, wolf-dogs, hawks, etc. His next care was to see the laws everywhere executed with strictness and impartiality, and the money appropriated to public uses justly applied. It was astonishing to see what a new face the whole kingdom as- sumed in a short time through his care and attention. The cities, from a ruined state, became more ample and splendid ; the churches, monasteries, and public hospitals were repaired or rebuilt with additional majesty; and piety, peace, and plenty spread far and wide ! The edict which he published when king of Munster against the heathen Danes had so visible an effect on the conduct and morals of that barba- rous people that it became now national ; and this, with the exhortations and exam- ples of the clergy, wonderfully facilitated the conversion and civilization of them. We have already observed the splendour and dignity with which he supported the character of king of Leath-Mogha : the ti- tle of monarch of Ireland was a new ac- cession of power and an additional increase of revenue ; and these were but fresh in- citements to hospitality and philanthro- phism. As monarch of Ireland, the follow- ing were the annual contributions from the provinces of Leath-Cuin for the support of his dignity : from Connaught he received eight hundred fat oxen, a thousand weth- ers, eight hundred pigs, and four hundred pieces of cloth. From Tyrone, in Ulster, three hundred oxen, five hundred sheep, one hundred and seventy swine, one hun- dred and fifty pieces of cloth, and three hundred tons of iron. From Tyrconnel, six hundred beeves, five hundred sheep, four hundred swine, a hundred tons of iron, and three hundred pieces of cloth. From the Clana-Ruighruidhe, or posterity of Ir, in Ulster, eight hundred oxen, sixty-six weth- ers, and a hundred and fifty pieces of cloth. From Leinster, as monarch, two hundred oxen, eight hundred wethers, a hundred pigs, two hundred pieces of cloth, and five hundred and fifty tons of iron. The Osso- rians paid a hundred and sixty bullocks, two hundred wethers, a hundred pigs, and fifty tons of iron. The city of Dublin, with the ports of Wexford, Drogheda, etc., paid three hundred and sixty-five tuns of French, and two hundred and sixty-eight tuns of Spanish wine, besides money and other duties, the quantities of which are not expressed. From this relation it will ap- pear that the ExcHEauER revenues of the monarch Brien were equal to those of any prince at this day in Europe, (being appro- priated to the splendour of the diadem only,) and his expenses were proportioned to them. The regal seat of Cinn-Corradh, about a mile beyond Killaloe, being very old, he pulled down and converted to kitchens and offices, and at a place some distance from it, called to this day Ball- Boirumhe, or the Habitation of Boirumhe, (i. e. the Raiser of Tributes, the epithet of this prince,) he erected a noble banqueting house. From the kitchens were two long galleries or corridors, parallel to each, car- ried across a flat to this banqueting house. A hundred servants were every day, at dinner and supper, arranged in each of these gallepies. The business of one set was to pass from hand to hand, from the kitchens the different dishes for the enter- tainment ; and of the others, with equal celerity, to return them. From Ball-Boi- rumhe a wooden bridge was carried across the Shannon for the convenience of this house, (the stone one, lower down, being A. D. 1010.] HISTORY OF IRELAND 259 strongly fortified, as is evident at this day,) and opposite to it were his wine cellars. The place yet bears the name of Cloch-na- Fhionne, or the wine-stone, or building. Here did this monarch entertain the princes and nobles of the nation in regular rotation, with a splendour and politeness unknown for at least two centuries. So exact was the etiquette of his court, that the rank, station, and places of his different visitors were ascertained, so that no confu- sion or dispute could arise on account of precedence. He saw both the inconven- ience and the impropriety of any princes' followers appearing at his court in arms ; and it was a rule he established, that none but his brave Dalgais, or body-guards, should be permitted to carry arms at Ball- Boirumhe. Besides his army, he increased his navy considerably ; among the rest, he built three ships of enormous size, much like those carracks which appeared so for- midable in later times. We may judge of their strength and force by his son Do- nough, with a single ship of this structure, attacking, sinking, or destroying fourteen of the enemy's ships, as the Annals of Inis-Fallen, under the year 1056, note ! CHAPTER VIII. The king of Leinster, offended at the court of Brien, returns home in disgust, and confederates with the Danes — Invades Meath — Brien pitches his camp near Kilmainhim, and lays Leinster under contribution — Returns to Munster for the winter — Great preparations for the ensuing cam- paign — A list of some of the principal chiefs who attended the standard of Brien — Number of for- eigners in the Leinster army — Dispositions for battle — An account of the battle of Cluantarff — Defeat of the Danes, and death of Brien — De- tail of the slain on both sides — Character of Brien Boirumhe. For more than ten years had the king- dom enjoyed a most profound and undis- turbed peace ; and, during that period, IN NO INSTANCE wcrc the laws of the land violated. An incident, in itself of the most trifling nature, however, soon destroyed this so long wished-for happiness, and left the kingdom once more a prey to faction and party. Among the many royal visitors at Ball- Boirumhe, was Mailmordha Mac Mur- rogh. King of Leinster. Between this prince and Morrogh, eldest son of Brien, the tanaiste, or heir-apparent to the crown of Munster, no real friendship subsisted. Morrogh always deemed him a base enemy to his country, and the constant associate and protector of the heathen Danes. He had more than once publicly attacked his abilities as a general ; and to his ill conduct he attributed the de- feat he himself had given to the Lagenians and Danes in the battle of Glean-Mamha. Where ill blood has long subsisted, the slightest inuendo will often throw it into a flame. Among the amusements of the Irish, chess and back-gammon were fa- vourite games. Morrogh engaged one day at a party of chess, Maolmordha, looking on, advised his antagonist to a movement, which lost Morrogh the game. He tartly remarked, " That if Maolmordha had given as good advice at the battle of Glean-Mam- ha, the Danes would not have received so capital an overthrow. ^^ This was touching him in the most tender point ; he felt the utmost force of it, and spiritedly answered, " That he hoped his next advice to them would be attended with better success" Laws of hospitality and politeness prevent- ed Morrogh from noticing this threat. Maolmordha hastily retired to his apart- ment, and early next morning, without any kind of ceremony, departed from Ball- Boirumhe for his own territories. He called together his council, and related the behaviour of Morrogh. He recapitulated all the hardships his country and his asso- ciates suffered by the power of Brien, and his speech breathed nothing but war and revenge. The chiefs of the Danes of Leinster were invited to a conference, and a league was formed, in which they en- gaged to assist him with all their power to reduce Munster. Emissaries were sent to Denmark and Norway. The Danes of Normandy, Britain, and the isles, joyfully entered into the confederacy, pleased at the 260 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1014. prospect of once more gaining possessions in this \and flowing with milk and honey. While Maolmordha was waiting for the arrival of his foreign auxiliaries, in order to inure his troops to action it was judged advisable to make an incursion into Meath, by way of commencing the war. With a body of troops, Danes and Lagenians, he penetrated into Meath, as far as Tearman- Feichin, and on his retreat destroyed the country, and carried off an immense booty. To be revenged for this affront, Mala- chie sent his son Flan, with a good body of troops, into Fingal, and the environs of Dublin : but Sitric, the son of Amhlaoibh, laid an ambuscade, in which they were severely handled, and among the slain was Flan himself, with several officers of prime quality. Malachie, on this defeat, waited in person on Brien at Ball-Boirumhe, com- plained of the injuries he had received from the Lagenians and Danes, and claimed support from Brien as his chief. Brien and his son Morrogh, entered Leinster with a powerful army to chastise that people for invading Meath, and disturbing the public tranquillity. Finding no army in Leinster able to oppose them, they fixed their head-quarters on the plains near Dublin, from whence parties were sent out different ways miserably wasting the coun- try, biU enriching the camp with their spoils. By way of making a diversion, a fieet of Danes was equipped at Dublin, in which a large body of troops were em- barked, who entered the harbour of Cork, and surprised and plundered the city ; but before they could regain their ships the greater part of them were cut off, with some of their best officers. Dublin was blockaded for nearly four months, and the province of Leinster laid under heavy contributions by the imperial army, till the approach of winter obliged them to retire into winter-quarters. Both parties during this recess prepared to re- new the war with more violence than ever. Troops poured into the different ports of Leinster from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Normandy, Britain, the Orkneys, and ev- ery other northern settlement Maol- mordha was also indefatigable not only in raising new levies but in labouring to de- tach different princes from the interest of their conntry. Never were such efforts made by the Danes as upon this occasion ; the best men were everywhere pitched upon for this service, and the most expe- rienced officers sought for. Among others, Brodar and Aisgiodal, two Danish princes, landed at the head of two thousand choice troops, armed from head to foot ! These uncommon preparations of the enemy were not unknown, to Brien and to his council ; and they were the strongest arguments to determine the Irish to make their utmost efforts to render them abor- tive. To show the world that Brien wished not that his race and name should survive the liberties of their country, there attended his standard, of his own family, his five sons, and his grandson, his fifteen nephews, and the whole tribe of Dalgais, with all the chiefs of North Munster. The people of South Munster were equally conspicuous in the cause of liberty, not one prince absenting himself on this trying oc- casion. Cathal, the son of Conchabhar, or Connor, (from whence O'Connor,) King of Connaught, attended by O'Heine, prince of Aidhne ; O'Kelly, prince of Hi-Maine; O'Flaherty, prince of West Connaught; Mac Dermod, prince of Maigh-Lurg, and many other great chiefs and their follow- ers, with all their posterity of Luig-Deal- bha, both in Connaught and Leinster, joined the imperial standard. The great stew- ards of Leamhna, or Lenox, and of Mar, with many other Albanian chiefs, repaired to the army of Brien. Hugh CNeil made an offer of his troops, and his service, to attend the imperial standard ; but Brien politely declined the offer; he had not for- gotten the negotiation between Malachie and himself; and the conduct of Malachie afterwards, justified how well-founded his suspicion and jealousy of bothjthese princes were. At the head of thirty thousand chosen men, highly appointed, Brien marched into Leinster about the beginning of April, 1014, in three divisions, and was joined by A. D. 1014.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 261 Malachie, King of Meath. He encamped, as he had done the year before, near Kil- mainhim ; and after both armies viewing each other for some days, it was agreed to determine the fate of Ireland by a gen- eral battle, on the plain of CluantarfF. Early on the 23d of April, being Good- Friday, the Danes appeared formed in three separate bodies for battle ; and by their dispositions Brien regulated his own. The auxiliaries from Sweden and Den- mark, consisting of twelve thousand men, among whom two thousand were heavy- armed, commanded bv Brodar and Ais- giodal, formed the right division ; the left, of nearly an equal number, commanded by Sitric, consisted of the Danes of Ire- land, and their neighbouring associates ; and the centre, composed of the flower of Leinster, under the direction of Maol- mordha, who acted as genera 1-in-chief, formed the enemy's disposition of battle. It was judged that, by placing the troops in this manner, under their own leaders, it would raise a spirit of generous emulation among them, and that they would vie with each other in feats of bravery. The right wing of the imperial army was composed of the household troops, filled up by the prime nobility of Munster ; the invincible tribe of Dalgais, with all the princes of Brien's blood, were also in this division, and Malachie, with the forces of Meath. This was to be commanded by Morrogh, and Sitric, prince of Ulster. In the left wing, commanded by the king of Connaught, all the Conacian troops were placed ; but as it did not form so extended a line as that of the enemy's, several de- tachments were added to it, from the troops of Arra, Coonach, Muscry, and Corca-Baisgne. The troops of South Munster, under their different chiefs, with those of the Deasies, formed the central division, commanded by Cian, the son of Maolmuadh. Brien rode through the ranks with a crucifix in one hand, and his drawn sword in the other. He exhorted them as he passed along, " to do their duty as soldiers and Christians, in the cause of their religion and their country. He re- minded them of all the distresses their ancestors were reduced to by the perfid- ious and sanguinary Danes, strangers to religion and humanity ! That these their successors waited impatiently to renew the same scenes of devastation and cruelty, and, by way of anticipation, (said he,) they have fixed on the very day on which Christ was crucified, to destroy the country of his greatest votaries ; but that God, whose cause you are to fight this day, will be present with you, and deliver his ene- mies into your hands." So saying, he proceeded towards the centre to lead on his troops to action ; but the chiefs of the army with one voice requested he would retire from the field of battle on account of his great age, and leave to the gallant Morrogh the chief command. At eight in the morning, the signal for slaughter was given. The Dalgais, with the whole right wing, marched to attack, sword in hand, the Danes commanded by Brodar and Aisgiodal ; but an uncommon act of cowardice or treachery like to have destroyed the whole imperial army ; for at this very critical minute, Malachie, with his Meathians, retired suddenly from the field, leaving the rest of this body ex- posed to a far superior number of ene- mies. But Morrogh, with great presence of mind, cried out to his brave Dalgais, " that this was the time to distinguish themselves, as they alone would have the unrivalled glory of cutting off that formi- dable body of the enemy." And now, while close engaged with the battle-axe, sword, and dagger, on the right, the left, under the command of the king of Con- naught, hastened to engage the Danes of Leinster and their insular levies, while the troops of South Munster attacked the apos- tate Maolmordha, and his degenerate La- genians ! Never was greater intrepidity, perseverance, or animosity displayed in any battle than in this, as everything de- pended on open force and courage. The situation of the ground admitted of no ambuscades, and none were used. They fought man to man, and breast to breast, 262 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1014. and the victors in one rank fell victims in the next. The officers and generals on both sides performed prodigies of valour. Morrogh, his son Turlogh, his brethren and kinsmen flew from place to place; and everywhere left the sanguinary traces of their courage and. their fortitude I The slaughter committed by Morrogh, deter- mined Carolus and Conmaol, two Danes of distinction, to attack this prince, in con- junction, and they both fell by his sword ! It was observed that he, with other chiefs, had retired from the battle more than twice, and after each return, seemed to be possessed of redoubled force. It was to slake their thirst, and cool their hands, swelled with the use of the sword and battle-axe, in an adjoining brook, over which a small guard was placed, and this the Danes soon destroyed. On rejoining his troops the last time, Sitric Mac Lodair, with a body of Danes, was making a fresh attack on the Dalgais, and him Morrogh singled out, and with a blow of his battle- axe divided his body in two, through his armour ! The other Irish commanders in like manner distinguished themselves, though their exploits are not so particularly narrated; and it would seem from the number of prime quality that fell on both sides, that besides its being a general bat- tle, the chiefs every where singled out each other to single combat. The courage of the Irish was not to be subdued. Till near four o'clock in the afternoon did the issue of the day remain doubtful ; and then it was that they made so general an attack on the enemy, that its force was not to be resisted. Destitute of leaders, and of course of order, the Danes gave way on every side. Morrogh at this time, through the uncommon use and exertion of his sword-arm, had both hand and arm so swelled and pained as to be unable to lift them up. In this condition he was at- tacked sword in hand by Henry, the son of Eibhroic, a Danish prince ; but Morrogh closing in upon him, seized him with the left hand, shook him out of his coat of mail, and prostrating him, pierced his body with his sword by fixing its pommel on his breast and pressing the weight of his body on it. In this dying situation, Henry nevertheless seized the dagger which hung by Morrogh's side, and with it gave him at the same instant a mortal wound ! The Dane expired on the spot ; but Morrogh lived till next morning, employing the in- termediate time in acts of piety and devo- tion, in making, says my MSS., a general confession, receiving the eucharist, and dying as a hero and a Christian should ! The confusion became general through the Danish army, and they fled on every side. Corcoran, one of the monarch's aid- du-camps, seeing the standard of Morrogh struck, (for this notified the death of the chief,) and in the general deroute unable to distinguish friend from foe, concluded that the imperial army was defeated. He has- tily entered the tent of Brien, who was on his knees before a crucifix, and requested he would immediately mount his horse and escape, for that all was lost. "Do you (says this hero,) and my other attendants (rising up) fly. It was to conquer or die I came here, and my enemies shall not boast the killing of me by inglorious wounds !" So saying, he seized his sword and battle-axe, his constant companions in war, and resolutely waited the event. In this general confusion, Brodar, and a few of his followers entered the royal tent. He was armed from head to foot ; and yet the gallant old chief pierced his body through his coat of mail ! Two more of his attendants met the same sad fate ; but Brien received his death by a fourth ! The intrepid Sitric, prince of Ulster, the faithful companion of Brien in all his wars was witness to the death of Morrogh, and revenged it by killing Plait, a Danish knight of great intrepidity, and by numbers of others of less note. Eagerly pursuing Brodar and his party he saw them enter the tent of Brien, and cut to pieces the re- mains of them. But when he beheld the aged monarch extended on the ground his grief was extreme. He threw himself on the dead body: the many wounds he had received in the battle burst forth afresh ; he refused every kind of assistance and ex- A. D. 1014.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 263 pired in the arms of his friend and faithful ally ! These particulars of the death of Brien, taken from the Leabhar-Oiris, I thought would not be unacceptable to the reader, more especially as I find no two modern writers in accord as to the manner of his dissolution. From the acrimony and length of this battle we may conclude few prisoners were taken, and none certainly were! Death or an escape was all the Danes had for it ; and they were eagerly pursued to their ships and to the very gates of Dublin. From the vast number of chiefs who fell we may form some idea of the carnage on both sides. On the imperial side were slain the monarch himself, his son and gen- eral Morrogh, with two of his brothers, and his grandson Turlogh, who, though but fif- teen years old, performed prodigies of val- our that day ! His nephew Conning, Sit- ric, prince of Ulster, Mothla, prince of the Deasies, Eocha, chief of O'Seanlans, Neal CCuin and Cudula Mac Ceineidi, his chief favourites, received the same fate. The chiefs of Corca-Baisgne, of Fermoigh, of Coonach, of Kerry Luachra, of Loch-Lene, €tc., fell also in this battle ; as did CKelly, chief of Hi-Maine, O'Heine, and many other of the Connaught princes. The great stewards of Lenox and Mar, with other brave Albanians, the descendants of Core, King of Munster, died in the same cause. Besides these princes and vast numbers of less note, the Bruodin Chroni- cle, and other indisputable records, esteem the loss of Irish, horse and foot, that day at seven thousand. On the side of the enemy there fell Ma- olmordha, the cause of all this blood, with the princes of Hi-Failge, or O'Faly, of Magh-LifFe, and almost all the other chiefs of Leinster, who attended his standard, with three thousand of their bravest troops. Their right wing was composed of the new Danes, and the firmest troops they had. These suffered amazingly by the Dalgais. Their principal officers were cut oflT to a man, with seven thousand soldiers ! Of the left wing, besides most of their officers of note were slain in the field four thousand men, making in all fourteen thousand. This, though an amazing slaughter considering the numbers who engaged, yet I am satis- fied by no means includes the whole of the enemy who were slain in the battle and in the pursuit; and for this reason — with Brien fell that day the vitals of the Irish constitution. Almost all the succeeding rulers were never acknowledged by our own annalists as monarchs in the full mean- ing of the word. They were rather chiefs of diflferent parties ; the nation was quite disunited ; and if the Danish loss had not been much greater at this time, from the attempts they formerly made, we may pre- sume that they would not totally relinquish an object which had for above two centu- ries cost them so much blood and treasure. But the fact is that their power was totally broken at this time. The surviving for- eigners took an eternal farewell of the country; and the Irish Danes were con- tent to become obedient to, and crouch under that government, which they so often laboured to undermine and destroy. Thus fell the immortal Brien in the eighty-eighth year of his age, the most uni- formly perfect character that history can produce. If we consider him in his mili- tary capacity we should suppose that the study of arms susperseded every other ob- ject. In twenty-five different rencounters and twenty-nine pitched battles did he en- gage his Danish and other enemies, and victory always attended his standard ! By his conduct, prudence, and bravery, he raised his country from a state of the most abject slavery to the highest pinnacle of glory ! His superior genius and success in war did not make him fond of it ; and he preferred the way of negotiation to arms where it was admissible — witness his re- linquishing Meath to Malachie on his re- signing the monarchy. As a statesman and as a legislator his talents were not less conspicuous. Whatever he recovered by the sword he preserved by the prudence of his counsels and the mildness of his ad- ministration. The whole tenor of his life proclaims that the only objects of his pur- suits were to restore to his country its an- 264 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1014. cient laws and liberty. Munster had been long unacquainted with the blessings of peace till he became its king ; and when he became monarch, all Ireland partook of this happiness. The wonderful abilities of Brien made him shine in every depart- ment of the state. He saw with his own eyes every defect in the political machine ; and his own genius found out the reme- dies. He gave vigour and force to the laws, and the sons of rapine and plunder instantly disappeared ! He re-established religion and letters, and was the first Irish prince who laboured to reform and con- vert his Danish subjects. If he was terri- ble to his enemies in the field, he was mild and merciful to them in the cabinet ; and during his whole reign a single act of cru- elty or injustice cannot be laid to his charge. His great attention to every de- partment in the exalted station he filled did not make him forget his duty as a Chris- tian. No one was more constant and fer- vent in their devotions than he, insomuch that by most of our writers he has been deemed a saint, by some a martyr. He was easy of access, and courteous and po- lite to all. While he lived at Ball-Boi- rumhe with all the magnificence and pro- fusion of Irish hospitality, it was tempered with such decorum and ease, that the dig- nity of the prince was never lost in the cheerful affability of the companion. In short, as a soldier, a statesman, a legisla- tor, a Christian, and a scholar, he had not a superior ; and if any thing can blazon his character higher it must be his manner of dying. At the age of eighty-eight, when the vital forces sensibly decay ; when the languid motion of the blood mechanically affects the heart and spirits, and naturally brings on dejections ; at a* time when Brien himself was requested to retire to his tent from the horrors of the day, and leave the conduct of the battle to his son — at this time, and under these circumstances, he was told that all was lost and was himself requested to fly ! Then it was that the hero and the monarch blazed forth in their utmost lustre ! " Do you, (says he,) and my other attendants fly. It was to con- quer or die I came here ; and my enemies shall not boast the killing me by inglorious wounds !" This was closing the scene with true dignity ! His body, after being embalmed accord- ing to his will, was conveyed to Armagh. First, the clergy of Swords in solemn pro- cession brought it to the great abbey ; from thence, the next morning, the bishops and clergy of Damh-Hag, or Duleek, conducted it to the church of St. Cianan. Here the clergy of Lughmhaigh attended the corpse to their own monastery. The archbishop of Armagh, with his suffragans and clergy, received the body at Lughmhaigh, from whence it was conveyed to their cathedral. For twelve days and nights, says my MS., was it watched by the clergy, during which time there was a continued scene of prayers and devotions ; and then it was interred with great funeral pomp, at the north side of the altar of the great church. The bodies of Morrogh and Sitric, with the hearts of Conning, and CFelan, prince of the Deasies, at their own requests, were deposited in the south aisle of that church, while his grandson Turlogh, and most of the other chiefs, were interred at the monastery of Kilmainhim. CHAPTER IX. Writers of the tenth century — St. Cormoc, and an account of his famous work, called the Psal- ter of Cashell — A detail of other eminent men, with the list of the works of some of them. Though the tenth century has been, by almost universal consent, called the dark and sterile age, on account of the abject state of letters, and the few men of emi- nence it produced, occasioned by the dep- redations of the northern nations, yet even at this very period we find, besides the hereditary antiquarians, poets, and histo- rians, Ireland still produced men of un- common erudition and abilities. Among these, St. Cormoc merits the first place, on accpunt of his exalted station, and pre- eminence in letters. This great king and holy bishop had employed the leisure time A. D. 950.] HISTORY OF IRELAND 265 of many years in revising and correcting his native history, and which he lived to complete, as may be seen by his will, which we have already given. It is not a general history of Ireland as some have supposed ; it is more properly the history of the posterity of Heber, or of the Mun- ster line of kings. It begins with the creation, the fall of man, and the antedilu- vian world ; and in the chronology he seems to adhere to the Septuagint account. Phaenius, the great ancestor of the Gade- lian race, he declares to have been the son of Baath, the son of Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. He relates the dereliction of Egypt by Niulus, the son of Phaenius, and the voyages and adventures of his posterity to their settling in Ireland. From this period to his own days he con- fined his inquiries to the exploits of his own ancestors of the line of Heber ; so that with great propriety he styles it the Psal- ter of Cashell, or Book of Munster. Be- sides this most valuable record, he also wrote Seanasan Cormoc, or Cormoc's Glossary of obsolete words; and this work, with several later editions, was pub- lished at Louvain, early in the last cen- tury, by CClery. Sealbhach, secretary to King Cormoc, wrote a genealogy of the saints of Ireland, beginning with Naomh Seanchas, Naomh, Inis-Fail, or the sacred genealogy of the Irish saints.* Probus flourished in this century; and at the request of Paulinus (as he himself declares in the conclusion) he wrote in Latin the Life and Miracles of St. Patrick, in two books; which work Colgan gives entire, under the title of the Fifth Life of St. Patrick.t Archbishop Foranan, renowned for his learning and piety, with twelve holy asso- ciates, retired from the fury of the Danes to Flanders, where he founded a monastery on the borders of the Meuse, emd restored the ascetic discipline to its primitive vigour.J St. Cadroe, educated in the university * Acta. Sanct Hib. p. 5. t Ibid. p. 105, 152, etc. t Trias Thaamat. p. 51. 34 of Armagh, became so celebrated for his universal erudition as to be deemed among the most learned of his country. He vis- ited Britain and Gaul, and succeeded For- anan in his monastery, and in his zeal and piety. His life is given by Colgan. In this age Flan, the celebrated scribe and chronographer, flourished, as the An- nals of the Four Masters declare ; as also an anonymous writer, who continued the Psalter of Cashell, or Book of Munster, to the reign of Mahon, King of Munster ; an authentic copy of which, in my posses- sion, has been highly useful to the present work. In the tenth century may be also placed the anonymous writer of the Life of Ceal- lachan-Caisil. This work is much to be valued, not only on account of the lights it throws on the period and transactions of which it speaks, but also because it details in a full manner the modes of attack in those days, with respect to the besieging of towns, and to general engagements, whether by land or by water. St. Malbrigid, Mac Doman, who is in our annals styled successor to St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St Adamnanus, head of the religious of all Ireland, and of the greatest part of Europe, flourished in this century. Rumold, bishop of Cluanard, Mainchas, abbot of Benchoir, Carpre the anchorite, the abbots Paulinus, Colman^ and Cormoc, with Joseph, who from a recluse was raised to the see of Armagh,^ are all highly celebrated in the Annals of the Four Masters for their religion and learning. St Columbanus, abbot and anchorite, in the middle of this century, retired to Flan- ders ; and he is said to have been the first who introduced among that people this species of mortification.* After exhorting and preaching with uncommon zeal and devotion, he retired to a cemetery in the church of St. Bavon, in Ghent in which he continued to his death, which happened about two years after his retreat, i. e. A. D. 959. He is still invoked in times of public calamity, as one of the patrons of that city. * Vita St. Columbani, f. 2. BOOK XII. CHAPTER I. No national advantages made of the late great vic- tory — Retreat of the Munster and Leinster forces — Cian assumes the title of King of Mun- ster, and demands hostages from the sons of Brien, which are refused — Character of Cian — His pretensions opposed by Domhnal — Retreat of the troops of North Munster — The prince of Ossory demands hostages of them, and is re- fused — The Munster troops prepare for battle, and are joined by their sick and wounded — The Ossorians generously refuse to attack them — Battle of Maigh-Guillidhe. After so decisive, though dear-bought, a victory as the battle of Cluantarff, we should naturally suppose that the first ob- jects of the conquerors w^ould have been to proceed to the election of an emperor, and the forming such a new code of laws as would secure to the kingdom that inter- nal peace and security which it stood in much need of. But no such thing. That great soul which animated this whole party fled to heaven ; and characters so great and so elevated are not the product of every age. The king of Connaught, apprehensive of domestic troubles, hastily retired to his own territories, and the Mun- ster army, under the command of its dif- ferent chiefs, followed the example. But scarce had these last closed the march of the first day, when old disputes and dis- tinctions arose, and having now no other enemies to fear, they began to look for new ones among themselves. Cian, the son of Maolmuadh, chief of the sept of the O'Mahonies, thought that his power and blood justly entitled him to the succession to the crown of Munster. He sent a formal embassy on the next morn- ing, being the 26th of April, to Teige and Donough, the surviving sons of Brien, in- forming them of his intentions of being proclaimed king of Munster, and request- ing from them the same aid and assistance he had afforded to their father, at the same time requiring their submission as their chief, and hostages for their future good behaviour. To soften these demands, it was represented to them that, by the will of their common ancestor Olioll-OIlum, the government of Munster was to pass alternately from the house of Eogan to that of Cormoc ; that their father being of the latter house, and last king of Munster, the choice of a successor necessarily fell upon the Eogonachts ; and, therefore, besides the ties of affinity — he being married to their sister — those of strict justice strongly pleaded in his behalf. However surprised and shocked at this message, as the bro- thers necessarily must have been, yet they returned a resolute and spirited answer. As to the submission and aid which Cian boasted of affording their father, they ob- served, "that it was not voluntary, but exacted by the sword ; that the will of Olioll had long since been broken through and rendered nugatory by the posterity of Eogan, who had usurped to themselves in too many instances the right of governing Munster ; that their father Brien, by force of arms, had obliged them to recognise his title, and that, by the same means, they would preserve this rank and transmit it to their posterity. It is true (added they) we are not so numerous nor so well pre- pared for battle as you, having lost most of our brethren and friends in the late engagement ; but we have hearts unac- quainted with fear, and the God of armies will support us in the day of trial." But while the sons of Brien prepared A.D. 1014.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 267 with firmness for the event, sound policy pointed out to them the means of weaken- ing their enemy. Cian, it must be con- fessed, was a prince of great bravery and wisdom. In the life of his father he was delivered up as a hostage to Brien: his gallantry and engaging behaviour had so far endeared him to that chief that he gave him his daughter Saobh, or Sabina, to wife. He constantly attended Brien in all his wars, fought by his side, and shared in his dangers and in his glory. No one seemed more worthy the crown of Mun- ster, or monarchy of Ireland, than Cian ; and had fate so decreed it, in all appear- ance Ireland would not have felt those calamities which she so long endured. The troops of South Munster, in the battle of Cluantarff, had not suffered near so much as their brethren of North Munster. These last had to engage with the flower of the Danish troops, above two thousand of whom were completely armed ; and they were besides deserted by Malachie and his forces of Meath. The remains of their forces, after the battle, did not amount to quite two thousand men, out of which twelve hundred only were able to bear arms, the rest being desperately wounded in different parts ; whereas the troops of South Munster were infinitely superior, and besides had not near so many wound- ed. Cian alone was at the head of three thousand men ; but Domhnal, the son of Dubhdabhoran, and chief of the O'Dona- choes, commanded a very respectable body of troops, independent of Cian. To him the brothers sent an express, announcing the intentions of Cian, and requesting his aid. If the ambition of Domhnal was roused by the attempts of Cian, his pride was equally wounded to think he would carry them into execution without consult- ing him. He immediately proceeded to the tent of the son of Maolmuadh, and found all his men busied in preparing themselves for battle. He demanded the cause, and Cian, without any reserve, disclosed it to him. After gome expostulations, Domhnal, in a few words, informed him, "that in his junction with the imperial army he had not the most distant idea of promoting Cian to the sovereignty of Munster in case of a vacancy ; and that he now solemnly protested against his proceedings." Cian fiercely answered, " that he never once thought of asking either his advice or as- sistance on the occasion." On this, Domh- nal and his army separated from that of Cian, and formed a distinct camp. The brothers, well apprised of these divisions, knew that Cian was too great a politician to think of attacking them, circumstanced as he now was, and, therefore, after stand- ing for some time under arms, ordered a retreat, directing the sick and the baggage to be placed in the front of their little army. Cian and his party proceeded, at the same time, to Ibh-Eachach in Carbery, the place of his residence, as did Domhnal to Kerry, but by different routes. But the sons of Brien were decreed to suffer still more mortifying trials before they reached the mansion of their ancestors. As soon as they approached the borders of Ossory, Fitz-Patrick, chief of that territory, sent ambassadors, requiring hostages for the good behaviour of their troops, and also for their peaceable demeanour for the time to come. Enraged at so insolent a de- mand, and from a constant tributary to the crown of Munster, they returned for an- swer, " that they were astonished at the presumption of the prince of Ossory in daring to send them such a message ; and though their troops were greatly dimin- ished, yet they had still sufficient to punish a dastardly chief like him who meanly availed himself of his present seeming superiority." Nothing can prove more strongly how delusive and transitory hu- man honours and applause are, than the present situation of these princes contrast- ed with the rank they held a few days earlier. There we behold them courted and caressed, honoured and feared, by the army and by the whole kingdom ! Here, their weight and power being greatly di- minished — for respect and adulation seem to adhere to stations, not to persons — these honours are turned to insults, and this 268 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1014. applause to contempt ! What availed it to the son» of the immortal Brien that their father, their brothers, their nephew, their kinsmen, and almost the entire tribe of Dpig^is, fell a sacrifice to the glory and independence of their country ; and that their present situation entitled them to every honour that could be conferred on men ! These great services, we see, were almost instantly forgotten, and their pres- ent consequence was only rated according to their present power. The ambassadors of Fitz-Patrick, sensi- ble of the great superiority of his army, (being joined by a body of Lagenians,) and foreseeing the destruction of the remains of the brave Dalgais if a battle should ensue, conjured the brothers to make some small concessions to their master, and not to dismiss them with an answer so ill adapted to their present situation. "At what period of time (replied the intrepid Donough) did any one of my ancestors do homage, or deliver hostages, to an Osso- rian ? That the posterity of Eogan should sometimes make such demands is not sur- prising, being the issue of the eldest son of our great ancestor ; but is there in his- tory a single instance, besides the present, of the chief of Ossory's daring to demand hostages from the posterity of Olioll- OUum?" So saying he dismissed the ambassadors, and began to prepare for the expected engagement. A body of two hundred men were di- rected to escort the wounded and the bag- gage to an adjoining fort ; but as soon as the purport of Fitz-Patrick's message be- came known, a general rage and indigna- tion seized on the whole army. The wounded called out to be led to battle. They conjured their brethren not to de- sert them, but as they had hitherto lived, so they hoped they would now suffer them to die by their sides. They applied to Donough and to Teige ; and, as a further inducement, observed to them, "that by permitting them to stand to their arms their fellow-soldiers would fight with more intrepidity, and would never think of giving way. Let stakes (said they) be stuck in the ground, and suffer each of us, tied to and supported by one of these stakes, to be placed in his rank by the side of a sound man ; our front will be more extend- ed, and we shall by this means be enabled to use our arms." Their importunities, and these reasons, made a strong impres- sion on the brothers, and between seven and eight hundred wounded men, pale, emaciated, and supported as above, ap- peared mixed with the foremost of the troops. Never was such another sight exhibited ! The Ossorians marched to the attack with full assurance of victory ; but when they regarded the situation of almost half of the enemy they were to attack, pity and admiration succeeded to rage and resentment ! In vain Fitz-Patrick called them forth to the battle; in vain he urged that so decisive an opportunity as the pres- ent would never offer again, and that by losing it the whole power of Munster would soon be on their backs. His rea- sons were of no weight ; and his allies ab- solutely refused to engage with the troops of North Munster in their present situation. The sons of Brien, seeing this defection, prepared for a retreat ; but the prince of Ossory, says my MS., with a select body of followers, constantly hovered round this body of men, perpetually harrassing, but never daring to come to an engagement with them. By this means they lost a hundred and fifty of their wounded, and many others were cut off in the retreat. After this the remains of these heroes reached Ball-Boirumhe without any fur- ther molestation. We observed that Cian and Domhnal separated on their return to Munster. Cian had not yet lost sight of the crown of that province ; and the first object of his resentment, after his arrival, was the son of Dubhdabhoran. He sent heralds, denouncing war, and challenging him to battle in ten days on the plains of Magh- Guillidhe. Both parties met, and the en- gagement was long and bloody. The party of Cian was at length defeated with great carnage, and among the slain were this prince, his two brothers, and three of A.D. 1014.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 269 his sons. ** Thus fell (says the Leabhar Oiris) the intrepid Cian, as gallant and generous a prince as the house of Heber ever produced." CHAPTER II. Malachie again saluted monarch by the Clan-Col- man, but not elected by the national estates — Righe-go-freasabhra, its import — Malachie 's re- markable account of the battle of CluantarfF — Takes Dublin by assault — Civil commotions of Munster — Of Leinster — Malachie repents his former conduct, and devotes the remainder of his life to acts of piety and charity — Contentions in Munster — The Heremonians appoint a pro- tector — Remarks on this title — Donough O'Brien overruns Leinster, Meath, and Connaught — His issue — Is defeated by his nephew Turlogh — Resigns the crown, and retires to Rome — The Powers, Plunkets, and Eustaces, of the race of O'Brien — The pretences of Rome to the com- mand of Ireland inquired into and refuted. Malachie, it is said, was proclaimed monarch by the national estates, imme- diately after the death of Brien. This was not certainly so; for we have seen that the chiefs of Munster and Connaught returned to their different countries the second day after the battle of CluantarfF. Had their suffrages been demanded in favour of a successor, I take it for gra nted, that Malachie would have been the last man in the world on whom they would have bestowed it. He had been formally deposed in 1001, and resigned the crown some time after. During the glorious reign of Brien, in no one instance was he entitled to the confidence of the public. We have seen that the late Danish war commenced with an incursion into Meath, and Malachie, in person, claim the protec- tion of the monarch as his chief; yet in the decisive battle that followed the year after, forgetful of his allegiance to his sov- ereign, of the duty he owed his country, of his own honour, and of the just revenge which the death of his son and the destruc- tion of his territories demanded — on the instant of trial he basely deserted his sta- tion, and by this defection hazarded the eternal ruin of his country ! Was such a character the object of national esteem? The truth of the matter is, Malachie seeing no formidable competitors, and being at the head of a good army, in the centre of his relations, the Clan-Colman, or southern Hi-Niall race, he convened an assembly of the estates of Meath, in the middle of May, 1014, by whom he was saluted king of Tara and monarch of Ireland ; and, in this instance, gave the example to future powerful princes to assume the title, and, in part, the power of monarchs, without a previous general election: such, in fact, were almost all the succeeding rulers of Ireland. These princes have been very properly stigmatized by our senachies, righe-go-freaasbhra, or kings by force or violence, in opposition to those legally elected, whom they have called lain-righe, or kings in the complete sense of the word. In this convention, we are told by Mac Liagh, historian to Brien Boirumhe, and it is also recorded in the Leabhar Oiris, that the estates of Meath requested of Malachie some account of the late battle of Cluan- tarfF, of which so much had been said, and that he answered them thus : " It is impos- sible for me to relate the particulars of this battle, nor do I believe could any one less than an angel from heaven. I retired, with the troops under my command, to an eminence, separated from the combatants by a field and a ditch only. The appear- ance of the men, the glittering of swords, spears, and battle-axes, and the brightness of their armour, exhibited at once a glo- rious and an awful sight ! The engage- ment soon commenced, and in less than half an hour it was impossible to distin- guish the combatants from each other; even a father or a brother could not be known, except by his voice, so closely were they mingled together, and so cov- ered with blood darting forth from differ- ent parts of the body, and scattered on every side by the wind, which was then sharp and high. Separated as we were from them, the spears, swords, and battle- axes of our men were so entangled, by the quantity of blood and clotted hair 270 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1017. flying from the field of battle, that with constant difficulty and labour only were they able to disengage them and to keep their ranks ; nor was it for some time after that their arms recovered their former lustre. The scenes of carnage, which spread far and wide, were terrible beyond description — so much so, that the very sight of them to us spectators, appeared infinitely more distressing and terrifying than they could possibly be to the parties engaged. From sunrise to the evening did the battle continue, with such unremit- ting slaughter, that the returning tide was stained red !" This, it must be confessed, if not the description of a battle, is, at least, a lively one of its melancholy effects. As soon as Malachie found himself in the peaceable possession of a crown which he so ill merited, in order to ingratiate himself with the public, and to endeavour to remove part of the ill impression con- ceived against him, he led a powerful army against Dublin, in conjunction with his ally Aodh O'Neil, which he took by assault, and, after plundering the city, he set it on fire in different places, in order effectually to destroy that ungrateful and irreclaimable set of traitors, the remains of the Danes. Such of these, however, as escaped the sword, had their revenge by plundering and destroying the adjacent country, and putting to the sword the peaceable inhabitants. We have, in the last chapter, noticed the death of the gallant Cian and the de- feat of his army. Mahon, his surviving son, fled from the rage of the conquerors to the court of his uncles Donough and Tiege. To reinstate him in the dominions of his ancestors, they marched a considera- ble army into Desmond, which soon en- gaged with that commanded by the son of Dubhdabhoran. In this battle the latter was defeated ; and among the slain was his son Cathal, and others of prime quality. By this victory the sons of Brien secured a powerful ally in their nephew, and obliged his antagonist to deliver up hostages to them, and thus regained the sovereignty of all Munster. But rara concordia fratrum ! this acquisition of power was a source of fresh commotions. Tiege, as elder brother, insisted that he ought singly to reign ; but Donough, who was an able politician, and besides possessed of insatiable ambition, would by no means admit of the arguments of his brother. Both parties had (as usual) recourse to arms: a pitched battle was fought, in which the prince of Aradh of Ui-Cairbre and other great chiefs were slain, with little visible advantage to either party. During these intestine commotions the son of Dubhdabhoran was not idle. He artfully recovered his hostages, and at the same time made a sudden and unex- pected incursion into Carbery. Every thing gave way to his superior power, and with his own hand he slew young Mahon in revenge for the death of his son Cathal. Domhnal prepared with a considerable army to invade Thomond, and this cir- cumstance had a speedier effect to unite the sons of Brien than all the remonstrances of the clergy, who, to do them justice, were, on all occasions, the ministers of peace. They became reconciled, and, uniting their armies, waited at Limerick the approach of the enemy. By mutual agreement a battle was fought in which great bravery was displayed, and of course much blood spilt. At length the Eogonachts gave way on every side ; but not till they saw their chief and almost all their principal officers fall! Malachie having reduced the Danes, marched an army into Leinster in order to chastise such chiefs of that " country as had not paid him proper homage ; and after his return, in conjunction with O'Neil, he invaded Connaught, returning with prisoners and hostages by the way of Kil- dare. Some petty princes of Ulster he also chastised and obliged them to give hostages for their future obedience. Donagan, a Leinster prince, with many other chiefs, were cut off at an entertain- ment by the prince of Ossory ; and soon after, to punish this prince for so infamous an act, Malachie entered his territories, laid waste the country with fire and sword, A. D. 1023.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 271 putting him to death with other conspira- tors, and leading to Tara a large number of prisoners. During these various intestine broils, the Danes, collected from different parts, had again taken possession of Dublin. It is cer- tainly very surprising, and not easily to be accounted for, that in all the various defeats the Danes received, their enemies never once thought (except in the days of Mala- chie I.) to prostrate the walls of their cities and strongholds. They contented themselves with plundering and setting fire to their houses after forcing their cities and raising contributions only. By this means, and that of their extensive and lu- crative trade, and the supplies of foreign- ers, they soon became enabled, on every occasion, to create fresh disturbances, and seldom wanted the inclinations and oppor- tunities of doing so. Thus Sitric, the Danish governor of Dublin, on some dis- pute, had the eyes of Brien, son to Maol- mordha, that degenerate king of Leinster, struck out ; but his successor took ample revenge on that insidious crew, and so ef- fectually humbled them that they never after were able to emerge from that con- tempt and obscurity which their crimes and repeated acts of rebellion had so long merited. Malachie now greatly advanced in years, saw and blamed too late his past conduct. To regain the monarchy he sacrificed his faith, his honour, and whatever else was dear to man ; and he now was convinced that he wanted the abilities requisite for so great a charge. The power of the com- mon enemy, it is true, was annihilated; but he had neither force nor resolution to break through party, faction, and intestine broils, with which the kingdom was over- run. As some atonement for these defects he dedicated the remainder of his life to acts of piety and devotion. He founded St. Mary's abbey, in Dublin ; rebuilt and repaired such churches, monasteries, and colleges as had through time, neglect, or the ravages of war, fallen into decay ; and he made foundations of different colleges in the kingdom for the maintenance and education of three hundred poor students. In his last illness he was attended by the archbishop of Armagh, with the abbots of Ionia and Saghire, and died September 2d, 1022, in the seventy-third year of his age, after a reign of eight years, three months, and twelve days. Malachie was the only monarch of Ireland who survived the loss of the diadem ; and the first who again re- sumed that title without a regular and for- mal election. On the death of Malachie none seemed to have better pretensicMis to the supreme command of Ireland than the sons of Brien ; but unnatural jealousies and dissensions among themselves deprived the nation of so wished for a blessing. We have seen them, after the defeat of Domhnal, turn their arms against each other ; and now, instead of uniting in the same cause, they proceeded to similar excesses. Tiege was the elder brother, and great respect was always paid to seniority. Donough at best saw that he could be but second in com- mand while Tiege lived; and therefore effected by treachery what he could not by force. He sent for the chief of Eile, in Ormond, who was particularly attached to him, and by large presents, and a promise of making saor-fearan, or a palatinate, of his country, he engaged him to surprise his brother the following night and carry him off prisoner to Ormond, where he was cut off soon after. Though Donough af- fected great surprise at the sudden disap- pearance of Tiege, yet both his hypocrisy and treachery were quickly seen into ; for soon after his nephew Turlogh fled from Munster to Ferceall, the seat of his uncle, where he was honourably received. It is to be noticed that Tiege had married Mor, the daughter of O'Molloy or Maolmuadh, prince of this territory, now known by the name of King's county. The Heremonians became alarmed at the rising state of Munster, but not able to agree among themselves as to a successor to Malachie, Cuan 0*Lochain, was ap- pointeoi by them protector of the monarchy. This, to many antiquarians, seemed a new and unheard-of employment ; however, in 272 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1060. the fourth century, we find the monarch Criomhthan appoint his cousin Conall pro- tector of Ireland during his absence. In the will of Niall the Grand he expressly declares his son Maine, Ard Comairce Eirin Uile, or chief protector of all Ireland during his absence ; and I have met with flaany instances in old MSS. of the title of governor of Tara, which implies the same thing, as it was the known residence of the Irish monarchs. To have a person ap- pointed in cases of vacancies to an elec- tive monarchy, in whom the executive power should be lodged during the elec- tion, is a measure which no wise govern- ment could want ; and this seems one of the last efforts to bring back the constitu- tion to its original state. This measure, and some troubles in Munster, suspended for a time the ambi- tious views of Domhnal ; but Cuan dying in the second year of his administration, his successor Corcoran, seemed possessed of little or no power. In 1027, says my MSS.,* Donough, at the head of a mighty army, invaded Meath, where he received hostages from the Clan Colman. From thence he marched to Dublin, and sat before that city for some days, till he re- ceived the homage of that people, and large contributions. From Dublin he re- turned through Leinster, compelling both these and the Ossorians to give him tribute and securities for their future peaceable demeanour, and arrived at Cinn-Corradh, laden with spoils and glory. The next year Donough entered into Connaught, and received the homages and the tributes usually paid to monarchs, though he had not been called to that honour, nor even summoned the estates for that purpose. On a complaint that the prince of Ossory had killed his own bro- ther, Donough again marched into his country, and raised heavy contributions on the people. He now commanded, not only in the two Munsters, but also in Leinster, Connaught, and Meath ; and yet we do not find that he adopted any measures to have himself * Leabhar Oiris, etc. etc. legally declared monarch ! However, the estates of Leath-Mogha were convened at Cashell, where several wholesome regula- tions were made, and severe laws passed against robbers, murderers, and profaners of the Sabbath. At no one time since the days of St Patrick (say our annalists *) were so many wise institutions framed. Donough, by his first wife, had eleven sons, two of whom only left male issue, namely, Lorcan and Morrogh. His sec- ond wife, by whom he had a son named Domhnal, was named Driella, daughter to the great Earl Godwin, and sister to Har- old, afterwards king of England.f In 1050, say our annals, Harold fled for pro- tection to his brother-in-law, bv whom he was honourably received. He afterwards supplied him with a large fleet and a con- siderable body of land forces, with which he made a successful landing in Britain.^ The great power of Donough was the source of much discontent to the provinces he had overrun. A powerful league was formed against him. His nephew Tur- logh, who had already acquired great fame, the kings of Connaught and Leinster agreed to supply with a powerful army, in order to recover his inheritance. This had the appearance of justice, and they knew he had a considerable party to sup- port him. At the head of these troops he invaded Munster, and gained many advan- tages over Donough. . In 1058, Turlogh, at the head of his aliens, gained a complete victory ; but in order to lessen the number of his enemies, Donough agreed the next spring, to exonerate the Conacians of all claim to tribute, provided they would with- draw their troops. In 1060, he made the same concesssions to the people of Lein- ster ; but the party of Turlogh was now too strong in Munster to be injured by these defections. Donough made one effort more to expel his nephew from the province. He collected all his forces, and at Jhe foot of Ardagh mountain engaged the army of Turlogh, and received a com- * Annal. Innis-Falens. Tigernach, etc. t Bruodiu, etc. X Baker's Chronicle, Bapio, vol. i. p. 133. A. D. 1064.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 273 plete overthrow. These repeated defeats, his advanced age, the murder of his .bro- ther, and the injuries he did his nephew, began to oppress him. Religion is the only resource for the guilty and for the unfortu- nate, and this pointed out to Donough to make all the atonement he could. To his nephew he peaceably surrendered the crown of Munster ; and, as some expiation for fratricide, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he took on him a religious habit in the monastery of St. Stephen, in which he remained to his death, which happened some years after, in the eighty- eighth year of his age. The Bruodin Chronicle affirms — and tradition has it — that from this prince Do- nough three noble families are descended, supposed to be of foreign extraction : viz. the Powers, the Plunkets, and the Eus- taces. Dr. Keating, mistaking the rela- tion, denies the statement ; for he supposes that it had been asserted that Donough, after his arrival at Rome, had this issue ; a thing, he justly observes, impossible in his advanced stage of life. It was by the princess Driella he had a son named Domh- nal, " a renowned hero, (say our historians,) but of whose posterity we have no perfect accounts." But it is reasonable to sup- pose that, as a cadet, on the retreat of his father, he repaired to Britain, where his posterity might assume those different names ; and as the Bruodins were the ac- knowledged hereditary historians of the O'Briens, great credit is due to their rela- tions, especially in the article of genealogy. It has been asserted that, on Donough's dereliction of Ireland, he carried with him the crown, which he laid at the feet of the then pope, Alexander II. ; and this is of- fered as one proof that the donation of Adrian IV. was valid. But admitting that he surrendered his crown to the see of Rome, it is evident that it could not be the imperial crown, because he was neither elected nor crowned monarch. It could not be the crown of Leath-Mogha, as from unerring records it appears that he peace- ably surrendered that to his nephew. But let us for once suppose, what was not the 35 case, viz. that Donough made a formal tender of the crown of Ireland to this pope; could he or his successors, from this dona- tion, found any kind of claim whatever to the sovereignty of Ireland? Could an exile, a usurper, as he undoubtedly was, transfer to any other a power which he had already surrendered to the legal pro- prietor ? But for argument sake, let us admit him to be acknowledged as monarch in the fullest sense of the word, and that in this character he made a formal surren- der of his crown and dignity to this pope, or to any other prince ; still, by the laws of Ireland, the moment of his death put a period to his delegation. Of the truth of this we are furnished with a proof so late as the reign of Elizabeth. John O'Neil was questioned for refusing the title of earl of Tyrone, granted to his father and his successors ; and he an- swered ** that no act of his father, except confirmed by the estates of Ulster, could be binding on his successors; that the title of O'Neil was to him superior to any other, and that only he would take." * CHAPTER III. Of Dermod, nominal monarch, and his exploits — Of Turlogh XL, monarch — Receives hostages from different provinces, but is defeated in Ul- ster — Appoints his son governor of Dublin, and prevents commotions in Connaught — His trans- actions with some Ulster princeis — Death and character — Mortogh, King of Leath-Mogha, assumes the title of monarch — Receives the submissions of some provinces — Wars with Ul- ster — Bad conduct of his brother — Are recon- ciled — A continuation of his wars — A reconcil- iation between him and the Ultonians — Further accounts of the exploits of Mortogh — Dedicates the city of CasheD to the Church — Death of this prince, and his great antagonist Domhnal, prince of Tyrconnel. Since the death of Brien Boimmhe, we have seen how flagrantly the constitution was violated. No convention of the es- tates at Tara, no election of a ntionarch, no generous attempt whatever to restore dig- * Camden Anaal. Rer. Angl. and Hib. Regn. Eliz. p. 78. 274 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1075. nity and weight to the national laws ! Malachie was contented to be declared monarch by the estates of Meath only ; and Donough, conscious of his crimes, dared not meet a national assembly. By this means every feudatory prince formed an independent interest, and it was not his wish to be eclipsed by another. In this confusion, and to preserve a consistency in the history, the antiquarians have con- sidered the prince of the greatest power, as the nominal monarch of the day. In this light some have viewed Dermod, King of Leinster,* because, in conjunction with the king of Connaught, he reduced the power of Munster, and obliged Donough to relinquish that crown to the lawful heir. He after this assisted in crushing a rebel- lion raised by Muchad, the son of Do- nough. He compelled the king of Con- naught to give him hostages; and the people of Meath and Dublin paid him tribute. The continuator of the Annals of Tigemach affirms, that the Welch and the Hebrides were his tributaries also. In the beginning of February, 1072, he again en- tered Meath, but was defeated on the 7th of said month, by Connor, the son of Mala- chie, king of that province, with great slaughter, in the bloody battle of Odhbha, he himself being among the slain. Though Turlogh, the son of Tiege, son of the immortal Brien, has been placed as nominal monarch after his uncle, yet, as it appears evident, that to the king of Leinster he owed his elevation, and that, during his reign, this prince's power and military glory far eclipsed that of Turlogh, I have placed him next in order to Do- nough. But on his death, in 1072, Tur- logh certainly was the most potent prince in Ireland, and had the fairest claim to that title. From this time we date Turlogh, righe- go-freasabha, or nominal monarch of Ire- land ; and this will reconcile the accounts of antiquarians with respect to the length of his reign — some making it twenty-two years, others allowing him but fourteen.f * Grat. Luc. p. 81. Ogygia, p. 437. t Grat. Luc. p. 82. For those who have placed him in the WHITE LIST, immediately on the resigna- tion of his uncle, are right in allowing him a reign of twenty-two years; but those who have arranged him after the above Dermod, cannot be censured for cutting off eight years from this period. The first public act of Turlogh, was to raise the power of Munster, with which he marched into Leinster, receiving homage, and tak- ing hostages from the different princes and chiefs. His army halted at Kilmainhim, and here the Danish chiefs and magis- trates waited upon him in form ; and, as the other tributary princes did, they kneeled, and each put his hands into those of Turlogh, which implied, that their power was for the future to be employed by him. After he entered the city with great splendour ; the gates being thrown open, the keys were presented to him, rnd he was acknowledged as their sovereign. He confirmed the former governor and magistrates in their different posts ; and from thence proceeded to Meath, to receive hostages and punish Murrogh O'Mealsach- lin for the inhuman murder of his brother Connor, king of that territory. After this he returned to his palace of Cinn-Corradh, where he was received as king of Leath- Mogha in the most extensive meaning of the word. In 1075 he marched an army into Con- naught and received homage and hostages from Roderic O'Connor, king of the prov- ince, from O'Rourk, prince of Breffni, from O'Reily, O'Kelly, Mac Dermod, and others. From thence he proceeded to Ulster on the same errand ; but his troops were severely handled by the Ultonians. However, un- derstanding that Godfrey, governor of Dublin, gave early intelligence to the king of Ulster of his designs, and even privately assisted him, on his return he banished him from the kingdom, and appointed his own son Mortogh governor of Dublin and the territory of Fingal in his stead. The Conacians, encouraged by the checks which Turlogh received in Ulster, were preparing to shake off the yoke ; but he receiving timely information of it suddenly A. D. 1086.] HISTORY OF IRELAND 275 invaded that province, surprised and made a prisoner of King Roderic, who on the most solemn assurances, and the receiving of fresh hostages for his future good be- haviour, he released from his captivity. In 1079, Dunlevy, King of Uladh, ap- plied to Turlogh for succours to reinstate him in his dominions, from which he had been expelled. He supplied him with a good body of men, by whose assistance the malcontents were defeated. This same year he sent his son Dermod into Wales with a powerful navy, who laid waste the country and returned with considerable spoils. O'Mealsachlin, attended by the archbishop of Cashell, in 1080, waited on Turlogh at his palace in Limerick, (since then a monastery, and now the cathedral church,) and got his pardon for the murder of his brother, and was received into fa- vour. In 1082, Dunlevy, King of Uladh, with his principal nobility waited on Tur- logh in Limeiick, to thank him for the re- covery of his dominions and to do him homage as his chief. Turlogh dismissed them with great marks of royal munifi- -cence — there being distributed among them, by his orders, a thousand cows, a hundred and twenty cloaks of different colours, ac- cording to the quality of the people, forty ounces of gold, with swords and bucklers, etc. In 1084, Turlogh being on a royal tour, CyRourk made a sudden irruption into Thomond, burned and plundered Kil- laloe, Tuam-Greine, Seariff, and Magh- Neo, (then flourishing cities on the banks of the Shannon, now scarce retaining the traces of villages !) and returned to Breffni laden with spoils ; but Turlogh had his revenge, for the forces of O'Rourk were cut off and himself slain soon after by the troops of Munster. This generous and intrepid prince had long laboured under a chronic disorder, which at length deprived him of life at Cinn-Corradh, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, in the month of July, 1086. He has been placed high in the list of fame by our writers, not so much for his success and intrepidity in war, (in which he ap- pears to have been very successful,) as for his justice, his humanity, his piety, and love of his country. His cousin Murchad, in the second year of his reign, raised a for- midable rebellion in Thomond, which was suppressed with great loss of blood, and he obliged to take refuge in Connaught. Some years after he returned and was the cause of fresh outrages, yet the only pun- ishment inflicted by Turlogh was to assign him ample possessions in Cuonagh and Aharla, in the county of Limerick, which his posterity enjoyed for many generations. He showed the same humanity to other delinquents, and framed a set of laws much wanted and highly applauded in those days. The fame of the splendour, power, and jus- tice of this prince was not confined to Ire- land. St. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Can- terbury, addressed a letter " To the mag- nificent Turlogh, King of Ireland ;" in which he praises God for his blessings to the Irish nation in granting them a prince of his piety, moderation, and equity, to rule them.* Turlogh had by his queen Saibh, daugh- ter of the king of Desmond, four sons; Tiege, who died soon after his father at Cinn-Corradh ; Mortogh, who was his im- mediate successor ; Dermod, who suc- ceeded him ; and Donough, slain in Meath. Immediately after the death of Turlogh, his son Mortogh was proclaimed king of Leath-Mogha, and is ranked next among the monarchs of Ireland. But to insure his power we find the first public acts of his reign were to banish his brother Dermod, and to lead an army into Leinster to receive the homage of that people. God- frey, the former governor of Dublin, in whose place Mortogh had been placed by his father, had resumed the command of that city in his absence ; but hearing he was so near, again fled beyond sea, and Mortogh appointed his eldest son, Domh- nal, to that charge. Hav-ing thus gained the sovereignty of Leinster and Meath, he entered Ulster in a hostile manner and compelled the petty chiefs to pay him tribute ; but Domhnal, prince of Tyrconnel, being a warlike and * Usser. Epist. Hib. Syllog. Ep. xxvii. f^ 876 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1099. enterprising prince, embraced this oppor- tunity to cause a diversion in Munster, be- ing invited so to do by Dermod, brother to Mortogh. His army proce'eded through Connaught, which country paid him hom- age. The palace of Cinn-Corradh he laid in ashes ; and among his prisoners were one hundred and fifty of Mortogh's house- hold troops, with three of their principal commanders, namely, the sons of ©'Ken- nedy, O'Hogan, and O'Linshe. Limerick underwent the same fate with Cinn-Cor- radh, as did other towns of less note ; and Domhnal returned to Ulster laden with trophies and spoils. If laying waste a country and impover- ishing its miserable, though innocent in- habitants, may be called satisfaction, Mor- togh had this ; for he forcibly entered Ul- ster, laid waste the country, destroyed its towns, and levelled the palace of Aghle with the dust. His brother Dermod was a very formidable enemy on account of the party he had in Munster. We see the thirst of ambition and revenge supersede every other consideration in him; and with astonishment we behold this prince mean enough to accept the command of the Connaught navy, and base enough to convert that force to the ruin of his own countrv. For with it he scoured the coasts of Munster, making sudden landings in dif- ferent places, and plundering the country. Some time after the archbishops of Ar- magh and Munster, with several other dig- nitaries, interposed their good offices, by which means the brothers became recon- ciled. Mortogh passed a general act of amnesty for all past offences whatever; and Dermod solemnly swore in the pres- ence of the clergy, " by the staff of St. Patrickj and hy all the holy relics of Ire- land^ to behave as a dutiful brother and subject for the remainder of his life. In 1094, Mortogh again invaded Leinster and Meath, defeated the forces of O'Connor Failge, or Falia, and made him prisoner. He after this attacked the Meathians and slew Donald O'Maolseachlin, King of Tara, whose territories he afterwards divided be- tween his two brothers. Next year he encamped in the centre of Connaught for above two months ; and the Shannon was covered by his fleets, with which he subjected all the neighbouring states ; but Domhnal was his most formi- dable enemy, yet mostly on the defensive. Though Mortogh had three several times invaded Ulster, and though his land opera- tions were always seconded with a numer- ous and well-appointed navy, yet the ad- vantages he gained were very inadequate to his losses and expenses. Frequently the clergy interposed their good offices and strove to reconcile these contending chiefs ; but their amity was neither lasting nor sincere. In 1099, Mortogh invaded Ulster with a mighty army, and was met on the plains of Muirtheimhne, in the county of Down, (so memorable for the defeat and death of the famous Cucullin, some time before the Incarnation,) by Domhnal, with the whole power of Ulster. The armies on both sides were arranged, waiting for the signal to engage ; when, happily, the successors of St. Patrick and St. Ailbe, (i. e. the arcbishops of Armagh and Cash- ell,) with several other dignitaries, threw themselves between them, and by their ex- hortations, their prayers, and their entrea- ties, a solid and lasting peace was made. By this peace Domhnal was acknowledged as king of Leath-Cuin, says Giolla-Moduda, a celebrated antiquarian and contemporary ; and Mortogh, king of Leath-Mogha ; but to me it is clear that this last reserved to himself the nominal title of ard-righ or monarch. By his bravery, conduct, and prudence, Mortogh became highly es- teemed by the neighbouring states, who sent ambassadors to congratulate him on his victories. St Anselm, successor to Lanfranc in the see of Canterbury, some time after his consecration, addressed his letter " To Mortogh, the magnificent king of Ireland," in which he pays high compli- ments to his prudence, fortitude, and jus- tice.* Some time after the estates of Man and the adjacent isles sent ambassa- dors to this prince, requesting he would grant them an able and prudent governor * Usher. Epist. Hibern. Syllog. Ep. xxxvi. A. D. 1119.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 277 to rule them till their king came of age.* In the said chronicle it is asserted that Magnus, King of Norway and Man, some time after sent ambassadors to Mor- togh, requiring, as a mark of vassalage, that he should publicly on Christmas-day carry his shoes on his shoulders, which the other meanly complied with rather than expose his country to fresh insults ; and yet nevertheless Magnus, with a mighty fleet, invaded the country, being allured to do so from the report of its great fertility and riches. But Dr. Warner (as every other man of sense would) thinks it impossible that a prince of Mortogh's high blood could ever be brought to submit to such meanness ; and the Bruodin Chroni- cle puts it beyond question. For that val- uable record tells us that a Danish prince did send such a message to Mortogh, who ordered the ears of the messengers to be cut off, and bade them inform their master that such w^as his answer to so inso- lent a demand. The barbarian, highly in- censed, prepared with a large fleet and a considerable body of land forces to invade Ireland ; but Mortogh, being informed of the place of their intended descent, waited with a select body of troops, which soon attacked, cut to pieces, or otherwise dis- persed this formidable banditti.f This happened in the year 1101. After this reconciliation and the above defeat, these rival princes lived in peace and harmony, and seemed greatly struck with the ravages and distresses their wild ambition had involved the nation in. Both became great penitents, and laboured by acts of piety and charity to obliterate their former crimes. In 1101, Mortogh con- vened the estates of Munster at Cashell, with all the bishops of Leath-Mogha ; and he there, with their consent, alienated for ever that city from the crown of Munster, dedicating it to God, to St Patrick, and St. Ailbe, and affixing it to the diocese of Cashell. Mortogh, being in a declining state of health, in 1116 solemnly renounced the crown of Munster in favour of his * Camden Brit. sub. fin. t De Begibus Hibern. p. 933. brother Dermod, and retired to the monas- tery of St. Carthagh, at Lismore, where he lived with great piety and austerity, and died the 3d of March, 1119, and was buried with great funeral pomp at Killaloe. In like manner, some time before his death, Domhnal entered the monastery of St. Co- lumba, at Derry, where he died, A. D, 1 121, in his seventy-third year. Colgan gives him a very high character, both for the graces of his mind and body as well as for his justice, liberality, and humanity. Mor- togh had three sons — Domhnal, whom he appointed governor of Dublin, and who in 1118 embraced a monastic life; Mahon, who was ancestor to the Mac Mahons of Corca-Bhaisorgin ; and Kennedy, of whom no further mention is made. CHAPTER IV. Council of Fiadh- JEngusa — State of the church of Ireland, its privileges, and the great power of its metropolitans — Reformations wanting in it — The first instance since the days of Patrick of a le- gate, with powers from Rome, presiding at a council of Irish bishops — Acts of this council, with a remarkable prayer — Writers of the elev- enth century. We have given a remarkable instance of the piety and munificence of Mortogh, in his prevailing on the estates of Munster to unite with him in conveying for ever to the church of Cashell that ancient city, the royal residence of the Munster kings for so many centuries, and which was so called from cios-ol, the place of tribute, as here the regal revenues were paid in every May and November. Besides this, in 1 1 18, Mortogh by his royal proclamation con- vened a synod of the clergy to meet at Fiadh-iEngusa, or Aongus's Grove, in Meath. In this synod, which continued by adjournment for some years, many useful reforms were made in the church of Ire- land. For, first, it is certain, that bishops were multiplied among us at the will of the metropolitan, and often without any fixed places of residence ; secondly, the power of nominating bishops to certain dioceses was reserved to certain royal and noble 278 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1118. families in the different parts of the king- dom, and to them only; thirdly, though the church of Ireland was in exact con- formity with that of Rome in the doctrines of faith, and submitted to her decisions in many instances of discipline, as in the ton- sure, the celebration of Easter, etc., yet it does not appear that the popes ever en- joyed any direct power or authority what- ever over that church. We have seen briefs and letters directed to the Irish bish- ops ; but I cannot find that they deemed themselves schismatics when ihey thought fit to refuse the decisions of Rome, as they did for more than two centuries with res- pect to the feast of Easter ; fourthly, in some instances bishops had been married men ; but no proofs whatever can be pro- duced that the popes nominated to bishop- rics among us ; and fifthly, it appears evident that the Irish bishops enjoyed no exclusive privileges whatever — though Co- lumba formerly strongly contended for the church's being an asylum ; on the con- trary the Irish clergy were subject to tem- poral laws and temporal taxations : — they were obliged in person to attend the royal standard ; and I take it for granted that, as feudal lords, they were obliged to bring a certain quota of troops into the field also. Yet, with all this, in no part of the world were the clergy more respected; but to the exemplary lives they led they owed this. Synods and councils they held from time to time to correct abuses in the church, but the archbishop of Armagh con- stantly presided as patriarch, and their de- cisions were for near two centuries re- ceived in England, and until the twelfth century in Scotland. Such, in miniature, was the state of the Irish church and its privileges, which I have with no small labour and reading extracted from our most authentic records, ecclesiastical as well as civil ; and which I judged highly necessary to be laid before the reader, the better to understand the subsequent parts of our history. From this account it will appear that refor- mations were wanting in ecclesiastical discipline. The Irish archbishops, particularly him of Armagh, from the days of St. Patrick, assumed a power of consecrating bishops, not only for Ireland, but for the neighbour- ing states. The Venerable Bede, in differ- ent parts of his Ecclesiastical History of Britain, is as clear in this as words can express it, with respect to the Saxons. It is also evident that they consecrated bishops for the missions in France, Ger- many, etc. ; and in Scotland, till the end of the twelfth century, the Irish consecration only was known. By this power they increased the number of bishops at home at pleasure ; but whatever necessity there might be for it formerly, it now became a burden to the state, and demanded an abridgment. It was also useful to religion and good discipline, that the right of nomi- nating to bishoprics should be altered, since, by the mode in use, the hierarchy was mostly confined to certain septs in the different parts of the kingdom, and the re- spect due to religion seemed to require a relaxation of the temporal laws with re- spect to the clergy. Celsus, or Celestin, was, at this time, the successor to St. Pat- rick — a prelate of great erudition, of un- feigned piety, and of a most exemplary life. Maol Josa CDuncen was archbishop of Munster, of a most edifying life and con- versation ; and almost all the bishops were highly eminent for their sanctity and learning. Under such a prince as Mortogh, and influenced by such prelates as the above, great matters were expected, and much good was done. Pope Pascal II. had fre- quently importuned Mortogh to call a national council ; and he appointed Gilbert of Limerick, his legate, to preside in it. It is the first instance we read of, since the days of St. Patrick, of a legate from Rome presiding over a council of Irish bishops ; and this, with the presence of the monarch and chiefs of the land, brought a great conflux of the clergy. At this council were assembled no less a number than fifty bishops, fifteen mitred abbots, three hundred and sixty priests, and near three thousand regulars. As matters of A.D. 1120.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 279 much importance were to be here debated, great caution, time, and deliberation were necessary. From ancient writers calling the place of meeting sometimes Fiadh- iEngusa, at other times Uisneach, and Rath-Bresail, later ones have imagined that there were three different councils, and called at different places ; but a knowledge of ancient typography will at once explam this. Uisneach was in the centre of Meath, and here, in the days of Druidism, was the grand temple of Bel. It was erected in the middle of a large grove, as all Druid houses were : this grove was called Fiadh- -^ngusa, and a fort adjoining it was called Rath-Bresail. In this place the monarch, the princes, and the clergy met; and among other regulations, the following were unan- imously agreed and subscribed to: First, the clergy were, for the future, to be ex- empt from public taxations and temporal laws ; and whatever they contributed to- wards the support of the state, was to be by way of free gift. Second, the arch- bishops resigned the right they derived from St. Magonius the Patrician, or (as he is generally called St. Patrick,) of conse- crating bishops at pleasure. Third, the number of bishops in Ireland, for the time to come, was to be limited to twenty-eight, but without encroaching on the rights and privileges of the present bishops : of these twelve were to be under the see of Leath- Cuin, or Armagh, twelve under that of Leath-Mogha, or Cashell, and two in Meath ; these last at the appointment of the monarch. Fourth, the rights in spirit- uals, over all Ireland, was confirmed to the see of Leath-Cuin, and the archbishop of Cashell presided over Leath-Mogha. A survey of the church-lands was taken ; and the lands and extent of jurisdiction of the future bishops was settled with great precision. We find no mention made of the archbishops of Leinster or Connaught in this celebrated council. After subscribing to these and many other regulations of less consequence, the following prayer was added : " The bless- ing of the Almighty, and of St Peter, and St. Patrick, and of the representer of St. Peter's successor, the Legate Giolla Aspuig, Bishop of Lomeneach, of Ceallach, St Patrick's successor, of Maol-Josa Mac Ainmhire, Archbishop of Leath-Mogha, and of all the bishops, nobles, and clergy in this holy synod of Rath-Bresail assem- bled, light upon, and remain with all who shall approve, ratify, and observe these ordinances." CMaolconry was a celebrated poet and antiquarian of the eleventh century. We have yet preserved a chronological poem of his, beginning with the monarch Lo- gaire, A. D. 428, and ending in the year 1014. An anonymous writer of the history of the archbishops of Munster and church of Cashell, is placed by Colgan in this cen- tury, as it is brought down no lower than the year 1017.* The author of the Anala ar Chogaibh Eirion, who I take for granted to be the famous antiquarian Mac Liag, lived also in the eleventh age, because he closes his work with the abdication of Donough, A. D. 1064; and yet, as historiographer to the immortal Brien, we should be apt to conclude that he could not live so long ; and that the continuation of this work, after the death of Brien, must be by some other hand. Dubdaleth, Archbishop of Armagh, wrote the annals of Ireland to 1021 ; as also the history of his predecessors in that see to his own times.f The celebrated Marianus Scotus flour- ished in this century, and was as eminent for his uncommon austerity and pety as for his great erudition and knowledge of the sacred writings. Of all his numerous works, his Chronicon Universale holds the first place in public estimation. Sigebert, of (Jemblours, says of him, " that without comparison he was the most learned man of his age ; an excellent historian, a fa- mous mathematician, and a solid divine." J The writer of a chronicle, in the Cotton * Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 5, c. iv. t Trias Thaumat. p. 298, col. ii. X Writers of Ireland, fol. 66. 280 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1120. Library, carried from the Incarnation to the year 1181, under the year 1028 says, " This year, Marianus Scotus, the Irish chronographer, was born, who wrote the Chronicle of Chronicles." * Walsh seems guilty of a great anachronism in declaring the above Marianus to be the preceptor to Adrian IV. ; for, in 1052, he embraced the monastic life, and in '1056 retired to Germany, where he lived mostly a recluse to his death, which happened in 1086 ; whereas Adrian was advanced to the papacy in 1154, sixty-eight years after the death of Marianus ! f Gilda Coamhain is placed by most wri- ters in the present age, but, I think, with great impropriety ; for he brings his his- tory no further down than the reign of Loagaire, which work Gilda Moduda re- sumed, and carried on to the death of Malachie II. Tigemach O'Braoin, successor to St. Ciaran, or abbot of Cluan-Mac-Nois, and who died in the year 1088, wrote a chron- icle from the earliest period, which he brought down to his own times. This work is highly esteemed ; and an anony- mous writer has carried it on t6 the seven- teenth century Maol Josa O'Brolchain, a religious of great reputation for sanctity and letters, is said to be the author of many valuable pieces, but their titles are not specified. The Annals of Dunegal declare him to have been among the first doctors and writers of Ireland. Errard, secretary to Malachie, King of Meath, is said by Colgan to have been a profound antiquarian, and the author of some antiquities ; and Maol Josa O'Stuir is mentioned as an excellent philosopher, and is said to have written some physical tracts. * Do Britan. Ecclea. Prim. p. 735. t Prospect of Ireland, p. 448. CHAPTER V. Turlogh nominal monarch — Character of Connor O'Brien — Wars of these princes — Assembly of Tailtean — Turlogh invades Munster by sea and land — Connor unites his brothers, and, in his turn, invades Connaught — Returns the next year, and brings immense spoils from Ulster and Connaught — Death and character of Connor O'Brien — Turlogh O'Brien proclaimed king of Munster — Policy of Turlogh, the monarch, in dividing Munster — Invades that province, and is defeated — Returns the next year — Fatal battle of Mon-Moir — Turlogh resigns the crown of Munster, and retires to the North — Is restored to his crov^n by the king of Ulster — Death and character of Turlogh O'Connor — A moral reflection. Turlogh, the son of Roderic O'Connor, King of Connaught, is placed next on the list as nominal monarch of Ireland. Sir James Ware, and others,* think that the factious parties in the land were so coun- terpoised that, for seventeen years after the death of Mortogh, no prince was pow- erful enough to assume this title; yet it was agreed that Turlogh was so saluted (at least by his own subjects) immediately after Mortogh. He was son to Roderic, King of Con- naught, and twenty-third in descent from Eochaidh Moighmheodin, monarch of Ire- land in the fourth century, and the first of this branch of the Heremonian line who, in that long interval, from kings of Con- naught had assumed the title of monarch. In times of faction and turbulence like the present, where the estates were not con- vened to proceed to a regular election, or the parliament of Tara assembled to cor- rect national abuses, every thing was deter- mined by the sword. Connor O'Brien, called Slaparsalach, or the Spattered Robe, the son of Dermod, last king of Leath- Mogha, and nephew to Mortogh the Great, succeeded his father, A. D. 1 120, and possessed all those qualifications which are generally supposed to constitute the hero. He was as ambitious for obtaining the monarchy as Turlogh, and as little scrupu- lous as to the ways of attaining it. Tur- logh may be with propriety styled king of Leath-Cuin, as he was the most powerful chief in that district, and for the same • Ogygia, p. 439. A. D. 1127.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 261 reason Connor may be called king of Leath-Mogha. Two powerful princes, of opposite in- terests, must necessarily become enemies, and such were these. Dermod, the father of Connor, some time before his death invaded Connaught, and laid the country under military execution ; and this compli- ment was returned by Turlogh the sec- ond year of Connor's reign, by marching his army to Cashell and Lismore, etc., and sorely distressing the people ; but the Mamonians attacked them on their retreat near Ardfinan, dispersing their army, with great slaughter of very many of its chiefs, among whom were O'Heyne, O'Flaherty, O'Lorcan, etc. However, early in No- vember, we find Turlogh entering Mun- ster at the head of a more powerful army than the last. He remained encamped near Birr till the end of the January following. But though his troops remained inac- tive, yet was not he nor his ministers. During this interval he was labouring to disunite the Eugenians from the Dalgais, by representing how long their family had been deprived of their right of succession to the Munster crown. A hint of this kind was enough to blow up the coals of dissension. Donough Mac Carthy, and other Eugenian princes, immediately en- tered into private treaty with Turlogh. But this was not enough : the tribe of Dal- gais, connected and united, was still a formidable body; and even among these parties must be formed. When Connor was proclaimed king of Leath-Mogha, his next brother, Turlogh, was declared king of Thomond. The king of Connaught, spirited up Tiege Gle O'Brien, a younger brother, who seized on him by surprise, had him conveyed to the Connaught camp, and thereupon usurped the title of king of Thomond himself. Thus did Turlogh O'Connor, by his negotiations, without the loss of a man, more effectually distress his antagonist than he could have done by several battles. The Dalgais were by this means divided ; and by supporting Do- nough Mac Carthy agamst his elder brother 36 Cormoc, he sowed similar dissensions among the Eugenians. Having cut out work enough for the Mamonians at home, in the middle of Feb- ruary he decamped from Birr, and obliged the Lagenians, Meathians, and people of Dublin, to deliver up hostages to him. After this he made great preparations, both by sea and land, to invade Ulster, and oblige that gallant race of people to ac- knowledge his sway. In the spring of the following year he entered that province at the head of a gallant and well-appointed army, whose operations were seconded by a fleet of a hundred and ninety ships. With these he defeated the different ar- mies and navies that everywhere opposed him. He spoiled Tir-One and Tir-Connel, and compelled the chiefs of these two great houses, and those of Dal-Airidhe, etc., to submit to his power and acknowl- edge his sway. In July, 1126, the great assembly at Tailtean, in Meath, was opened for the first time for near a century. It generally last- ed a month, beginning fifteen days before the first of August, and ending the fifteenth of that month. In this meeting horse- races, charioteering, tournaments, and feats of arms, hurling, and all the gymnastic exercises, were exhibited with great splen- dour. Days were set apart for these dif- ferent amusements ; rewards were appoint- ed for the victors ; and these sports were resorted to from different parts of Europe. From Tailte, daughter of Maghmor, a Spanish prince, were they called, by Lugh- aidh, monarch of Ireland, who, to her memory, and in gratitude for the care she took in his education, instituted them ; and from this prince the month of August was called Lughnas, (Lunas,) from which the English adopted the name of Lammas for the first of August. In the year 1127, Turlogh collected all the power of Leath-Cuin to fall upon Mun- ster. He crossed the Shannon at Athlone, and marched, without the least interruption, as far as Cork. At the same time his navy, consisting of a hundred and fifty ships, was directed to ravage the coasts, to draw off 282 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. D. 1142. the attention of the enemy. Here he was joined by Donough Mac Carthy, and other Eugenian princes, and then deposed Cor- moc, the elder brother, and caused Do- nough to be proclaimed king of Desmond. Thus Turlogh made Tiege O'Brien king of Thomond, and Donough Mac Carthy king of South Munster, or Desmond, by which means the power of Connor, king of the entire province, was much straitened. But Connor, having reconciled his contend- ing brothers, and strengthened his own interest, marched his army into Desmond, where O'SuUivan, O'Donoghoc, O'Maho- ny, O'Keefe, O'Moriarty, O'Felan, and other Eugenian chiefs, with their forces, joined him. In the interim, Cormoc had retired to the monastery of Lismore, from which he was drawn forth, and a second time saluted king of Desmond, while Do- nough and his party were banished to Connaught. To avenge this insult, Tur- logh directed his navy to scour the coasts of Munster ; in which expedition they did great mischief to the poor exposed border- ers and to the country. Connor having solidly established his authority at home, compelled the Lage- nians to return to their duty, and being once more actual king of Leath-Mogha, with a mighty army he invaded Connaught. Near Athlone he was opposed by the col- lected forces of Turlogh. A bloody en- gagement ensued, in which the Conacians were routed with considerable slaughter. Among the slain were O'Flaherty, and many other persons of prime quality ; at the same time his fleet from Cinn-Corradh scoured the adjoining coasts and commit- ted great depredations, while, with another from Cork, he plundered the seacoasts of Connaught. The next year he again invaded Con- naught, defeated the forces of Turlogh, and slew Cathal O'Connor, presumptive heir to the crown, O'Floin, and other chiefs of eminence. In 1134, he attacked Mac Murcha, King of Leinster, who favoured the party of his antagonist, and gave his army a most complete defeat. He now marched his victorious troops into Con- naught, and determined to subdue Turlogh or perish in the attempt; but the arch- bishop and clergy of Connaught interpo- sing their good oflices, a peace was con- cluded, by which Connor was acknowl- edged as king of Leath-Mogha, and Turlogh king of Leath-Cuin, and (I sup- pose) with the title of monarch. But Con- nor, we find, did not as usual dismiss his auxiliaries. He marched at their head into Ulster, carrying on a war rather of depre- dation than conquest. The people of Ty- rone, in this consternation, had their plate and treasures deposited in the church of Derry, and other sacred edifices, as places of the greatest safety ; but these Connor caused to be seized. In like manner the treasures of Tyrconnel, lodged in the ca- thedral of Raphoe, etc., were carried oK In Meath he committed the same sacrile- gious excesses, possessing himself of all the treasures of the province laid up in the church of Clonard ; then crossing the Shannon, conveyed to Cinn-Corradh what- ever he found of public property in the abbeys of Conga, Eithne, Roscommon, etc. We shall pass by other incidents of less mo- ment to his death, which happened in No- vember, 1142, to which time he preserved all the rights and powers which had ever been annexed to the sovereignty of Leath- Mogha, and those in as ample a manner as had been possessed by any of his ancestors. He was interred in the cathedral of Killaloe. Connor was a prince of invincible cour- age and a great politician, which made him always find certain resources when his affairs seemed most desperate. He has been also celebrated for his munifi- cence, his hospitality, and piety. He was so fond of building and improving, that he got the surname of Catharach, or the Cities, on account of the many he founded and improved ; likewise that of Slaparsa- lach, or the Dirty Robe, as his attention to these works was so great as often to have his robes spattered with the mortar. He is said to have been the founder of many churches and monasteries, but I cannot find their particular names specified. It is A.D. 1150.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 283 much more probable that he rather re- paired and restored such as had fallen to ruin. His piety and munificence in these articles were not entirely domestic, since it is acknowledged in the chronicle of the Irish abbey of St. Peter's, at Ratisbon, that he it was who restored and repaired this abbey from its foundation ; and to prove in how masterly a manner it was done, it is added: "The erecting so spacious a cloister, of such famous workmanship, abounding with stately turrets, walls, pil- lars, and vaults, so expeditiously construct- ed, must be wholly attributed to the im- mense sums of money and riches furnished for that pious end by the king of Ireland, and by other princes of that nation."* Besides this we find that Connor sent a great number of noble knights, and other persons of quality, to the Holy Land. They were charged (says the above chronicle) with many rich presents to the Emperor Lotharius, towards defraying the expenses of the Crusades, and they were directed to fight under his banners. Turlogh, the brother of Connor, was proclaimed by the estates king of Munster, immediately after his death, according to the law of tanistry, by which the uncle or next in blood to the deceased of the great- est experience and abilities, was elected in preference to the heir-apparent ; and Mor- togh, the son of Connor, succeeded his uncle, as king of Thomond. His mother was Saibh, daughter to O'Mealseachlin, King of Tara. Soon after Turlogh's accession to the throne of Munster, he made a successful irruption into Connaught; but the next year his own territories were invaded by Donough Mac Carthy. From thence he entered the Deasies, where he was seized on by CFlanagan, and sent under a strong guard to Turlogh, who had him conveyed to the strong fortress of Loch-Goir, in the county of Limerick, where he soon after ended his days. The great policy of Tur- logh, the monarch, consisted in creating divisions among the Mamonians. He rep- resented to the Eugenians, that for near • Chron. Monast. St. Jacobi Ratisbon. two centuries were they and their ances- tors deprived of the right of succession to the crown of Munster ; and how mean must they appear in public estimation for so long and so tamely submitting to such injustice. This was what stimulated them in the reign of Connor to oppose him in many instances. Turlogh, sensible of all this, judged that the surest means of sup- porting his authority was to humble the king of Connaught, by which means the Eugenians would be less fond of showing their hostile intentions. With a large army, Turlogh, in conjunction with his nephew Mortogh, invaded Connaught. A bloody battle was fought, in which the Conacians were worsted. Roderic CFla- herty, and other persons of note, were slain ; and O'Kelly, chief of Hy-Maine, with many others, were made prisoners. Dermod, the son of Cormoc, late king of Desmond, with most of the Eugenians, were resolved to support his claim to the crown of Munster, and the monarch Tur- logh determined to assist them with all hit power. At the head of the forces of Connaught and Breffni, Turlogh marched into Des- mond, where he was joined by the Euge- nians. At the foot of Sliabh-Mis, in Kerry, the combined forces were attacked by the king of Munster, who, after a gallant re- sistance and the loss of much blood, obliged them to make a precipitate retreat. Der- mod however collected his scattered forces, and having received considerable reinforce- ments, entered the county of Limerick the same year and received a complete defeat, his entire army being cut oflT or dispersed. Dermod, by his ambassadors, represented to the monarch the distressed situation of his affairs, and claimed a more powerful support than he had yet received. A coun- cil was called, and it was resolved to de- ' throne the king of Munster, cost what it would. He sent expresses to Leinster, to Meath, to Breffni, and to all his tributaries, to attend his standard early in March ; but while these formidable preparations were making, his son and heir, young Roderic, at the head of a chosen party suddenly en- 384 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1014. tered Thomond, and, among other excesses, surprised, plundered, and set fire to the palace of Cinn-Corradh, " the most stately royal edifice in Ireland," says Tigernach's continuator. Encouraged by this success the imperial army marched into Munster, headed by the monarch in person, under whom were Mac Murcha, King of Lcin- ster, O'Mealsachlin, King of Meath, O'Ru- ark and O'Bellis, princes of Breffni, and many other chiefs. Dermod Mac Carthy and the Eugenians immediately poured in to his assistance, and the state of the Mun- ster army seemed very precarious. The night before the bloody battle of Mon- moir, the imperial army had encamped on the side of the Black Water, while their opponents, headed by Turlogh and his gallant nephew, were lodged about Cork. Early next morning these last marched to Glean-Mahair, and at Monmoir the two armies engaged. The imperial troops, as may well be supposed, were much more numerous than their adversa- ries ; yet among these last were three Dal- gasian brigades, or nine thousand men, whose intrepidity and fortitude could be depended on. The engagement as usual began with the projection of stones from slings, with the discharge of arrows, of lances, etc. Soon they came to close, when the sword, the battle-axe, and dag- ger, exposed a new scene of carnage ! In battles like this strength and numbers must ever prevail. After a long and bloody conflict the Mamonians began to give way on every side : it was resolved to sound a retreat ; and the Dalgais, whose province it was to lead on to the battle, always claimed the honour of covering the retreat. The son of the gallant Connor at the head of his brave associates, opposed their im- penetrable column to every attack of the enemy. Unacquainted with fear, they could not think of retiring, and they scorned to ask for quarter. Turlogh, by this means, and the shattered remains of his forces, gained time enough to reach Limerick, but with an almost irreparable loss to North Munster. For to effect this the generous Mortogh and almost the en- tire of his corps fell in their ranks ; and it may be said that the Dalgais never effec- tually recovered the loss of that day ! The day after this decisive battle the monarch marched to Limerick ; but Tur- logh, not choosing to stand a siege, submit- ted to the conqueror, did him homage, put hostages into his hands, procured his own liberty by paying down two hundred ounces of pure gold, with many other val- uable presents, and surrendered up his crown. Hereupon Tiege-Gle was pro- claimed king of Thomond, and Dermod Mac Carthy king of Desmond ; each to be supreme in his own territories and no fur- ther. Turlogh, now an exile, retired to the court of Tyrone. O'Neil, prince of that territory, received him with singular honours ; a league was formed between the princes of Ulster, jealous of the over- grown power of the monarch, and they determined to restore the exile. The troops of Tyrone, Tyrconnel, Oirgial, etc., assembled ; and in their march through Meath were attacked by those of the mon- arch, whom, after a bloody contest, they defeated with great slaughter of men, be- sides nine princes left dead on the field of battle ! After this Turlogh was reinstated in his kingdom, and the eyes of Tiege-Gle were put out, who retired to the abbey of Lismore, where he died in great repute for sanctity in 1154. This success of the en- terprising prince of Ulster encouraged him to make further attempts to restrain the power of Turlogh O'Connor. He invaded his territories by land, and with his navy, composed of his own ships, with others that he had taken into his service from North Britain and the Orkneys, he scoured the Connaught seas, and at length com- pelled him to put hostages into his hands as sureties for his peaceable demeanour for the future. Turlogh spent the remainder of his reign mostly in acts of piety and de- votion, and died the 13th of June, 1156, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. By his will he ordered that his body should be de- posited in the church of St. Ciaran, at Cluan Mac Nois, close to the great altar. The actions of this reign have been very A. D. 1086.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. superficially narrated by Keating and Bru- odinus. Grat. Luc. is more detailed, but without attending to dates, etc. The Scoto- Chronicon, the Annals of Tigemach, of Innis-Falen, and the translation of the Book of Munster have, however, enabled me to throw the whole into a clear point of view. From the whole it appears evi- dent that Turlogh was not only a great general but a profound politician, who suc- cessfully employed these different talents ac- cording to exigencies. That he protected trade and manufactures must be presumed from his rebuilding causeways and repair- ing the public roads. He threw two spa- cious bridges over the Shannon — one at Athlone, the other at Ath-Crochta, and one across the river Suick. He repaired the ca- thedral of Tuam, erected a spacious hospital there, and founded and endowed with great splendour a priory in that city under the invocation of St. John the Baptist. He augmented the funds of the abbey of Ros- common, and founded a new professorship of divinity in the university of Armagh. He directed the host to be carried with great solemnity, attended by many reli- gious, through the kingdom, and afterwards had it deposited in the abbey of Roscom- mon in a tabernacle of inestimable value. He presented to the cathedral of Cluan Mac Nois. a number of silver crosses, some curious gold chalices and goblets, and erected there a mint. By will he directed that all the valuable furniture of his palace, his vessels of gold and silver, his diamonds and precious stones, the horses and cattle of his domain, his mu- sical instruments, and five hundred and forty ounces of pure gold, with forty marks of silver, should be distributed among the clergy and churches, and he noted down the proportions to each. Besides, he di- rected that his horse and arms, with his quiver and arrows, should be deposited at Cluan Mac Nois on account of his singu- I lar reverence for St. Ciaran. Thus died the great Turlogh O'Connor, in the highest estimation for piety. But say, ye casuists, did he, or his formidable rival, Connor O'Brien, really merit this epi- thet so liberally bestowed on both ? Will the erecting a few churches and monas- teries atone for the immature death of thou- sands and the ruin of as many more ? Were the objects of these contending princes to establish peace and subordina- tion and restore to their country its ancient constitution? If these were not their views, as we know they were not, then there must have been something extremely defective in the heads and hearts and in the education of both ! What avails it that the Christian system exhibits the most ex- alted notions of morality that human na- ture can conceive, if mankind are not the better for it ? The same crimes, the same thirst of ambition and of empire that have hurried men to the greatest excesses in the days of heathenism, are exhibited in every region and every age of Christianity since the Incarnation ! Turenne had twenty- five villages and two cities of the Palatinate set fire to and consumed to ashes in one morning, and yet he was deemed a prince of great piety and humanity ! It is said of the great Duke of Berwick that he heard two masses every morning ; and yet, after his devotions, we see he could sit down with great composure to calculate the numbers of lives such an attack or such a siege would cost him ! It may be al- ledged that Turenne and Berwick were but subjects, bound implicitly to obey the orders of their prince. This may be a good ar- gument in the Mahometan system, which enjoins the most servile obedience to the commands of their emperors, but not in the Christian, which admits of a free will. But while Alexanders and Caesars, the de- vastators of countries and perverters of constitutions, are exhibited as models for princes ; while historians seem to dwell with pleasure on sieges and battles, state convulsions and state revolutions, and slur over the blessings of peace, it cannot be otherwise ! How much more enlivening would the description of a royal progres- sion be, in which virtue is called forth fi-om modest obscurity, industry cherished and rewarded, arts and sciences protected, and peace and plenty smiling over the land ! 286 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1162. CHAPTER VI. Mortogh assumes the title of monarch — OpjMJsed by O'Connor — Falls in tho battle of Litterluin — State of the Irish church — St. Bernard's charges against this church and clergy candidly exam- ined and refuted — Necessity of circumscribing its powers — Council of Kclls — Four archbishops presented with palliums, with a list of their suf- fragans. Mortogh CNiall, the son of Niall, the son of Lochlin, of the royal blood of Ty- rone, of the posterity of Niall the Grand, and house of Heremon, was saluted by his faction, long before tho death of Turlogh, monarch of Ireland ; and this circumstance will reconcile what has been affirmed, that the famous council of Kells was held in his reign. Soon after the interment of Turlogh O'Connor, we read of Mortogh's triumphantly marching his army through different territories, and receiving the sub- missions of their several chiefs. So expe- ditious was he that after overrunning Ul- ster, Meath, and Leinster, we find him early in the year 1157 encamped before Limerick, where the princes of both Mun- sters, and people of that city, delivered him hostages and did him homage. The young king of Connaught, Roderic, far from submitting to his authority or con- fessing his sway, bade defiance to his power ; and invading Tyrone both by sea and land, desolated the whole country, par- ticularly Inis-Eoghain, with all its costly buildings and elegant improvements. The next year Roderic invaded Leinster and Meath, and obliged both territories to de- liver up hostages to him. However, after much blood being spilt, in the year 1162 a peace was concluded between these princes, by which, Roderic, on delivering of hos- tages to Mortogh, got the peaceable pos- session of Connaught, with sovereignty over half the principality of Meath, which power he ceded to Dermod O'Mealsachlin, its natural chief, for a hundred ounces of pure gold. « Mortogh, though in the main of a very religious cast, yet was violent and impetuous in his temper. Eochaidh, prince of Ulida, and his neighbour, having refused to pay tribute, Mortogh, in re- venge, entered his territory with an armed host, committed great depredations, and carried off many of his vassals. Through the mediation of the archbishop of Armagh and the prince of Oirgial, a peace was con- cluded, and Eochaidh was received into grace and favour. The prelate and prince were guarantees of this peace ; and the reconciled chiefs solemnly swore before the great altar of Armagh, " By the holy staff of St. Patrick and by the relics of Ire- land," faithfully to observe all the articles of it ; yet the very next year (for what reason we are not told) Mortogh caused Eochaidh to be seized and his eyes put out, and his three chief confidants to be put to death. The prince of Oirgial, who pledged him- self to Eochaidh on the part of the mon- arch, highly enraged at so flagrant a vio- lation of public faith, and at the injury offered to himself, at the head of nine thou- sand veterans suddenly rushed into Ty- rone, laid waste the country, and attacked the troops hastily collected to oppose him. In this engagement, which our annalists call the battle of Litterluin, the monarch's army was cut to pieces, and he himself was found buried under heaps of his enemies. " Thus fell, say our writers, the generous Mortogh, the most intrepid and gallant hero of his day, the ornament of his coun- try, the thunderbolt of war, and the Hector of Western Europe ! He was victor in every battle he fought except this ; but, forgetting his solemn vows, he fell a sacri- fice to justice." As it is universally agreed upon that it was in the reign of Mortogh that the fa- mous council of Kells, in Meath, was held, iu which Cardinal Paparo presided on be- half of Pope Eugenius III., and in which he distributed palliums to the Irish arch- bishops, the state of the Irish church since the last general council of Uisneach merits our attention. In that council great advances were made by the clergy and by the national states towards acknowledging the absolute supremacy of Rome in spirituals. The archbishops gave up the power which their predecessors, since the days of Patrick, enjoyed and exercised, of creating bishops at will : the bishops agreed to a reduction A. D. 1165.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 287 of their number, and the monarch and estates exonerated the clergy for the time to come from temporal laws and temporal taxations ! Still more was to be done be- fore the power of Rome was completely established. Different great families, hav- ing the power of presentation to bishop- ricks, deprived the popes of the full exer- cise of the power of making the bishops, for the future, to depend immediately upon themselves. As this was an affair of the utmost con- sequence to Rome, no wonder all the artil- lery of her advocates, both at home and abroad, should be employed to destroy so great an obstacle to her ambitious and in- terested views. From this cause, says St. Bernard,* " arose that universal dissolution of ecclesiastical discipline, that disregard of censure and decay of religion over all Ireland !" The holy primate Celsus seemed so sensible of this that, when dying, he sent the staff of St. Patrick to St. Malachie, de- claring him his successor in the see of Ar- magh ; and he conjured Mortogh, the mon- arch, and Domhnal, King of Leath-Cuin, by letters and messages, that they would use their influence and authority to con- firm his nomination. " For (says St. Ber- nard) a most pernicious custom had been established, by the diabolical ambition of some men in power, of getting possession of the seat of St. Patrick by hereditary succession ; nor would they permit any to be elected bishops who were not of their sept and family ; for fifteen bishops of the same blood had successively governed this church." The abbot had, with much more intemperance than Christian charity, al- ready given a most horrid account of the state of religion in Ireland ; and to this hereditary succession of bishops he attrib- uted all these disorders ; but he confessed that, in the early days of Christianity, Ire- land abounded with most holy and edify- ing ecclesiastics ;t and yet nothing is more certain than that ecclesiastical dignities were hereditary in families all over the kingdom at that time, and from that period * Opera, p. 1937. t Opera, p. 1937. down to his days ! From this custom he also dates another flagrant abuse : " Hence (says he) a practice became established, unheard-of since the promulgation of Chris- tianity, of multiplying bishops at the pleas- ure of the metropolitan." And yet this also was practised by St. Patrick and by his successors, to the great advantage and increase of Christianity, as Bede and al- most all other early ecclesiastical writers acknowledge ! Patrick consecrated him- self no less a number than three hundred and sixty bishops in his lifetime ; and his successors not only consecrated their do- mestic bishops, but also dignitaries for the British, Gallic, and German missions ! Thus it appears, contrary to the assertion of the abbot of Clairvaus, that, in the days of the highest splendour of the Irish church — in those days when, by universal consent, the country got the title of Insula Sancto- rum — the hierarchy was not only hereditary in families, but the successors of Si. Pat- rick and St. Ailbe consecrated bishops at pleasure ! If then, from the fifth to the ninth and tenth centuries, when the piety learning, and zeal of the Irish nation were so universally admitted, these customs of her church, far from injuring, highly served the cause of religion, how account for their producing so contrary an effect in the twelfth ? Nor was there then '* that uni- versal dissolution of ecclesiastical disci- pline^ in the Irish church which St. Ber- nard affirmed ; since, in the enormous vol- ume of his works now before me, of which the life of St. Malachie is a part, he ac- knowledges that, through the recommend- ation of his preceptor Imarius, St. G^la- sius ordained Malachie deacon and priest, " though he had not then arrived at the exact age prescribed by the canons, which were then strictly observed" that is, twenty- five years for deacons', and thirty for priests' orders ! — for Gelasius himself was of the hereditary line of the successors of St. Patrick, as was Malachie also. But as this work of St. Bernard's is the grand reservoir from which all succeeding defamers of the Irish church and nation have drawn their authorities and argu- 288 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1165. ments, it necessarily demands a more crit- ical examination. St. Magonius the Pa- trician was endowed with uncommon priv- ileges by Pope Celestin on his mission to the Irish nation, all which he exercised in the fullest manner. After remaining twenty-nine years preaching and convert- ing the nation, he returned to Rome early in the year 461, to give an account of his mission to Leo the Great, then pope, who received him with distinguished honours. He remained in Rome near two years, and then returned to Ireland, where he continued till his death. Benignus, and his successors in the see of Armagh, even in the lifetime of St. Patrick, exercised these privileges, which seemed peculiar to the Irish church ; and Patrick himself frequent- ly convened synods and councils, at which he presided as legate, to direct the affairs of the church. It is not particularly said, but I think it must be admitted, that the powers originally granted to St. Patrick, were, on his return to Rome, confirmed to his successors, because we see them exer- cised even in his own lifetime (and he lived to 493) without the least restraint; and had they been irregular or usurped, he certainly would have forbidden them. Thus the unlimited powers of the Irish archbishops were powers they derived from Rome, and which they employed for the advancement of religion only. It is certain, now that all Europe became Chris- tian, that this power was too great, and seemed to eclipse, in some measure, that of Rome. The Irish clergy were admonished on this head, and we see that, thirty-nine years before St. Bernard wrote the Life of St. Malachie, (i. e. A. D. 1111,) they, in full convocation, resigned it, though he adds it to the other charges against the na- tion ! We see also in that famous council, that they agreed to lessen the number of Irish bishops ; and St. Malachie himself, in 1139, made a surrender of all the other exclusive privileges of the Irish church to Innocent II., "who was so pleased that, after appointing him legate, he placed the mitre that was on his own head on the head of Malachie, gave him the stole and maniple which he used himself at the altar, and giving him the kiss of peace, he dis- missed him with his benediction." St. Malachie, on his return to Ireland, called synods in different parts of the kingdom ; " and everywhere (says St. Bernard *) were his counsels and instructions received and submitted to, as if they had come di- rectly from Heaven /" These surely are not marks of a barbarous people. Chris- tians only in name ! Thus, we see, at the very time that Bernard was employed in writing the present work, Ireland acknowl- edged the supremacy of Rome ; but the popes, though they got the power of ap- proving of future Irish bishops, had not yet that of nominating them ! This was the grand desideratum, and the want of this the source "of that universal dissolution of church discipline, and that decay of religion over all Ireland," which has been so confidently affirmed, though by no means proved. Had the Irish ecclesias- tics, like the Saxons in the reign of Alfred, been so totally ignorant as not to under- stand the Latin tongue, or could it be recorded of them, as we find it in a coun- cil held at Oxford, A. D. 1222, where the " archdeacons are directed to take care that the clergy shall rightly pronounce the formulary of baptism, and the words of the consecration in the canon of the mass," there might be some pretence for so severe a charge ! As to the hereditary episcopal right, it is to be noticed that, in Ireland, all posts and public employments whatever were confined to certain septs. When Chris- tianity superseded Druidism, those great families who founded bishopricks reserved the power of nominating to them those of their own blood. Persons were set apart for the clerical function, but none were nominated or ordained who had not given the clearest proofs of pious and irreproach- able lives. Hence the remarkable piety and humility of the Irish ecclesiastics, proved in every period of our history. We have but two instances where the impetu- osity of our ecclesiastics hurried the na- * Divi Bernard! Opera, p. 1944. A.D. 1166.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 289 tion to war, and both were in defence of clerical power ; and yet, in both instances, were their proceedings condemned and themselves censured, though both of the blood-royal, namely, St. Columba in the sixth, and the abbot of Inis-Catha in the tenth age ! But we have thousands of in- stances where they have been indefati- gable in their endeavours to restore peace and concord between the princes of the land. As to our princes, certain it is that they were proud, haughty, and ambitious, fond of war, and ready to decide every contest by the sword. But amid all these excesses and ravages, / challenge any na- tion under the sun to produce so few in- stances of proscriptions or deliberate cruel- ties. But to return from St. Bernard. The privileges exercised by the Irish church were, it must be confessed, too great, and, if held longer, might endanger a schism. It was a wise measure to reduce them ; but we see it was unjust to suppose them usurped, or that " a universal dissolu- tion of church discipline" was the con- sequence : it was not ; and the moment the churches of Rome and Ireland became united proved it, since all the difference found between them was, that the Irish nation paid those small dues called Peter's- pence, to the see of Armagh, which the rest of Europe paid to Rome! The bishops, in full convocation in 1111, surrendered to Rome the rights which they until then enjoyed ; and great pains were every day taken to lessen the other privileges of the Irish church. What then remained for Malachie to do, but, as the successor of St. Patrick, to make a formal surrender of his see to Rome in his own name, and in the names of his successors ? But it re- quired no small difficulty to persuade those princes and chiefs who had been inducted to bishopricks, to resign so great a power. This it was that Innocent required of Malachie ; for this purpose he appointed him his legate ; and to promote it did he assemble so many synods in the different parts of the kingdom. Early in the year 1148 a finishing hand was put to the great work of reformation ; for, at a council then 37 held at Holm-Patrick, composed of Gela- sius, successor to St. Patrick, and fifteen bishops, with two hundred priests, many abbots and others, and in which St. Mala- chie, as legate, presided, it was agreed to send him again to Rome, with full powers to compose all differences between the church and the Irish nation ; but he died at Clairvaux on his way to Rome. Im- mediately after, through the interest of St. Bernard, Christian I., abbot of Melle- font, and who had resided some time at Clairvaux, was appointed legate, and soon after bishop of Lismore. In 1150 here- paired to Rome with fresh authority from the princes and clergy, on the same busi- ness ; and the following year he was des- patched, in company with Cardinal Paparo, but they did not arrive till early in the year 1152. A council was then held at Kells, in which the legate presided, and which, be- sides the prelates and principal clergy, was also honoured by the presence of Mor- togh O'Neil, (who, it appears, even at this time ranked as monarch,) with several other princes and nobles. Many useful regulations took place : among the rest, the state of the hierarchy was taken into con- sideration. In the general council of Uis- neach, the number of Irish bishops was reduced to twenty-eight, under two metro- politans. The instructions to Cardinal Paparo were to have the church under the government of four archbishops, namely : Armagh, Cashell, Tuam, and Dublin ; but we find that it met with great opposition in the council. It was observed that the most general division of Ireland was that of Leath-Mogha and Leath-Cuin ; that in the days of St. Patrick it was so, for which reason he himself ordained St. Ailbe arch- bishop of Munster. It is true, that after- wards St. Jarlath had assumed the title of archbishop of Connaught, and St. Con- laeth of Leinster ; but they were not regu- larly consecrated or generally acknowl- edged ; that, in the council of Uisneach, two archbishops only were appointed, and under them a certain number of bishops ; but if the present regulation took place. 290 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1166. these must necessarily be deprived of some of their suffragans, or a new creation of bishops must take place. But the cardinal observed that Connaught and Leinster were always particular kingdoms, and therefore entitled to those marks of dis- tinction ; but that the archbishops of Ulster and Munster should not imagine that he intended to encroach upon their rights, or lessen the number of their suffragans, he would, by virtue of the apostolic power, appoint particular bishops as suffragans to the new metropolitans. He was positive, though we are unacquainted with the rea- son, and it did not become new subjects to disobey the papal authority. The follow- ing, taken from an ancient Roman provin- cial, was the regulation then received and adopted. Under the archbishop of Armagh, Pri- mate of all Ireland, were twelve suffra- gans, namely : Meath, Down, Clogher, Connor, Ardachd, Raphoe, Rathlure, Du- leek, Derry, Dromore, Breffni, and Clan- macnois. Under the archbishop of Mun- ster or Cashell, twelve, to wit : the bishops of Killaloe, Limerick, Inis-Catha, Killfenu- ragh, Emily, Roscrea, Waterford, Lismore, Cloyne, Cork, Ross, and Ardfert. The archbishop of Connaught had nine suffra- gans, who were the bishops of Cilmac Duach, of Mayo, of Enachdun, of Inis- Caltra, Roscommon, Clonfert, Achonry, Killalallah, and Elphin; and under the metropolitan of Leinster, were the bishops of Glendaloch, Ferns, Ossory Leighlin, and Kildare : — in all thirty-eight bishops ; and because it was known that the archbishops of Connaught and Leinster had no certain fixed seats, it was decreed that Dublin should be the future residence of the me- tropolitans of Leinster, and Tuam of those of Connaught. Some regulations were made in this council with regard to mar- riages ; but this must certainly regard the clergy, because in no other country was the purity of blood more carefully attend- ed to, as all posts of honour were heredi- tary. After this Cardinal Paparo pre- sented palliums to the four archbishops in great pomp and form, and remained, says M. Fleury, in Ireland till the Easter of 1153.* From this time till the arrival of the EngUsh, provincial synods, or general councils, were frequently held for restor- ing ecclesiastical discipline ; among other regulations, to show how solicitous they were for a firm union with Rome, it was decreed that none should keep divinity schools for the future but such as had taken out their doctors' degrees in the university of Armagh, as here the reformation first began. CHAPTER VII. Roderic O'Connor receives the submissions of Munster, Leinster, and Meath — Prepares to invade Ulster — Diverted by the complaints of O'Ruark — His letter — Grants troops, and ap- points him general against Leinster — Mac Mur- chad flies to England — Roderic invades Ulster by sea and land, and succeeds — Sessions of the est«tes of Leath-Cuin — Mac Murchad applies to Henry H., and is permitted to raise troops, but with no success — Leagues with Strongbow and Fitz-Stephen — Returns to Ireland — Sub- mits to the monarch, and makes peace with O'Ruark — The indirect use made by him of this peace. On the death of Mortogh, Roderic O'Connor, son of Turlogh the Great, as- sumed the title, and was saluted monarch of Ireland by his faction. Soon after this he collected his troops, and called his tri- butaries to his standard ; and at the head of a respectable army invaded Tyrconnel, which he subdued, and had hostages put into his hands. On his return he was joined by O'Ruark and CReily, princes of Breffni, and O'Mealsachlin, King of Meath, and with his combined forces he proceeded to Dublin, where he was most honourably received and entertained. Here the Dublinians rendered him homage as monarch of Ireland, and they received from him a present of four thousand oxen. From hence he marched to Drogheda, and took hostages from O'Cearbhoil, prince of Oirgial, who also did him homage ; that is, on his bended knees put hishands closed into those of Roderic; and as a mark of his * Hist. Eccles. torn. xiv. p. 685. A.D. 1167.] HISTORY OF IRELAND, 291 being a vassal, the monarch ordered him a tuarasdel, or subsidy of two thousand bul- locks. In the interim Mac Murchad, King of Leinster, made an incursion into Meath, for which insolence he was severely pun- ished by Roderic, for he hastily marched into Leinster, attacked and defeated his troops, and obliged him to submit and give sureties for his good behaviour, and greatly abridged his power. The prince of Ossory acknowledged his sway, and received the usual presents of a vassal ; from thence he marched into Munster, received hostages from Desmond and Thomond, and then returned to Connaught with great glory and triumph. In the spring of 1167, he was making great preparations both by sea and land to reduce Tyrone, and oblige the chief of the northern Hi-Nialls to submit to him ; but an extraordinary accident retarded for some time the execution of this enterprise. The king of Leinster had long conceived a violent affection for Dearbhorgil, daughter of the king of Meath ; and though she had been for some time married to O'Ruark, prince of Breffni, yet it could not restrain his desires. They carried on a private correspondence, and she informed him that O'Ruark intended soon to go on a pilgrim- age, (an act of piety frequent in those days,) and conjured him to embrace that opportunity of conveying her from a hus- band she detested to a lover she adored. Blinded by licentious desire, Mac Murchad too punctually obeyed the summons, and had the lady conveyed to his capital of Ferns. An outrage of this kind, so new and unheard of, astonished every one ; but the feelings of the injured husband will be best expressed by the letter which he ad- dressed to King Roderic on the subject.* * O'Roreiut, Rotherieo monarcho, S. : Etsi non sum nescios (illustrissime princeps) bama- noB casus equo semper animo frendos, et hominis esse, virtatis prestantia excellentis, ob meretricis inconstan- tiam mutabilitatemqae non efieminari; tamen cam atrocissimam hoc crimen, quod ad te, certo scio, prios omniom romore, qoam meis Uteris allatom est, ita sit bactenns in auditam, ut ante banc diem, non sit, nostra memoria, contra ullum (quod sciam) Hibemicum re- gem sosceptom ; severitas me jubet, justitise concedere. " CyRuark, to Roderic the monarch, health : " Though I am sensible (most illustrious prince) that human adversities should be always supported with firmness and equa- nimity, and that a virtuous man ought not to distress or afflict himself on account of the levity and inconstancy of an imprudent female, yet, as this most horrible crime (of which I am fully satisfied,) must have reached your ears before the receipt of my letters, — and it is a crime hitherto so un- heard of, as far as I can recollect, as never to be attempted against any king of Ire- land, — severity compels me to seek justice, while charity admonishes me to forgive the injury. If you consider only the dishon- our, that I confess is mine alone ; if you reflect on the cause, it is common to ub both ! For what confidence can we place in our subjects, who are bound unto us by royal authority, if this lascivious adulterer, or rather destroyer of chastity, shall escape unpunished, after the commission of so fla- gitious a crime? The outrages of princes so publicly and notoriously committed, if not corrected become precedents of perni- cious example to the people. In a word, you are thoroughly convinced of my affec- tion and attachment to you. You behold me wounded with the shafts of fortune, affected by numberless inconveniences, and sorely distressed with the greatest afflictions ! It only remains for me to re- quest, as I am entirely devoted to you, that you will not only with your counsels as- sist, but with your arms revenge these injuries which torment and distract me. quod caritas monet, vindicta recnsare. Si dedecus sp6ctes boo ad me unum, fateor pertinet, si caossam consideres, en tibi mecum est communis. Qoalem enim, in nostris bominibus, nobis regia dominatione devinctis, spem collocabimus, si mulierosus hie Mae- cbns, ac potius pudicidae ezpagnator, tanti sceleris imponitatem fuerit consecutus 7 Quippe, inolta princi- pium flagitia (qui in omnium oculis habitant) pemicio- sam imitationem exempli populo prodere conBaeacant. In summa meam erga te yolnntatem satis exploratum babes. Vides me fortunae telis sauciatum, maximii incommodis ad fectum, summis difficnltatibas adflict- om? Reliquum est cum totus animo et studio aim tuns, ut injurias, quibus laceror, tam consilio togatos, quam auxUio aimatns persequaris. Hoc cum yelis, et ut veils, non Bolnm a te poctulo, varum etiam flagito. Vale. 992 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. D. 1167. This when you will, and as you will, I not only demand, but require at your hands. Farewell." On receipt of the express, the monarch held a council ; and the result was, that Mac Murchad was pronounced unworthy to govern, and therefore must be deposed and banished. He immediately despatched a body of his troops, and sent with them orders to the king of Meath, and to the people of Dublin and Ossory, to join O'Ru- ark, whom he nominated general in this expedition. Mac Murchad endeavoured to oppose their passage into Leinster ; but on this occasion found himself deserted by the nobility, the military, and even by his principal favourites and dependants, so hor- rible did the crime he was charged with appear in their eyes ! Thus circumstanced, he retired to Ferns, and not daring to stand a siege, he fled from thence, and had him- self and about sixty persons in his suite (says his secretary O'Regan,) conveyed to Bristol. The castle of Ferns soon surren- dered; his country was divided between the prince of Ossory, and Murcha, a prince of his blood ; and seventeen hostages were brought to the monarch. Public justice being thus rendered to the prince of Breffni, the monarch prepared with a royal army to invade Tyrone, while with a fleet of a hundred and ninety ships he scoured the seas, cut off their supplies from North Britain, and assisted the operations of the army. At the head of thirteen legions, or thirty-nine thousand foot, and seven legions, or fourteen thousand horse, he marched into Ulster, says Lucius ;* nor shall we be surprised at so great a force, when we con- sider that it was to act against the greatest chief in Ulster ; and that Roderic had un- der him O'Brien and Mac Carthy, kings of the two Munsters, O'Mealsachlin, King of Meath, O'Reily and O'Ruark, kings of the two Breffhis, the princes of Oirgial, Ulida, and of Leinster, etc. The troops from the fleet landed at Derry, to attack it, while with the land forces he penetrated into Tyrone. In vain did O'Neil attempt to * Cambrens. Even. p. 88. oppose their passage, and try to attack the imperial camp at night by surprise. Through treachery or the darkness of the night, his troops marching different ways, fell upon each other ; nor was the mistake discovered tiU much blood was spilt. Thus circumstanced, he judged it better to sub- mit, than to see his country laid waste and himself deposed. He sent his ambassa- dors to Roderic, proposed to pay him hom- age, and to deliver into his hands hostages for his loyalty for the time to come. The terms were accepted : in the presence of the other princes and nobles, O'Neil, un- covered and kneeling, placed his hands closed between those of the monarch, which implied surrendering his power into his hands, and was immediately after re- ceived into grace and favour. After this Roderic dismissed his auxiliaries with rich presents, and returned to Connaught, at- tended by the kings of the two Munsters, whom he royally entertained, and on their departure presented them with gifts of great value, particularly a sword of exqui- site workmanship to O'Brien, and a curi- ous goblet of pure gold to Mac Carthy. In this same year it was* that Roderic sent forth notices for a general convention of the estates, (not of all Ireland, but of Leath-Cuin,) to meet at Athboy, in Meath, called Ath-Buie-Flacta, as it was here that the famous temple of Flacta, sacred to Samhuin, or the moon, was erected in the days of Druidism. This feis, besides the monarch in person, was honoured with the presence of O'Mealsachlin, King of Meath, O'Ruark and O'Reily, princes of the Breffhis, O'Dunlevy, King of Ulida, O'Felan, prince of the Deasies, etc. Be- sides these, St. Gelasius the primate, St. Laurence OToole, Archbishop of Dublin, Caeda O'Dubthig, Arcbishop of Tuam, with a great number of bishops, abbots, and in- ferior clergy, attended this convention also. In this feis, (says my authority,) many wholesome laws and regulations took place, as well for the government of the church as the state. How long this sessions held is not said ; but that it broke * Trias Thaumat. p. 310, &c. A. D. 1168.] HISTORY OP IRELAND. 293 up the same year, and that no less a num- ber than thirteen thousand horse attended it, are positively affirmed. In the beginning of this year Morrogh O'Brien, King of Thomond, was killed by the people of Desmond (says Lucius,) who paid an eric of three thousand one hundred and twenty beeves ; but the Munster An- nals affirm that he fell by the hands of his own cousin Connor, grandson to the fa- mous Connor na Catharach ; nevertheless Domhnal, brother to the deceased, suc- ceeded him. Soon after, the people of Dealbhna attacked CFennelan, their nat- ural lord, and put him and his adherents to the sword. The people of Meath, who joined in this insurrection, were fined eight hundred bullocks, and those of Dealbhna severely fined, but how much is not said. Early this year the great fair of Tailtean was proclaimed, and held the usual time, (i. e. from the 16th of July to the 15th of the following August,) with great splen- dour and solemnity. We observed of Mac Murchad that, de- serted and detested by every one, he fled to England, hoping that, in a strange coun- try, where his tyranny and his crimes were not so well known, he might procure friends and followers to assist him. After remain- ing some time at Bristol, he proceeded to Normandy to claim the protection of Henry, King of England. Henry gave him a favourable reception, heard his tale, but excused himself from at present en- gaging in his cause. Mac Murchad re- quested at least his permission to convey to Ireland such volunteers as he could pro- cure in England, which Henry agreed to, and sent with him the following proclama- tion; « Henry, King of England, Duke of Nor- mandy and Aquitaine, Earl of Anjou, etc., unto all his subjects, English, Nor- mans, Welch and Scots, and to all na- tions and people, being his subjects, greeting : "Whereas Dermod, King of Leinster, most wrongfully (as he informeth,) ban- ished out of his own country, hath craved our aid ; therefore, forasmuch as we have received him into our protection, grace, and favour, whoever within our realms, subject unto our command, will aid and help him, whom we have embraced as our trusty friend, for the recovery of his land, let him be assured of our grace and favour." Mac Murchad, by sound of trumpet, had this proclamation frequently read in Bris- tol, and some adjoining cities. He offered great rewards in money and lands to such as would enlist under his banners ; but his success was not great. After a month's stay at Bristol he retired to Wales. He applied to Richard, Earl of Strigul, com- monly called Strongbow, a powerful and popular chief in Wales. He made him considerable offers to attach him to his service. He went so far as at last to pro- mise him his daughter in marriage, and the reversion of his kingdom after his death, if by his means and those of his friends and associates, he should be restored to his dominions. So tempting an offer could not be resisted. Strongbow immediately entered deep into all the schemes of the exile. The treaty was signed and sworn to on both sides ; and Mac Murchad bound himself by oath to give him, at a proper time, his daughter in marriage, and to settle the reversion of his kingdom on him ; though this last he knew was contrary to the fundamentals of the constitution, for the right of election was vested in the chiefs of the country, and none could be put in nomination for the crown of Lein- ster who were not of the line of Cathoir the Great ! Earl Richard, now entirely devoted to Mac Murchad, advised him by all means to gain to his interest Robert Fitz-Stephen, a nobleman of great interest, but who had been for three years confined by Rice-ap- Griffen, Prince of South Wales. Mac Murchad waited on this prince, and not only procured his enlargement, but liberty to transport himself and his friends and followers to Ireland. To him, and to his half-brother Maurice Fitz-Gerald, he prom- ised to give up the town of Wexford, with 294 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1168. two cantreds of land adjoining, on condi- tion of their support and assistance ; and now he set sail for Ireland, with as many volunteers as he could collect. He pri- vately advertised some of his most faithful adherents of his landing with some forces, which were soon to be followed by more considerable succours, and he conjured them to repair to his standard. Those who first joined him, laboured of course to engage as many as they could in the same cause ; and Mac Murchad found himself powerful enough to be acknowl- edged, at least in his hereditary territories. His mortal enemy, O'Ruark, had soon notice of this, and advertised the monarch, who sent him troops, with orders to pur- sue and reduce him. Mac Murchad, diffi- dent of his own subjects, and sensible how unequal the contest must be between his few auxiliaries and his opponents, had recourse to negotiation. He made the most abject offers of submission to the monarch, and conjured him to interpose his good offices to bring about a recon- ciliation between him and O'Ruark, whom he confessed he had greatly injured ; that he was still making expiations for the horrid crime he had committed, as the unhappy lady had long been among the holy nuns of St. Bridget at Kildare ; and he hoped that he would not drive an unfortunate prince to indigence and despair, but allow him some small portion of the possessioifB of his ancestors to support the remains of a miserable life. His representations were favourably heard ; he was allowed ten can- treds of the lands of Hi-Cinsellagh (Wex- ford ;) he paid homage, and delivered up seven hostages to the monarch ; and he gave to O'Ruark a hundred ounces of pure gold, as an eric for the injury he did him. Having thus artfully gained a solid set- tlement at home, Mac Murchad, forgetful of his oath and his hostages, sent his confi- dant and secretary, O'Regan, privately to Wales, to remind his friends of their prom- ises and engagements, and that he was ready to receive them with open arms. As the season was now far advanced, he advised them to send a few troops by different ways ; but to be ready by spring, with what forces they could collect, to land on the Leinster coasts, where he would be ready to receive and support them with a good body of troops. O'Re- gan was also instructed to procure as many recruits as he could, and for this purpose to spare neither money nor prom- ises to allure the people to his standard. BOOK XIII CHAPTER I. Landing of the Welch adventurers, and junction with the army of Mac Murchad — Assault Wex- ford three different times, and are repulsed — Delivered up by composition — Mac Murchad invades and lays waste the principality of Ossoiy — The monarch, alarmed at his success, directs him to cease further hostilities and dismiss his auxiliaries — Through the intercession of the Leinster clergy Mac Murchad agrees to a fresh peace, and breaks through every article of it — Enters into treaty with the king of Thomond — New Spain discovered — Landing of Strongbow, and capture of Waterford — They march to Dublin — Dublin surprised, and the massacre of its inhabitants — Remarks on this success, and on the Council of Armagh. While Mac Murchad was preparing to assert his right to the kingdom of Lein- ster, his foreign associates were equally active in his cause. In May, 1169, Fitz- Stephen, Fitz-Gerald, Barry, Hervey, etc., landed near Wexford with thirty knights, sixty esquires, and three hundred archers, and these were next day joined by Maurice Prendergast, at the head of ten knights and two hundred archers. By letters, dated May 11, 1169, they advised Mac Murchad of their safe arrival, and waited his orders as to their proceedings. He immediately sent his natural son Donald, at the head of five hundred horse, to join them, while, at the head of his infantry, he followed. He received them with every expression of joy, and they immediately concerted their plan of operations. Wexford being nearest to them, and a port of consequence, it was resolved to attack. The garrison (considering the abject state of Mac Mur- chad's affairs, and how universally detested he was) imagined they were strong enough to disperse in the field this troop of inva- ders, and marched some distance from the town to give them battle ; but when they beheld a regular and well disciplined body of men, horse and foot, exceeding three thousand, they retreated, burning all the villages and houses contiguous to the town, making close the gates, and manning the walls. This retreat of the Irish inspired their antagonists with fresh courage, and orders were instantly given to make a general assault on the town. But, not- withstanding " the sounding of trumpets^ the neighing of their barbed horses, their shining armour, and regular discipline^ which Cambrensis, Campion, Stainhurst, Hanmer, and later writers affirm, were new and terrifying spectacles to the na- tives, we find, by the resistance they made, that prudence more than fear determined their retreat. Fitz-Stephen and Barry led on the troops to the assault. They soon filled the ditches, and fixed their ladders against the walls and turrets ; but the Irish, regardless of " their shining armour and their regular discipline," everywhere re- ceived them with their accustomed cour- age. Their knights were hurled headlong from the walls, their ladders were broken, and after the loss of many gallant soldiers they sounded a retreat. This repulse greatly depressed the spirits of the inva- ders ; and Fitz-Stephen, apprehensive that his followers would desert him, instantly, at the head of a select body of friends, with great resolution and presence of mind, set fire to all the ships in the har- bour, to show his men that they had no alternatives for the future but victory or death. For three succeeding days (says Campion) did they renew the assault, and with no better success. At length, the bishop and clergy of Wexford, to prevent 296 HISTORY OF IRELAND. fA. D. 1169. the further effusion of Christian blood, exerted their utmost influence to bring about a reconciliation between the con- tending parties. After many messages backwards and forwards, Mac Murchad agreed to accept the submission of the citizens : they renewed their oaths of fidel- ity, and put into his hands four of their principal burgesses as hostages for their future good behaviour. Mac Murchad, according to treaty, made over the lord- ship of this city and liberties to Fitz- Stephen and Fitz-Gerald. The reduction of Wexford, and the report of the numbers of foreigners who came to the aid of Mac Murchad, (which, as usual in similar cases, was greatly ex- aggerated,) increased his reputation, and made numbers of the Lagenians resort to his standard, though much against their inclinations, for few princes were more detested. His army being considerably increased, he thought it high time to be revenged on Fitz-Patrick, prince of Ossory, on whom part of his territories had been bestowed by the monarch. He imparted his resolution to the foreigners, who rea- dily agreed to the proposal, stimulated thereto by the hopes of plunder. He col- lected all his forces, with a considerable body from Wexford, at the head of whom he entered the territories of Ossory. Domhnal, chief of that territory, had forti- fied all the passages into it, so that after three days constant skirmishing, the Lage- nians made no sort of impression. This success determined the Ossorians to quit their entrenchments and attack the enemy in the open field ; but being much inferior in number, they were obliged to retire, and Mac Murchad gave full liberty to his troops to burn, plunder, and destroy the open country without mercy ! He then returned to Ferns, loaded with the spoils and treasures of Ossory. The glory of this victory English writers, with their accustomed vanity, attribute to their coun- trymen, though not the tenth part of Mac Murchad's army! The English cavalry are also highly extolled, though five ships only wafted all their forces to Ireland, in which there was not a single horse, though all the writers agree that the son of the king of Leinster immediately joined them, at the head of five hundred cavaliers, which was all the horse in the army ! Nay, of so little consequence were they in the main, that, though it appears that imme- diately after this defeat of the Ossorians, Prendergast joined the prince of Ossory, the sworn enemy to Mac Murchad, with about half the Welch adventurers, (for not one Englishman was of the party,) yet it produced no alteration for the better or the worse in his affairs ! Thus did Mac Murchad, by uncommon fortitude and invincible perseverance, not- withstanding his accumulated crimes, re- possess himself of all the dominions of his ancestors. Revolutions of this kind, we have seen, were frequent in Ireland, but never on so flagrant an occasion as the present. He had already made his peace with O'Ruark, and the repossession of his country was an affair in which the public at large were not interested. Princes were frequently deposed, or their power circum- scribed, according as they stood attached to their monarch for the time being, and this without any public convulsions. Such was the light in which the present revolu- tion was considered ; but to Roderic, and to his party only, it became an alarming affair. If Mac Murchad held his kingdom of Leinster without doing homage foi* it, his own power, as monarch, must become precarious. Add to this, that Donald O'Brien, son-in-law to Mac Murchad, being now king of Thomond and Ormond, that is, of North and East Munster, Roderic dreaded his power and suspected his fidel- ity. By dispersing the forces of the Lage- nians, or compelling Mac Murchad to con- fess his sway, he dissipated all apprehen- sions of a confederacy against him, which might end in his deposition. Roderic summoned a meeting of all his friends and tributaries, to take their advice on the present uncertain situation of his affairs. The result was, that messengers should be sent to Fitz-Stephen, and his followers, to demand "by what right or ^ A. D. 1169.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 297 authority they presumed hostilely to invade and display their banners in this land ? and ordering them immediately to quit the country, or expect to be treated as pirates and robbers who had taken up arms with- out the sanction of their lawful sovereign." As their ships had been burned, he also offered them ships and money to transport themselves ; but these adventurers were between two rocks, Sylla and Charybdis. Fitz-Stephen, their chief, had been taken out of prison, after a confinement of three years, at the earnest request of Mac Mur- chad and the bishop of St. David's, on con- dition of quitting the kingdom ; and we must suppose that his followers were not in a much more respectable situation. That they were all persons of desperate fortunes is universally admitted ; and that they were men of the most dissolute mo- rals, rapacious, blood-thirsty, and cruel, the. whole tenor of their lives, from their first landing in Ireland to their different deaths, sufficiently proclaim ! Outcasts from their own country, what other would wish to receive them ? Was it a virtuous attachment to the interest of Mac Murchad, or their own desperate situations, that made them reject offers so full of human- ity? Any one can answer the question. A cause like Mac Murchad's was worthy such supporters : simile simili. But while these orders were given to the ambassadors of Roderic, others were given to his troops, and to his confederates, to assemble without delay to add greater weight to this negotiation. The answer was such as was expected ; but it acquit- ted the monarch, in the eyes of the public, ^om the consequences that might be sup- posed to attend such refusal. At the head of twenty thousand men, horse and foot, highly appointed, Roderic entered Lein- ster ; but the rebels, unable to face such an army, retired from post to post, until they reached the fastnesses of the country about Ferns, which they strongly fortified, hoping to protract the war till they received new succours from their friends in Wales. But Roderic, resolving to finish the campaign as soon as possible, divided his armv into 38 different detachments, appointed the troops who were to attack the different posts, and those who were to support them ; and, ad- dressing them in an animating speech, he ordered them to march on to victory ; but (in an unlucky hour for this devoted king- dom !) the clergy of Leinster, assembled in a body, presented themselves before the monarch, and conjured him, in the most pathetic terms, to avoid the effusion of Christian blood ! Mac Murchad was at his mercy ; and all he could require by a victory should be granted without striking a blow. Thus, first at Wexford, and again near Ferns, was Mac Murchad and his as- sociates preserved from inevitable ruin, through the interposition of the Irish clergy ! The credulous monarch became again a dupe to the sincerity of his own heart; and the perjured Mac Murchad gained a further length of days to complete the ruin of his country! Through the mediation of the clergy, a peace was con- cluded on the following terms : 1st. Mac Murchad was to possess the country of Hi-Cinsellagh, or Wexford,* with the title of king of Leinster. 2d. He was to do homage to the monarch for this territory, as holding it in vassalage under him. 3d. He was to dismiss all the foreigners, with proper rewards for their trouble, and never admit any more of them into his country. All this was ratified by oath, before the great altar of the church of St. Maidog at Ferns, and he delivered his son Art into the hands of Roderic as a further security. This proves upon what light grounds these writers go, who affirm that, with the messengers sent to Fitz-Stephen by Roderic, he sent others to Mac Mur- chad, requiring his immediate submission and the dismission of the foreigners ; since we see that he thought himself now happy to compound for such a sacrifice. But the Lagenian meant as little security in this as he did in his former treaty. The truth is, * This mistake of Sylvester O'Halloran's, in identi- fying in extent " the country of Hi-Cinsellagh" with Wexford, has been pointed out by Thomas Moore, whose very valuable note on this subject may be found in his " History of Ireland," vol. ii. page 246, Cab. Cy- clop, edit. — Am. Ed. 298 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1170. he was so universally detested by his own people, that he apprehended falling a sacri- fice to their resentment the moment his foreign satellites quitted him; and was, therefore, determined to stick to them to the last. The credulous monarch, relying on the faith of this treaty, solemnly guaranteed by the clergy of Leinster, dismissed his aux- iliaries and retired to his own domain, while Mac Murchad, under various pre- tences, delayed the time of fulfilling his en- gagements. It was the interest of the for- eigners to appear useful and necessary to him ; to their counsels he adhered ; and what confirmed him the more was the ar- rival of Maurice Fitz-Gerald, at Wexford, with ten knights, thirty esquires, and a hundred archers, at this critical time. With this addition to his army Dermod suddenly appeared before Dublin, laying waste the country all roimd. The citizens, to get rid of so troublesome a guest, agreed to give him hostages and a considerable sum of money, which last was the sole object of this expedition. Domhnal Mor O'Brien, King of Tho- mond, beheld with secret pleasure the er- rors committed by Roderic. He was son- in-law to Mac Murchad, and secretly en- couraged his defection. He was in hopes to extend his power, and that of his house, at the expense of the monarch, and he en- tered into a private treaty with Dermod, by which they engaged to support each other. The season was now far spent, and Mac Murchad sent pressing letters to Strongbow to join him, with all his forces, early next year. This year Maidoc, or Maidog, third son to Owen Gwineth, prince of North Wales, by an Irish princess, find- ing his country in great commotions, and his brothers engaged in civil wars against each other, retired to his maternal patri- mony of Clochran, in Connaught ; and be- ing a prince of great experience in mari- time afifairs, he fitted out a number of ships, with which he sailed from Ireland (say my authorities, Clin and Stow) so far north as to discover lands till then unknown; and these regions, in the opinion of the an- tiquarian Humphrey Lloyd, and others, must have been part of New Spain ; if so, Irish and Welchmen may claim the honour of this discovery prior to Columbus or Americus Vespucius. The winter was spent in negotiations and secret preparations, the eflfects of which appeared early in the summer ; for the king of Thomond openly disclaimed all allegiance to the monarch, and set his power at defiance. Roderic invaded Tho- mond and Donald claimed aid from Mac Murchad, who sent him a good body of troops, Irish and English, under the com- mand of Fitz-Stephen ; and this was the first footing of the foreigners in this fertile province. Many sharp and bloody en- counters ensued, with various success ; but Roderic, called away by more pressing engagements, was obliged to relinquish this object for the present. Strongbow, during the winter, was very active in raising troops for his intended ex- pedition ; but sensible how highly enraged Henry II. was with Fitz-Stephen and his party, for presuming to enter into the ser- vice of the king of Leinster without his particular license, he laboured to procure his permission to serve in the same cause. He applied to the king several times, who, tired with his importunities, contemptuously answered at last — " That he might go as far as his feet could carry him ; nay, if he would get Dedalus's wings, as far as he could fly." Equivocal and insulting as this answer was, Strongbow took it for a permission ; but he first sent Raymond Le Gros, with ten knights and about a hun- dred archers as his vanguard, to announce to Dermod when he himself intended to land, that he might be ready to support him. This small body of men landed about four miles from Waterford, and im- mediately took possession of an old neg- lected fortress, which they repaired,, and then sallied out on the great object of plun- der. They collected a large quantity of homed cattle, which they obliged the coun- trymen to drive before them ; but 0*Fe- lan, O'Ryan, and some of the burgesses of Waterford, tumultuously assembled to re- A. D. 1170.1 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 299 take the cattle and chastise these bold in- vaders. With great difficulty and some Ioss,^the cattle and part of the guard gained the fortress ; but the remainder were in a fair way of being cut off, which Raymond perceiving, with great resolution sallied forth, and slew with his own hand CRyan, and many of his associates were killed. The loss of one of their chiefs deranged the Irish for awhile ; and in this state of irresolution, Raymond, with uncommon presence of mind, ordered the cattle, with sword and pike, to be driven against the enemy, while his troops followed. It was a critical moment to save his party from destruction, and he availed himself of it : the wounded beasts rushed with great fury through the midst of their ranks, and all was confusion. Raymond and his troops gave them no time to form or rally, and, after a great carnage, took seventy pris- oners, with which they marched back in triumph to their fortress. But because Englishmen, when they commit acts of cruelty, choose to do them deliberately, Cambrensis, and others, tell us that Ray- mond called a council of war to determine on the fate of these prisoners ; and it was agreed that they should first have their limbs broken, and then be all precipitated into the sea ; which was instantly after ex- ecuted, and this for attempting to regain their properties from the hands of lawless banditti! Immediately after this inhuman and bloody sacrifice, Raymond was joined by a body of Irish and English of Mac Murchad's faction. We are told that, while Strongbow was preparing to embark his men at Milford, Henry sent an express commanding him, on pain of his allegiance and life, to dis- miss his troops and return to court to give an account of himself; but he had gone too far, and the tenor of the message itself seemed too menacing to abide its conse- quences. Strongbow, therefore, weighed anchor, and in a few hours after landed in the bay of Waterford, on the 23d of Au- gust, at the head of two hundred knights and ] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 315 three times in water, but if rich, he was washed in milk, and these liquors, after this ablution, were thrown into the sink; to prevent which ptofanation, the council made this decree for baptizing in the church." But who could suppose that this ablution of new-bom infants implied the sacrament of baptism ? — though it is af- firmed by a reverend divine, Benedict, ab- bot of Peterborough! Are not all new- bom infants first washed and cleansed be- fore they are dressed ? and yet it is thus, this profound theologian explains the mean- ing of this imaginary canon of Gerald ! Baptism is acknowledged as a sacrament, by all sects and denominations of Chris- tians ; and yet a nation, whose piety, zeal, and leaming was confessed by all Europe, a nation from whom the very ancestors of these new reformers received the doc- trines of Christ, were declared ignorant of the first principles of Christianity ! Nor are their writers entitled to better credit, w^hen they confidently tell us—" That the Irish were not governed by written laws, but by tradition and barbarous customs !" They were always governed by written laws ; and a body of men in every age, fi"om the remotest antiquity, even to the decline of the last century, were set apart for this study. Their books were nume- rous, and we have still preserved codes of laws, written before the Christian era ! Is the ignorance of these writers of such facts, any extenuation of the crime of im- position on the public ? With still greater confidence and certainty they affirm, that Henry introduced the English laws into Ireland, which the Irish swore to observe ; and that he established sheriffs in counties, judges, etc. If the authority of writers from age to age, from that epoch to this day, can add weight and certainty to these false assertions, nothing is clearer than that this new code of foreign laws was then agreed, subscribed, and swom to by the Irish. But if notorious falsehoods of six hundred years standing, are as little true this day as the day of their promulga- tion, it must necessarily follow, that the present assertions are entitled to no more credit now than when first published. Not only the old but the new Irish, (the Pale excepted,) were govemed by the ancient laws of the country, from the days of Henry to those of James I., inclusive. Henry, if you will, made sheriffs, judges, etc., to govern Ireland after the English mo- dus ; and the popes at this day consecrate bishops to dioceses in which they have nei- ther power nor subjects. In this light, I shall have no objection to Henry's making sheriff^s for every county in the kingdom, convening of parliaments, sending judges itinerant on circuit, etc. ; but that they as- sumed any acts of power out of the circuits of the Pale, is what cannot be credited. Nor was it for a considerable time after his decease, that even in this district, the English laws were regularly adopted ; and even after they were, there are not want- ing evidences to prove that the Irish within this Pale might choose to embrace or re- ject them. From these irrefragable facts it must fol- low, that the famous statute of Sir Edward Poyning, (giving to it the utmost force and power that its warmest advocates can wish,) is a law which no sophistry can make to extend beyond the limits to which it was originally confined. Could the province of Munster, a considerable part of Leinster, and the entire provinces of Connaught and Ulster become subject to a law they knew nothing of, never were con- sulted about, nor in the framing of which were ever represented ? The laws of the Pale, from the days of Henry III. to more than a century after the death of Poyning, are acknowledged as full as words can make them, to he acts binding this lit- tle district, and it only ! With as much propriety and justice might it be pretended, in a century or two hence, that a law now passed in Genoa or Florence, is then to bind all Italy, as that this law of Poyning should now bind all Ireland. But I have dilated so largely on this in the third part of my Introduction to Irish History, and brought the proofs so home, that to it I must refer those who wish to be more fully informed in this matter. 310 HISTORY OF IRELAND. {A. D. 1171. It was from ignorance of the ancient his- tory of Ireland, from want of proper in- quiry into the nature of the revolution in 1172, and for want of knowledge of the force and extent of the English mode of legislation, from the time of its first intro- duction into a CORNER of the kingdom to its UNIVERSAL ACCEPTATION in thc rcign of James I., that made thc writings that were published from time to time against this fa- mous act, appear so extremely defective and nugatory. They began their inqui- ries where they should end them. Shame- fully inattentive themselves to the ancient history of their country, and not disposed to encourage those whose genius and in- clinations would naturally lead them to explore so untrodden a passage, and so long neglected a subject, they have taken for granted whatever early English writers have BOLDLY advanced on the subject, and by this means have left their country ex- })osed to general contempt, and themselves unable to defend its cause ! For nothing is more certain than this : — that all the ef- fects attending the intrusion of Henry into the government of Ireland, were, the total cessation of the monarchical power in the native princes. The order of succession was broken in upon, in the person of Brien Boirumhe, and the custom of obtruding a person into the monarchy without a pre- vious election, began with his successor Malachie. This last rank, or something nearly approaching to it, was what Henry aspired to. From this time down to the accession of James I. the power of the pro- vincial kings continued. Certain it is that during this period, the Irish of English ex- traction extended their power and acqui- sitions in the different provinces, by alli- ances, by intrigues, and by dint of the sword ; but it was as Irish feudatory chiefs only, obeying no commands, and acknowl- edging no laws but the ancient ones of their country. All these facts are evident, even in the reign of Elizabeth ; and if there are some instances of particular chiefs sur- rendering their allodial tenures to this prin- cess, and to her father, is it not clear by the grants given again by them of these very tenures, that it was only altering the nature of them ? In the first instance they held by the laws of their country, and were not liable to suffer loss of life or property by any overt act against the power of England or the Pale. In the second, they became subjects, or more properly speak- ing, vassals to the crown of England, and thereby became amenable to her laws. I have examined many of these grants ; some I have now before me ; particularly one of my much esteemed friend. Sir John O'Flaherty. His great ancestor. Sir Murrogh O'Flaherty — called in this patent Sir Murrogh ni Doe O'Flaherty — agreed to surrender his title of O'Flaherty, and chiefry over certain districts; his right of presentation to livings, and all his other powers as a taoiseach, or Irish chief, to queen Elizabeth, under certain conditions ; and she, by her deputy Sir John Perrot, agreed to confirm him in his tenures, and most of his former powers, he acknowl- edging to hold them under the crown. This charter of agreement was signed the 12th of January, 1588, and in the thirtieth year of her reign. CHAPTER V. Containing an alphabetical list of ancient Irish territories, and by what Milesian families pos- sessed, both before and after the invasion of Henry II. Agiinenure, bordering on Loch-Corrib, in the county of Galway, the regal resi- dence of the O'Flaherties, kings of Jar- Connaught ; the extensive remains of which, at this day, proclaim its ancient state and magnificence. My esteemed friend, Sir John O'Flaherty, is the present chief of this illustrious house. Aharloe, in the county of Limerick, the estate of a branch of the O'Briens. Aidhne, or Ibh-Fiarcharch-Aidhne, in the county of Galway, the lordship of O'Heyne. Aine-Cliach, in the county of Limerick, the lordship of O'Kirwick. A. D. 1171.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 317 Aos-Greine, extending from Cnoc-Greine to near Limerick, was the patrimony of O'Connel, and Castle-Connel his chief resi- dence. Aradh-Cliach, in the county of Tippe- rary, near Killaloe, the estate of Mac O'Brien-Arad. Its first proprietor was O'Donnegan, of the Ernian race. Ardach, in Carbury, in the county of Cork, the lordship of O'FUn, called O'Flin- ardah. Ardah, east of Cashell, in the county of Tipperary, the lordship of O'Dea. Ardes, in the county of Down, belong- ing to a branch of the O'Neills. Ardmir, the lordship of O'Dogherty. Areghaile, or Anally, in the county of Longford, the territory of OTerral, called also Comhaichne. Aron, in Carbry, the estate of O'Baire. Bally-Hallinan, in the county of Limer- ick, the ancient estate of O'Hallinan ; but in later times, of the Mac Sheetries. Bally-Shehan, in the county of Tip- perary, possessed by a branch of the O'Briens. Beara, in the county of Cork, now divi- ded into the baronies of Beare and Bantry, possessed by the O'SulIivans and O'Dris- cols. The chief of the O'SulIivans, which is the present count of Beerhaven, in Spain, was called O'Sullivan-Beare. Breasal-Macha, in the county of Ar- magh, the estates of O'Donnegan, O'tLav- argan, and O'Eidi. Bregmuin, now called the barony of Braony, in West Meath, the territory of O'Braoin, or O'Byrne. Breifne comprehended a large tract of country, and was divided into East and West Breifne. East Breifne, or the pres- ent county of Cavan, was the principality of O'Reily. The present [1778] O'Reily, or chief of this illustrious sept, is captain- general of Andalusia, and inspector-general of the Spanish infantry. West Breifne comprehended the present county of Leitrim, and was the princi- pality of O'Ruark. These territories were called Breifne-O'Reily, and Breifne- aRuark. Brurigh, a royal mansion in the county of Limerick, the seat of O'Donovan, chief of Kenry. Burrin, or Eastern Corcamruadh, a bar- ony in the county of Clare, the principality of aLoghlin. Cahir, in the county of Tipperary, the estate of O'Lonargan. Cairbre-Aodhbha, now called Kenry, in the county of Limerick, the ancient estates of O'Donovan, O'Clereine, and O'Flan- ery. Cairbreacha, called anciently Corca- Luidhe, stretching from Bantry to Crook- haven, and the river Kinmare, was the territory of the Ithian race, or Irish Bri- gantes. O'Driscol was the chief, and O'Baire, O'Cobhthig, ^Leary, O'Henegan, O'Flin, O'Fitrilly, O'Dead, and aHea, etc. were feudatory lords of this district. Callain, in the county of Clare, the ter- ritory of O'Hehir. Callain, in the county of Kilkenny, the estate of O'GIoherny, and O'Ceally. Carran-Fearaidhe, or Cnoc-Aine, in the county of Limerick, the estate of O'Grady. This ancient race continue still a numerous and respectable family in this county ; and the present countess [1778] of Ilchester is daughter to Standish O'Grady, Esq., of Capercullan, than whom a more respect- able character cannot anywhere be found. Carrig a Foile, in the county of Kerry, the principality of O'Connor Kerry. Ceil-Tanan, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Mollony. Cian-Cora, the royal seat of North Munster, on the borders of the Shannon. Cianachta, in the county of Derry, the territory of O'Connor-Cianachta, and of O'Cahan. Cineal-Amhailge, a large tract in Ulster, the patrimony of O'Millane and O'Murcha. Cineal-Aodha, in the county of Galway, the territory of O'Shaughnessy. Cineal-Aodha, in the county of Cork, the principality of O'Mahony. Cineal-Conail, or Tyrconnel, the princi- pality of CDonnel. Cineal-Enda, in Meath, the estate of O'Brennan. 318 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1171. Cineal-Fearadeach, in Ulster, the lord- ship of O'Maol Patrick. Cineal-Fermaic, in Thomond, the estate of O'Dae. Cineal-Fiachra, county of West Meath, the principality of Mac Geoghagan. Cineal-Luchain, in the county of Lei- trim, the estate of Mac Durchuighe, or Darae. Cineal-Mbinnc, in Tyrconnel, belonging to a branch of the O'Donnells. Cineal-Mbracuidhe, in Tyrconnel, the estate of O'Brodie and O'Mulfavil. Cineal-Neanga, in ancient Oirgial, the estates of O'Goran, of O'Linschan, and O'Brieslan. Cineal-Ncanga, in Meath, the country of Mac Ruark. Cineal-Neni, in the county of Tyrone, the estate of O'Neny. Cineal-Noangusa, in Meath, the territory of O'Heacha. Clan-Aodh-Buidhe, North, in the county of Antrim, held by the O'Neills. Clan-Aodh-Buidhe, or Clanaboy, South, in the county of Down, possessed by a branch of the O'Neills. Clan-Brcasail, in Connaught, the estate of O'Donnellan. Clan-Breassil, in the county of Armagh, the lordship of Mac Cahan, or Kane. Clan-Colman, in Meath, the principality of O'Malochlin. Clan-Derla, in the county of Clare, the ancient territory of Mac Mahon. Clan-Feargal comprehended twenty-four town-lands, situated on the east of Loch- Corrib, in which the city of Galway now stands, was the territory of O'Halloran, of the Hy-Brune race, and line of Heremon. Aileran, surnamed An Teagna, or the Wise, regent of the university of Clonard, in the seventh century, and one of St. Pat- rick's biographers ; and St. Finbar, first bishop and founder of the cathedral of Cork, were of this sept ; as also William Halloran, better known by the name of William Ocham, or Ogham, (on account of his profound knowledge in the ancient hie- rographic character of the Irish.) He was styled prince of the Nominals, taught in the university of Oxford, in the begin- ning of the fourteenth century, and was the great opponent of the celebrated Sco- tus in that university. From the house of Clan-Feargal is the present writer de- scended. Clan-Malugra, or GlanmaHer, part in the King's and part in the Queen's county, the lordship of O'Dempsey. Cleanagh, in the county of Clare, the property of Mac Mahon. Cleir, or Cape Clear, in Carbury, the mansion of O'Driscollmor. Cluan Mac Diarmada, in the county of Clare, the estate of the Mac Clanchys, he- reditary lords-justices of Thomond. Clin-Uadach, in Connaught, the estate of O'Fallon. Coilte-Maibineacha, near Mitchel's-town, in the county of Cork, the estate of a branch of the O'Caseys. Conal-Gabhra, or Ibh-Conal-Gabhra, the present baronies of Connello, in the county of Limerick, the ancient territory of O'Connel ; but afterwards we find it pos- sessed by the O'Kinealies, and O'Cuileans, or Collins. Conal-Murtheimhne, or the present coun- ty of Lowth, otherwise Machaire-Chonal, was so called from the renowned Co- nal-Ceamach, master of the knights of Ulster, a little before the Incarnation. The Mac Genises are the principal re- presentatives of this illustrious house in Ulster. Conmaicne, in the county of Leitrim, the patrimony of the Mac Ranells. Conmaicne-Cuile-Tola, or the barony of Kilmain, in the county Mayo, the lordship of O'Talcairn. Conmaicne-Dunmore, in the county of Galway, the estate of O'Siodhlan. Conmaicne-Mara, in the county of Gal- way, was the country of the O'Ceilies. Conmaicne-Moiren, otherwise Analy, in the county of Longford, the territory of O'Ferral. Conuil-Jachtarach, or Lower Conella, in the county of Limerick ; besides the O'Cin- ealies, and O'Collins, we find the O'Shee- hans had lordships there. A. D. 1171.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 31d Conuil-Uachtarach, or Upper Conella, the lordship of Mac Ennerie. Corafin, a territory in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Quin and O'Heffer- nan. Coran, in the county of Sligo, the estate of Mac Donough, of the Heremonian line. Corca-Bhaisgin, now the barony of Moiarta, in the county of Clare, the an- cient territory of O'Baisein and O'Donal, but for some centuries past the estate of the Mac Mahons of Thomond. Corca-Duibhne, and Aobh-Rathach, in the west of Kerry, the lordships of O'Fal- vie, and O'Shea. Corca-Eachlan, in the county of Ros- common, the estates of O'Hanly, and O'Brenan. Corca-Luidhe. See Cairbreacha. Corcamruadh, a principality in the coun- ty of Clare, the territory of O'Connor-Cor- camruadh, of the Irian race. Corcard, in the county of Longford, the estates of O'Mulfinny, O'Curgavan, O'Daly, O'Slaman, and O'Skully. Corcraidhe, in the county of Meath, the estate of O'Higin. Cosmach, in the county of Limerick, be- longing to a branch of the O'Briens. Crioch-Cairbre, or Siol-Muireadha, the territory of O'Connor-Sligo. Crioch-Cnobhadha, in Meath, the lord- ship of O'Dubhan, or O'Duan. Crioch-Cualan,in the county of Wicklow, the property of OKelly, of the Lagenian race. Crioch-Cuire, or the country of Core, the ancient name of Burren and Corcam- ruadh, in the county of Clare, so called from Core, of the Irian line, who there ruled before the Incarnation. Crioch-Feidhlim, in the county of Wex- ford, the lordship of O'Murphy. Crioch-na-Ceadach, in Meath, the patri- mony of CFallon. Crioch-o-Mbairce, bordering on the King's county and county of Kildare, the ancient estate of Mac Gorman. Crioch-ui-Maine, in the Queen's county, the estate of CCowley. Cuallachda, in the county of Clare, the patrimony of CDubhgin, or Dugin. Cuircne, a territory in West Meath, the lordship of O'Tolarg. Culrelamhain, in Meath, the estate of O'Murray. Dairbre, in the county of Kerry, the es- tate of O'Shea. Dal-Araidhe, a considerable territory in Ulster, including almost the entire coun- ty of Down, and a considerable part of the county of Antrim. It was the territory of the Clana Ruighruidhe, or line of Ir, after the ruin of Emania, and so called from Fiacha Araidhe. The Magenises, O'Dun- levy's, O'Loingfidhs, O'Mathgamhnaidhs, or Smiths, Mac Cartans, Mac Bhairds, or Wards, the O'Maol Creabhs, or Ovaghs, etc., were the proprietors of this country. Dal-Fiathach, so called from Fiathach- Finn, monarch of Ireland in the third cen- tury, was a territory bordering on Loch- Erne, inhabited by the posterity of this prince. Dal-Riada, a large territory in Ulster, in the possession of Cairbre Riada, who first formed an Irish colony in Scotland. Darach, in Thomond, the patrimony of Mac Donnel, descended from Brian-Boi- ruhme. Darinne. See Cairbreacha. Dartraidhe, in the county of Roscom- mon, the country of O'Fin, Mac Flancha, and a branch of the O'Carrols. Dartraidhe, in the county of Sligo, the estate of Mac Lanchy. Dartraidhe, in the county of Monaghan, the principal seat of Mac Mahon, chief of that country. Dealbhna, or Delvin. There were seven districts of this name, all originating from Luigh-Dealbha, who, at the head of his six sons, and his forces, marched into Meath and Connaught, where he gained these possessions, which still go by the name of the Delvins. Dealbhna-Beg, in Meath, was the terri- tory of CMaolchailin. Dealbhna-Cual-Feabhar, in the same, and Dealbhna-Nuadhat, in the county of Roscommon, were also Fearan-Cloidhimh, 320 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 1171. or Sword-Lands, acquired by Dealbha and his posterity. Dealbhna-Eathra, in the King's county, is still the lordship of O'Coghlin. Dealbhna-Feadh, in the county of Gal- way, the estate of Mac Conroi. Dealbhna-Mor, in Meath, was the lord- ship of O'Fenellan, who, being dispossessed in the decline of the twelfth century, by Hugo de Lacy, it was granted to the Nu- gents, who were created lords of Delvin. Dealbhna-Tan-Moi, in Meath, the patri- mony of O'Scully, Deasmuinhain, Desmond, or South Mun- ster, was principally inhabited by the Eo- ganachts, or posterity of Eoghain-More, by the Clana Ith, or Irish Brigantes, by some of the issue of Deagha, and some branches of the line of Ir. Deisebh, or the Deasies, divided into North and South Deasies. O'Felan, and O'Brie, of the Heremonian line, were chief princes of the Deasies, under whom were many subordinate lords. Diseart-ui-Deagha, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Dae. Domhnac-Mor-ui-Healuigh, in Muscry, in the county of Cork, the estate of O'Healy. DufFerin, in the county of Down, a part of Mac Artin's country. Duhallo, in the county of Cork, the es- tate of Mac Donough, a branch of the Mac Carthies. Eile-ui-Chearabhail, in Ormond, or East Munster, the principality of O'Carrol. Eile-ui-Fhogerta, in the county of Tip- perary, the ancient territory of O'Fogerty. My worthy friend, Dr. O'Fogerty, the present [1778] representative of this great house, still possesses a respectable part of the domains of his ancestors. Emhain-Macha, or Emania, near Ar- magh, the royal residence of the kings of Ulster, of the Irian race. Eoganacht was a name given to princi- palities possessed by the immediate issue of Eoghan-Mor, and his posterity : as Eoganacht-Aine-Cliach, in the county of Limerick, the lordship of O'Kerwic. Eoganacht-Cashell, extended from Ca- shell to Clonmel ; its principal chief was Mac Carthy, head of the Eugenian line. Eoganacht-Gleanamhain, in the county of Cork, was the lordship of O'Keeffe. Eoganacht-Locha-Lein, or Killamey, in the county of Kerry, was the lordship of O'Donoghoe, and part of this territory is still possessed by that princely race. Eoganacht-Graffan, in the county of Tipperary, the lordship of O'Sullivan ; and their principal seat was at Cnoc-GrafFan, on the banks of the Shure. Eoganacht-Raith-Lean, in the county of Cork, was the territory of O'Mahony Fionn. Faith-ui-Halluran, extending from Tulla to near Clare, in Thomond, the estate of O'Halloran, of the Heberean race. Fanait, in the county of Tyrconnel, the patrimony of a branch of the Mac Swee- nies. Fearan-Saingil, called Single-Land, but more properly the Land of the Holy Angel, near Limerick, the ancient estate of the CConuins or Cuneens. ,FearcaiI, in Meath, the principality of O'Molloy. Fearmoighe, in the county of Antrim, the estates of O'Ciaran, and O'Tierny. Fearmoighe-Fene, in the county of Cork, the ancient territory of CDugan, and O'Coscraig, but encroached upon in the ninth century by their powerful neighbour O'Keeffe ; they, in their turn, were dispos- sessed by the Roches, who were after- wards created viscounts of Fermoy. Feartullach, in the county of Meath, the estate of O'Dooley. Fermanagh county, the lordship of Mac Guire. Fionn-Ruis, in Tyrconnel, the estates of O'Foranan, and O'Camahan. Fogharta, in Leinster, the country of the O'Nualans. Gabhran, or Goran, in the county of Kilkenny, the estates of O'Shillilan, and O'Guidthin, or Getin. Galinga-Beg, a district in Meath, the estate of O'Henessy. Gallinga-Mor, now the barony of Galen, A. D. 1171.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 321 the lordship of O'Hara. (I find mention made in the Leabhar-Lecan, and other MSS., of many other Gallingas, but cannot ascertain their ancient proprietors. All these territories were so called from Cor- moc Gallengach, great-grandson to Olliol Olom, by whom they were conquered in the third century. Glan-Omra, in the county of Cork, the ancient patrimony of the Mac Auliffs. Gleanamhain, O'Keeffe's country. See Eoganacht Gleanamhain. Glean-Fleisg, in the county of Kerry, the lordship of O'Donoghoe-FIeisg. Glean-Malier, in the county of Kildare, the lordship of O'Dempsy. Gort-Innse-Guare, in the county of Gal- way, the mansion of O'Shagnassie. GrafTan, or Cnoc-Graffan, in the county of Tipperary, one of the royal palaces of Munster in early days, afterwards the par- ticular mansion of O'Sullivan. Ibh-Bruin, the name of many ancient territories in Connaught, so called as being inhabited by the posterity of Brian, son of Eocha-Moivone, monarch of Ireland in the fourth century, as other territories there got the name of Ibh-Fiacharach, as being possessed by the issue of his brother Fia- chara. Ibh-Cinselach, in the county of Wexford, the ancient principality of Mac Murcha, or O'Cavenagh, King of Leinster ; in later periods they were transplanted to the bar- ony of Idrone, in the county of Carlow. The present [1778] O'Cavenagh resides at Borass, in said county. Ibh-Cinselach, in the county of Wexford, the seat of O'Kinselagh. Ibh-Diarmada, in Connaught, the estate of O'Concanan. Ibh-Eachach, in the county of Cork, the property of the O'Mahonys. Ibh-Failge, a very ancient territory, stretching into the county of Kildare, and into a part of the King and Queen's coun- ty, was the principality of Rosa-Failge, eldest son to Cathoir-Mor, monarch of Ireland in the second century. His partic- ular mansion was in the county of Kildare, and from him is it yet called the barony 41 of OfTaly. The representative of this princely race was O'Connor Failge, or Faly. O'Dempsy, and O'Dun, etc., were lords in this country. The present [1778] Count O'Falia, captain-general of the coast of Grenada, in Spain, is, I take it for granted, the chief of this first branch of the royal line of Leinster. Ibh-Fiarach, in the county of Galway, included the territories of O'Heyne, and O'Shagnassy. Ibh-Fiarach, now called Tuam-ui-Mhea- ra, in the county of Tipperary, the lord- ship of O'Mara. The present chief of that ancient house is not inferior to any of his ancestors in hospitality and the social virtues. Ibh-Kerin, or Ikerin, in Upper Ormond, the O'Meaghirs country. Ibh-Laoghaire, in the county of Cork, O'Leary's country. Ibh-Laoghaire, in Meath, the estate of O'Cindealvin, or Cindellan. Ibh-Liathan, now called Barrymore, in the county of Cork, the country of O'Le- han, or O'Line. Ibh-Mac-Cuille, or Imokilly, in the coun- ty of Cork, formerly possessed by the 6'Ceilies, O'Mactre, O'Glassin, O'Ciaran, and O'Bregan. Ibh-Maile, in the county of Mayo, O'Mailly's country. Ibh-Maine, in the county of Galway, and part of the county of Roscommon, the country of O'Kelly and his subordinates. O'Kelly was hereditary treasurer of Con- naught. Ibh-Maoile, in the county of Wicklow, the O'Tooles country. Ibh-Oneach, a large territory in the county of Roscommon, the principalities of O'Connor-Don, and O'Connor-Roe, the lineal descendants of Roderic O'Connor, last monarch of Ireland, and which great families still subsist, and have preserved some remnants of the extensive domains of their ancestors. Ibh-Neill-Deisgeart, or Southern O'Neills, comprehended all Meath and the adjoining places, which were bequeathed by the will of NialL the Grand to four of his sons, and HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1171. in this name is included all the branches of his family there residing. Ibh-Neill-Tuasgeart, or Northern O'Neill, included Tyrone, Tyrconnel, and all those other territories bestowed by the above monarch on the rest of his children, and in this name is comprehended the posterity of this prince in the North. Ibh-Regan, in the Queen's county, the lordship of O'Regan, but since possessed by the O'Duns. Ibh-Seratha, in the county of Kerry, the territory of O'Falvie, hereditary admiral of South Munster. Ibh-Tuirtre, in Meath, the patrimony of the O'Donnellans. Inis-Eoghain, in the county of Donegal, the lordship of O'Doherty. Irris-Domhain, in the county of Mayo, the great house of the Connaught knights, of the Damnonian, or Danaan race. Iveach, in the county of Down, the lord- ship of the Magenises. Laoiseach, in the Queen's county, the lordship of O'Moora, or More ; O'Moore, of Ballyna, in the county of Kildare, is the chief of this great house. Loch-Lein, or Killamey, the lordship of CDonoghoe. Luin-Con, in the west of Carbury, the territory of O'Driscol-Oge. Magh-Breagha, now called Fingal, near Dublin. Who were its ancient proprietors I cannot learn. The Danes very early made a solid settlement there ; and from them the Irish gave it the name of Fingal, or the country of the White Strangers. Magh-Cullin, in the county of Galway, CFlaherty's country. Magh-Druchtan, in the Queen's county, belonging to a branch of the O'Kellys. Magh-Gaibhle, in the county of Kil- dare, possessed by a branch of the CCeilies. Magh-Ithe, in the county of Derry, the country of the (yBoyles, O'Maolbriassals, the O'Quins, and O'Cannies. Magh-Leamhna, in the county of Antrim, the estate of the Mac Lanes, or Maclins, O'Commins, etc. Magh-Liffe, the plains of Dublin, the an- cient territory of the O'CuUius, the OBra- chanes, and other tribes. Magh-Lurg, in the county of Roscom- mon, the Mac Dermods country. Mac Dermod was hereditary marshal of Con- naught; and the present chief of this princely line is Mac Dermod, of Coolavin, in the county of Sligo. Magh-Muirthiemhne, in the county of Louth, famous for the defeat and death of Cucullin, captain of the Ulster knights, before the Incarnation. Maon-Maigh, now called Clanrichard, in the county of Galway, the ancient pat- rimony of the O'Mulallies, or Lallys, and of the O'Nachtans. Monaghan county, the principality of Mac Mahon. Muiceadha, in the county of Limerick, the lordship of Mac Enery. The remains of a large monastery, and other public buildings, at Castle-Town-Mac-Enery, yet bespeak the piety and splendour of this family, of which there are scarce any re- mains at this day. Muintir-Gilgain, the estate of O'Quin, in the county of Longford. Muintir-Tir-Conlachta, (I suppose the present Tuam-Greine,) in the county of Clare, the ancient lordship of O'Grada, or O'Grady. Muiscridhe-na-tri-Magh, now the half barony of Orrery, in the county of Cork, the country of the O'Cuillenans and O'Don- egans. Muiscridh-Jarrar-Feimhin, near Emly, in the county of Tipperary, the estate of O'Carthy. Muiscridh-Luachra, near Kilmalloc, in the county of Limerick, the estate of aHea. Muiscridh-Miotane, in the county of Cork, the territories of O'Flain, and aMaolfavil. Muiscridh-Tire, the ancient name of Lower Ormond, the early property of the O'Donegans, of the Eman race ; since then possessed by Mac O'Brien, of Arradh, O'Kennedy, O'Donnellan, etc. Murtha-Imhanachan,an ancient territory in Connaught, the lordship of O'Beime. A. D. 1171.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 323 Nas, or Nas-Laighean, (so called, as being the place of meeting of the estates of Leinster, now the Naas, in the county of Kildare,) the residence of the Mac Murroghs, or O'Cavenaghs. Oghbhadh, in the county of Meath, the estate of a branch of the O'Heas. Oirgial comprehended the present coun- ties of Louth, Armagh, and Monaghan, conquered by the three CoUas, in the be- ginning of the fourth century. Ormond, or East Munster, the principal- ity of O'Carrol. Ossruidhe, or Ossory, now in Leinster, was the principality of Fitz-Patrick, O'Car- rol, O'Delany, O'Doncha, O'Niachal, or Nihil, and many other ancient septs. Ouen-ui-Clearna, now Six-Mile-Bridge, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Keamey. Pobul-ui-Brien, now a barony, in the county of Limerick, the country of a branch of the O'Brien family. Pobul-ui-Ceallachan, is the name of a territory in the county of Cork, extending from Mallow westward, on both sides of the Black- Water, the ancient principality of O'Ceallachan. The family were trans- planted to Ceil-Chomey, in the county of Clare, by Cromwell, which estate is still preserved entire. Pobul-ui-Healuighe, in Muskry, in the county of Cork, the patrimony of the O'Healies. RafTan, the seat of O'Sullivan. See GrafTan. Rath-Conan, in the county of Limerick, the estate of 0*Casey. The present [ 1 778] speaker of the House of Commons, and representative for the city of Limerick, enjoys a part of this estate, in right of his great grandmother, the heiress of O'Casey. Rinilough, in the county of Wicklow, possessed by a branch of the O'Bymes. Rinn-Mhuintir-Bhaire, an head-land in Carbury, the ancient residence of the 0*Baires. Roule. See Dal-Riada. Sathni, in Meath, the estate of O'Ca- sey. Silan-Machadh, the O'Maddins country, in the county of Galway. Siol-Murrey, near Sligo, O'Connor Sli- go's country. Sliabh-Scot, in the county of Clare, the estate of the Mac Bruodins, hereditary historians of North Munster. Tanaiste signifies the next in command, and presumptive heir to a principality or lordship. Teabhtha or TaafFel, an extensive ter- ritory in Meath, the principality of Maine, fourth son of Niall the Grand, whose de- scendants were the O'Sheenachs or Foxes, Mac Anlys, O'Braoins, O'Quins, O'Dalies, O'Caham or Kerin, O'Murrigan, O'Haga. Tir-Amhalgaid, in the county of Mayo, O'Hara's country. Tir-Connel, in Ulster, the principality of aDonnel. Tirone, the principality of O'Neil. Tirtuathal, the estate of Mac Manus. Traidaire, or Tradraighe, now a barony in the county of Clare, before the Incarna- tion the residence of the Clana-Deagha, or Munster knights, from Daire, the son of Deagha, so called, and which words im- port the warriors of Daire. From this Daire came the word ridire, or ridare, to signify a knight, from righ, or ri, the fore- arm, to which the name Daire was annexed. They were dispossessed of this territory in the third century by Cormoc-Cas, King of Leath-Mogha. It became by succes- sion the property of Luigh-Lucius, or more properly Louis, called Dealbha, the son of Cas, the son of Conall-Eachluath, in the fourth century, which he resigned to his daughter Aoife, and to her posterity ; while he, at the head of his six sons, and a select body of troops, marched into Leinster, where he acquired large possessions, which from him were called the Dealbhnas, some of which are continued in his posterity to this day. My honoured friend Sir Lucius O'Brien, is the present [1778] chief of Tradaire. Triocha-cead-an-Chala, the estate of O'Ceadfa, or Coffie. Triocha-cead-o-Claisin, the barony of Tulla, in the county of Clare, the estate 'of 324 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.D. 1171. Mac Namara, hereditary lord-marshal of Thomond. The present [1778] represent- ative of this noble house, is a member of the Irish parliament. Triocha-cead-CIadhac, in Fermanagh, the estate of the Mac Kennas. Tuam-ui-Mhara, in the county of Tippe- rary, the lordship of O'Mara. Tuath-Muimhain, North Munster, or Thomond, extended from the isles of Aran to Sliabh-Eibhline, near Cashell, to Carran- Fearaidh, or Cnoc-Aine, in the county of Limerick; and from Luin-na-Con,or Loops- Head, to Sliabh-Dala, in Ossory ; but it was after circumscribed to the present county of Clare, of which the O'Briens are hered- itary princes. The present [1778] Earl of Inchiquin is chief of this branch of the royal line of Heber, eldest son to Milesius, Mile-Espaine, or the Hero of Spain. Tuatha-da-Danann, the Damnonii, or fourth colonv of Irish. Tulachog, in Ulster, the estate of O'Ha- gan, and O'Gormleys. Tullichrien, in the county of Clare, the estate of O'Gorman. The present [1778] Chevalier O'Gorman is chief of this ancient house. Tullallaithne, in the county of Tipperary, the estate of O'Ryan, or O'Mul-Ryan. Turtra, in Oirgial, possessed by the O'Donnellans, O'Flins, and O'Heires. Uaithne, in the county of Limerick, the estate of O'Dinnahan, or Dinan. UUa, now the county of Down, the prin- cipality of Magennis. Ulladh, the province of Ulster, so called from the great Ollamh-Fodhla. CHAPTER VI. Objections to the authenticity of Milesian pedi- grees answered — All descended from three sons of Milesius, and from his uncle Ith — Dif- ferent septs of the same name — Names of the Eoganachts, of the line of Heber — The Ithian race— Degaids of Munster and Irians — The issue of Cormoc and Cian, of the line of Heber — The race of Ir — The Heremonians of Leinster, and the other septs established there — The families of Meath — Hi-Bruins and Hi-Fiacres of Con- naught — Families of Ulster, of the CoUas, etc. The ancient Egyptians were all deemed noble, and so were the ancient Irish, and certainly with the greatest justice, both de- riving their origins from the purest foun- tains. But it may be objected to the Mi- lesian Irish, that they all trace their gene- alogies to royal blood, which as it appears (viewed in the most favourable light) a lit- tle paradoxical, requires to be adverted to. Certain it is, that on the Milesians first landing in Ireland, the country was thickly inhabited, and that all their own soldiers and men-at-arms, could not possibly be from the same stock with them, any more than the origmal natives. All this is granted, and yet it will not in the , least in- validate the truth of these genealogies. The duty of the hereditary antiquarians, poets, and historians, from the earliest an- tiquity, even to the decline of the last cen- tury, was to transmit from age to age, with the greatest precision and perspicuity, the genealogies, the exploits, and the posses- sions of the different families of the king- dom, from the royal stock of Milesius, and these only. If any branches of these fami- lies went to decay, or were no longer able to support their rank in the state, the gene- alogists and historians ceased pursuing them. No further account was given of them, as if they had left no issue ; so that such natives and foreigners as suppose from our genealogies, that the entire kingdom were the issue of the sons of Milesius, are not at all justified in their suppositions by the history of the country. The monarchs and provincial kings were elected from certain families of the blood- royal, who had preserved power and pos- sessions sufficient to support and justify their claims. The collateral branches of these families applied to the profession of arms, to the church, or to the study of dif- ferent branches of the sciences, which were all deemed noble. The genealogies of all these were most carefully preserved, and of course it will naturally explain, and clearly justify, the claims of all the Mile- sian families in tracing their ancestry to Milesius, to Gathelus, and to Phaenius — thus — Donatus, Bishop of Fiesoli, near A. D. 1171.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 325 Florence, in his poem on Ireland, of one thousand one hundred years standing, treats the matter in hand : " In qua Scotoram gentes habitare merentur : Inclyta gens hominum !" Of all the sons of Milesius, as well natu- ral as those born in wedlock, the issue of three only are preserved in our annals, with those of his uncle Ith, who are called the Clana-Breogan, or Brigantes. These three sons of Milesius are Heber, his first begotten, bom in Egypt; Ir, and Here- mon, whose mother was Scota, daughter to the king of Egypt. The line of Heber begins with the three sons of OilioU-Ollum, namely, Eogan-Mor, Cormac-Cas and Cian. The posterity of the two first are from these ancestors distinguished into Eoga- nachts, and Dai-Gas. About the middle of the tenth century surnames became first introduced into Munster, and in the begin- ning of the next age became adopted all over the kingdom. But when surnames came into general use, care was taken that they should not be arbitrarily assumed. Every family was to add to its Christian name, the name of some particular ances- tor, renowned for his superior bravery, vir- tue, or sanctity. To this was to be pre- fixed the words O, or Mac, which signi- fied the son or issue of that person. To illustrate this by a few instances, the O'Briens were so called, as being the descendants of the renowned Brien-Boir- umhe ; the O'Neils, from Niall, the hero of the Nine Hostages; O'Ceallachans, from Ceallachan-Cashell ; the O'Sullivans, from a renowned ancestor so called, and so of the other names.* The surname, with the adjunct O, or Mac, was assumed by the chief of each name. He was saluted or addressed by no other title. O'Brien, Mac Carthy, or O'Niall, imported the chief of Thomond, of Desmond, or Tyrone. To the branches the Christian name was added. It was the custom adopted from the earli- est times ; it is the mode observed by well- bred men at this day ! But though I have noticed that the sur- names of Milesian families were taken from * Introdaction to Irish History, p. 188. some remarkable ancestor ; yet it is neces- sary to observe that gentlemen of the same name are by no means to be taken as if descended from the same stock and blood ; and this remark will at the same time prove the extreme care and accuracy of our ancient genealogists. For instance, though O'Connor is a general name through the kingdom, and was formerly infinitely more so, yet we are not to suppose that they are all from the same root. The dif- ferent septs of the O'Connors of Connaught, as O'Connor-Don, O'Connor-Roe, O'Con- nor-Sligo, etc., are of the same stock, be- ing all descended from Brien, eldest son to Eochaidh, monarch of Ireland in the fourth century. O'Connor-Fali, chief of the O'Con- nors of Leinster, is descended from Rossa- Failge, or Fall, eldest son to Cathoir the Grand, monarch of Ireland in the second century. The O'Connors of Ulster are of the house of Heber, and sprung from Cian, son to Oilliol, king of Munster, in said century ; and the O'Connors of Kerry, and all South Munster, as well as those of Cor- comruadh and Thomond, are of the royal line of Ir ; the Mac Mahons and Mac Don- nels of Ulster and Thomond, are of differ- ent septs, and so are the O'Carrols. The same remark will hold good with respect to many other great namfes ; yet the names of O'Brien, Mac Namara, O'Grady, and others of North Munster, as well as the entire stock of the Eoganachts of South Munster, wherever dispersed, are of the same blood. The posterity of Eogan-Mor, eldest son of Oilliol, of the line of Heber, (the ancient inhabitants of Desmond,) are, first, Mac Carthy-Mor, or the Great, with the differ- ent branches of that name, proceeding from this great source. The O'Sullivans, O'Ce- allachans, O'Keefes, O'Donoghoes, O'Ma- honies, O'Donovans, O'Connells, Mac Kil- lecoddy, O'Kerwics, O'Riarden, Mac Fini- ghins or Fannins, O'Fogherty, Mac Auliffs, O'Finigin, O'Moriarty, O'Houregan, O'Cu- illane or Collins, O'Hehir, O'Mechan, Mac Elligod, O'Davoran, Mac Arteri or Arthur, O'Lechan or Line, O'Treasagha or Tracy, O'Ledeen, O'Gar van, Mac Grath, O'Kinealy, 326 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1171. CCIerein, O'FIanery, O'Anamachda, O'Da- ly : the ancient Stuarts of Lenox and Man in Scotland, and their posterity, are of the race of Heber. O'Crowley-Lugha, son of Ith, uncle to Milesius, had settlements as- signed to him and to his followers in the present county of Cork, immediately after the reduction of Ireland, and which from this prince were called Corca-Luighe. From him are descended, first, O'Driscol- Mor, with the different branches of his name, and from these O'Leary, O'Cob- thig, O'Baire, O'Flin, O'Hinegan, O'Hea, O'Dead, O'Fin, Mac Crochan, Mac Amal- gad, O'Kearnan, O'Cormac, Mac Crath, O'Dooly, CEnrichty, (yRothlan or Row- land, O'Sungin, O'Kerwic, 0'Fineen,0'Hal- linan, with the twenty-seven bishops of Ross, and many saints. The dukes of Ar- gyle, hereditary lords-justices of Scotland, with all the Campbells of that country, the Mac Aliens and other noble septs of North Britain, are the issue of Mac Con, of the line of Ith, and monarch of Ireland in the commencement of the third century. It is to be noticed that the people of Corca- Luighe, and indeed the most parts of Mun- ster, were Christians long before the arri- val of St. Patrick. About a century before Christ, Munster received a new colony in the Clana-Dea- gha, called sometimes Degaids, from this Deagha, as also Ernains of Munster, from their first settlement about Loch-Erne, in the North. They were the issue of the monarch Aongus III., (see p. 78,) of the line of Heremon ; and from this house pro- ceeded some kings of Munster Eidersgoil, Conaire I., and Conaire IL, monarchs of Ireland, with the royal line of Scotland, from Fergus to his present majesty. This family were the restorers of military disci- pline, and of the equestrian order of Mun- ster. Of this great house, the following families in Munster are descended : O'Fal- vie, O'Shea, O'Connel, O'Cuillenan, O'Don- negan, O'Flin, chief of Muiscridh, Miotane, CKMaolfavil, O'Cronacan, O'Samplin, (prob- ably Suple, an ancient family in Kerry,) aMael-Ceallig, O'Conaire, aFithilly, O'- Cuire, O'Lochin, O'Conuing, O'Corcoran, O'Cineth, aRobartaig, O'Fergus, and O'Bu- chan. The O'Dwyers, O'Brenans, and O'Ryans, of the line of Heremon, became also denizens of Munster, as did the O'Fe- lans, descended from Fiacha-Suidhe, O*- Scanlan, O'Camoge, O'Henessy, O'Eagan, etc., of this race. Besides these, Ciar, one of the three sons of Fergus, grandson to Ruighridhe the Great, of the line of Ir, monarch of Ireland, gained possessions in Kerry, from him so called. From him are descended, first, O'Connor- Kerry, chief of this branch of the Irian line ; and from him sprung the O'Du- gains, O'Conway, O'Cathil, which are the chief Milesian families in South Munster. Thomond, or North Munster, was the inheritance of Cormac-Cas, reserving the principality of Ormond, or East Munster, to his brother Cian; but the sovereignty was confined to the houses of Eogan and Cormac only. From Cormac are descended, first, O'Brien, chief of Thomond, Mac Mahon, lord of Corca-Bhaisgin, Mac Namara, mar- shal of Thomond. Mac Clancy, heredi- tary chief-justice, Mac Bruodin, hereditary historian, O'Hickey, and O'Nolan, the he- reditary medical tribe, Mac Curtins, hered- itary bards, etc. Besides these hereditary officers, the following noble families are derived from this great source : O'Dea, O'Hehir, O'Quin, Mac Ennery, O'Grady, O'Heffernan, O'Kennedy, 0'Hogan,0'Shee- han, O'Neachtan, O'Hea, O'Hurly, O'Mol- lowny, O'Bolan, O'Casie, O'Hanraghan, O'Spelan, O'Coghlin, O'Tuamy, O'Lonar- gan, O'Ceallachan, O'Ahern, Mac Grath, O'Shanahan, CHealy, O'Morrony, O'Mara, O'Henrighta, O'Loinsigh or Linch, O'Seas- nan or Sexton, O'Honcen, O'Cormocan, CFRiady, O'Halloran, O'Cashin, CMule- quiny, O'Heaphy, O'Hartigan, O'GioU-Io- sachta or Lysaghts, Mac Donnel, O'Consa- din, O'Regan, Arturagin or Arthur, O'Kear- ny, O'Coning or Cuneen, O'Liddy, CKHin- nigan, Mac Conry, O'Brody, O'Conglach, O'Minane, aMarchahan, O'Duhig, aNu- nan, O'Collopy. From Cian, third son of Oilliol, are sprung, first, O'Carrol, prince of Eile, and v^*^*":^. A. D. 1171.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 327 chief of Ormond ; O'Meaghir, O'Riardan, aCorcran, Mac Keogh, 0'Flanagan,0'Dul- honty, a branch of the O'Casies, O'Connor Cianachta, O'Hara, O'Gary, etc. To these septs we are to add the posterity of Core, brother to Ciar, of the royal Hne of Ir, who acquired a large territory in Thomond, be- fore the Incarnation, from him called Cor- camruadh, East and West, now the baro- nies of Corcamruadh and Burren. The ancient chief of Corcamruadh of this line, was O'Connor ; and of Burren was O'Logh- lin, from whom O'Brock, O'Casie, O'Turny, Mac Anister or Nestor, O'Marchahan, and O'Tyn, are descended. Corca-Bhaisgin was the principality of Cairbre-Bhaisgin, of the posterity of Conaire the Grand, and Emain race. This territory, bordering on the Shannon, in the county of Clare, though confined, yet was powerful in commerce, in riches, and inhabitants. No less than six saints are recorded to have proceeded from this house, among whom was the great St. Senanus, founder of the churches of Inis-Catha or Scattery, on the Shannon, as well as of the anchorite tower, yet stand- ing, in which he finished his days; yet all the records that remain of this house are, that O'Baiscin and O'Donnel were its chief representatives in later days ! The O'Gor- mans, of the Lagenian race, have long flourished in Thomond. The house of Ir, by right of seniority, demands the second place, though the Her- emonians were undoubtedly the most pow- erful. From Ruighridhe, the grand mon- arch of Ireland, before the Incarnation, they are generally called Clana-Ruighridhe. We have seen the dominions of this great house reduced to very confined limits, af- ter the destruction of Emania by the three CoUas, and of consequence their posterity not over numerous : yet, at this day, some of them make a distinguished figure. The chief representative of this house is Mac G«nnis or Mac Aengus, as is O'Moora of the Craobh-Ruadh, (though, I think, more properly Crobh-Ruadh, or the Red or Bloody Hand,) or hereditary knights of Ulster of the Irian line. From these the Mac Gabhnions or Smiths, O'Garveys, O'Dunlevy, O'Heochagan, O'Lavery, O'Lo- '^iisy, O'Hanby, O'Neachach, Mac Cartin, O'Morna, O'Curry, O'Coltrain, Mac Gil- larivig, Mac-an-Bhaird or Ward, O'Law- ler, Mac Gilligan, O'Marchahan, O'Tiemy, O'Conway, O'Casie, O'Brosnahan, O'Har- rigan, O'Hullachan, O'Duan, O'Maning, Mac Gilmer, O'Kenny, O'Carrolan, O'Keth- emy, O'Scanlan, the O'Connors of Kerry and Thomond, O'Loghlin, the O'Ferrals of Analy, the Mac Rannels, etc. The other Milesians of Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught, are mostly of the line of Heremon, but so early separated from each other that they may be regarded as differ- ent houses. The line of Leinster begins with Joughaine, the great monarch of Ire- land, some centuries before Christ, whose royal residence was at Rath-Joughaine, now called Jiggin's-Town, near the Naas, the ancient capital of Leinster, and from his two sons. Loaghaire (Leary) from whom Dun-Leary, near Dublin, was the source of the Milesians of Leinster; as was his brother Cobh-Thaig, of those of the rest of Leath-Cuin. I find O'Baiscin, O'Dwyer, O'Ryan, O'Garchin, Fitz-Patrick, and O'Brenan, to carry their pedigrees higher than Cathoir-Mor, from whom the other great families claim their descents. This prince Cathoir had thirty sons, ten of which left issue. From Rossa-Failge, his eldest, proceeded, first, O'Connor Faly, O'Dun, O'Dempsy, O'Regan, O'Colgan, O'Mulchiaran, ^Bearra, aHarti, O'CuUin, O'AUilan, O'Fin, ^Maine, aFlaherty, aDondon, O'Foranan, O'Henessy, aUlla- chan, O'Dugan, and O'Murrigin. From Daire, his second son, sprung O'Mooney, O'Gorman, O'Melan, O'Feall, O'Brenan, aMallone, O'Minchan, O'Manning, O'Co- main, O'Guban, and O'Follachty. From Criomthan, the people of a district in Lein- ster, whose names I know not, were called. From Breassal-Enachlas, the fourth son, sprung O'Dicolo, O'Feardig, O'Cuning, O'Eogan, O'Cruchta, etc. From Eochaidh- Timine, came O'Hanragan, O'Bime, and O'Coplig, etc. From Olioll-Cetach, sixth son, the O'Fallons of Crioch-Cetach, O'Cro- nan, and O'Cathill, etc., are descended. 338 HISTORY OF IREI/AND. [A. D. 1171- From Fergus-Luscan came the O'Los- cans, O'Colman, O'Ena, O'Sinig, O'Lal- lain, O'Duban, O'NowIan, O'Tily, O'Ciar- mac, O'Geran, O'Cillin, etc. Deremasach gave rise to the O'Deremasachs, O'Cuanda, O'Uica, etc. The issue of Aongus is thrown into that of Rossa, by whom he was supported ; but from the loins of Fia- cha, the youngest son, sprung most of the succeeding kings of Leinster. The chief representative of this house is Mac Mur- rogh or O'Cavenagh, O'Murphy, O'Byrne, O'Toole, O'Maol-Ryan, O'Cinselagh, O'- Dowhng, O'Maoldun or MuUin, O'Duffy. Besides these, Leinster received into its bosom the issue of other states : for, in the reign of Feidhlim, the legislator, the Ma- monians had overrun all Leinster. In this distress Cuchorb applied to Eochaid-Fionn, the son of Feidhlim, who, with his precep- tor Laoigheasach, of the line of Ir, marched into Leinster at the head of twenty-one thousand men, and cleared the country of these invaders. To reward these auxilia- ries Cuchorb bestowed on Eocha the Foth- ards in Leinster, from a surname of his so called ; and on Laoigheasach, the country after him known by the name of Leis, or the present Queen's county. From Eo- chaidh are descended the O'Maoltollas, CMingan, O'Lochin, O'Cainoge, O'Comain, O'Luineachs, O'Meathus, O'Dermod, O'Me- ragin, etc. From Laoigheasach came O'Moora, O'Brocain, CCormac, the Clan Flanegan, Clan Eilge, etc. Ossory, though placed in Leinster, was always tributary to Munster, and sometimes deemed a part of it. It was governed by its own princes of the line of Heremon, and Fitz-Patrick was its chief. From him proceeded O'De- lany, ONiachol, O'Cairn, O'Fenan, etc. Besides these, the O'Coghlins and CFenel- lans, etc., of the line of Heber, and the O'Ferrals and Mac Rannels of the Irian race, acquired considerable lordships in Leinster. Meath, formed into a fifth province by Tuathal, in the second century, for the bet- ter support of the monarchy, and which was called, " The mensal territory of the monarchs qf Ireland" comprehended the present counties of East and West Meath, the counties of Kildare and Dublin, with other adjoining territories. The posterity of Cobhthaigh became here a numerous and powerful race. We may judge of their consequence by Eochaidh-Fionn, brother to the monarch Con, being able to raise twenty-one thousand fighting men to assist the Lagenians, though himself but a prince in Meath, and possessed of but a small ter- ritory. But how great and populous soever they were, the present race of MeathiaiM draw their pedigrees from the four sons of Niall the Grand, settled here in the fourth century, but who were lineally descended from the same stock. The names of these four sons were, Loaghaire, Conall-Criom- than, Fiacha, and Maine. The posterity of these princes were distinguished from the issue of their brethren settled in Ulster, by the name of the Southern Hi-Nialls, Clan Colman, etc. From the eldest of these sons, the country called Ibh-Laoghaire, took its name. His chief representative was O'Cindealbhin or Kendellan ; O'Cuan or Quan, O'Conrich, O'Tuchar, O'Licane, O'Fallon, O'Leochal, etc., are from this branch. From Conall-Criomthan are the O'Maloghlin, or Mealsachlins, kings of Meath; on the arrival of the English, O'Dooly, O'Flanagan, with their depend- ents, whose names I cannot trace. The issue of Fiacha are, O'MoUoy, prince of Fearcale, Mac Geoghegan, Mac Cullin, O'Higgin, Mac Ruark, O'Folarg, etc. The posterity of Maine are, CSheenach or Fox, Mac Awly, O'Daly, O'Brien, O'Quin, O'Ha- gau, O'Ronan, O'Donellan, O'Medog, O'- Cithemig, O'Cathlin or Callm, O'Mulconry, O'Fagan, CMurray, O'Madegan, O'Dig- nan, O'Cerin, O'Celachan, O'Sligan, O'Shiel, O'Mulciaran, etc. Besides these, O'Kelly, O'Comgallach, O'Rury, O'Mulcahill, Mac Connin, Mac Carrigan, O'Scully, O'Curry, Mac Gilla-Comog, O'Donog, O'Murcher- tach, were dynasties of this country, of the Heremonian line. The Connaught race of Milesians, of the royal house of Heremon, claim their pedi- gree from the same source with those of Meath, through Muiredhach, called Tire- A. D. 1171.] HISTORY OF IRELAND. 329 ach, or the Patriot, the son of Fiachadh, the son of Cairbre, the son of Cormac, etc. This Muiredhach was king of Connaught before he succeeded his father in the mon- archy, and was succeeded by his son Eo- cha. When this last became monarch, he left his domains in Connaught to his four sons by his first wife. Of these two only left issue, Brian and Fiachra. From Brian his descendants are generally called Hi- Bruin, and those of his brother Hi-Fiacre. From Brian sprung first, O'Connor-Don, with the different branches of this name, O'Reily, O'Ruark, O'Flaherty, Mac Der- mod, Mac Donough, O'Halloran, O'Maily, O'Flanegan, OTlin, O'Hanly, Mac Manus, Mac Brady, O'Fallon, Mac Kernan, O'Do- nellan, O'Garvey, O'Byrne, O'Mallone, O*- Mael-Brenan, O'Mullally or Lally, O'Cre- ane, O'Galvey or Gallway, Mac Tigernau or Ternan, Mac Brenan, Mac Teige, O'- Crowley, O'Concanon, O'Finnegan, O'- Murry, O'Callinan, O'Line, O'Fin, O'Cnam- hin or Neven, O'Canavan, O'Domhlin or Doolin, O'Breslin, Mac Aodh or Hugh, Mac Eagan, O'Mahidy, O'Currin, O'Maol- morra, O'Carthy, O'Moran, O'Cahan, O'- Maony, O'Finachty, Mac Dorchey or Dar- cey, Mac Clancy, O'Hea, O'Ceamachin, O'Dearmady, O'Gorman, O'Mitrigan, Mac Shanally. From Fiachra are descended O'Heyne, prince of Ibh-Fiachra Aoidhne, O'Shagnessy, aDowd, O'Kilkelly, O'Cea- rig, O'Clery, O'Cemog, O'CafFy, aCrocan, O'Fahy, O'Keady, O'Comain, etc. The O'Haras, O'Gara, Mac Conry, with then- dependants, of the line of Heber, formerly had, and still possess large domains in Connaught, besides many great septs of the Danaan race. The northern line of Heremon are the offspring of Eogan and Conal-Gulban, sons of Niall the Grand, and of the three Collas of the same blood. From Eogan are descended CNeil, with the different branches of his name, always kings of Tyrone, and sometimes monarchs of Ireland. Even in the reign of Elizabeth, O'Neil was obeyed as monarch by his own faction, in every part of the kingdom. From O'Neil proceeded the Mac Sweneys, 42 O'Gormly, O'Cahan or Kane, O'Heasy, CFCraibh or Creagh, O'Mulligan called Molineux, O'Mulvihil, Mac Loughlin, O*- Donnolly, O'Cathvil or Cauldfield, Mac Kilkelly, O'Duan, O'Horan, Mac Gnaire, O'Hegarty, O'Dubhderma, O'Dunegan, Mac Rury, O'Kelly, O'Maol-BreassaU aHamilly, O'Murcha, O'Maol-Fogarty, O'Daly. From Conall-Gulban, whose suc- cessors were kings of Tyrconncl, and some- times monarchs, are sprung, first, O'Don- nel, chief of this great house ; and from him aDogherty, O'Gallachar, O'Buidhil or Boyle, Clan Dala, O'Hea, O'Maolmony, Mac Lonsechan, O'Mulligin, O'Brelan, O'Kearnachan, O'Dalachan, etc. Fiacha, monarch of Ireland, in the de- cline of the third, and beginning of the fourth century, had a brother called Eo- chaid-Doimhlin. This Eochaidh had three sons, famous in our history by the names of the three Collas. While Muireadhach, son to Fiacha, led an army into Munster, the Collas availed themselves of his ab- sence, attacked their uncle, whose troops they defeated, and he himself was left on the plains among the dead. Hereupon the eldest CoUa succeeded, but the usurper was defeated, and the brothers fled to Scot- land. In time they were received into fa- vour, and a body of men was given them, with which they invaded Ulster, and con- quered a large territory, which, from them, was called Oirgial, comprehending the present counties of Louth, Armagh, and Monaghan. Here their posterity remained, and many of them yet retain a part of their ancient domains. From CoU-Hnais, or the noble, are de- scended the present Earl of Antrim, and all the Mac Donnels of Scotland and Ireland, the Mac Dougals or Doyles, the Mac Ro- ries, lords of the Hebrides, Mac Cartan, aDaire, ^Geran, Mac SoUiv or Sally, Clan Gerin, etc. From Colla-Mean I find the 0*Cearuib- hils or O'Carrols, sometimes called kings of Oirgial, are descended, as also the Mac Sheekies, Clan Duncha, etc. From CoUa- da-Crioch are sprung the Mac Mahons, princes of Monaghan, Mac Guire, chief of 390 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1171. Fermanagh, Mac Manus, O'Hanlon, O'No- lan, Mac Connel, Mac Cineth or Mac-Ken- zie, O'Flanagan, O'Rudagan, O'Lorcan, O'Danbig, Mac Naghtin, Mac Cormoc, O'Davin, Mac Felan, etc., besides the O'Kellies, CMaddins, Mac Eagan. etc., of Connaught. O'Henrighty, O'Behellan, O- Cosgrive, O'Garvey, O'Lonagan, O'Col- train, O'Hamby, and O'Morna, are reck- oned up by O'Dugan as chiefs of Oirgial. Of the Dal-Fiatachs of Ulster I can give no account, and very little of the Dalriada. From these, and many other families now extinct, are the ancient and (by the maternal line) almost all the modem Irish, through the kingdom, descended. United thus in blood, and having, in fact, but one common interest (the good of their coun- try) to pursue, is it not astonishing that the least disunion should subsist among them ? What would become of Britain, at this day, were the remains of the ancient Brit- ons, the Saxons, Danes, Normans, Flem- ings, and Dutch, to regard themselves as distinct colonies, interested only in the prosperity of their particular septs ? What would be the state of France, Spain, Ger- many, and, in short, of the whole continent of Europe, were they to act on principles so contracted, so impolitic, so subversive of public good ? To affirm that the His- tory of Ireland, from the time that Henry II. was proclaimed king of Leath-Mogha, to this day, is not a continuation of the past, would be as absurd as to say, that the History of England, since the Revolu- tion, has no kind of relation to antecedent facts ! I have laboured, with unremitting zeal, to lay before my countrymen the his- tory of their ancestors, from the most re- mote antiquity to that period. I have nei- ther exaggerated their virtues nor glossed over their vices. The Irish, of modem days, have now an opportunity of renew- ing their acquaintance with their great — their long-neglected ancestors — and I am persuaded, that neither they, nor their country, will be the worse for this in- formation. END OF MR. o'hALLORAn's WORK, rORNIMO THE FIRST DITISION Or THK COMPLETE HISTORT OT IRELAND. INDEX TO MR. O'HALLORAN'S FIRST VOLUME, COMPRISING THE FIRST SIX BOOKS. Page. Abanhi, the ancient name of the Nile, explained, 28 Abaris, the Hyperborean, an Irishman, - 36, 37 when sent ambassador to Athens, 52 77 Adamar, monarch of Ireland, j^gypt, receives arts and letters from Niulus the Phoenician, the great ancestor of the Irish nation, - - - 19 ■ quitted by his posterity, - - - 20 Africans, early possessed of part of Ireland, 1 ■ extend their power over the kingdom, 3 called in to assist Laoghaire, - - 63 proved to have been Carthaginians, - 64 or Carthaginians, closely connected with the Irish, - - - - 72 Airgeadmhar, monarch, - - - - 69 Albany, when peopled by the Picts, - 49, 50 when made an Irish settlement, - 113 Aldergoid, directs doctors in science to wear gold rings, - - - - Alphabet, first invented by Phaenius, ■ the Irish the same with the Phsenian, ■ the Cadmean, one of the Greeks, and the Irish in their original order, the hierographic one of the Irish, other Greek and Irish modes of writing, 33 Amhergin, the high-priest, puts his brethren on the conquest of Ireland, • is sent ambassador to the Danaan 57 19 21 32 32 28 pnnces, - slain in battle, 44 49 69 55 77 78 Aodh-Ruadh, monarch, Aongus overruns Britain and Albany, - II. invades Greece, - - - III. assists the Carthaginians, - source of the royal line of British Scots, 78 Ancient mode of interment in Ireland, - 86, 87 Aonach- Tailtean, its origin, - - - - 7 further account of it, - - 101 Art, called Imlioch, the first introducer of for- tresses into Ireland, - - - - 64 Aon-Fkir, war between him and Mac Con, 113 Arts and Sciences, hereditary professors of them, - - 92, 93 Atlantic, isle of, the Egyptians and Greeks, Ireland, - - - - 24, 25 ■ discovered by the Carthaginians, 64, 65 Attacotic war explained, - - - - 97 Baoisgne, from whom the knights of Leinster were called Clana-Baobgne - 89 Bards, their ranks and immunities in the state, 36 ——^ their employment, - - - - 93 Bards, recited odes in the midst of battles. Battle of Muirtheimne, . - - on the Grampian Hills, of the Cneucha, - - - of Magh-Lena, _ - - of Muircruinihe, - - - of Criona, _ - - - of Cnoc-Long, - - - of Gabhra, _ - - - Bede, mistakes the origin of the Britons, his account of the Picts, - Page. 93 83 59 106 109 113 118 121 128 14 50 Bel, or the sun, adored by the Pbo;nicians and Irish, 22 Bel-Samhuin, with both, implied the Supreme, 22 Bel, his chief temple at Uisneach, - 53, 54 Belgee, or Firbolgs, land in Ireland, - - 4 rule the kingdom thirty-seven years, 4, 5 defeated by the Damnonii and retire to Britain, - - - - 6, 15 spoke the Irish language, - - - 15 when and where they settled in Bri- tain, ------ Bein-Briot, invades Ireland in support of Mac Con, ----- ■ kills Eogan in the battle of Muu*- cruimhe, - - - - Biatadis, the third order in the state, - the conditions by which they pre- served their ranks, - - - their number in Munster, Boirumhe, or tribute, imposed on the Lage- nians, by Conaire, - - - imposed on them by Tuathal, a remarkable one imposed by Cor- mac, - _ - - - Breasrigh, defeats the Africans, - - - Breasal, a great contagion among homed cattle in his reign, _ - - - Briganles when settled in Britain, why called Clana-Breogan, or Bri- gantes, ----- the Spanish and Irish from the same source. 15 112 113 33 ~3S 33 95 103 120 64 79 14 15 27 Brigantium, when founded, and why so called, 27 Boustrophedon of the Greeks, the same with the Cion-fa-Ete of the Irish, 33 Britain, when and why so called, - - 14 when inhabited by the Belgae, - - 15 when inhabited by the Damnonii and Brigantes, - - - - - 15 when inhabited by all Irish emigrants, and spoke the same language, 15, 16 333 INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME. [vot. I. Page. Britain^ Camden, Lhuid, and Whitaker's mis- takes, ------ 16 Britons and Irish of one common stock, - 12 Building with stone, when introduced into Ireland, - - - - - 70 Burials, the ancient mode, - - - - 86 Byrsa, its etymology, - - - - - 40 Cadmus's alphabet, - - - - - 32 Caledonians, the Picts, why so called, - - 16 when they landed in Ireland, 49, 50 remnrkabie alliance between the Irish and them, - - - 50 • objections to their early estab- lishment in Britain answered, 51 Cairbre-CinceaL, usurps the monarchy, - - 97 Cairbre-Liffeceur, monarch of Ireland, - 124, 125 Riada, forms a settlement in Britain, 113 CarausitiSf assisted by Cairbre, ... 125 Carthage, its etymology, - - - - 40 possessed by the Gathelians, - 39 Carthaginian and Irish languages, deities, etc., the same, - 22, 23, 40 Carthaginians and Irish closely connected, • 65 assisted in their wars by the Irish, - . - 68-72 Cathoir the Great, his remarkable will, - - 105 the principal families descended from him, 105 Celtte, early possessed of letters, - - .12 Cenau, a curious remark of his explained, . 76 Cherine, the ancient name of Cyprus, - - 38 Chevaliers, their rank, vows, and exalted sen- timents, - - - - - 90 the emperors of Germany and kings of France created, - - - 91 Christianity, established here long before the days of St. Patrick, - - 123 Cliivalry, its great antiquity in opposition to modems, - - - - - 88 five different orders in Ireland, - - 89 Ciombaih, builds the palace of Emania, - 70 Clana-Deagha, the Munster knights, why so called, - - . .89 Conairt the Grand, some genealogical errors in his race corrected, - - - 49 imposes an eric on the Lagenians, - 95 Cobthaig, murders his brother and ascends the throne, - - - - 75 Collas, conquer the Irians and destroy Emania, 131 their principal posterity, - . . 130 Coins, an account of early Irish ones, - - 66 Colours, the law of, - - - - 52, 53 Congal, invades Munster, - - - - 80 Conn of the Hundred Battles, his reign and expk)its, 106, 107 his famous partition of Ireland, - - 108 Connor, King of Ulster, his wars with the Co- nacians, - - - - 82, 83 protects the literati, - - - - 85 recovers of a fractured skull by the trepan, - - - - - 67 Core, King of Leath-Mogha, acknowledges Niall as monarch, - - - - 134 Cormoc, the monarch, his history, - - 118-122 Cormoc-Cas, his exploits and liberality, - - 115 Criomthan, invades Britain and Gaul, - - 95 Craobh-Ruadh, the knights of, - - - 89 Cruachan palace, when and for what purposes erected, - - - - - 82 Page. Cucullin, slain in the battle of Muirtheimhne, 83 Dalgas, so called from Cormoc-Cas, - - 114 Dalriada, the Irish colony in Scotland, so called, - - - - . 113 Damnonii, their history, - - - - 5 when settled in Britain, - - 16 Danemark, invaded by Moghcorb, . - 128 Dathi, the monarch, his history, - - 138-141 Deagadh, of the Ernian race, finds an asylum in Munster, - - - - 80 of the Ernian race, succeeds to that crowH, - - - - - 80 the Munster knights, from him called Clana-Deagadh, - - 89 Dealbha-Lidgh, leads his troops into Meath, where he settles, - - 140 Deirdre, in love with Naos, who carries her oflT, 84 Dreams, some account of, - - - - 119 Druids, part of their theology, - - - 119 Ardi-Druid, chief of the literati, - - 92 Duach, monarch of Ireland, - - - 80 Dublin, its antiquity, and extensive early com- merce, . - - - - 109 Eadhna-AirgOuach, introduces the use of silver shields, - - 56 II. coins money, - - - - 66 Emania palace, erected by Ciombhaoth, - 70 destroyed by the Collas, - 131 Eidersgoil, monarch, - - - - - 87 Elim, a cruel prince, ----- lOO Eitlirail, promotes agriculture, and sends Abaris to the Grecian States, - 52 Eochaidh II. introduces weapons with col- oured blades, - - - - 55 Mumho, from whom Munster w«« called, - - - - - 55 — Uarcheas, inventor of light skiffs covered with hides, - - - 67 IX. erects the palace of Cruachan, 82 • X. regulates the modes of interment, 86 King of Leinster, the cause of the Boirumhe Laighean, - 103, 104 Moidhmheon, defeats the Romans in Britain, - - - . 133 Fionn, an account of his posterity, 122 Eogan the Great, his history and exploits, 1 07-1 10 Fair of Tailten, its rise, - - - _ 7 Fearaidach the Just, restores the monarchy, - 98 Fearchorb, King of Leath-Mogha, his exploits, 129, 130 Feargus, in his reign Italy overrun by the Gauls, - - - - - 78 Roigh, his posterity, - - - 81 • King of Ulster, defeats the preten- sions of Cormoc, - - - 118 is slain in battle, - - - - 118 FiacAarf/i-Labhruine, invades Albany, - - 55 son to Feai"aidach, invades Britain, 100 Feidhlim, the legislator, establishes the lex talionis, - - - - 103, 104 Fine-Eirin, an account of their establishment, 125 Fivnn-Mac-Cumhal, his history and exploits, 106-110 FioOiil, chief justice, a remarkable tale of him, 124 Fir-Bolg, or Belgse, their history, - - 4, 5 when settled in Britain, - .15 Fire, sacred to Bel and Samhuin, . 53, loi roL. I.] INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME. 333 Fds- Tamhrach, when held, ... objects of its deliberataoDs, Page. 60 61 Fomharraigh, or Africans, accounts of them, 2, 64 proved to hare been the Car- thaginians, - - - 64 Galicia, when possessed by the Gathelians, 26, 27 Galhelus, the Irish from him called Gathelians, 20 Gauls, their ancient state misrepresented, - 73 possessed arts and sciences, - 73, 74 Gold rings decreed to ollamhs or doctors, - 57 chains and corslets to the knights, - 57 its great plenty in ancient Ireland, 53, 57 Gol-Mac-Moma, his exploits, - - 107-109 Gomerians, the Welsh, by mistake, so called, 14 Greeks, receive their first alphabet from the Gathelians, - - - - 29, 33 ■ their account of the Atlantic island expkuned, - - - - 23, 24 Hair, constantly worn by the Irish chiefs, - 117 its loss the highest reproach, - - 117 Heber and Heremon, conquer and divide Ire- land, - - - - - 44, 43 and Heremon quarrel, and Heber slain, 49 Heremon, assigns habitations in Britiun to the Picts and Brigantes, - - 49, 50 his death and character, - - 51 Hermioniens of Cenan explained, - - - 76 Hi-Ntills, northern and southern, - 137, 138 Historic systems, subversive of history, - - 8, 9 system of population refuted, - - 9 History of Ireland, throws great light on that of Britain, - 11, 12, 10, 17 elucidates those of Egypt and Greece, 18, 20, 33-37 elucidates those of Car- thage and Galicia, 39, 40 objections of Mebi, Strabo, etc., answered, - - 37 Hospitality, promoted by the Irish laws, 33, 34 Hyperboreans, Greek accounts of them, and Ireland proved to be the country alluded to, - 35, 37 Heraclitus's relation of them defended, - - - - 74 llbreachta, or the law of coloui-s, whet, 52, 53 Illegitimate children, rank with those bom in wedlock, - - - - 78 Josephus, a testimony against modern population, 9 Jrial, the prophet, reclaims several tracts of ground, - - - - - 51, 52 Irish, the descendants of Phsnius, - - 18 the voyages of their ancestors to the conquest of Ireland, - - 19, 20 the voyages, pi-oofs and illustrations of these relations, - - 20, 25, 28, 41 language, why called Gaoidhealag, - 19 Ith, lands in Ireland, and b mortally woun- ded, - - - - - - 42, 43 some account of his posterity, - - 116 Island, Holy, Ireland, why so called, - . - 19 Jughaine the Great, unites with the Cartha- ginians, - - - - - 72 Kimri, the Welsh, why so called, - - 14 Knighthood, Caesar and Pausanias, etc., their account of its antiquity among the Celts, illustrated by Irish history, - - - - 88 Page. Knighthood, five different orders in Ireland, 89-91 Knights, instances of their exalted senti- ments, - - - - 58, 90 Laighseach-Ceandmore, his posterity, - - 122 Labhra-Loinseach, his history, - - 75, 76 Laws, reformed by Feidlimidh, - - 103, 104 Lealh-Mogha and Leath-Cuin, their meaning, 108 Letania, the ancient name of Brittuny, - - 14 Leinster tribute, called Eric-ui-Dreiscoil, why imposed, - - - - - 95 tribute, called Bourumhe-Laighean, what, 103 tribute, a particular one imposed by Cormoc, 120 princes, the misconduct of some noted, ----- 104 Lena, the battle of, - - - - - 109 Letters, when and by whom invented, - 19, 20 the Irish, the same with the Phaenian and Cad mean of the Greeks, 21, 22 objections of moderns to their original number answered, - - - 31 the sacred, or ogham of the Irish, - 33 Literary order, their privileges and immunities, 92 Luernus of Possidonius explained, - - 117 Lughaidh, called Mac Con, monarch, - 115, 116 mistakes, as to the length of his reign, adjusted, - - - 116 murdered while dealing his liberality among the bards, - - - 117 Lugha-Laga, his exploits in the battle of Cri- ona, ----- 148 Luigh-LamJi-Fliada, institutes the games at Tailtean, - - 7 Mac Con. See Lughaidh. Mac Neid's remarkable peace with the mon- arch Con, - - - - 110 MacJia, gives name to the palace of Eniania, 70 Moon, called Labhra, his story, - - 75, 76 Meibhe-Cruacfina, man-ies a Connaught prince, 81 singular terms of her second marriage, - - - 82 source of many princely fam- ilies, - - - - 82 • convenes an assembly at Crunchan, - - - 83 is treacherously killed, - 85 Milf-Esjmine, or Milesius, his history, - 27, 28 Militia. See Fine-Eirin. Merchants and artisans regulated, - 62, 102 Military, early regulations with regard to them, - - - - 65, 66 Mines, early worked, - - - - 53, 57 Monarchs, singular requisites to entitle them to reign, ----- 117 their household, - - - - 119 and provincial kings how placed at Tara, 60 Mona, Tacitus's account of its conquest ex- plained, - - - - 98, 99 Monty, when first coined here, - - - 66 why so scarce to be met with, - 66, 67 Moon, worshipped in Ireland, - 22, 54, 101 its priestesses, - - - - 120 Mogh-Clwrb, reduces Danemark, - - 128 falls in the battle of Spaltrach, - 129 Moran, an account of him, - - - - 97 Moses, a testimony against the hypothesis of population, ----- 9 334 INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME. [vol. !• Page. Midreadach^ the patriot, receives the Collas into favour - - - - 130 — — — enables the Collas to conquer Emania, - - - - 131 Music of the Irish, 93 NavigtUion, its flourishing state in remote times, - - - - 9, 10, 23 the only ancient conveyance of colonies, - - - - 9 Navies of the Irish, - - - 67, 68, 71-74 Naos, the story of him and Deirdre, - - 84 Niagha-Nase, or knights of the collar, 89, 90 Neimhidh murders Conaire II., - - - 111 Neimedius, and his people, their history, - 3 ISiaU, sumamed of the Nine Hostages, 135, 136 Neptune, an Irish deity, and why so called, 22 NorUum and Southern Hi-Neill, who, - •• 138 Ogygia of Homer and Plutarch, Ireland, - 24 OUamh-Fodlda, his wise laws and institu- tions. - - - 60-62 Olioll-Ollum, his will and posterity, - 113, 114 Olioll-Flan-Mare, a story of him, - - 129 Orffial, what and why so called, - - - 132 Orgilians, their posterity, - - . - 130 Partholan, and his followers, their history, 1 , 2 PaiUinus, Tacitus's account of, reconciled to Irish history, - - - 99, 100 Pausanias's account of the Gaulish knights justified, - - - - 88 Pheenius, tlie inventor of letters, founder of the Milesian race, - - - 19 Pheeni, the Irish and Carthaginians so called from Phaenius, - - - 22, 23 Pharaoh gives his daughter Scota as wife to Niulus, - - - - - 29 Physicians and surgeons celebrated for their skill, - - - - 87, 118 and surgeons attendant on our mi- litary corps, - - - - 126 Picts, land in Ireland, - - - - - 49 are assigned settlements in Britain, and the terms, ..... 49 why called Calidones, - - - - 50 Plague, frequent in Ireland, - - - - 65 • presumptive proof of their correspon. dence with Carthage, ... 65 Plutarch's Atlantic isle, and Ogygia, Ireland, 24 unjustly censures Heraclides. - 74 Population, the modern system refuted, 9, 10 Possidonius. See Luernus. PownaVs remarks on Irish and Carthaginian swords, ..... 65 Procopius, in accord with Irish writers, - 140 Refugees, from Britain and the Continent, find an asylum in Ireland, - ' - 138 Reachta, reduces Albany, - - - - 71 Riada-Cairbre, forms a settlement in Albany, 113 Roman writers, considered in too favourable a light, 73 writers in accord with the Irish on these matters, - 98, 99, 133, 134, 140 Romans, reprehensible for destroying the an- nals of other nations, - - - 72 opposed by Conaire the Grand, and by Criomthan, - - - - 95 opposed by Connal Ceamach, - - 83 Page. Romans, opposed by Fiachadh, - - 99, 100 by Fearaidach, - - 98, 99 by Tuathal, - - - 102 by Conaire, - - - 111 by Cormoc, - - , - 120 by Caii-bre, - - . - 125 by Eochaidh, - - - 133 by Criomthan, - - 133, 134 by Niall tlie Great, - - 135 by Dathi, - - - 138, 139 Ruighridhe the Grand, - - . - 79 Sea Nymphs, or syrens, the fable of, - - 26 the fable of, explained, 39 Sacred books, consulted on the Irish expedi- tion, 28 Samhuin. See Moon. Samnothei, or priests of Samhuin, - - 54 Scots, the Irish why so called, - - - 20 their first settlement in Albany, - - 113 declared independent of the Picts, 135, 136 Scotland, strictly speaking, the part of North Britain occupied by the Scots, 135 Seadhna, author of a code of military laws, 65, 66 Sitianorum Colonia, or Terra Metagonitis, explained, - - - - 40 Stone buildings, their great antiquity in Ire- land, 70 Tacitus a testimony against the modern sys- tem of population, - - 9,10 account of the Romans in Britain illustrated, - - - - - 98 Tailtean games, when and why instituted, - 7 described, - - - - 101 Tara palace, when erected, - - - - 49 the manner of the estates assembling there, 60, 61 its magnificence in the days of Cormoc, 119 psalter of, began by Ollamh Fodhla, - 61 Ti ghermnas, introduces idolatry, - - - 53 Tiege, appointed general to Cormoc, - - 118 Tlachta, its temple, sacred to the moon, - 101 Torna-Eigeas, concludes a peace between Niall and Core, . - 134 Traffic, very extensive in ancient Ireland, 57, 59, 65 Transmigration of souls, a pait of Druid the. ology, - - - 64, 131 Tribute, of O'Driscol, what, - - - 95 of O'Driscol, paid to the kings of Munster, ..... m called Boirumhe Laighean, what, - 102 imposed by Cormoc, ... 121 Troops, Irish, their number, discipline, and appointment, ... 125, 126 Tuatha-da-Danaans, or Damnonii, - - 5, 6 Tuathal, reforms the state, ... loi, 102 Uisneach temple, sacred to the sun, - - 101 Voltaire, his erroneous view of the ancient state of Europe, - - - 73 Welsh, why called Kimri, - - - - 14 the descendants of Briotan, - 3, 17 receive their music, etc., from Ireland, 12 Wales, invaded by the Lugha, ... 133 Woods, cut down and reclaimed, 4, 48, 52, 55 Zozimus's account of the Armoricans in accord with the Irish, ... 140, 141 INDEX TO MR. O'HALLORAN'S SECOND VOLUME, COMPRISING THE LAST SEVEN BOOKS. Page. « Abbeys and religious houses, an account of some, 186-197 Academies and schools, numerous and splen- did, - - - - 181, 182 Adamnanus, his writings, - - - - 202 Adrian and Alexander's bulls against Ire- land, 305, 306 and Alexander's bulls proved to be genuine, - - . . 306, 307 and Alexander's bulls, remarks on them, 307, 308 • and Alexander's bulls, the great differ- ence in style and sentiment be- tween them, and the letter of O'Ruark, 310 Aldan, his zeal in converting the British Sax- ons, 193 Aileran, the sage, his writings, - - - 194 Albany, an account of the Irish or Scottish settlement there, its rise and pro- gress, - - - - 164-170 distinguished into Pictish and Scot- tish, 168, 169 Mbe, Archbishop and patron of Munster, founds the see of Emly before the arrival of Patrick, - 147,160,161 Albin, founds the university of Paris, - - 228 Alexander III. and Adrian IV., their conduct not to be justified, - - - 308 Allodial property, a branch of the feudal system, - - - . 206, 207 Alphabet, the Irish, its antiquity, and not taken from the Latin, - - 151, 152 Annual revenues of the Munster kings, 250, 251 subsidies paid by them to the subordi- nate states, - - - - 250, 251 Archbishops of Ireland, their original prece- dence, ----- 150 the number of their suffragans in early days, - - - . 150 the number of their suffragans in the twelfth age, - - . 290 ArMishoprick of Leinster, transferred to Ferns, - - - . igo Armagh, erected into a university by Patrick, 151 Arts and Sciences, their true state in Ireland in the early ages, - - 182, 184 and Sciences, the uncommon protection afforded to them, - - - 195, 195 Asiatic or African missionaries, first intro- ducers of Christianity into Ire- land, 146 Asiatic or African custom of celebrating Eas- ter, strictly adhered to, - 153-165 Austin, the monk, not so successful in convert- ing the Saxons as were the Irish, 193 Baodan, the consequences of his death, - 177 Baptism, Benedict of Peterborough's account of the Irish mode, - - 313, 314 Bar, or Fin-Bar, founds the cathedral of Cork, 185 Battles, with what weapons, fought by sea and land, ... - 243, 244 Battle of Magh-Albe, 226 of Dublin, - - - - - 233 ■ of Roscrea, ----- 234 of Limerick, ----- 236 of Cluantarff, 261 Benchoir abbey, some accounts of, 181, 186, 191 St. Bernard's censures on the Irish church examined, - - - 287-290 Biretrum, the term explained, - - 4IM205 BlatJimac, a dreadful plague in his reign, - 189 Brien-Boirumhe, his life, exploits, and glorious death, - - - 248-264 St. Briffid, of Kildare, patroness of Leinster, 181 Brigantes, the names of their principal poste- rity in Ireland and Albany, - 325 Britain, invaded by Loaghaire, - - - 143 the Irish made a diversion there in ftivour of the Gauls and Germans, , 155, 156 the Saxons called in there, and league with the Irish, - - - - 156 Camden's testimony of the state of letters in Ireland, 181 Cashel, dedicated to God and St. Patrick, - 277 Catholics, some account of the penal laws against them, and their perni- cious effects, - - - 217-220 Ceallach, the monk, attempts the sovereignty of Connaught, and is assassinated, 171 Ceallachan, proclaimed king of Munster, and the manner, - - - - 236 his exploits against the Danes, 236, 237 the manner of his captivity, - 240 the taking of Armagh, and sea- fight near Dundulk, by which he gained his liberty, - 241-243 Celestin, sends Palladius to Ireland, - - 147 Celtic Pater-noster explained, - - - igg 336 INDEX TO THE SECOND VOLUME. [▼OL. II. P««e. Chrism, its early introduction into Ireland, - 172 Christianity, the state of it, before the nrrival of Patrick, - - 145, 146, 160 its flourishing condition, in his days, ... - 149, 150 Churches, founded in earlier times, - - 146 Church of Ireland, its uncommon privileges, 278, 279, 286, 287 its flourishing condition, 196, 197 dan demands the crown of Munster, and its issue, 266-268 Cineidi relinquishes his pretensions to the Munster crown, - - - - 235 Character, the singular one of Malachie I., - 222 of Brien Boirumhe, - - 263, 264 of Turlogh O'Brien, - - - 275 of Connor O'Brien, - - 282, 283 of Turlogh O'Connor, with a moral reflection, .... 285 Clare county, made Fearan-Cliomh, or Sword- Land, 207 stations judiciously placed there and in Ormond, 234 Clement, founds the university of Paris, nnd mistakes of Fleury conected, 228, 229 Clodion, why called Chevelu. - - - 143 Clunard, the synod of, - - - - - 184 Columba, apostle of the Picts, some account of, - - - - 177-179, 184 Cdumbanus, his defence of the eastern cele- bration of Easter, - - 154 some account of his life and wri- tings, 192 Comhgtl, founds the abbey of Bcnchoir, 182, 186 Connaught, its first archbishop, - - - 184 Corinac, King and Archbishop of Munster, - 225 ■ — source of the war in which he fell, *his will, etc., ... 225, 226 I of Fiadh-Oengusa, and state of the Irish church, - - - 277, 278 of Kells, and the reforms made there, 286, 290 Criomthan, grants territories to Luich-Dealb ha, from him called the Delvins, ^ Crowns of gold, constantly worn in public by our princes, Cruachan assembly, regarded trade and manu factures only, - Cumian, his researches on the\rue time of celebrating of Easter, - 144 172 - 158 - 194 Dalgas, deserted by Malachie at the battle of Cluantarff, 261 their loss in this battle, and uncommon fortitude in their retreat, - 261, 262 led on all attacks, and covered the re- treat, - - - - - 284 the names of their posterity, - - 327 Danes, the true cause of their invasions and depredations assigned, - - 209-212 their tyranny under Turgcsius, 214-216 are cut off by Malachie, - - 220, 221 the means by which they acquired fresh power, - - . 222, 223 their final ruin in the battle of Cluan- tarflr, 262 Degaids, of Munster, the names of their prin- cipal posterity, - - - - 325 Dagan, the bishop, some account of, - - 192 Page. Daniel, the monarch, invades Meatfa, and his army breaks up through supersti- tion, with the penance im[x>sed on him by St. Fechin, - - 187, 188 Dermod, the monarch, receives the chrism at his coronation, - - - - 172 Donogh O'Brien, by the death of his brother, becomes king of Leath-Mogha, - 271 a powerful league formed against him ; surrenders the kingdom, and retires to Rome, - - - - 272, 273 is said to have presented his crown to Alexander II., and the conse- quences of this supposed surren- der, - 273 Dmcn, the monuments of St. Patrick, St. Bri- gid, and Columba, efliiced, - - 160 Drom-Chette, the account of a famous session held there, - - - 178, 180 Druids, their religion and rites, an account of, 144, 145 declared incapable of superintending the national records, - - - 157 Dublin, its capture, etc., by Cogan, - - 300 Dundalk, the relation of a celebrated sea-fight near it, - - - - 242, 243 Easier, an account of this festival, and of the differences between Rome and the churches of Asia thereon, 152, 153 the Irish zealous defenders of the Asintic discipline, - - - 153, 155 Emania assembly, for the extension of com- merce, with a remark, - - 158 Eoganachls, the names of tlieir principal jws- terity, 325 Ere, his sons invade Albany, - - - 164 Ernians. See Degaids. Evinus, an account of, - - - - - 226 Exchequer revenues of the mnnarchs from Leath-Cuin, - - - - 258 Ecclesiastics, how the ancient Irish employed their time, - - - 196, 197 English laws, their force and extent in Ire- land to the reign of .Tames I., 313-315 writers, their unjustifiable vanity in treating of the exploits of their countrymen there, - 296, 299, 300 their insincerity and misrepresenta- tions, 313-316 St.. Fachan, founds the university of Ross, - 181 Fearghal, defeated in the battle of Almhuin, 199 Feargal Mac Ruarc's shield, preserved as a trophy by the Dalgas, - - 247 Fechin, his conduct towards the monarch Daniel, 188 Feis- Tamrach, Patrick presides over the lite- rati there, - - - 150 consequences of a private quar- rel during its session, - 174 Ferns, the see of Leinster transferred to it, - 180 Feudal laws, new lights thrown on them, 206-208 Sf. Fiacre, patron of Meaux, his writings, - 194 St. Finian, succeeds Aidan in the church of Northumberland, - - - 193 Fionachtu, exonerates the Lagenians from their tribute, - - - - 190 Flan Siona, a singular reason for his invading North Munster, - - - 224 vol. ir.3 INDEX TO THE SECOND VOLUME. 337 Forces of Munster, an account of, Page. - 251 St. Gall, his pious foundations, etc., - - 193 Gauls, the Irish invade Britain, to cause a diversion in their favour, - 155, 156 Gaul and Germany, Irish bishops, etc., conse- crated for these missions, - 278, 287 Gilbert, the first Roman legate in Ireland, - 278 Guaire, defeated by Dermod, and his singular submission, - - - - - 175 Hi-Bruins and Hi-Fiacres, the names of their principal posterity, - - - 328 Henry II. permits Mac Murchad to raise troops in Britain - - - - 293 applied to by Strongbow for permission to enter into the service of the king of Leinster, and his remarkable answer, 298 by proclamation, recalls his subjects from Ireland, . . - - 301 Strongbow's letter to him, . - - 302 prepares to invade Ireland, - - 304 Adrian and Alexander's bulls of dona- tion to him, with remarks, - 305, 306 acknowledged sovereign of Leath-Mo- gha, 311 did not alter the laws or constitution, 312, 313 the nature of the peace between O'Connor and him, - - 313, 314 Holy and religious (die) of the fifth century, and state of the Irish church, - - 160-163 of the sixth age, - 181-186 of the seventh, - 191-198 of the eighth, - 202-205 of the ninth, - - 228-231 of the tenth, - - 264-265 of the eleventh, - 277-280 Horses, a curious relation of English ones, - 295 Jarlath, first archbishop of Connaught, - - 184 Ibarus, refuses to acknowledge the supremacy of Patrick, 146 Ir, the names of his principal posterity, - 328 Irish literati, their great privileges, - - 179 the great protection they afforded to letters, ----- 195-197 missionaries plant religion and letters through most parts of Europe, 196, 197 saints classed and numbered, - - 197 language, presumed well known on the continent, - - - - - 198 Ireland, its antiquity and pre-eminence over the other states of Europe, proved, 173 the chrism early introduced there, - 172 Ith, the names of his principal posterity in Ireland and Albany, - - - - 326 Knights- Service, or Sword-lands, its great an- tiquity, - - - - 207 LoaghairCy invades Britain, taken prisoner by the Lagenians, and recovers his liberty on terms he refuses to comply with, - - - 143, 144 — " again invaded Britain — ^the Saxons called over, and league with the Irish, . - - - 156, 157 43 Page. Letters, error in supposing the Irish to have taken theirs from Rome, - 151, 152 their flourishing state, - - 195, 196 Lughaidh, wars against OUiol, and defeats him, 160 Leinster, the names of its chief families, - 328 Lismore university, founded by St. Carthage, 195 Lorcan, King of Munster, his exploits, - - 234 Mac Murchad, carries off the wife of O'Ruark, who applies to the monarch for redress, 291, 292 requests the protection of Henry II., and enters into treaty with Strongbow, 293 his proceedings, and those of his followers, - - 295-300 Magonius, (not Patrick) the name of the apostle of Ireland, - - 148 — the histoiy of this apostle to his death, - - - - 148-155 Mahon, King of Munster, his history and exploits, - - - - 246-248 MalacMe I., convenes the estates at Ar- magh, ----- 215 oppression of the nation during part of his reign, - - - 215, 216 conspires to destroy the Danes, and the cause, - - - 220, 221 II. proclaimed monarch, - - 252 the estates agree to depose him, and appoint Brien his successor, - 254 offers to surrender the crown, but is allowed a longer time, - 254, 255 makes a formal surrender of it to Brien, 255 and Brien's conduct on this trying occasion, - - - - 256, tWI again saluted monarch by the Clan- Colman, ----- 269 his relation of the battle of Cluan- tarff, - - - - 269,270 his exploits, pious foundations, and death, - - - - 270, 271 Maobnoradh, the cause of his inviting over the Danes, - - - - 259 falls in the battle of Cluantarff, - 263 Marianus, the famous chronologist, some ac- count of, - - - _ 279 Mezeray''s account of the Irish missionaries in Gaul, 196 Metropolitans of Ireland, their great privi- leges, - - - 278, 279 Mon-Moir, the bloody battle of, - - - 284 Morrogh O'Brien, his exploits and death at the battle of Cluantarff, - 261, 262 Mortogh, the establishment of an Irish colony in Albany in his reign, and the history of that transaction, 164, 170 O'Brien, his reign and exploits, 275-277 O'Neill, his reign and exploits, - - 286 Munster, the revenues of its kings, - - 250 subsidies paid by its kings to the subor- dinate states, - - - - 251 St. Murus, patron saint of the O'Neills, 192, 193 Music of the Irish, some account of, - - 184 Niall II., many presages in his reign of tbe calamities awaiting the nation, - 200 .r^ 338 INDEX TO THE SECOND VOLUME. [V0I» II. i-'P Page. Niall III., the landing, and actions of Turge- sius in his reign, - - - 213-215 IV., an account of the Danes to his death, 232, 233 Olliol-Molt, the reforms in his reign, etc., 157-159 Orgial, the names of its principal septs in Ireland and Albany, - - - 326 Ossian, the tendency of the poems attributed to him, and its refutation, - 168-170 Ossory, the tributes of its princes to the Mun- ster kings, ----- 238 subsidies of the Munster kings to its chiefs, . - - - 250, 251 its prince demands hostages from the sons of Brien, and the unexampled behaviour of these princes and the brave Dalgas on this occasion, 267, 268 invaded by Mac Murchad, - - 296 ■ the names of its principal families, - 328 Ossorians, confederate against Brien, and are defeated, ----- 252 PaUtulius, sent by Celestin to the Irish na- tion, 147 Patrick, not the name, but the title of the apostle of Ireland, ... 143 his history to his death, - - 148-155 Picts, always regarded as a people distinct from the Scots, - - - - 166 PoyrdnfCs law of parliament, not a national law, but confined to a small dis- trict, not a tenth part of the kingdom, - - _ - 315 Protector of Ireland, an account of this title, 272 Ratishon, the Irish abbey of, restored to its original splendour by Connor O'Brien, 283 Raymond le Gros, lands in Ireland, - - 298 his manner of taking Water- ford, - - - - 299 his treacherous capture of Dublin, and the carnage that followed, - - 300 Roderic O'Connor assumes the title of mon- arch, - - - - 290 ■ O'Ruark's letter to him, and its effects, - 291, 292 invades Ulster, and summons a convention of the estates of Leath-Cuin, - - 292 besieges Dublin, is surprised in his camp, and his army break up, - - - 302, concludes a peace with Hen- ry, and the nature of this peace explauied, - 314-316 Page. Revolution, in Ireland in 1172, and in England in 1688, compared, - - - 316 Rome, not the introducer of Christianity into Ireland, - _ _ - - 146 Palladius the first missionary sent from Rome, and the objections of Usher removed, ----- 147 appoints Magonius the Patrician, his successor, ----- 14S and Ireland, not in accord in some mat- ters of discipline, with reflections, - 153-155 Saints of Ireland, their numbere, - - - 197 of the fifth age. See Holy and Reli- gious Men. Scotland, or Albany, account of the different Irish settlers there to the reign of Mortogh, - - - 165-167 history of this Irish colony, and the objections to it removed, - 167-170 Scots of North Britain, who attended the standard of Brien, - - - - 260 Strongboto, associates with Mac Murchad for the recovery of his kingdom of Leinster, - - - - 298 applies to Henry for permission to attend the Irish war, and his re- markable answer, - - - 298 lands in Ireland, and possesses him- self of Waterford, - - - 299 marries the princess of Leinster, and marches to Dublin, - 299, 300 his distressed situation by the death of Mac Murchad, and siege of Dublin, offers to submit to the monarch, etc., - - - 301, 303 received into grace by Henry, who invades Ireland, and possesses himself of the sovereignty of Leath-Mogha, - - - 304, 305 Synod of Clonard, ----- 184 of Logh-Lene, ----- 191 of Northumberland, - - - - 194 of Tirdaglas, 200 Turlogh O'Brien, nominal monarch, his life and exploits, - - - 274, 275 O'Brien proclauned king of Mun- ster, 283, 284 O'Connor, nominal monarch, his life, exploits, death, and chai^- ter, 280-285 Fortigem, elected commander of the Britons, and the Saxons called in, - - 156 Wexford, its siege and surrender, - - 295, 296 Waterford, its siege and capture, - - 299, 300 THE HISTORY OF lEELAND, FROM THK INVASION BY HENRY THE SECOND TO THE PRESENT TIMES. BEING A COMPILATION OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND STATISTICAL POINTS -i' TO BE FOUND IN THE MOST APPROVED WRITERS ON THE SUBJECT. WITH INCIDENTAL REMARKS AND MORAL REFLECTIONS. By WILLIAM DOLBY; AIDED AND ASSISTED BY A COMMITTEE OF ADMIRERS OF IRISH HISTORY, NATIVES OF DIFFEBENT COUMTBIES, WHO ARE NOW RESIDENTS OR CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. EMBELLISHED WITH MAGNIFICENT STEEL ENGRAVINGS, FROM DRAWINGS TAKEN EXPRESSLT By W. H. BARTLETT, ESQ. IS^ tm 8 or k: R. MARTIN & CO., 26 JOHN-STREET. MDCCCXLV. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the j'car one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, Hy R. MARTIN & Co., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. STEREOTYPED BT NEWELL fc CO, No. 11 Sproci-Stribt. OBSERVATIOIS C ONNEC T INO THE FIRST AND SECOND DIVISIONS The reader who has patiently examined the attempts of Sylvester O'Halloran to form a connected narrative out of the cha- otic confusion which thus far characterizes Irish history, will, doubtless, be very glad of an opportunity to pause and survey the retrospective and prospective points ob- servable at the time of the invasion of Ire- land by King Henry the Second of Eng- land. This event marks an epoch whence custom and circumstances have combined to give us very voluminous and much more comparative evidence, requiring laborious investigation to select for adoption, and great skill to arrange for narration. There- fore, the historian endeavouring to be im- partial has his labour much extended, and the reader in search of instruction has the pleasure of perusal much increased. Studying history and biography, unless with reference to scholastic instruction or conversational improvement, is a waste of time and attention. A dry recapitulation of crimes and noble deeds — of base in- trigues and real honesty — still leaves the reader without a proper estimate of human nature, and renders the teaching of experi- ence as uninstructive as the actualities of the present hour, because the mere elements of human character are thus made more apparent than the ultimate tendencies of generations. The most trying feelings of a devoted patriot arise from the conscious- ness that by many, many, very many, of his countrymen, the motives of his conduct are almost certain to be misunderstood. Such incomprehensible neglect is mainly produced by an imperfect study of history. Those minds which have been enabled to extract the moral lessons of history would never act upon what Edmund Burke has well styled " the merciless policy of fear :** on the contrary, they will at once and for ever, throughout all lands and in all ages, rally round and sympathize with any and every man who sincerely stands forward as the champion of right or the redresser of wrong. History therefore teaches us not only to know our rights, but to distin- guish our real friends from those who would be enemies if they had the power. In reviewing the First Division of the History of Ireland, there is a large field of observation for the mind of the reflective reader. With such abundant testimony of the existence of knighthood and feudal ser- vice among the Irish people, (long before any similar general adoption of them by other nations,) it were a fruitless task now for the most learnedly fanatical of their de- tractors to deny that Ireland must have been morally improved by the ennobling aspirations and restraints of chivalry. A long course of chivalric obedience to the military virtues would have beneficially prepared the national character for the re- ception of Christianity ; and the real truth is, Irish history shows a succession of proofs that such has been the result. At the present time, we are too apt to despise the operations of chivalric institu- tions ; but it can be easily and proudly proved that true religion, when grafted upon an individual character possessed of OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE those powers of mind which are requisite for integrity of purpose, finds a suitable representative, and enables the person thus gifted to march along the path of life with- out permanent injury from the contami- nating influence of worldly passions. The rules of chivalry protected all ranks of peo- ple with a bond of independent and yet social reliance, which diffused a general happiness among all the individuals, each in the appointed degree. The obligations of social servitude (which, unfortunately, no other country, whatever may be its boasted " education," has yet altered for the better) were then much alleviated by the cheerful alacrity arising from the con- sciousness of performing the duties required by station and circumstances. It is very amusing to observe the one-sided sympathy that is commonly expressed for those Irish people who lived in the times when power was represented by a piece of metal in the shape of a sword. Ought we not to be really sympathizing when we observe the debasing influence of the social power that is represented by pieces of metal in the shape of money? The self-complacent money-getter will sneer at chivalry, and call it " mummery," but the thoughtful stu- dent will always venerate its important agency in the civilization of mankind. There are feelings in the manly breast which those readers who are easily affected by martial music will not require or ex- pect any writer to define with exactness. These feelings and " high resolves" un- doubtedly have their proper scope and ob- ject, known only to the great Author of our being. When tempered and chastened by chivalry, (a human institution,) and di- rected and controlled by religion, (a divine institution,) the whole thoughts and feelings are under proper subjection, and the man is surrounded with a glorious hope of fu- turity which no present accident or tem- porary misfortune can take away. The Irish reader, on referring to the proofs of ancient greatness and splendour, (which the very earliest portions of Irish history yield so abundantly if not connect- edly,) will perhaps say with Nehemiah, the cup-bearer, "Let the king live for ever! Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city of my native land, the place of my fathers' sepulchres lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire ?" The sacred historian informs us that all the requests he afterwards made prevailed with King Artaxerxes, and that "the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me." True greatness is most firmly exercised when contending with adversity, and a sad countenance is seldom seen upon those who (like Nehe- miah) have the trust of goodness with a seasonable distrust of mere success. For a native of Ireland to show a sad counte- nance (except at proper times and places) would indeed be a lamentable curiosity. A trustful and hopeful merriment of heart forms the noblest trait in the Irish charac- ter ; and it is one that all must acknowl- edge, for it is no more than common justice. We have generally observed that persons who are cringing and miserable during ad- verse circumstances will be mean, sordid, and treacherous when basking in the sun- shine of unmerited fortune. Therefore, from what we know, positively and nega- tively, of the long-tried character of the Irish people, (whatever differences of opin- ion may exist as to the proper estimate of Irish history and Irish hopes,) there cer- tainly is much instruction in the past, and plenty of room for improvement in the fu- ture. The most bitter enemy of Ireland, if really a well-wisher of mankind, would surely let her share a hope for govern- mental amelioration and general happiness. AH men of true dignity will respect the dignity of others, and the dignity of the un- fortunate is sacred to all observers who are not absolutely rude. Shakespeare spoke for himself where he says — " It never yet did hurt To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope." Those minds which can cherish a hope for the deliverance of all mankind from the in- sidious combinations of power, expediency, and cruelty, must certainly agree with the remarks of a celebrated British essayist (Thomas Dolby) who says: — "As is the FIRST AND SECOND DIVISIONS. fragrance of the choicest flowers, so are the promises of hope. Happy are they who suflfer their better aspirations to infuse a congenial spirit into their lives and ac- tions ! For goodness in supposition bc- cometh a blessing in reality, and a good hope is better than a bad possession." If, however, the right of hoping for bet- ter days should be denied, the harmless satisfaction would yet remain of looking back to the days when one hundred and seventy-one monarchs (all of the same line and lineage) successively governed Ireland for two thousand years before Henry the Second landed there. An eminent English lawyer (Francis Plowden, of the nineteenth century) has remarked that — " The pride of ancestry has a peculiar effect upon the Irish, and that no people can boast of such irrefragable proofs of their origin and lin- eage, and duration of government; and that it has been a pitiful prejudice in too many English writers to endeavour to throw discredit upon the early part of Irish history." An able Irish writer, (John Lawless,) who never wastes his eloquence upon merely visionary distinctions, says that — "The Irishman has often found refuge from the misfortunes that were pressing upon him, in the cherished and sacred reflection that, however afflicted his country, or borne down her liberties, or hopeless her cause, he could look back to her history with complacency, where he sees her described as the instructress of Europe, the dispenser of justice, and the island of saints." William Sampson, in his brilliantly writ- ten " conclusion" to Taylor's " History of Ireland," among many very valuable addi- tions and highly interesting facts, stated with nervous precision and great beautv of language, says : — " It is certain that within the time of au- thentic history, when darkness prevailed over Europe generally, learning and piety were cherished in that hospitable island, [Ireland,] and that light did radiate thence as from a diverging point over the rest of Christendom. And if Irish writers have been somewhat vain-glorious, it was a ve- nial fault compared to that of calumnies invented for the ends of spoliation, and perpetuated by bigotry and malice. . Much has been lost to science by the wilful de- struction of Irish manuscripts, and the dis- couragement thrown upon the study of a language which might have been emi- nently useful at this day in that interesting branch of learning called linguistic history — a language which is now written and spo- ken without mixture or adulteration as it was written and spoken three thousand years ago ; and which, though long ban- ished from the seats of academic learning, from the forum, the senate, and from sce- nic use, remains regular in its construction, copious and expressive, apt for the purpo- ses of poetry and lofty elocution, and for the utterance of such elegant turns of thought and tender and delicate sentiment as never could have originated with any but a civilized and highly polished people. This language, too, has been found to pos- sess the technical terms of all the sciences known to the civilized nations of antiquity, and has been traced by its affinities to that in which the word of God was delivered to Moses and the prophets." It must be admitted, however, that Lady Morgan takes a different view of the utility of such influences on the Irish mind. She says that — " These national subjects have too long led the Irish from the better career of na- tional improvement, and retrograded intel- lect by directing it back to barbarous times, falsely called heroic ; purely Irish : know- ing nothing of modern Ireland but her suf- ferings and her wrongs ; of ancient Ireland but her fables and her dreams ; deep read in O'Flaherty, Keating, and O'Connor, and the genealogies and senachies, ancient and modern," etc. It is well worthy of notice, especially to those persons who study to select pleasing subjects of conversation in female society, that lady-authors are generally severe in their remarks upon those men who permit their minds to meditate much on departed national glories. Madame de Stael, in re- ferring to this mental characteristic of OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE Nicola di Rienzi and other personages of similar rank in history, speaks of them as men **qui out pris les souvenirs pour les esperances." This graphic but rather in- considerate expression appears to have had its origin in the same train of thought which afterwards prompted Lady Morgan in relation to Irish history. Considering Lady Morgan's general can- dour and patriotism, we suspect that it was the extremely remote portions of Irish his- tory to which her ladyship alluded in the words "fables" and "dreams." We are quite willing to believe so, for doubly painful is a doubt of Ireland's former glory when expressed by the lips of an Irish woman ! This is no exaggeration, as the reader will perceive that at the time when the Irish peo- ple had the power they challenged the admiration of the world by their much- cherished devotion to the welfare of female society ; and their ancient regard for legis- latively acknowledging the power of female influence is even yet but slowly and bung- lingly followed by imitative nations. After all, perhaps the best comment upon these " fables" and " dreams" is afforded by those persons who were not likely to be partial to Ireland, but who were quite willing to make use of them as serious ar- guments when a purpose of their own was to be gained. A very striking instance of this occurred in 1414, at the Council of Constance, and has already been alluded to by Sylvester O'Halloran. Bishops had usually been considered the sole members of ecclesiastical councils. At Constance, how- ever, not only the chiefs of monasteries but the ambassadors of Christian princes, deputies of universities, a multitude of in- ferior theologians, and even doctors of laws, claimed a right to sit and vote. These persons, feeling the pride of sudden elevation, undertook to control the strong and humiliate the lofty. On the other hand, the Italian bishops, confessedly in the papal interest, were (by the force of circum- stances) so numerous that their suffrages would generally outweigh the agitations of the transalpine delegates. Hence arose a disgusting struggle for power, bringing in its train the usual manoeuvres of party politics. Finally, it was agreed upon, that the council should divide itself into four divisions, each having equal rights, — ^the Italian, the German, the French, and the English ; and that on each new proposition being separately discussed, a majority of the whole should prevail. Henry Hallam, while relating his version of these circum- stances, makes the following remarks in a note : — " This separation of England, as a co- equal limb of the council, gave great um- brage to the French, who maintained that, like Denmark and Sweden, it ought to have been reckoned along with (Germany. The English deputies came down with a profu- sion of authorities to prove the antiquity of their monarchy, for which they did not fail to put in requisition the immeasurable pedi- grees of Ireland." We must either consider that the Eng- lish deputies believed the statements they then so proudly made of the ancient Irish ancestors of the English monarchs or that they did not. If they did not, then they were acting in bad faith, and proved them- selves unworthy of consideration in either ecclesiastical or political councils. If they did believe them, then these facts of Irish history (to which they so confidently re- ferred as being already well known to the cardinals) are placed beyond the possibility of being " fables" or "dreams" by* this un- intentional and indisputable addition of tes- timony to the actual truth. Further argument being unnecessary to prove the regular monarchical governments of Ireland for two thousand years before the landing of Henry the Second, some general remarks will not be unacceptable to the reader who wishes understandingly to accompany us during our task of giving a complete and connected History of Ire- land from the earliest times down to the present. A practical and justifiable patri- otism can only be created and sustained by sound views. Such views can only be formed from correct information. The study of history, therefore, is essential to the formation of character in a real patriot FIRST AND SECOND DIVISIONS. The American citizen, in particular, recog- nizes the importance of historical inquiry, for it is by the maxims deduced from gen- eral history that he is enabled to properly understand those points of constitutional history which (under different govern- ments) illustrate the only real progress of correct principles. The best evidence of a good government is afforded by its power of adaptation to the wants and circum- stances of mankind. To comprehend what those wants and circumstances are, and to consider judiciously whatever the history of other nations may have taught in the experience of similar cases, is the duty" of every man who would understand his posi- tion, either as a legislator or as a citizen. There can be little doubt but that much of the opposition shown in Ireland to the acts of the English government had its ori- gin in the differences of custom and usage. These were so strong that many modem writers who were too indolent to examine them, have avoided the difficulty of expla- nation and increased their own temporary popularity by laying all the blame on the " political divisions" (as they are pleased to say) of the Catholic Church. If we con- sider how slowly customs change at the present time, when the means of commu- nication between different countries are rapid and regular, we can easily account for the existence of those differences in mere discipline which peculiar circum- stances had caused to distinguish Ireland from England. If we consider also the very origin of the grant of Pope Adrian to Henry the Second, we shall find a proba- bility of an inordinate desire of worldly conformance to ecclesiastical supremacy and unity rather than the much more blameable policy of creating divisions. Christianity of itself offers no ground of controversy: it is at once the foundation and pillar of truth : but human government and human calculations must take their chance with the finite powers of the human mind. Hence we find that during three or four centuries after the landing of Henry the Second, while both countries were of GDB faith, the church of the government dependents and the church of the native people (in Ireland) were almost as much separated from each other by the concur- rent differences of race, language, and po- litical feeling, nay, even sometimes in eccle- siastical discipline, as they have ever been, at any period, by differences of creeds. Thomas Moore thus ably sums up in a few lines the mass of evidence afforded by the industry of Dr. Lanigan upon this point : — "The attempt made by the Synod of Cashel in the year 1172 to assimilate the Irish church (in its rites and discipline) to that of England, entirely failed of its ob- ject ; and the native clergy and people continued to follow their own ecclesiastical rules, as if the decrees of that memorable synod had never been issued." He then adds, in a sentence that seems to have been punctuated with sighs : — " Disheartening as may be some of the conclusions too plainly deducible from this fact, it clearly shows, at least, that the estab- lishment of the reformed church, in that kingdom, was not the first or sole cause of the bitter hostility between its two races." It is unfortunate that in western Europe the papal claims of taxation, such as first- fruits, Peter-pence, and so forth, were press- ed with remarkable rigour even as late as the close of the fourteenth century. Brit- ain, Ireland, and Wales, (perhaps on ac- count of their geographical position,) ap- pear to have been treated much more harshly than the continental nations in this respect. With the exactions of the papal agents on the one side, and the extortions of the crown on the other, we cannot won- der at the existence of violent " political divisions" among the two races. John Lingard, in his ** History of England," says : — " In the obstinacy with which the court of Rome urged the exercise of these obnox- ious claims, it is difficult to discover any traces of that political wisdom for which it has been celebrated. Its conduct tended to loosen the ties which bound the people to the head of their Church, to nourish a spirit of opposition to his authority, and to create a willingness to listen to the decla- # 8 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE mations and adopt the principles of reli- gious innovators." The general state of Europe should al- ways bo considered when judging of the condition of any particular country in that quarter of the globe. After a searching comparison of the evidence we have of the state of Europe and that of Ireland at (and since) the landing of Henry the Second, the following theories have been suggested, and the various proofs supporting them are sub- mitted throughout these chapters as likely to please by their variety and interest ; and, although an entire approval of senti- ment with us cannot be expected on all points, still the reader will have the benefit of reviewing such a mass of contradictory evidence, prepared for general inspection. These theories are six in number, and they are here introduced more for the purpose of classifying the unavoidably confused state of the subject (at this stage of Irish history) than as wishing to put forth crude novelties of opinion : — Theory I. That the quiet and almost theocratic simpli- city which prevailed in Ireland before the Anglo-Norman invasion took place was morally superior to the general state of society throughout Europe at that time. To satisfactorily establish this theory would require a long life for the writer and unwearying patience from the reader. But proof enough can be rendered (even in the contracted limits of our chapters) to show that the position is correct. If we approach the subject with candour and impartiality, encouraging a proper restraint of our early and deeply rooted prejudices, we shall find that the whole question resolves itself into a simple comparison (easily made in can- dour and fairness) of the social condition of Ireland with that of other nations in Eu- rope. If our first theory is admitted, the remaining five will easily recommend themselves to a favourable attention. Before entering into the merits of this comparison, however, it would be useful to consider the different standards of civiliza- tion which different minds may have un- consciously adopted. Different people have differing ideas of what is called " re- spectability," which ideas can seldom be properly accounted for, even by their pos- sessors, although their whole time and thoughts are engaged in pursuing the ob- ject that is thus named. So also the hu- man mind is continually forming new and differing standards of what is called " civi- lization," although the history of the hu- man mind is one continued series of varia- tions of intellectual power, struggling with the difficulties of time and place. To sup- pose that improvement is always progres- sive would imply that change is always improvement, which is an opinion unwor- thy of any more permanent place than a newspaper paragraph. The consideration of standards of civili- zation may, perhaps, appear like a digres- sion at this stage of our argument. But we trust that impartial readers will see the importance of having some positive under- standing of what is meant by the term " civilization," before entering into a dis- cussion of the comparative degrees of civilization in different countries. We would gladly have waived the inquiry into this subject, for the circumstances under which it is brought before the reader pre- vent such a display of learning as would tempt a writer to bring it forward volun- tarily ; but, justice to Ireland (and to all the other nations which might be casually mentioned while instituting a comparison with the remainder of Europe) requires that the reader should, as soon as possible, decide what may or may not be called " civilization." If, for instance, an historian has occasion to speak of a people who were once happy, contented, and equitably pro- gressive, the picture is not to be viewed in such a light as to expect that the fishermen are all Chesterfields, or the cottagers all Socratic and democratic philosophers. To some minds, a great effort is requisite to form suitable ideas of any other people who may have existed under different laws, customs, or usages than those uoder which their own previous ideas have been formed. FIRST AND SECOND DIVISIONS. 9 Those who have larger views may (with- out waiting for a brain like Jupiter's) pro- fitably imagine that they can see through the disguises of society as easily as Min- erva did (according to worthy old Chap- man) those of Ulysses. Still there is al- ways more and more to learn in the art of sympathizing with other people of distant lands and remote ages. A great poet and philosopher has said that " the proper study of mankind is man." He might have added, with perfect propriety, that this study lasts as long as we live, that we may always be learning, and that when we die there is yet left more to learn. It is a singular fact, showing how useful a reflective pause is, occasionally, during what is commonly called " the march of intellect," that while all nations are con- tinually boasting of " improvement" they also unanimously agree in rejecting the hypothesis of a primitive state of barba- rism. If they would not acknowledge a barbarian origin, it is still less likely (not- withstanding the insatiable promptings of national feeling) that they would consent to receive any praise for having " improved" their condition from a savage state. This unanimous and unconscious agreement of all nations is indicative of a former ex- istence, indisputably anterior and better. The historian who yields to his convictions while in search of truth will find little to gratify human pride ; and the more he learns the more will he feel the want of further information. Well has "the Preach- er" said — " All things are full of labour : man can- not UTTER IT : the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be ; and that which is done is that which shall be done : and there is no new thing under the sun." In seeking a definition to the word " civ- ilization" we are partly compelled to give a glance at the history of intellectual phil- osophy, for the definition of an idea should have the nearest possible relation to the idea itself; and the real lover of Ireland, satisfied in his own mind of the great an- 2 tiquity of her people, is always anxious to promote inquiry into cause and effect, so that the "origin of knowledge" may be traced as far as possible, and the relative positions of " all the generations of men" may be studied with beneficial results. There is scarcely any necessity for re- minding the reader that the worthies of both the old Greek schools of philosophy, and all the leaders of the modern systems derived from them, concur in illustrating the above extract from the inspired lan- guage attributed to "the Preacher." If we believe sacred writ we must believe that the first men were " marvellous men," and that they were favoured with commu- nications from powers superior to them. The initiated observer, who traces the la- tent thoughts of philosophers and poets, will find that they are unanimous on this point. The partly buried monuments (an- cient at the beginning of all verbal history) yet visible in Africa, the scripturally con- firmed traditions of Asia and Europe, and the geologically rejuvenated ruins of Ame- rica, all, all, perfectly agree in handing down this great truth, — that the races of mankind originated with knowledge not only different but superior to ours. Such an agreement of reason, revelation, and of all tradition, could only be contradicted by those who have not given the subject an examination proportionate to its impor- tance. All material facts and all the sci- ences are but secondary rays of intellec- tual light from perfect wisdom and ever- lasting truth. The desultory glorifications of " science and progress" generally pro- ceed from persons who are as ignorant of the history of intellectual philosophy as they are of every other department of history. There must surely be found a correct meaning for the word " civilization," or else we shall be obliged to make another di- gression, endeavouring to discover where such a word (or its equivalents) came from. The reader will therefore please to put such construction on the term as may now be thought proper. Digressions, like delays, are sometimes dangerous. To make a di- 10 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE gression in the argument of our first theory may appear awkward ; but, in reality, the whole subject will now be much simplified by this inquiring pause and its suitable re- flections. Whatever differences of opinion may exist as to the Asiatic or African origin of civilization in Ireland, it is incontestably proved that among all the nations of Eu- rope which were over-run by the various tribes commonly classed as Celts, Ireland is the only country that may be said to have maintained its national existence and preserved its native language. At the pre- sent moment, the Irish people stand before us as the same people who were consid- ered ancient even in the days of Solomon, with the same blood in their veins, the same physical characteristics, and speaking the same language. This fact meets us at the very outset of our comparative view of the nations of Europe. Sir James Mackintosh, England's histo- rian and Scotland's pride, says, while closing a summary account of the Irish an- nals : — " The chronicles of Ireland, written in the Irish language, from the second cen- tury to the landing of Henry Plantagenet, possess the fullest evidences of exactness. The Irish people are thus entitled to boast that they possess genuine history several centuries more ancient than any other European nation possesses in its present spoken language." If we proceed to examine the social con- dition of Ireland at the time of Henry's in- vasion, we shall certainly meet with little to please those who consider that " business habits" and "rights of property" are the only essential requisites for social happi- ness. According to all the evidence that we can find, the Irish people were pertina- ciously innocent of any such views, on their own part. The law of gavel-kind held property in a state of certainty for families, but with great uncertainty as regarded in- dividual succession. It must be acknowl- edged that the operation of such a law al- most entirely excluded the probability of individuals becoming classified by follow- ing any mechanical or commercial employ- ments. This acknowledgment, of course, leads to the consideration of the merits of different legislative policies, with which, in this argument, we cannot interfere; and the reader will, perhaps, prefer making a decision without us. The subject of social servitude alone would require a separate study. We all know what independent performers the Irish boys make when they "put on ye" the character of servants. But, in truth, the fun and fancy of the whole " livery" are more universal than is generally supposed : we may trace them from Plautus to Cervantes, and from Shakespeare to Swift. Seriously, to the Irish people belonged the formation of their own manners and customs, and the making of their own laws. The practical opera- tion of the law of gavel-kind had been in- corporated in the law of tanistry ; so that we may presume the Irish people suited themselves in these matters; and it is proper to observe that the motive princi- ples and evolved results of these two laws were equally consistent for the rich and for the poor. Can we say as much for the laws of other nations ? The state of learning, among those who studied at all in those days, was such as may be referred to with pleasure by every lover of Ireland. We have no occasion here, for our present purpose, to do more than mention the names of those whose claims to the highest rank for scholastic attainments will bear a scrutinizing inspec- tion, and well reward the historical student for tracing their works. In the tenth century we find Probus; O'Floinn ; O'Artegan ; Israel ; Fingen ; Mimborin ; and Duncan. In the eleventh, Tigernach ; Marianus Scotus ; Helias ; St. Colman ; Mac Liag ; St. Amnichad ; Gilla- Coeman ; Flann ; and Dubdalethe. In the twelfth, St Malachy; O'Brian ; Gillibert; Felix ; St. Laurence O'Toole ; Augustus ; Brictius ; Catholicus ; and Gilla-Moduda. To prove that these brilliant lights shone from an altar of learning which was already illuminated with the blended rays of social contentment and religious contemplation. FIRST AND SECOND DIVISIONS. 11 we may briefly notice the synods that were called and the seminaries of scholarship which were instituted in addition to those already founded before the tenth century. Among the synods, the most prominent are those of Fiodh-iEngusa, Rath-Breasail, Kells, Mellifont, Meath, Armagh, and Cash- el. There were also numerous convoca- tions and conventions, introducing benefi- cial reforms and regulations for the ad- vancement of education. The effects of these movements may be seen in the provi- sion made for future improvement by estab- lishing additional churches, colleges, and other foundations of national and scientific learning. The intelligent observer will now do well to make a comparison of Ireland with the general state of Europe in the twelfth century, bearing in mind the importance of a correct understanding of the term " civil- ization. Theory II. That Henry the Second^ s landing and inva- sion did not conquer the country, except in the establishment of military colonies ; nor did he acquire any territory further than what was mutually agreed upon by cession^ treaty, or otherwise. Theory III. That (with a few exceptions) the govern- mental regulations, laws and customs, in Ireland, at the time of Henry's landing, had then existed in the same unaltered state for about two thousand years. Theory IV. That the long-established habits and govern- ment of tile Irish people prevented them from assimilating with the usages and customs of the Normans as readily as the French and English have done. Theory V. That however sanguinary or protracted might be the quarrels of the native chiefs, we generally observe that they showed great regard for treaties and contracts in their public affairs before the Anglo-Nor- man invasion. Theory VI. That the social improvement and moral hap- piness of the Irish people need not totally depend upon the fluctuations of ecclesias- tical or governmental power, after the history and the position of their country are fairly explained to the world. If these theories are kept in view as pos- tulates, the proofs (as furnished by Sylves- ter O'Halloran's division, and by the follow- ing chapters of this work) will thus be more likely to convey that information which properly belongs to a reasonable and dis- criminating History of Ireland. PEELIMIIAEY DISCOUESE TO THE SECOND DIVISION There will be little occasion for future writers to honour us by differing about the precise point of connection between Syl- vester O'Halloran's division and the re- mainder of this work. The glorious old wrangle of our schoolboy days, while tra- cing Grecian history to find out where Thu- cydides left off or Xenophon began, was one of those sports which are too pleas- ing to remain unexplained by the modem exactness of utilitarian condensation. In this exact and exacting phase of the nine- teenth century we must do our duty. We shall therefore endeavour to be as legal and lumbering as critics will expect ; and we feel quite certain that (without any effort at all) we shall be as often left-handed and loitering as digressions from dulness are likely to tempt both writer and reader. In " fine writing" there is no glory to be gained when coming after Thomas Moore ; in religion, there is every probability for human beings to err and misjudge ; in poli- tics, the adult students of history generally have their minds " made up ;" in morals, (Reader ! there we have you !) yes, in morals, we hope to leave our subject a little better than we found it. In this His- tory of Ireland, the historian's privilege of pointing out the moral lessons of his narra- tive, and leaving them to operate upon the reader's mind, will be exercised with a da- ring license which may as well be ac- knowledged at first as at last. In reviewing the five hundred and twen- ty years comprised in the Second Division of this work, we see that space of time oc- cupied by continual conflicts for power, very short intervals of peace, sudden re- newals of hostilities, severe oppressions on account of sham civil wars, and concluding with a most disastrous adherence "not wisely but too well" to the cause of the Stuarts, — all which brought the principal portion of the Irish people and their affairs into a deplorable state of bloodshed and misery. The history of Ireland is necessarily af- fected by the reigning King of England, of whatever line he may be ; and Henry the Second, (the first of the Plantagenets,) although he might have intended to do good to Ireland, left behind him a legacy of tyranny and bloodshed, which, notwith- standing his sagacity, he never could have foreseen. That great prince, who added to his dominions the provinces of Anjou, Gui- enne, Gascony, Maine, Poictou, Saintonge, and Touraine, was not the man to leave Ireland unconquered if it had been in his power to conquer it. Strange as the opin- ion may seem, some of the best historians assert that the Irish as a people would have fared better since the twelfth century if the conquest of their country could have been completed. It does appear that the unhap- py cause of many of Ireland's troubles may be traced to the peculiar position of the people — too divided among themselves to drive their troublesome invaders away, and yet too united to be really conquered. Having for a long period been accustomed to jealously abridge the power of their principal monarch, they could not bring for- 14 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE ward any one leader who might have been a match for the Anglo-Normans if the Irish people would have confided their ac- tual powers to him. If they had been finally conquci'ed, it would have been pre- ferable to the lingering sufferings endured for the last seven centuries ; for a brave and generous people, when fairly conquered by an enlightened nation, are generally gainers in the ultimate results. But unfor- tunate Ireland (like some individuals) pays a high price for her greatness, besides bearing heavy losses occasioned by the lack of worldly wisdom. During the reign of Richard the First, who succeeded Henry the Second, we may observe the commencement of those disas- trous influences which will now necessa- rily occupy attention, however painful they are to contemplate. In 1198, Roderic O'Connor, the last of the Irish monarchs, died in extreme old age, after having re- tired for twelve years from public life. The unfilial conduct of his sons, and his inability to unite his countrymen, fully ex- plain his misfortunes. By the death of Richard the First in the following year, and the accession of his brother, the rights transferred to John as Lord of Ireland, re- verted, with the title, to the crown of England. The reign of John is generally a subject of eulogy in English history, but we find little during his actual kingship of Ireland that is worthy of extended notice. His latter treatment of courtesy towards the Irish princes did not take place until after he left Ireland, and then only when he ap- pears to have had no ability remaining to act otherwise. The Magna Charta was signed with such a bad grace, as far as he was concerned, that he is totally undeserv- ing of praise, and the re-issue of it to his " faithful subjects throughout Ireland" was a mere manoeuvre of mercantile moonshine. On Henry the Third coming to the crown of England, the able advocacy of the Earl of Pembroke seemed to promise some relief for Ireland, and the people were remarkably quiet, as if in expectation that Pembroke would devise some measure for their welfare. But his death in 1219 gave an opportunity for Hugh de Lacy to em- broil the native princes in warfare again. Henry the Third's long reign left the power of the English nobles much increased, the native septs more weakened, and the cler- gy acting with such turbulent presumption as to call forth the interposition of the pope. Edward the First was favourably inclined to grant the applications for making the English laws operate equally general in Ireland as in England, but his wish was counteracted by the pride and power of the great barons who were interested in keeping up a style of princely grandeur upon their Irish possessions. The reigns of Edward the Second and of Edward the Third show repeated attempts to comply with the petitions of the Irish people for the benefits of English laws, but the fierce sel- fishness of the barons was again too plainly the barrier between the good intentions of both kings and people. The insurrec- tions that were headed by the two Bruces, and the English war with Scotland, caused the Anglo-Irish nobles ultimately to in- crease their power by taking advantage of the royal reliance upon their social position. Thus it was that self-interest became too powerful for all the principles of duty or dictates of conscience, and the " lord of the manor" had no higher motives than a cattle-driver. By the time Edward the Third died, we find two well-organized systems of oppression existing in Ireland : — one, by the English Government, opera- ting on the Anglo-Irish and the Irish ; the other, by the Anglo-Irish, 9perating against the Irish. Of course, the Irish people had to endure the whole weight of such a com- bination of double injury. During the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, (1377 to 1485,) the power of the lords of the Pale became strengthened by the royal attention being diverted from their proceedmgs. The Irish factions signalized themselves in fighting on both sides, for their troops had become noted in the fighting way during the reign of Henry the Fifth, who took some Irish troops with him into Normandy when he '^Trry^^. TO THE SECOND DIVISION. 15 made his second invasion of France, where they won high commendations from all whom they met, whether friends or ene- mies. The restoration of the Lancasterian line in King Henry the Seventh, (the first of the race of Tudor,) appeared to indicate some chance of relief to Ireland, as the Anglo-Irish barons were nearly all pledged to the interests of the house of York. The latent feelings of the Irish may be best con- ceived by the fact that Ireland was chosen by the Duchess of Burgundy, (sister of Ed- ward the Fourth, of the house of York,) as a suitable place on two separate occasions, to bring forward two pretenders to the Eng- lish crown — Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. In 1504, near the close of this reign, the native chiefs having confederated against the English government, they con- cluded (Mlithout having united under an efficient leader) to meet the king's lord- deputy, the Earl of Kildare. He summoned all the great Anglo-Irish lords, and an ob- stinate battle took place at Knocktow, near Galway. The Irish placed all their hopes on this struggle, but they suffered a most disastrous defeat from Kildare's able gen- eralship. We mention this battle here be- cause it marks the first revival of English power since the checks given by the sym- pathy of the Scots when led on by the Bruces. Henry the Eighth's long reign of uncon- trolled sway in England has left a charac- ter so notorious that we need not now stop to notice it in that proportion which his im- portant influence on Irish history would seem to require. It may be easily ima- gined that while exercising such despotic power (with an utter disregard of all con- stitutional restraint) in England, the in- terests of Ireland would fare badly in the hands of those men whose power was del- egated from such a tyrannical source. The old-fashioned wag who said that " Henry the Eighth was a king with a pope in his belly" certainly understood that king's character, and was his equal in pop- ular declamation. The enormous acces- sion of power acquired by the crown after the seizure of the Church property, and the disfranchisement of the bishops, intimidated both houses of parliament; and by such means the real voice of the English people was scarcely noticed during the remainder of this reign. The degree of tyranny thus acquired may be partly estimated when we reflect that taxation and representation had long been involved principles in the English constitution. The reign of Edward the Sixth marks the crisis of what is commonly called " the Reformation" in England and Ireland. John Fox, in his " Book of Martyrs," calls him " the pious young saint, Edward ;" and perhaps he may have been so, for we can no more judge in such a matter than the "Rev. John Fox, M. A." It is somewhat strange, however, that history does not ex- hibit the ordinary signs of sanctity in the conduct of Edward the Sixth, nor in that of any of his sixteen regents. Queen Mary (to whom John Fox gives an epithet with the same license of fancy that styled her brother " saint") began her reign with returning the title-deeds for sixty thousand pounds per annum to the English exchequer which she considered could not be conscientiously held by her. An am- nesty was granted to those persons who had precipitately piloclaimed Lady Jane Grey in Dublin : she restored the Earl of Kildare to his title and estates; and she liberated O'Connor of Offally. The resto- ration of the Catholics was effected (in Ire- land) without violence ; no persecution of the Protestants (in Ireland) was attempted ; and several English Protestant families found a safe retreat in Ireland, whither they had been obliged to flee from the zealous bigotry of Mary's magistrates, who pre- sumed upon the temporary restoration of the Catholic influence (in England) with the same eagerness that time-serving place- men always do upon similar occasions all over the world. Queen Elizabeth's reign, comprising the latter half of the sixteenth century, is one of great importance in the history of Ire- land. At present, we can give this reign but a very brief notice. The first " inqui- 16 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE sition" in England (though entirely uncon- stitutional) was established by Elizabeth, in the first year of her reign, under the name of " The Court of High Commis- In the comically comprehensive Ian- sion. guage of "The Universal Biography," (3 vols. 8vo. London, 1835,) — "She pro- ceeded with prudence and moderation in the arduous task of settling religion, though she very soon displayed her purpose of bringing hack the Reformation.^* Many of her bravest soldiers were Catholics, and the events of the time are marked by sin- gular and prominent conflicts of duty, opin- ion, and interest. One of Elizabeth's gov- ernors in Ireland, Sir John Perrot, un- doubtedly (notwithstanding the subsequent objections of many writers) instituted a judicious government there ; but Fitz- William, his successor, committed excesses which led to a series of petty insurrections, terminating, however, in the final submis- sion of the chiefs and clans to the English power, near the close of Elizabeth's reign. Mary's bigoted errors in England were wantonly and pertinaciously exceeded in both England and Ireland, by Elizabeth's policy and pride of opinion. A coloniza- tion system had been arranged, but it to- tally failed. The undertakers violated their contracts, preferring the help of the Irish serf to that of the independent freeholder ; and if we charitably suppose that Elizabeth really desired the establishment of a re- spectable middle-class in Ireland, the at- tempt certainly failed, and undoubtedly the failure was caused by the selfishness and venality of her unprincipled agents. In James the First we see the first Eng- lish monarch who could boast of the do- minion of Ireland. What Matthew Carey quaintly calls " James's predominating pas- sion for plunder and plantation" was clearly sh6wn in the confiscation of eight hundred and eighty-five thousand acres of land in Ireland by this king. He died while de- bating with himself an opportunity that he had of making more money from the dis- tresses of his own colonists in Connaught. The reign of Charles the First is ren- dered important by the administrations of Lord Falkland, and Wentworth, Earl of Strafllbrd. The chapters relating the in- cidents of this reign will show to the reader how even noble-minded men may be in- duced to act when placed in such circum- stances as Charles, Falkland, and Strafford were. This portion of Irish history is highly instructive, and afibrds us a key to the more distant circumstances of a simi- larly incongruous character. Oliver Cromwell's anti-monarchical ad- ministration of public affairs seems to have operated well for the English people, na- tionally considered, but even his boasted " freedom" brought no relief for unfortunate Ireland. Quite the contrary. Now that we are able to look back calmly at the events of this period, we need not wonder that a man who (styling himself an inde- pendent republican) would accept a salary of four thousand pounds per annum, drawn from the confiscated estates of persons who preferred the rights of conscience to worldly possessions, should have had a peculiar fancy for military adventures in Ireland about those days. In the comic- ally circular language of " The Universal Biography," (3 vols. 8vo. London, 1835,) — " He is to be commended for the dislike he always showed to religious persecution, and his respect for the rights of conscience, as far as was compatible with the security of his government.** This description is so (unintentionally) true, and so much like a coil of rope around the neck of a thief, that we are saved the trouble of further circum- locution upon Cromwell's connection with Ireland. The restoration of Charles the Second was viewed with hopeful anxiety by the Irish people ; but the " Act of Settlement" sent out from England, and passed by the Irish parliament, in 1665, was shamefully perverted by the commissioners appointed to carry it into execution. The violent struggles between the new- ly created Protestant influences and King James the Second during what is usually called " the Revolution" in England, caused that King to take sides with his Irish sub- jects in his attempt to regain the English TO THE SECOND DIVISION. Yl crown. He appears to have lacked that subtle ability which an unscrupulous politi- cian would have used to take advantage of his position. After sustaining repeated de- feats for about four years, the final capitula- tions at Limerick caused the whole popu- lation of Ireland to submit to the English government under William and Mary. This summary view of the chronolo- gical ground of our Second Division will now be followed by such general remarks as may assist the comprehensive connec- tion of the events related in the historical chapters. In surveying the history of Ire- land, there is much more evidence to reject than could be adopted with certainty. By avoiding such particular details as can easily be obtained (if desired) from our voluminous and illustrious predecessors, we shall en- deavour to bring the essential points of the whole subject before our readers. On examining the writings of historians upon the fate of Charles the First, there is an inconsistency which the American read- er will not fail to detect. It will be seen in the extravagant praises given to William the Third, (as he is called,) and the virtuous in- dignation showered upon Oliver Cromwell ; whereas, in the total of comparison, one man was as good as (or, perhaps, we should say no worse than) the other. After all the pious horror which some writers have dis- played when alluding to the ancient Irish mode of kingly succession, we may ob- serve that both these men began their agitations by bloodshed; both held their power by parliamentary tenure ; and both persecuted Ireland with a ferocity which might be supposed to animate the heart of a butcher's cleaver rather than any thing in the human form. If we admit the consid- eration of William's marriage with Mary, we must also acknowledge that Cromwell was a native-born Englishman, with Eng- lish feelings and views, and that he might originally (like Napoleon in later times) have intended to benefit his native coun- try while using despotic measures in his endeavours to break the chains of monar- chical misrule. We have searched in vain for any such honourable probability in 3 the conduct of the thick-skinned Prince of Orange. To use a wholesale expression of William Cobbett's, " a thousand fellows calling themselves historians" could never overcome the efiect of this comparison in the mind of an intelligent reader. Notwithstanding the disasters the Irish people suffered down to the treaty of Lim- erick, their unalterable religious fidelity (still continued to the present day) reflects more real honour and moral greatness than the proudest military victories ever could bestow. Daniel O'Connell must help us to express our admiration of such a sus- tained sincerity of self-sacrifice. He says — " Compare their conduct in this respect with that of any other nation under the sun ; and admit (for truth compels the ad- mission) that the glory of religious fidelity supereminently belongs to the people of Ireland. You may say, perhaps, that their faith was erroneous, their creed mis- taken, and their practice superstitious. Suppose it were so. Yet their fidelity was religious ; it was attachment to the religion they deemed the true one; and this national trait of their character ought not to be tarnished even in the opinion of those who do not agree with them as to its object. It will not be thus tarnished in the mind of any just or generous man." In other countries, the different class- es of society are checks to each other, but Ireland (from 1171 to 1691) had no opportunity for either generalization or classification. The flimsy webs of exclu- siveness which exist with the hypocritical name of " social harmony" among various other nations, are comparatively harmless to the grasping, debasing, and unceasing tyranny which the mass of the Irish people had to endure. The reader who knows how to make allowances for natural self- ishness and the abuse of social power would still be puzzled to account for the extraor- dinary and protracted sufferings of the Irish people. Daniel O'Connell may well reit- erate, as he does, that " No people on the face of the earth were ever treated with such cruelty as the Irish." Some opinions on this subject are necessarily connected 18 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE with our task. We hesitate not to say that these " social horrors" have originated with the tyranny of an almost irresponsible aris- tocracy being superadded to the ordinary selfism of society. However, as writers on Ireland are generally too apt to make their opinions more prominent than the main subject, we shall refrain from using our own arguments, and would prefer bringing forward the views of Gustave de Beaumont, one of those French writers whose perspicuity, absence of prejudice, and almost intuitive perception of national character, render their evidence highly valuable in such matters. The following extracts are selected from ^Vlrlande ; 8q- ciahy Politique, tt Religieuse" a work on which he devoted (to use his own expres- sion) " four laborious years," after paying two long visits to both Ireland and England for the purpose of preparing the materi- als: — "All aristocracies founded on conquest or inequality, comprise, undoubtedly, many defects; but all do not contain the same kind, nor do they possess an equal number." Upon this general ground he then pro- ceeds : — " The Irish aristocracy have exercised a power which has no similar example in any country ; they have reigned in Ireland for six or seven centuries under the authority of England, which country has shared half the advantages, and borne all the expense. Provided with rights, privileges, and con- stitutional guaranties, the Anglo-Irish aris- tocracy have made use of all the instru- ments of liberty to extort all the profits of oppression. Ireland has thus been con- stantly the prey of two tyrants, each doub- ly formidable because one always protects the other whenever the people are to be crushed." A On absenteeism he says — " The evils of Ireland are often attributed to the non-residence of the aristocracy ; but this is taking the consequences of the evil for the evil itself. The aristocracy of Ireland are not bad because they absent themselves: they absent themselves be- cause they are bad — because nothing at- taches them to the country — no good feel- ings retain them there." The next extract will throw much light on the perplexities of Irish misery : — " In general, all aristocracies carry with- in themselves a curb that moderates (if it does not stop) their selfishness. Those who do not love the people either fear them or have need of them, and therefore behave better from calculation than ever they would from sympathy. They do not op- press too much, for fear of losing something by rebellion ; and the national force from which they derive their immense advan- tages is treated with some show of consid- eration at least. But the Irish aristocracy have always held the position of neither fearing nor hoping any thing from the peo- ple placed under their yoke. Relying upon England, whose soldiers are always at hand, they have been able to indulge their tyranny without reserve. The groans, the complaints, or the threats of the people have never lessened the oppression, because the aristocracy knew there was nothing for them to fear. Docs a revolt break out among the Irish people? the aristocracy of the country need not move ; the English troops and artillery demolish the rebels. When 'order is restored,' the aristocracy step forward, as usual, and pocket the rev- enue from the lands." The following paragraphs are so philo- sophically pointed, and they illustrate the superiority of the American voluntary prin- ciple with such clearness, that we trust the reader will (after perusal) excuse this last translation from such an able and impar- tial witness : — " Why is it that all the efforts which have been made to reform the Anglican church of Ireland are unsuccessful ? It is because Ireland would prefer its abolition to its re- form. The radical defect of this church is, that it is established by law as the official worship of a people who never gave their consent, for, in fact, they have another form of worship in their hearts. The abuse is, its very establishment. Its creation, in the bosom of a Catholic people, is a wrong which perpetuates itself while the estab- TO THE SECOND DIVISION. 19 lishment remains. Its great evil is that it has been forced upon the population, who, for that very reason repel it without exam- ination. Its riches, its luxury, its idleness, are assuredly great defects ; but the most enormous of all its defects is its own ex- istence. Its destruction, in Ireland, is the first step requisite for the restoration of good order. " When we speak of abolishing the An- glican church in Ireland, we do not mean the annihilation of the Episcopalian worship, but we do mean the destruction of its poli- tical superiority over all other denomina- tions. Nor would it be necessary, in abol- ishing the predominance of the Anglican worship, to replace it by the supremacy of the Catholic worship. Equality of worship is the real want of Ireland. She is mainly Catholic, as England is Episcopal, and Scotland is Presbyterian ; and it appears reasonable that Ireland should have a Cath- olic establishment, in the same manner as Scotland has a Presbyterian establishment, and England its own. But, in the first place, it is a great and important question whether it is advantageous to unite church and state. Why associate human and per- ishable institutions with one that is derived from God and cannot be destroyed ? What would be the effect of proclaiming, in Ire- land, the Catholic religion as that of the state, except the transfer of privileges and immunities from the Protestants to the Catholics? After abolishing the injurious supremacy of the Anglican church which ofifends a majority of the Irish people, would you wish to see the Protestant mi- nority oppressed by those whom they have so bitterly treated for such a length of time? " Perhaps the greatest evil to which Ire- land could be exposed is, that after having been so long and so badly ruled over, it should now wish to rule. This would be a fruitful source of misfortunes to England and to itself: to England, because it would not listen to what is now commonly con- sidered as only one sect among many ; and to Ireland itself, which might be crushed anew by England. " It is important to both the countries, that Ireland should be accustomed to reli- gious liberty. By placing all religions on the same footing, tolerant customs would prevail, and the people would be happily susceptible of the highest improvement. Now is the time, while Ireland is under England's protection, that she ought to give the Catholics of that country a lesson of this sort. Equality among sects should be conferred as a benefit ; soon, perhaps, the proposition will be laughed at. This will certainly happen, if the equality is not pro- posed until the Catholics become political- ly superior in Ireland ; they will then very naturally consider equality of sects as only introduced for hostile purposes." Whenever the cause of the people of Ire- land is properly understood as being iden- tified with the common interests of all man- kind, we then see an alacrity to accord them justice. The sufferings of Ireland have attracted the attention and excited the sympathy of the great and the good in all lands, and particularly in France and America. In America, we find James K. Paulding's eloquence animated by obser- ving the oppressed people whose history he appears to have examined with his usual shrewdness, and his native benevolence of heart : — " As Christians, the people of Ireland have been denied, under penalties and dis- qualifications, the exercise of the rites of the Catholic religion, venerable for its an- tiquity ; admirable for its unity ; and conse- crated by the belief of some of the best men that ever breathed. As men, they have been deprived of the common rights of British subjects, under the pretext that they were incapable of enjoying them ; which pretext had no other foundation than their resistance of oppression, only the more severe by being sanctioned by the laws." Peter Parley (S. G. Goodrich) says, in his fine old patriarchal style : — " I know not how it may strike others, but to me this subject is full of interest. How is it to be accounted for, that of all the numberless millions that must have 20 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE passed from Asia into Europe, under the general name of Celt, everywhere but in Ireland they should have been supplanted by other tribes, their national existence ob- literated, and their language for ever blot- ted out ? It would be impossible to solve this query except upon the supposition of a native vigour of character in the Irish, as well physical as moral, which perpetuates itself from age to age, resisting and over- coming the influences of time. And, if this be true, does it not imply something of greatness in the native Irish stock ; something distinct, peculiar, and worthy of our respect in the Irish people ? I con- fess that I cannot look upon even the rudest specimen of these people, that we see among us, but as associated with these views. Ignorant and unlettered they cer- tainly are, superstitious they may be, — but I can never look on them with indifference or contempt. I must ever regard them as allied to the memory of ancient days; as • H 2 13 Line. Earl of Kildare's administration. Richard HI. 1483 June 22 Sb; 2 2 — J Richard's neglect and Kildare's power. Henry VII. 1485 August 22 •s 23 8 — ^ Simnel and Warbeck appear in Ireland. Henry VIII. 1509 April 22 » ^ 37 9 6 The Caused the titles of " Miyesty" and " King of Ire- land" to be conferred on him. Edward VI. 1547 January 28 M 6 5 8 • Houses Ecclesiastical "Revolution" or -Reformation." Mary 1553 July 6 t4 5 4 11 united. Restoration of young Kildare. Elizabeth 1558 November 17 H 44 4 7 J Butchery of one half of the Irish population. James I. 1603 March 24 » 22 — 3 Union Confiscated 850,000 acres in Ireland. Charles I. 1625 March 27 H 23 10 3 of the War of the Irish confederates. Charles II. 1649 January 30 <«• 36 — 7 two crowns ' of England " Inier-Regnum" of Oliyer Cromwell. James II.. 1685 February 6 4 — 7 and "Revolution" in England. Wm. & Mary 1689 February 13 13 — 23 Scotland. J Treaty of Limerick. 1691. Anne 1702 March 8 12 4 23 U. Kingdom Legislative Union of England and Scotland, 1706. Greorge I. 1714 August 1 12 10 10 • of Great Crown-Prince of Hanover. George II. 1727 June 11 33 4 14 Britain. Scottish rebellion, 1745. George III. 1760 October 25 59 3 4 U. Kingdom of Great Britain Legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland, January 1, 1801. George IV. 1820 January 29 10 4 27 Nine years Regent, while Prince of Wales. William IV. 1830 June 26 6 11 24 and Election districts specified in Ireland. Victoria 1837 June 20 Ireland. The "salic law" excludes Victoria from the Kingdom of Hanover, which is held by the V next heir, the Duke of Cumberiand. THE HISTOEY OF IRELAND SECOND DIVISION. CHAPTER I. Moral aspect of Ireland in the twelfth century — Political tendency of the visit of Henry the Sec- ond — Jealousy of his queen, and rebellion of his sons — Fair Rosamond — Henry summoned into Normandy to account for the death of Thomas k Becket — Military and political arrangements by the king — Meath appropriated to Hugh de Lacy — Admiration of the English for their Saxon no- bility a parallel case to that of the Irish for their native chiefs — Supjwsed attempt of Henry to coDciliate the relatives of Thomas k Becket — Summary view of Henry's general policy while in Ireland — His return to Wales. During the twelfth century, the elements of society in Ireland were in that state of fusion which readily yields to external im- pressions. The invasion by Henry the Second, who was unquestionably a wise and powerful prince, might have been in- tended to benefit the country he invaded as well as those he already governed. Whatever his political intentions were, they have been thwarted by combinations of circumstances that he could not control ; and it is these circumstances which we now proceed to relate. While Henry was busy in Ireland, his sons became treacherous and refractory. Their disobedience was instigated by the jealousy of his queen, Eleanor, on account of the untimely attachment of their father to " Fair Rosamond" Clifford. The same messengers who secretly brought him in- formation of the conduct of Jiis sons also reported that the two cardinals, Albert and Theodine, (who had been delegated by the pope to make an investigation of the death of Thomas a Becket,) were now impatient of any further delay, and required Henry's immediate presence in Normandy, where they had already waited for him about at year. Allowing three weeks for preparations to depart, Henry made the best disposition of his affairs in Ireland that the time al- lowed. Feeling somewhat distrustful of Strongbow, whose influence might become too great for the interests of the crown, he now addressed himself to the task of secur- ing the good- will of the very earliest Anglo- Norman adventurers. The lands which he had compelled Fitz-Stephen to relinquish on his arrival in Ireland were now com- pensated for by granting him a consid- erable district in the neighbourhood of Dublin, to be held by knight-service ; re- serving, however, for his own immediate dependents, the charge of maritime towns. Waterford was entrusted to Humphrey de Bohun, Robert Fitz-Bemard, and Hugh de Gundeville. In Wexford were stationed William Fitz-Aldelm, Philip of Hastings, and Philip de Braosa. The whole territo- ry of Meath, (where there was no fortified place, and where no particular reservation was necessary,) was granted to Hugh de Lacy, to be held by him and his heirs, by the service of fifty knights, as fully as it had ever been enjoyed by Murchard Hu- Melaghlin, (O'Melachlin.) De Lacy was also invested with the title and office of Governor of Dublin, and a guard of twen- ty knights placed at his disposal. Rob- ert Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitz-Gerald were appointed as his coadjutors, with an equal train. Thus, in appearance, he 24 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1171. placed the most confidence in De Lacy ; but- he also contrived that several of the first adventurers should hold offices in and about Dublin, so that they might enable him to retain some degree of espionage over the actions of De Lacy, w^hile the united presence of these trains of knights would contribute to that sort of influence which Henry desired to operate upon the native population. In continuation of the same policy of superseding the ancient native nobility in the estimation of the people, Henry availed himself of his implied conquest to create and introduce various offices of emolument, accompanied by high and he- reditary dignities, such as had been attach- ed to the royal court in England since the Norman conquest. The English at- mosphere certainly had had a most won- derful effect upon the Norman appetite, and hence the appointment of various household dignitaries, from ^^ officier du honche" to "pincerna regis" or king's butler. The family of Dalbiac have hand- ed down the recollection of William the Conqueror's adoption of this policy in England ; and the present Lord (Tolle- mache) Huntingtower is a representative of that class of English families who for- merly looked upon these Norman favourites as modem upstarts. Tollemache, Lord of Bentley, in Suffolk, was a powerful noble in the sixth century ; and upon the old manor-house at Bentley may be seen the following comparatively modern in- scription : — " Before the Normans into England came, Bentley was my seat, and Tollemache was my name." This little instance may serve as one of the many proofs which might be adduced to show that the disposition to claim im- portance from antiquity is neither so un- natural or peculiar as many persons affect to suppose when speaking of the regard that is still manifested by the Irish people for their ancient chiefs. Theobald Walter, (the noted ancestor of the earls of Ormonde,) was the first per- son in Ireland on whom Henry conferred the office of king's butler ; and it is also said that the family of Le Boteler (Butler) were promoted to the high dignities they enjoyed from the king's consideration of their relationship to the late Thomas a Becket. Camden says that Henry " hoped to redeem his credit in the world by pre- ferring the I'elations of Thomas a Becket to wealth and honours." As for Theobald Walter, it is affirmed by both Carte and Lodge that the butlership was not confer- red upon him until the year 1177, a lapse of time which Moore is of opinion " seems to lessen a good deal the probability of the favour having originated in a feeling of the king respecting Becket." Nevertheless, after allowing for individual exceptions, there can be little doubt of the general policy of Henry, and Moore ably remarks that — " Thus the estates and dignities confer- red by him upon his officers, who had been already most of them tenants in capite from the crown, were granted on consideration of homage and fealty, and of military or honorary services to be rendered to him- self and his heirs. Of such importance did he conceive the general acceptance of this system, and of the duties, services, and conditions enforced by it, that, even in the instance of Strongbow, who, as we have seen, acquired, by his marriage with Eva, [daughter of King Dermot,] the principal- ity of Leinster, it was imperatively re- quired, that he should resign the possession of that estate, and accept a new grant of it from the king, subject to the feudal con- ditions of homage and military service." Henry not only took every precaution to secure the lands and homage ceded to the crown, but he enlisted all the aid of pri- vate enterprise by holding out rewards for future aggressions. With this view, the whole of Ulster was offered to John de Courcy, provided that he would undertake to subdue the native chiefs. According to Leland, the oflTer was accepted by De Courcy upon this condition. Although the king was guided by the maxims and principles of the feudal pol- icy according to which the main body of the English laws had been modified, he ta- A. D. 117S.] SECOND DIVISION. S6 citly allowed to remain some of the most inveterate of those old customary abuses which Ireland could well have spared if prepared for the change by judicious le- gislation. At the Synod of Cashel, under the authority of Henry, the future exemp- tion of the clergy from coyn, coshering, and the payment of eric, still left these old laws and customs in full force as regarded the laity. These abuses were afterwards com- municated to the descendants of the Eng- lish who settled among them ; and, by en- cumbering future legislation with excep- tions, they created difficulties which will often require painful notice jn the follow- ing pages. The severe winter of 1171-2, which checked Henry from being as much in the field as he would have wished, had also prevented the ordinary conveyance of in- telligence by rendering navigation nearly impossible. He had consoled himself with projecting a summer campaign to compel the subjection of Roderic O'Connor, (then the actual monarch of Ireland,) but every hour was now of importance for going to Normandy. He therefore sailed from Wexford, on Easter Monday, April 17, 1172, and arrived the same dav at Port- finnan, in Wales. In relation to Henry's opportunities and intentions, Moore ob- serves that — " Though it be now but an idle and mel- ancholy speculation, to consider how far, under other circumstances, the fortunes of Ireland might have been more prosperous, we cannot but regret that he was so soon interrupted in the task of providing for her future settlement and government ; as there can hardly be a doubt that, at such a crisis, when so much was to be instituted and ori- ginated on which not only the well-being of the new colony itself, but also of its ac- ceptance with the mass of the natives, would depend, the direct and continuous application of a mind like Henry's to the task, would have presented the best, if not perhaps sole, chance of an ultimately pros- perous result, which a work, in any hands so delicate and difficult, could have been expected to aflford. This chance, unluck- 4 ily, the necessity of his immediate depar- ture for ever foreclosed. To effect good would have required time, and the imme- diate superintendence of his own mind and eye ; whereas mischief was a work more rapid in its accomplishment, and admitting more easily of being delegated. On the ready instruments he left behind him now devolved the too sure accomplishment of this task ; — his prodigal grants to his Eng- lish followers and their creatures having established in the^and an oligarchy of en- riched upstarts/who could not prove other- wise than a scourge and curse to the doomed people whom he now delivered into their hands." CHAPTER II. Real extent of Henry's conquest — Conference between De Lacy and O'Ruurc — Defeat of the English by O'Denipsey — Strongbow called to Normandy ; his return — Raymond le Gros re- tires to Wales — General rising of the septs — Raymond recalled ; his marriage — Confirmatory treaty between Roderic and Henrj' — Death of Strongbow — Burning of Limerick — Strongbow's character. A PANIC, almost general enough to stop the quarrels of the native chiefs, appears to have prevailed in Ireland during the six months that Henry the Second remained there. The chiefs who showed such readi- ness to tender their allegiance viewed this ceremony as a pledge of merely military service, and were entirely ignorant of the use which Henry's lawyers and crown- officers would afterwards make of their knightly subordination to a superior mon- arch. Although some writers are very anxious to represent Henry's visit as a conquest, it is certain that (on this occasion) the utmost credit that can be claimed is — that he established some military colonies in Ireland. This was not Henry's fault, but his misfortune ; and he wished to im- prove the " fortune of war" by making what he could from the chances of law. The " legal grant" of the whole of the prmcipality of Meath to De Lacy was one of the first of these attempts at encroach- 26 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1172. meDt on the hitherto undisputed Irish pos- sessions. O'Ruarc, who was the party most immediately aggrieved, appealed to Hugh de Lacy for redress. A conference was appointed for the two chiefs to meet and settle the points at issue between them, (each claiming the same territory by gift from their respective monarchs,) but a ro- mantic and fatal termination of the meet- ing was brought about by the singular offi- ciousness of one of De Lacy's attendants, Gryffyth, the nephew of Maurice Fitz-Ger- ald. Craftily telling his uncle and De La- cy that a warning dream had informed him O'Ruarc intended treachery, the objects of the interview were thwarted, O'Ruarc was killed, his corpse was beheaded, the head boiled and then sent over to England. There are some variations among the au- thorities on this subject, but all accounts agree that O'Ruarc was killed by the very same young gentleman who " foretold" the warning dream. The abbe Mac-Geoghegan has repre- sented the dispute of De Lacy to have been held with O'Melachlin himself. The mistake (if any) is not in the name, be- cause the abbe follows it with a descriptive title and narration which could only relate to O'Melachlin. Perhaps the expression " Prince of Meath" in the first line of the succeeding paragraph was unconsciously taken from Stanihurst, who actually calls O'Ruarc the " Prince of Meath." Moore, in noticing Mac-Geoghegan's version of this affair, speaks more severely than usual, and says in one of his well-condensed notes : — "The abbe Mac-Geoghegan, with the view of making out a stronger case against the English — as if the story of their wrongs towards Ireland needed aid from the col- ouring of fiction — has, in place of O'Ruarc, who was himself a usurper of the dominion of Meath, taken upon him to substitute, without any authority, O'Melachlin, the he- reditary chief of that territory, as having been the prince thus robbed of his kingdom to enrich an English lord." Mac-Geoghegan may have considered, however, that as Roderic O'Connor had abused his own power as monarch to usurp the territory of Meath from O'MelachliD, and that as O'Ruarc was merely a nominal chief on account of being Roderic's kins- man, therefore the difficulty should be con- sidered as solely between O'Melachlin and Henry the Second's representative. There can be little doubt that the usurpation by the native monarch paved the way for the encroachment of the foreign invader. Both monarchs were wrong, both their represen- tatives were wrong, and O'Melachlin was the really injured party. In this view of the case, we consider that Mac-Geoghegan's statement is mainly correct, although we should be very unwilling to assist the cir- culation of any statement which might in- flame national prejudices. Moore deplores this "standing insult in the eyes of succeeding generations, — the spectacle of an English lord holding possession of the ancient patrimony of the kings of Tara ;" and an eminent (Pro- testant and English) writer. Lord Lyttle- ton, has feelingly observed : — " The trans- ferring an ancient kingdom of Ireland from the present Irish possessors, and from every branch of that race which could legally claim the inheritance of it, to an English lor. 1488.] SECOND DIVISION. 101 quarter had now blown over, and knowing it was only by the power and influence of Kildare and a few other great lords that the Irish chieftains could be kept in awe, Henry preferred the dangerous experiment of pardoning that powerful nobleman, to the still more serious danger, as he deemed it, of driving him into new and confirmed hostility. With a policy, therefore, which only the anomalous position of Ireland could account for, he retained him still in the office of chief-governor ; — still confided to his hands the trust which he had just so openly and treasonably betrayed. In the late factious revolt in favour of Simnel, the leading lords of the Pale had hazarded a more than ordinary defiance of the royal authority ; the very government itself having set the monstrous example of official high treason and vice-regal revolt. But the humiliation had been complete ; nor could the crown have found a more favour- able occasion to wrest the rule of that realm from the hands of its selfish oli- garchy, to remove the barrier so long in- terposed between the native race and the throne, and thus, by extending to all as a right, that legal protection which was now but the privilege of a few, to make the law, rather than the sword, the means of con- verting the Irish enemies into subjects. Henry, instead of availing himself of the present reduced state of the Anglo-Irish satraps, to curtail, at least, if not crush, their powers of mischief, and thus clear the ground for future reforms, still retained, as we have seen, in full, undiminished authority, all the chief authors of the late daring revolt ; and the only remedial step taken by him was the appointment of Sir Richard Edgecomb, a gentleman high in his confidence and the controller of his household, to proceed to Ireland with a guard of 500 men, there to receive new oaths of allegiance from the nobility, gentry, and commonalty, and, after binding them by law to the observance of their oaths, to grant them the royal pardon. The progress and acts of this special commission have been recorded with much minuteness. At Kinsale, Sir Richard, de- termining not to land, received the homage of Thomas, Lord Barry, on board his ship ; but, on the following day, at the earnest entreaty of James, Lord Courcy, he made his entry into the town, where, in the chan- cel of St. Melteoc's church, Courcy did homage for his barony, and all the inhabi- tants of the town, following his example, took the oath of fidelity, and entered into recognizances. From thence Sir Richard sailed for Waterford, where he was honour- ably entertained by the inhabitants, and returned them thanks, in the king's name, for their city's constancy and faithfulness. Understanding that he was the bearer of the royal pardon for the Earl of Kildare, a nobleman who had been always they said, their " utter enemy," on account of their loyalty to the English crown, they prayed of Sir Richard to sue, in their behalf, to the king, that if ever Kildare should again be lord of that land, their city might be exempt from his jurisdiction, as well as from that "of all other Irish lords that should bear any rule in their land for ever- more, and should hold immediately of the king and his heirs, and of such lords of England, as shall fortune hereafter to have the rule of Ireland and of none others." Very different was the scene prepared for him in Dublin, where, arriving on the 5th of July, he found the mayor and citi- zens waiting, in the guise of suppliants, to receive him, at the abbey-gate of the Friars Preachers, by whom, during his stay, he was to be lodged and entertained. After various consultations, Kildare did homage, in the presence of the royal com- missioner, in the great chamber of the abbey of St. Thomas ; and, being after- wards absolved of his excommunication, while mass was sung, took the oath of allegiance, and bound himself in recogni- zances to the due observance of it. Sir Richard then hung round Kildare's neck a golden chain which the king had sent him, as an earnest of his favour ; after which, the earl and the commissioner, attended by all the bishops and lords, went into the church of the monastery, " and in the choir thereof, the Archbishop of Dublin began Te 102 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1490. Deum, and the choir, with the organs, sung it up solemnly ; and at that time all the bells in the church rung." When these ceremonies were all ended. Sir Richard entertained thd earl and the other lords at a great feast in the abbey of the Friars Preachers. To this general and indiscreet extension of clemency there were but two excep- tions ; namely, James Keating, the turbu- lent Prior of Kilmainham, and Thomas Plun- ket Chief-Justice, of the Common-Pleas, who, of all the authors and fomenters of the late revolt, had been the most active and mischievous. Through the interces- sion of Kildare and others of the nobilitv, Plunket was pardoned ; but the life of Keating having been, for the thirty years he was Prior of Kilmainham, one constant course of outrage, rapine and fraud, he was excluded from the benefits of pardon, and also dispossessed of the office of Con- stable of the Caslle of Dublin, which he had for several years violently usurped. Though Henry had deemed it prudent, notwithstanding their late flagrant treason, to leave still in the hands of Kildare and his fellow delinquents, all the highest offices of the state, he yet failed not to keep a strict watch on their movements : and see- ing reason, doubtless, to apprehend from them some new scheme in favour of the house of York, he summoned the greater number of the lords temporal of that king- dom to repair to him in England. In con- sequence of this, the Earl of Kildare, the viscounts Buttevant and Fermoy, and the lords of Athenry, Kinsale, Gormanstown, Delvin, Howth, Slane, Killeen, Trimleston, and Dunsany, waited upon the king at Greenwich. Instead of bringing against these lords their past delinquencies, — an account clos- ed, as he felt, by the royal pardon, — Henry wisely contented himself with warning them against any repetition of such con- duct ; and, with reference to their choice of a creature like Simnel to be their sove- reign, told them, with bitter sarcasm, that " if their king were to continue absent from them, they would at length crown apes." Shortly after, he invited them to a splendid banquet, where a significant satire on their folly was presented to them in the person of Lambert Simnel himself, who had been exalted, for that day, from the region of the kitchen, to wait on his late noble subjects at table. During the visit of these lords, they accompanied the king in a solemn pro- cession to church ; and when they took leave of him to return to Ireland, were dis- missed with marks of the royal favour, among which was a gift to the Baron of Howth of three hundred pieces of gold. While thus the leaders of the small col- ony of the Pale — from whence almost solely, in these times, are furnished the materials of what is called Irish history — were in- dulging, as usual, in the two alternate ex- tremes of treason and abject loyalty, the native septs, who still held possession of by far the greater and more fertile portion of the island, continued, unmindful of the presence of the foreigner, to make war only among themselves ; and appeared to forget that they had any enemies in the country but each other. There were a few, indeed, among the great Anglo-Irish lords, who, by long mixture of blood, by their extensive possessions, and, even still more, by their flattering adoption of the laws and usages of the land, had gained a station in the hearts of the natives, little less home-felt and familiar than that of their own native chiefs. Of this description had been, through several generations, the earls of Desmond ; the ninth earl of which family was, in the third year of this reign, murder- ed by one of his own servants in his house at Rathkeal, in Limerick. Among the crimes charged against this lord's father, and for which he was executed, as we have seen, at Drogheda, alliance with the Irish was one of the most prominent ; and yet, the son of that very lord, James, the late earl, was not deterred by his father's tragic fate from choosine for his wife a ladv of the land, the daughter of O'Brien, Chief of Thomond. After the departure of the king's com- missioner, Kildare was called to suppress an outbreak of the Mac-Geoghegans,in a small A. D. 1492.] SECOND DIVISION. 103 territory called Moy-Cashel. There, hav- ing taken and destroyed the castle of Bele- ragh, the king's troops dispersed themselves over the whole district, and after destroy- ing the villages and farms, returned to their quarters loaded with spoil. There was also much fighting, in 1489, between the new Earl of Desmond, the tenth of that title, and the Irish chiefs in his neighbour- hood. This lord, who from a defect in his limbs, had been nicknamed the Lame, soon acquired, by his feats in the field, the title of the Warlike ; and, following the exam- ple of his noble progenitors, lived almost entirely on his own princely domains, among the native septs, — making wars and treaties with them at pleasure, and continuing in his ways and habits all the barbaric grandeur of the ancient Irish chief In consistency with this character, he ap- pears to have passed his life in warfare with his neighbours ; having qualified him- self, if it may be so expressed, for this state of mutual hostility, by becoming one of themselves. In a victory gained by him over Morough O'Carrol, Prince of Ely, that chief was slain together with his brother, Maol Mury ; and, in another great battle fought by Desmond, Mac Carthy, the rightful Prince of Desmond, was vanquish- ed and slain. In the north, O'Nial, brother- in-law of the deputy, declared war against the chieftain of Tyrconnel. The diploma- tic correspondence between these petty princes, before the declaration of war, evinces a Spartan spirit worthy of a nobler contest. O'Nial wrote, ' Send me tribute, or else" — . To which the other replied, " I owe you none ; and if" — .* The war that followed produced no incident of import- ance ; but it terminated to the disadvantage oftheO'Nials. The plot of which Simnel was made the instrument having proved so signal a failure, it would seem hardly conceivable that, in but a few years after, some of the very same personages who had been concerned * For the benefit of landlord and tenaut, and of all admirers of the style quari-elsouie, we give the ori- ginal : — " Cuir hogotn me kiesse, no mar a cuirhuir" — " Neel kietse a gut orm, agus de meh"-' in this abortive scheme should have brought forward another contrivance of nearly the same pattern ; and moreover, that Ireland, or rather the seat of the English power in that island, should have been again chosen to be the opening scene of the imposture. Of this plot, as well as of the former, the ever-restless Duchess of Burgundy was the prime mover; and the personage whom she now prepared to bring forward was no other than Richard, Duke of York, the second son of Edward the Fourth, who had made his escape, as she pretended, from the Tower, when his elder brother was murdered. In her choice of the personage to be re- presented, she showed on the present occa- sion, far more judgment than on the former, since to Richard, were he still living, the crown really belonged : whereas, the young Warwick could not have succeeded as long as any of the descendants of Edward the Fourth were alive. The individual she had chosen to personate her royal nephew, and who bore some resemblance to him, it is said, in his person and features, was an accomplished young Fleming, named Peter Osbeck, though generally called Perkin Warbeck ; and from the time it must have taken to educate him for the new charac- ter he was about to assume, it is clear that the indefatigable duchess began to lay the foundation of this second bold impos- ture almost immediately after the failure of the first. Having succeeded, as she hoped, in diverting attention from Flanders as the birth-place of the plot, she sent him pri- vately, under the care of Lady Brampton, into Portugal. Whether any rumours had yet reached Henry of this new plot of the intriguing duchess, does not very clearly appear ; but that he had grounds, at this time for sus- pecting the Earl of Kildare of some em- bryo mischief, may be taken for granted, from his sudden dismissal of that powerful lord from the office of deputy. He also, at the same time, removed from the post of high-treasurer, which had been held by him for above thirty-eight years, Kildare's 104 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1494. father-in-law, Fitz-Eustace, Baron of Port- lester. In place of Kildare, the Archbishop of Dublin, Walter Fitz-Symons, was made lord-deputy ; while, with ominous warning for the Geraldines, Sir James Ormond, natural son of the late earl, was appointed high-treasurer in the place of Lord Port- lester. It was now seen of what potent efficacy had been the mere name of Kildare in keeping the Irish around the Pale, in a state of subjection and peace ; for no sooner was his removal from the government known, than they rose in tumultuous revolt, and laid waste and burned the English borders. In this condition were the affairs of Ire- land, and the English monarch had just embarked in a war with France, when the Duchess of Burgundy, timing most skilfully her enterprise, sent orders to Perkin to sail without delay for Ireland ; and such ready dupes, or instruments, did her scheme find in that country, that the mere announce- ment of the arrival at Cork of an ordinary merchant vessel from Lisbon, with a youth on board, richly attired, who called him- self Richard, Duke of York, the second son of Edward the Fourth, appears to have been sufficient to rouse into activity the ever-ready elements of Anglo-Irish faction. A merchant of Cork, named John Wa- ters, who had been lately mayor of that city, took up warmly the young pretender's cause. The great success of the plot in Cork had bestowed on it a stamp which secured its currency elsewhere ; and the news of the event had no sooner reached France, than the king, perceiving what use might be made of such an instrument, in the present critical state of his relations with England, sent off messengers in haste to Cork, to invite Warbeck to his court, and assure him of welcome and protec- tion. The effect produced by the landing of Warbeck in Ireland, not merely as regarded that country itself, but as viewed m its possible influence on other nations, had led Henry to consider more seriously the state of his Irish dominions ; and the step now taken by him may be regarded as the first real effort of the English government in Ireland to curb that spirit of provincial des- potism which it had itself let loose and fos- tered. Of all the means of oppression and mischief placed at the disposal of the Anglo- Irish aristocracy, their packed and irrespon- sible parliament was certainly not the least efficient. A few rich and mighty lords combined in themselves the whole weight of the body ; and of these, the petty parlia- ment of the four shires was always the ob- sequious instrument. According, there- fore, as the Butlers or the Geraldines hap- pened to be uppermost, so were the justice and favour of the crown dealt out ; while by both factions equally, the subjects of the Pale were harassed with forays and exac- tions, and the hapless natives themselves hunted, like wild beasts, into their coverts. The person selected to effect the impor- tant reforms the king now meditated, and also to trace out the lurking abettors of Warbeck, was Sir Edward Poynings, in whom the king placed much confidence. There went likewise with him, to form his council, several eminent English lawyers; and he was attended by a small force amounting to about a thousand men. Find- ing that some of the most active abettors of Warbeck had escaped into Ulster, and were there protected by the native Irish, he deemed it most politic to begin by pun- ishing these delinquents, so as to strike terror among the disaffected, before he addressed himself to those measures of re- form which had been the chief object of his coming. Uniting with his own forces such as could be collected for him within the Pale, he directed his march towards Ul- ster, attended by Sir James Ormond, and, notwithstanding all that had lately oc- curred, by the Earl of Kildare. Such influence, indee<;l, had this lord ac- quired over the minds of the natives, that, whether as a sanction or a terror, his name was indispensable to the full success of every dealing with them, either of nego- tiation or of warfare ; and this ascendancy over them he owed not more to his reputa- tion for warlike deeds than to the pride they took in him, as their bom country- A. D. 1494.] SECOND DIVISION. 105 man, and also as connected, by family alliances, with some of the most popular of their own national chiefs. He appears to have gone far beyond most of his brother lords in adopting the manners, usages, and tone of thinking of the native Irish; and how trying and equivocal was the position in which his relationship with both races sometimes placed him, is strikingly shown by all that arose out of his expedition under Poynings, into Ulster. O'Hanlon and Mac- Genis, the leaders of the Irish there col- lected, retired, as usual, on the approach of the enemy, into their bogs and forests ; and all that was left, therefore, for Poynings to resort to, was the equally usual procedure of burning and laying waste the whole of the lands of the two chiefs. Strong suspicions arose that Kildare, from a feeling of revenge for his late treat- ment had formed a plot, in concert with O'Hanlon, for the assassination of the lord- deputy; and, still further to corroborate this suspicion, intelligence arrived, that James Fitz-Gerald, the earl's brother, had suddenly seized on the castle of Cather- lough, and strengthened it with a garrison. This ominous news compelled Sir Edward to hasten his return. Making what terms he could with O'Hanlon and Mac-Genis, and binding them both, by oaths and hosta- ges, to observe the peace, he immediately marched his army to Catherlough, and, after a siege often days, obtained possession of the castle. In November, 1494, was held that mem- orable parliament at Drogheda, which en- acted the statute called Poynings's Act. The provision made by this particular en- actment was, that no parliament should be holden in Ireland until the chief-governor and council had first certified to the king, under the great seal of that land, " as well the causes and considerations as the acts they designed to pass, and till the same should be approved by the king and coun- cil." This noted statute was meant as a preventive of some of those inconveniences which could not but arise from the existence of a separate legislature in Ireland, inde- pendent of, and irresponsible to, that of 14 England, and therefore liable, in the hands of a factious aristocracy, to be made tho instrument of selfish rapacity or revenge. The mischiefs inseparable from the nature of a body so constituted were shown during the contests between the Yorkists and Lancastrians ; and very recently, as we have seen, the mockery had been exhibited of a parliament summoned to sanction the claims of Lambert Simnel. It was also enacted that all the statutes made lately in England, concerning or belonging to the public weal, should be thenceforth good and effectual in Ireland. Among several other acts, there was one annulling a pre- scription claimed by rebels and traitors, in Ireland, by reason of an act, passed during the lieutenancy of the Duke of York, or- daining that Ireland should be a sanctuary for foreigners, and that it should be trea- son to disturb any refugees in that country, by any writ, letters missive, or other such authority, from England. This dangerous exemption had been granted by Richard, Duke of York, when engaged in rebellion against Henry the Sixth, for the purpose of encouraging his friends to repair to him in Ireland ; and the abettors of Simnel and Warbeck had pleaded it in excuse of their late treason. It was, accordingly, now re- pealed, and all receivers and maintainers of traitors were declared guilty of treason. One of the abuses, proved by these statutes to be then prevalent, was the prac- tice, among the great lords, of keeping crowds of retainers ; an abuse carried also, at this period, to a dangerous extent in England. The power assumed, too, by the lords of the Pale, of making war or peace, as they pleased, was likewise prohibited ; and to stir up the " Irishry" against the people of the Pale, or make war upon the chief-governor, was declared high treason. The renowned statutes of Kilkenny were revived and confirmed by this parliament, with the exception only of that which pro- hibited the use of the Irish language ; — a law long rendered inoperative by the general prevalence of the native tongue throughout all the English settlements. Doomed to suiTer by the peculiar op- < 106 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1495. pressions of both countries, Ireland was harassed not only by her own coyne and livery, but also by the English purveyance ; and against both these heavy grievances one of the acts of Poynings's parliament was directed. The use of bows and ar- rows was, as usual, enjoined, and the war- cries adopted by some of the English fami- lies, in imitation of the natives, were for- bidden, as provocatives of riot. As the chief object of this parliament was to break down the enormous power of the lords of the Pale, a measure was again brought forward, which had been more than once suspended over them : and an act for the resumption, with some few excep- tions, of all the grants made by the crown since the last days of the reign of King Edward the Second, was passed in this parliament. With the same view, it was held to be necessary to make an example of the Earl of Kildare ; and although the charges against him appear to have rested upon little more than suspicion, he was by an act of this parliament attainted for high treason ; and his brother James and seve- ral other Geraldines were also declared traitors. Such, with the addition of a law enact- ing that " the lords of Ireland should wear in parliament the same sort of robes as were worn by the English lords in the parliament of England," were the statutes passed at Drogheda, under Sir Edward Poynings. These laws, when first enacted, extended no further than the narrow limits of the Pale ; but, according as the authority of the crown increased, their effect and in- fluence gained ground, until at length they came to be in force over the entire king- dom. In the " great treaty of commerce" sign- ed, at this time, between England and the Netherlands, a provision was, at Henry's desire, inserted expressly stipulating that the Duchess of Burgundy should not be permitted to aid or harbour the king's rebels, under pain of losing her domains. As Warbeck, therefore, could no longer remain in Flanders, he set sail once more for Ireland, hoping to enlist the people in his cause. Finding, however, in this, his second attempt, but little support or en- couragement, he set sail from Cork to Scotland, having been recommended to James the Fourth, not only by the Duchess of Burgundy, but in private letters from the King of France and from Maximilian the emperor. Having- been announced by the duchess to James as "the Prince of England," that monarch received him with royal hon- ours, addressing him publicly as " cousin." Whether James really believed in War- beck's story, it is not easy to discover. But that, early in the course of the plot, he had been engaged in secret correspondence with the Duchess of Burgundy, and made him- self on one occasion the medium of com- munication between her and Ireland, ap- pears from Scottish records.* Whatever his secret opinion or knowledge on the subject may have been, his whole conduct implied a belief in the truth of Warbeck's claims ; and he now did not hesitate to bestow on him the hand of the fair Catha- rine Gordon, a lady of remarkable beauty, daughter of the Earl of Huntley, and grand- daughter of James the First of Scotland. About this time, Hugh O'Donnell, the Chief of Tyrconnel, returned from (a. visit to the Scottish court, whither he had gone, it is supposed, to consult with King James on matters relating to the cause and for- tunes of Perkin Warbeck. But, out of the English Pale, little interest appears to have been taken in this adventurer ; and it is far more probable that the object of O'Don- nell's visit to Scotland, where he was re- ceived by the king with all due honour and state, was to ask for aid for himself in the warfare he was then engaged in with a brother chieftain, O'Connor of Connaught. On his return a great battle was fought between them, in which O'Donnell was the victor; and, immediately after, he laid siege to the castle of Sligo. But on the arrival of Ulick Burke, Lord of Clanri- carde, with a large army, O'Donnell hastily withdrew. Being attainted by Poynings's parlia- * Tytler. A. D. 1497.] SECOND DIVISION. 107 ment, the Earl of Kildare had been sent in custody to England, where he still remain- ed a prisoner ; and so deeply did his lady, the countess, feel this event, that it was the cause we are told of her death. Great was the king's astonishment to behold, instead of a crafty conspirator, a frank, blunt soldier, of manners so simple that they bordered on rudeness, and of a de- meanour so easy and confident, that it could only be supported by conscious inno- cence. Henry advised the earl to provide himself with able counsel. " Yea," replied Kildare, grasping the king by the hand, " I choose the ablest in the realm ; I take your highness to be my counsel against these false knaves." Gratified by this rude com- pliment to his equity and discernment, Henry looked with favour on the accused, and coldly listened to the long catalogue of suspicions and surmises which his ad- versaries brought forward. The charge of treason was decisively refuted, the greater part of the others were found to be frivolous and vexatious. At length, the accusers alleged that he had sacrilegiously burned the church of Cashel. "Spare your evidence," exclaimed Kildare, " I did burn the church, for I thought the bishop had been in it." This extraordinary justi- fication produced a shout of laughter, which threw ridicule over the whole pro- ceeding. Driven almost to despair, the accusers exclaimed, " All Ireland cannot govern this earl." " Well, then," replied Henry, " he shall govern all Ireland !" — and forthwith he appointed him lord-lieu- tenant. The flattering prospects opened to War- beck by the zealous part the Scottish mon- arch had taken in his behalf having now ! entirely vanished, the unfortunate adventu- rer, whom James to the last had continued to treat with all the respect due to his as- sumed rank, resolved to try once more his fortune in Ireland; and a vessel and a guard of thirty horse having been provided for him by his generous protector, he sailed, accompanied by his beautiful consort, for Cork. There he was joined, soon after his landuig, by the Earl of Desmond, with a force of two thousand four hundred men. Warbeck, however, shortly afterwards sailed to Cornwall, being closely pursued by four ships that had been sent from Waterford to apprehend him. The only further connection with Ireland that remains to be noticed in this adven- turer's fate, was the closing scene of his strange life, which took place in 1499; when, having been condemned as guilty of treason, he was executed at Tyburn, and, with him, suflTered the first who espoused his adventurous cause, John Waters, Mayor of Cork. His other Irish abettor, the Earl of Desmond, was far more fortunate in his fate. Notwithstanding the overt and daring part he had taken in this youth's behalf, the king, with that clemency which, throughout his reign, he had so many opportunities of evincing, freely pardoned him all his oflfen- ces, and even received him into favour. The petty warfare in which Kildare be- came involved with some of the northern chiefs, and which raged at intervals through the following two or three years, partook too much of the clannish character to be narrated at length as matter of history. In consequence of the unnatural murder of Con O'Neill, by his brother Henry, some years back, the territory of Tyrone had been divided between Henry and Daniel O'Neill ; and, in the present year, Henry himself was barbarously assassinated by Tirlogh and Con, the sons of his murdered brother. This act produced a fresh explo- sion of violence among the whole family; and Kildare, in abetting Tirlogh, was actu- ated by feelings of relationship no less than by policy, as Tirlogh was his own nephew. Being now joined by O'Donnell, Mac-Guire, and other friends of his kinsmen, he laid siege to Dungannon, the chief seat of the O'Neills, and compelled Neal Mac Art O'Neill, the opponent of his nephew, to submit. Shortly after his return from this expedition, the earl marched to Cork, and exacted similar terms of submission from that city and from Kinsale. In like manner, through the following two or three years, we find this indefatiga- ble veteran carrying triumphantly, through 108 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1504. different parts of the kingdom, the terror of the English name and arms. In the course of an expedition into Connaught, he took and garrisoned the castles of Athleague, Roscommon, Tulsk, and Castlereagh, and again marching into Ulster, at the instance probably of his nephew, seized the castle of Kinard, and made Tirlogh governor of it. All this active course of aggression could not fail, in the end, to awaken a proportion- ate spirit of resistance ; and the native chiefs, finding how unable they were to cope separately with Kildare, resolved to try, at last, the experiment of confederating among themselves. Ulick Burke, Lord of Clanricarde, called commonly Mac-Wil- liam, — the head of a powerful sept of " de- generate English," — was the principal lead- er of this league, in which were joined also O'Brien of Thomond, Mac-Namara, Mel- rony, O'Carrol, and other chieftains. Kildare collected together all the forces he was able to muster ; and being accom- panied by all the great Anglo-Irish lords, as well as by the Mayor of Dublin, with a band of armed men, the Bishop of Ardah, and one or two native chiefs, he advanced the royal standard against the rebels. At Knocktow, about seven miles from Galway, the two armies encountered ; and after an obstinate conflict, the result of which was for some time doubtful, the victory fell to the Earl of Kildare, and the Irish were routed with great slaughter ; their loss being variously estimated at two, four, and even nine thousand men ; while, by a sort of miracle, it is said, not a single English- man in Kildare's army was even hurt. Among the prisoners were the two sons of Ulick of Clanricarde ; and the towns of Galway and Athenry surrendered to the victor. Leland relates that — " Immediately after the victory of Knocktow, Lord Gormans- town turned to the Earl of Kildare, in the utmost insolence of success, *We have slaughtered our enemies,' said he ; * but to complete the good deed, we must proceed yet further, — cut the throats of those Irish of our own party.' " . It would appear, from some Irish annals of this period, that in private pique and family differences, between Kildare and the Lord of Clanricarde, lay the real source of the hostility that led to this sanguinary battle. But, whatever may have provoked the warfare, its result was of the utmost consequence to the interests of the crown and of the English colony ; as the power of the natives to combine successfully against their oppressors had now, to a certain ex- tent, been tried, and had failed ; and the result was, an increased confidence in their own strength, on the part of the settlers, with a proportionate decline in the spirit and self-reliance of the Irish. So pleased was the king with his deputy's services on this occasion, that, on receiving the account of the victory, he created him a knight of the garter. In spite of all the suspicion at- tached occasionally to Kildare, we find him in the last year of this reign, at the head of the government, as he had been iu the first. As an historical illustration of the times, it may be proper to mention that, in 1491, six muskets were sent from Germany to the Earl of Kildare, and were made use of by his guard while they stood sentinel in his apartments. They were considered a rare present at that time, although Baker asserts that Edward the Third had them at the siege of Calais, in 1347. Among the religious houses founded about this time in Ireland, Ware mentions the convent at Rosserelly to have been es- tablished in Galway, in 1498, for Observan- tine monks, by an English lord called Gan- nard. At Invert, in Antrim, there was a convent founded for the third order of Franciscans, by a Scottish nobleman. One also for the same order was founded at Dungannon in Tyrone, by Con O'Neill, prince of that district. A house was estab- lished for them about the same time, at Clonrahan, in Roscommon, by O'Connor Roe, an Irish nobleman, of the illustrious O'Connors of Connaught. Among the writers Ireland produced about this period, we observe Philip Hig- gins, a Franciscan, who wrote some sacred poems : he died in 1487. Panderus, who A. D. 1509.] SECOND DIVISION. 109 is thought to have been the author of a book called " Salus Populi,'* flourished at the same time. He treats in it on the cause of the miseries with which Ireland was afflicted, and points out a mode by which they might be remedied. Charles Maguire, Canon of Armagh, flourished at this time also. He was a learned philosopher, a profound theologian, and well versed in history. He wrote the annals of Ireland down to his own time, and died in 1495, at the age of sixty. Donald O'Fihely, a na- tive of the county Cork, wrote also the an- nals of his country to his own time, in the Irish language, which he dedicated to Flor- ence O'Mahony. Sir J. Ware mentions having seen them in manuscript in London. The reign of Henry the Seventh is re- markable for being the era of that depres- sion of the feudal noblity and elevation of the " middle ranks" of societv, to which England is mainly indebted for her money- ed prosperity and commercial influence. By a mere accident, the discoveries of Colum- bus were not made under the " patronage" of Henry, for he had answered an appli- cation from that navigator through his brother, and had sent him an invitation to his court ; but the capture of the brother by pirates prevented him from arriving in time. Henry afterwards employed Sebas- tian Cabot, the Venetian, who discovered Newfoundland and a portion of the North American continent. Whatever project Henry had in view, he never remitted his favourite pursuit of filling his coflfers by breaking of entails and the alienation of landed estates from noblemei\ and gentle- men ; for which purpose he constantly em- ployed two lawj'^ers, Empson and Dudley, who, by their skill in such matters, were eminently qualified for the work of extor- tion. Henry's eldest son, Prince Arthur, being married to Catharine of Arragon, but dying before their union was consumma- ted,* the king obliged his remaining son Henry, (afterwards Henry the Eighth,) to be contracted to his brother's widow, in order that he might retain the large dowry paid with her by Ferdinand and Isabella, • Sander., de Schia. Anglic; lib. i. page 2. of whom she was the fourth daughter. It is true, some of Henry the Seventh's apo- logists assert that of the treasure thus amassed he occasionally advanced sums of money without interest to merchants and others, to enable them to carry on lucra- tive enterprises ; but we have heard of highwaymen who practised a similar de- gree of virtue, under the guidance of a more modern money-morality. On the whole, the spirit of this reign was arbitrary and aggressive, although carried on by the apparent approbation of pacific principles. For three or four centuries before the time of Henry the Seventh, there had been a constant political struggle between the influence belonging to morals and that be- longing to wealth. Near the termination of this reign there was a gradual increase of the money power, particularly in the west of Europe. Romantic adventure, commercial enterprise, and sudden accu- mulation of wealth were the principal mo- tives in public transactions ; and the next two centuries will show how such elemen- tal antagonism overwhelmed Europe and involved Ireland in one tremendous deluge of selfishness, cruelty, and rapacity. CHAPTER XV. Accession of Henry the Eighth — Condition of the Pale — Death of Kildare — Succeeded by his son Gerald — Removed by Wolsey to make way for the Earl of Suirey — Kildare summoned to Eng- land — Duke of Richmond's administration — Re- turn of Kildare — Summoned again to England — Insurrection headed by Kildare's son, Lord Thomas — Sir William Skefiington's adminis- tration — Lord Thomas and his five uncles exe- cuted at Tyburn — Henry's endeavours to seize the next son of the earl — Sir William Brereton's administration — Succeeded by Sir A. St. Leger — Coinage in Ireland — The parliament confer- ring on Henry and his successors the title of *' King of Ireland" — Execution of Lord Leonard Grey — Irish troops called for France, and for Scotland — Henry's necessity for money, and consequent desperate proceedings — Singular death of the Grand-Treasurer of Ireland, etc. etc. etc. Henry the Eighth received his crown under happy circumstances. He found a full treasury, an undisputed title, subjects \ 110 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1513. flourishing in the arts of peace, and his native country in friendship with all the neighbouring powers. For the sake of appearances he was obliged to sacrifice Empson and Dudley to the national odium, but took care to retain the lion's share of their extortions. His principal favourite was the Earl of Surrey, who promoted those schemes of magnificence and dissi- pation which suited the inclination of his young master, Harry, and very soon di- minished the hoarded treasures of the late reign. The little attention paid to Ireland dur- ing the first years of Henry's reign, left to a bold and self-willed ruler like Kildare so wide a range of power, and exemption from responsibility, as could not fail to be grossly presumed upon and abused. Of the great lords of the Pale in general, we have more than once had occasion to observe, that, while so unmanageable as subjects, they were no less rash and oppressive as rulers ; brute force being the sole instrument of their policy, and conquest, not pacification, their leading object. The very qualities indeed that rendered them popular among the natives, were such as unfitted them to be useful or civilizing leaders. They were loved for their leaning to the old customs of the land ; and having, by marriage, be- come connected with some of the principal Irish lords, were regarded in general, rather as chiefs of a great leading sept, than as acknowledged rulers of the whole king- dom. The termination of Kildare's career was now at hand. Resolving to invade Ely O'Carrol, he marched towards that terri- tory ; but being taken ill on his way, at Athy, he was from thence removed to Kil- dare, where, in September, 1513, he died, and was buried in St. Mary's Chapel, in the choir of Christ Church, Dublin. On the earl's decease, the council nominated his son Gerald lord-justice, and the king afterwards made him, by patent, lord- deputy. Gerald inherited the valour of his illus- trious family, but unfortunately a more than ordinary share of their characteristic pride and imprudence. He was soon call- ed on to display his military skill, by a dan- gerous insurrection of the Irish, whom some fabricated prophecies had stimulated to revolt. The Irish were everywhere in arms ; but the promptitude and celerity of Kildare baflfled all their efforts. They were vanquished in detail, and forced to remain quiet until the calculations of some more accurate seer should discover another period more fortunate for the cause of in- surrection. Though Kildare was able to subdue his enemies in the field, he could not contend with his secret foes in the intrigues of the cabinet. Too haughty to court the favour of Wolsey by meanness and subserviency, he incurred the displeasure of that proud prelate ; while his rival, the Earl of Or- mond, submitted to every degrading com- pliance, in order to conciliate the powerful cardinal. In consequence of these machi- nations, Kildare was removed, and the Earl of Surrey appointed in his stead. One of the first tasks to which the new lord-lieutenant applied himself was that of endeavouring to collect from the servants and Irish followers of Kildare such loose accusations against him, such half truths mixed with fiction, as might when artfolly put together assume the semblance of proof. A letter alleged to have been addressed by him to O'Carrol, one of the bravest and most refractory of the Irish chiefs, was, in particular, the object of the lieutenant's in- quiry ; as, in that letter, according to the account he had received of it, the earl had said to his correspondent, " Keep good peace to the Englishmen in Ireland until an English deputy come there. But when any English deputy shall come thither, then do your best to make war upon the Eng- lish." To bring home to Kildare by any evidence, however procured, the charge of having written such a letter, no pains were spared on either side of the channel ; and even Surrey gave in so far to the cruel and treacherous policy by which the counsels of his royal master were too often marked, as to suggest that the earl's secretary, Wil- liam Delahide, the person in whom he most :^' A. D. 1530.] SECOND DIVISION. Ill confided, should be sent to the Tower, and there tortured, to force him to give evi- dence respecting this lettef. The Earl of Kildare was summoned to England, to give an account of his conduct. Soon after his arrival, he obtained the daughter of the Marquis of Dorset in mar- riage, and by the aid of this influential nobleman, was enabled to baffle the mahce of the cardinal. Conscious, however, that his absence would give his enemies a great advantage, he resolved to remain at court. He attended Henry to Calais at the time of his celebrated interview with Francis, and contributed largely to the splendour of the " Field of the Cloth of Gold," by the brilliancy of his suit and equipage. Between the Earl of Desmond and the Earl of Ormond there had prevailed, for some time, dissensions, in which the old feud of their families, during the wars of the Roses, was, in another shape, revived ; the Earl of Ormond being a staunch friend to the English interests, while Desmond, from the mixed relationship in which he stood to the two races, combining the aris- tocracy of the one with the chieftaincy of the other, was alternately trusted and sus- pected by both parties, and, according as it chanced, was friend or traitor to each in their turns. By the judicious management of Surrey, a reconciliation was effected be- tween these two lords. In the account Surrey has given of this transaction, we find the following eulogium on these two Irish chiefs : — ^" They are two wise men ; and I found them more conformable to order than some Englishmen here." In the same discriminaing spirit he suggests that power should be delegated to him to confer the order of knighthood on such of the Irish captains as should appear worthy of such a distinction ; and the king, in adopting his suggestion, thus creditably extends and im- proves upon it: — "We grant that ye not only make O'Neill and such lords of the Irishrie as ye shall think good, knights, but also to give unto the said O'Neill a collar of gold of our livery." Throughout the remaining period of Surrey's administration, so far were the efforts made by him for the pacification of the kingdom from being attended with any success, that even the faint dawnings of order and peace were all again clouded and lost; and the settled conclusion to which, as he himself states, his personal knowledge -of the country had led him, was, that by conquest alone could the Irish be ever reduced to order or peace ; and that to conquer them would, for reasons forcibly stated by him, be difficult, if not wholly impossible. He was himself, in- deed, sufficiently versed in the warfare of the Irish, to enable him to judge on this point, — having been engaged in constant struggles, during his lieutenancy, with the O'Carrols, the O'Moores, the O'Connors, and the Connells. Having, for some time, earnestly entreated of the king to release him from his arduous and hopeless charge, Surrey was permitted to vacate his office, towards the close of the year 1521. The principal accusations against Kil- dare were — 1. That he had not according to the king's orders apprehended the Earl of Desmond. 2. That he had formed alli- ance with several of the king's Irish ene- mies. 3. That he had caused certain loyal subjects to be hanged for no other reason but that they were dependants on the family of the Butlers. 4. That he had con- federated with O'Neill, O'Connor, and other Irish lords, to invade the territories of the Earl of Ormond, then lord-deputy. From Wolsey, who had always been his enemy, no mercy could be expected by Kildare. He was immediately committed to the Tower, and, according to some ac- counts, condemned to suffer death. After lying, for some time, in prison, he was at length released by the interposition of Sur- rey, now Duke of Norfolk, who, together with the Marquis of Dorset, Kildare's father-in-law, and several other persons of high station, became sureties for his future faith and allegiance. In June, 1530, the Duke of Richmond, the king's natural son, was appointed Lieu- tenant of Ireland ; and, shortly after. Sir William Skeffington, the new lord-deputy, arrived in Dublin, accompanied by the Earl 112 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 153^. of Kildare. A solemn procession of the mayor and citizens came to meet them, on the green of St. Mary's Abbey; and the sight of the popular favourite, Kildare, re- turning once more, triumphant over his enemies, excited among all classes the liveliest feelings of joy. This victory over his rivals would have dangerously elated a man of stronger mind and cooler passions than Kildare possessed ; and his actions soon showed that his little remnant of prudence was destroyed by the recent occurrences. It is said also that his intellects were partially injured about this time, in consequence of a wound in his head ; but it is not necessary to have re- course to such an explanation for the extra- vagant effects produced by repeated tri- umphs on a character naturally weak and haughty. The officers of the Irish govern- ment became reasonably alarmed. They met in secret conclave, and prepared a representation of the evils by which Ireland was affected, which was soon laid before the king. Though Kildare was not named in this petition, the evils mentioned were such as could not have occurred without his sanc- tion or connivance. The jealous temper of Henry was fired by the recital, and he sent Kildare a peremptory mandate to come at once to London. Aware that his conduct would not bear a strict investiga- tion, the earl, by means of his wife's rela- tions, endeavoured to obtain delay ; but, finding that the king's resolution was not to be shaken, he supplied his castles with arms and ammunition from the royal stores, and intrusted the government to his son Thom- as, a youth scarcely twenty years old. However amiable may have been the natural qualities of this young lord, — and he is represented, in general, as brave, open, and generous, — the scenes of violence among which he had been brought up, and the examples of ambition, family pride, and uncontrolled self-will, which his own ill- fated race supplied, formed but an ominous preparation for the grave duties now so rashly assigned to him. In addition to the perils arising from his own inexperience, he was surrounded by watchful enemies, full of hatred to him and his race ; and the opportunity which alone they wanted for the indulgence of this rancorous feeling, their ingenuity was, of course, not slow in creating. A report was spread by them that the Earl of Kildare had been beheaded in the Tower, and that Lord Thomas and all his uncles were menaced with the same fate. Too readily trusting to this rumour, the young lord, at the head of a guard of one hundred and forty armed horsemen, rode through the city of Dublin to Dame's Gate, and crossing the river, proceeded to St. Mary's Abbey, where the council, ac- cording to appointment, waited his coming. There, surrounded by armed followers, who had crowded with him into the coun- cil-chamber, the youth solemnly renounced his allegiance to the English monarch, and proceeded to deliver up the sword and I'obes of state. While the other lords remained aston- ished and silent, Cromer, who was both chancellor and primate, rose, and taking the young lord by the hand, remonstrated with him in terms the most affectionate and winning. Unfortunately, an Irish rhymer at the end of his address, burst forth into a wild rhapsody on the glory of the Geral- dines, and the high destiny for which the present heir of the house was designed ; and Thomas, kindling with enthusiasm, made no reply to the chancellor, but rushed out of the house. The war, thus madly begun, was sup- ported with the same disregard to the simplest dictates of prudence ; and it is but fair to add, with the same generous atten- tion to the laws of humanity. Excepting the murder of Archbishop Alan, Lord Thomas sanctioned no act of cruelty, but laboured strenuously to restrain the exces- ses of his followers. His career, however, was brief Without adequate force or means, he laid siege to Dublin, and wasted his time and forces in vain assaults on the city. Succours soon arrived from Eng- land ; and, though one division was se- verely defeated, and almost annihilated, others, commanded by Sir William Brere- A. D. 1536.] SECOND DIVISION. 113 ton, made good their entrance into the city, and soon forced Lord Thomas to raise the siege. The new lord-deputy, Sir William Skef- fington, who landed at Dublin soon after the truce concluded with Lord Thomas, was in so infirm a state of health on his ar- rival as to be unable, for some time, to take the field ; and not only himself, but almost the whole of his army and officers, lay, for a considerable time, shut up and inactive, within the walls of Dublin and Drogheda. Meanwhile, there raged throughout the whole kingdom a confused medley of petty warfare, in which, from tlic consanguinity of the Geraldinc families with both of the rival races, the rebel camp was filled with a motley array of English and Irish ; while, on the royal side, the greater number of the northern chieftains had ranged them- selves under the flag of the English. The deputy, infirm in body and vacilla- ting in mind, made no efforts to follow up this success. Lord Thomas not only es- caped, but, by entering into a treaty with the O'Connors and O'Nials, soon became formidable. Roused by the strong repre- sentations of the military officers, Skeffing- ton at length took the field, and laid siege to Maynooth ; one of the strongest Geraldine fortresses. The spirit of the garrison and the strength of the place baffled the besieg- ers for fourteen days. They were about to raise the siege, when the unexpected treachery of Lord Thomas's foster-brother laid it at their mercy. Skeffington paid this double traitor the stipulated reward, and then ordered him to be instantly exe- cuted — an act of substantial justice, which may well redeem many of the deputy's mis- demeanours. The greater part of the irregular army assembled by the young Geraldine dispersed when the capture of Maynooth became known, and as the heir of the great Desmond had been gained by Henry, Lord Thomas was driven to main- tain a desultory warfare in the woods and mountains. Even thus, he made such a formidable resistance that he obtained from the English general. Lord Leonard Grey, the most solemn assurances of safety and 15 protection on condition of dismissing his troops. O'Connor, to whom there remained now no other alternative than either to submit, or to be utterly ruined, surrendered himself to the lord-deputy. Deprived thus of his only efficient ally, Lord Thomas saw that all further struggle was hopeless. He, therefore, in a letter to Lord Leonard, en- treated that lord to be his intercessor with the king, and to obtain for him " his pardon, his life, and lands." He was accordingly admitted to a parley, and confessing hum- bly his offences towards the king, gave him- self up into the hands of Lord Leonard and the council, to be disposed of according to the royal pleasure. In communicating these terms to the king, the council added an humble prayer, that in consideration of "the words of comfort spoken to Lord Thomas, to allure him to yield himself up," the royal clemency might be extended towards him, " more especially as regarded his life." In August, 1535, the young lord was sent prisoner to England ; and such was the importance attached to the security of his person, that Lord Leonard Grey was specially appointed to conduct him to Eng- land and deliver him safe into the hands of the king. But, however welcome to of- fended majesty was such a victim, the hopes of mercy held out to Fitz-Gerald not only damped, but considerably embarrassed, the royal triumph. His five uncles, too, though all obnoxious, and some of them known to have been as deeply involved in the rebel- lion as himself, were still left at large. About the beginning, however, of the fol- lowing year, these five brethren surren- dered themselves to the Lord Grey, and were by him sent prisoners to England, where, together with their ill-fated nephew, to whom hopes of pardon had been so de- lusively held out, they were all executed at Tyburn, February 3, 1536. Even these were not enough to glut the royal appetite for blood. A child of the previous earl, twelve years old, whom his aunt had conveyed to Munster, was sought for so eagerly, that he was fSteed to be sent to the continent for safety. There he 114 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1541. was followed by the enmity of the tyrant. Henry had the inconceivable meanness to demand him from the King of France as a rebellious subject ; but the French monarch connived at his escape to Flanders. A similar demand was made to the German emperor ; but, before an answer was ob- tained, the youth had been taken under the protection of Cardinal Pole, by whom he was treated as a son. Through the munificence of that illustrious man, and the patronage of Cosmo the First, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, the youth was enabled to acquire such learning and ac- complishments as befitted the rank of his family. This rank he partially recovered in the course of the follovving reign, when he was taken into favour by Edward the Sixth ; and Queen Mary at once restored the honours and estates of his ancestors by letters- patent. The escape of young Gerald into France had removed the only common rallying- point or standard around which could be collected a sufficient number of mal-con- tents to endanger seriously the peace of the country. In 1540, shortly after this youth's departure. Lord Leonard Grey, who had long been entreating of the king permission to return to England, was grant- ed a temporary recall, and Sir William Brereton was appointed lord-justice during his absence. The mutual ill-will so long existing between the late deputy and the Earl of Ormond, though apparently sup- pressed, had again broken out with fresh bitterness ; and the enmity of Ormond to Lord Leonard had found ready and sym- pathiiing abettors in Lord Chancellor Allen, and Sir William Brabazon, the vice-trea- surer. In the ominous summons, therefore, of these three personages to confront him in England, Grey must have seen a fore- token of the fate that there awaited him. It was clearly the policy of the new lord- justice's government to make the worst of the state in which Grey had left the king- dom, in order by bringing thus heavier odium upon his measures, to enhance pro- portionably their own merit in repairing the evils which he had caused. Brereton was replaced by Anthony St. Leger, a knight of the order of the garter, and gentleman of the bed-chamber ; the king having sent him to Ireland in July, as deputy. On his arrival, he took the usual oath in Christ's Church. St. Leger brought with him three experienced commissioners, Thomas Walsh, John Myn, and William Cavendish, who were of great assistance to him in regulating the rolls of the crown lands. The court commissioned Brown, Archbishop of Dublin, and Robert Cowley, Master of the Rolls, to take an inventory of the personal goods which Lord Grey had left in Ireland, with orders to give up every thing to St. Leger, to be disposed of according to the king's will. Brereton having been appointed Lord- Marshal of Ireland, was sent by the deputy to Munster, to receive the submission of James Fitz-John, Earl of Desmond ; but the lord- marshal fell sick on his way, and died at Kilkenny, where he was interred in the church of St. Canice. This accident did not prevent the earl from repairing in the January following, to Cahir, on the river Suire, where he submitted, in presence of the deputy and council ; and renounced the ancient privileges of his family, by which he had the right of being absent from parliament during pleasure, and of refusing to enter or sojourn in walled cities. Money was coined at this time in Ire- land, by orders of the king ; namely, four-penny, two-penny, and penny pieces, stamped with the harp. This coinage was afterwards prohibited, under pain of confis- cation and fine. In a parliament appointed to be held at the beginning of 1541, but which did not meet till the 13th of June, an act was pass- ed, conferring on Henry and his succes- sors the title of King of Ireland. This measure was adopted in consequence of a notion said to be prevalent among the natives, that the regal dominion of the kingdom of Ireland was vested in the pope for the time being ; and that from him the King of England held the lordship of that realm. It was therefore hoped that Henry's adoption of the royal title would disabuse A. D. 1545.] SECOND DIVISION. 115 the Irish chieftains of their error, and lead them to acknowledge with less hesitation his paramount dominion. This statute was solemnly published on the following Sunday in St. Patrick's Church, Dublin, and in London, in the month of January. St. Leger, the deputy, James, Earl of Ormond, James, Earl of Desmond, the other peers in their parlia- mentary robes, with several distinguished laymen and ecclesiastics, attended at this publication. Some prisoners were restored to liberty, and the ceremony terminated with feasting and fire-works. On the 11th of July, Plunket was raised to the peerage, under the title of Lord- Baron of Dunsany, in Meath, and in the fol- lowing month, Oliver Plunket was honour- ed with the title of Loi'd Baron of Louth. Edmond Butler, Lord of Dunboyne, near Dublin, was created a peer of the realm, under the title of Lord-Baron Dunboyne. He was descended from Theobald, fourth Grand-Butler of Ireland, and Jane, daughter of John Fitz-Geoffry, Earl of Essex, sister and coheiress of John and Richard Fitz- John, earls of Essex, who died without issue. The king also granted the title of Baron of Carbry, in Kildare, to William Bermingham ; and that of Viscount of Clontarf to John Rawson, Prior of Kil- mainham. Thomas Eustace was likewise made a peer of the realm, under the title of Viscount BaltingUss, In England, Lord Leonard Grey, the victim of an official cabal, was publicly executed on Tower Hill. The ninety writ- ten charges against him, evince the desire, far more than the power, to substantiate actual guilt. His family connections, both with the Geraldines, and with some of the leading chiefs, had given him a hold on the hearts of the Irish, which excited the jealousy of Ormond, and was one of the main sources of the hatred with which that lord so long pursued him. Even in the articles of accusation. Grey's popularity is made one of the leading charges ; and it is alleged against him, as an act degrading to his royal master, that he had passed through the heart of Thomond into Connaught, without any other guard than a single galloglass of O'Brien's, bearing an axe before him. Another charge, founded evW dently on mere surmise and rumour, shows sufficiently the spirit that actuated his ac- cusers. It is intimated, that the king's ar- tillery had been left by him at Galway, that it might be ready there for the Bishop of Rome, or the Spaniards, in case they should land in those parts ; and a report, it is add- ed, was then prevalent, that Cardinal Pole, young Gerald's uncle, was soon to arrive there with a large army. There is an incident worth mention- ing, as showing curiously the state of so- ciety. Two of the Geraldine lords of Munster, Lord Roche and the White Knight, having, by their constant quarrels and inroads, wasted each other's territo- ries, the king sent orders to the Earl of Desmond to take them both into cus- tody. They were accordingly seized and imprisoned in Dublin castle, " where," says the lord-deputy, in stating the particulars to the king, " they now agree very well together, lying both in one bed ; although, before they could not agree in a country of forty miles' length between them." He adds, — " I purpose they shall there remain till their amity be better confirmed, and then, God willing, I intend to send them home free, apparelled like Englishmen ; for at present they are in their saffi-on shirts and kemoghe's coats." Sir A. St. Leger has given us a few particulars respecting O'Donnell, the great Irish chieftain, after an interview he had with him : — " His coat was of crimson velvet, with twenty or thirty pairs of aiglets of gold ; over that a great double cloak of crimson satin, bordered with black velvet ; and in his bonnet a feather set full of aiglets of gold. He was attended by his chap- lain, a learned young man, brought up in France." Preparations being now on foot for a grand campaign in France, orders were sent by the king to the Earl of Ormond, to furnish him speedily with a small troop of kerns, or Irish light infantry, to assist in the sieges of Boulogne or Montreuil. Shortly 116 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1545. before, this earl had been commanded by his majesty to raise and equip a force of three thousand of these troops. On con- siderinfj, however, the danger of leaving Ireland to the risk of invasion, without an adequate number of troops for her defence, the king countermanded a part of this force, and desired that one thousand only should be sent. The kerns destined to serve in France were placed under the command of two nephews of the Earl of Ormond, — Lord Poer and Piers Butler. The praises bestowed on the gallant bravery of this Irish corps, at the siege of Boulogne, may safely be credited, even though we should reject some of those marvellous stories with which the chronicler of this part of our history has enlivened his task. According to this authority, such were the feats of courage performed by these kerns, that the French, astonished, sent an ambassador to inquire of Henry " whether he had brought with him men or devils." Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lenox, having been obliged to leave Scotland, sought refuge in England, where he was honour- ably received by the king who gave him in marriage, some time afterwards, his niece, Margaret, daughter of his eldest sister Margaret, and Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. The Earl of Lenox had by this marriage, Henry, Lord Darnley, who was father to James the Sixth of Scotland. After the marriage of the Earl of Lenox, Henry sent him to Ireland, in 1545, with orders to the deputy, St. Leger, to have troops raised with all possible dispatch, in order to assist him in the recovery of his in- heritance in Scotland. He landed in Dub- lin on St. Michael's Day. The deputy lost no time in obeying the king's mandate; and before the middle of November, he raised a new body of fifteen hundred men, under the command of Sir John Travers. These were soon joined by an equal num- ber which had been raised by the Earl of Ormond in his own district; and the little army, commanded by the earl^in person, set sail, in twenty-eight vessels, for Scot- land. The Earl of Lenox had his corres- pondents in the country, and thought that his friends would be prepared to assist him, but either through fickleness on their part, or from their being prevented by the fac- tion of the Duke of Hamilton, who was opposed to him, when he was preparing to land near his castle at Dumbarton, he per- ceived the enemy had a superior army on the shore ready to oppose him. He there- fore determined on returning to Ireland without making any attempt on Scotland. Such was the reckless extravagance with which Henry had disgraced his reign that he was driven to desperate resources for money. The Irish exchequer being com- pletely exhausted, the deputy proposed a tax on the people ; but the Earl of Ormond arraying his influence against the measure, a quarrel arose between the two dignitaries, each accusing the other of treason, and they were ordered by the king to repair to Eng- land, Brabazon being nominated deputy during the absence of St. Leger. At the same time, Allen, the chancellor, having been accused of prevarication in the dis- charge of his office, was put into confine- ment. Sir Thomas Cusack was appointed keeper of the seals in his stead, and Sir Richard Read, chancellor. St. Leger and Ormond were summoned to appear before the king and council ; but their accusations against each other not amounting to high treason, they were discharged, St. Leger being sent back to Ireland as deputy. James Butler, Earl of Ormond, Grand- Treasurer of Ireland, died of poison at a repast at Holborn, near London ; James White, the master of his household, and sixteen of his servants, having shared the same fate. During the administration of Brabazon, the Baron of Upper Ossory having had some cause of complaint against his son Thaddeus, sent him prisoner to Dublin, where he was tried, condemned, and exe- cuted. In July, Patrick O'Morra of Leix, and Bryan O'Connor Faly, with their united forces, made inroads on the English prov- ince, and burned the town of Athy, in Kil- dare. Brabazon marched in pursuit of them, carrying fire and sword everywhere he went. The poor inhabitants were sacri- A. D. 1545.] SECOND DIVISION. 117 ficed to his resentment: He had the fort of Dingen, now Philipstown, in the King's county, repaired, and obliged O'Connor to seek an asylum in Connaught. The terri- tories of Leix and Offaiy, with the neigh- bouring estates, namely, Slievmargy, Irris, and Clanmalire, were confiscated some years afterwards for the king's use. As the consequences of the reign of Henry the Eighth have been very important to Ireland, and as that reign extended to nearly thirty-eight years, we shall be obliged to appropriate other chapters for its com- pletion. Luckily, we need not notice so much of the savage conduct of this irre- claimable brute as if we were considering the history of England; nevertheless, as we shall have occasion continually to refer back to the period of this reign for the origin of many important changes in politi- cal history, it is requisite now to show how they became introduced into England, and what relation they bear to the history of Ireland. In this and the previous chapters, we have weighed all the authorities and then given the statement we believed to be correct, without encumbering the pages with notes or references. Subsequent to the period we have now arrived at something more than human power seems required to un- ravel the torturings of the various narra- tions which prejudice, calumny, and indi- vidual interest have contributed to hand down for our observation. All we can do at present is to give warning that there is a storm of words near at hand, and (to ex- press an Irish wish) " God be with you," dear reader ! CHAPTER XVI. Ecclesiastical changes of the sixteenth century, and the commencement of their political influence upon the history of Ireland — Character and death of Henry the Eighth. We now approach a portion of our task where but little encouragement cheers the duty; for, in addition to the inseparable difficulties appertaining to its performance, there is more probability of displeasing than pleasing the large circle of readers whose approbation we desire to obtain. If this were a work intended for merely partisan purposes, its construction would be much easier ; but as we have aimed at neutrality and impartiality, we hope that our main in- tention will be accepted whenever an im- perfection is observed. Before closing the reign of Henry the Eighth, we cannot any longer postpone the consideration of the " Revolution" or " Re- formation" as different parties have called that convulsion in ecclesiastical affairs which began to exert a political influence in England, and consequently Ireland, about this time. The comprehensive and powerful mind of F. Schlegel has thus shed its light over the whole ground now under considera- tion : — " The most singular phenomenon at this momentous epoch was Henry the Eighth of England, — a prince who, while he ad- hered to the Catholic doctrines, and zeal- ously asserted them against Luther, yet severed his kingdom from the Church, declared himself its spiritual head, and by that monstrous and unchristian combina- tion of the two powers, appeared in the midst of Christendom like the Caliph of England. When, too, we take into con- sideration the private life of this prince, his endless series of divorces, and the execn- tions of his queens, — his conduct was a greater scandal to his contemporaries, and fixes a deeper stain on the history of his age, than any other earlier example in Italy or elsewhere. The executions on account of religion which took place under Henry, and which, as he was occasionally opposed to both Catholics and Protestants, affected the two parties alike, were of a peculiarly odious and blood-thirsty character. On this subject, I wish to make one observa- tion. From the connection which then sub- sisted between church and state, a case might easily arise, where a religious error WOULD become a POLITICAL CRIME."* • rhilos. of Hist.; lect. xv. 118 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1545. Schlegel thus concludes this splendid lecture : — " A vindictive criminal jurisprudence, which was then dictated by the mutual rage of contending parties, and which was made still more revolting to Christian feel- ings by the religious colouring it assumed, remains a stigma on that age, for it was the work, not of one, but of both religious parties, or to speak more properly, of members of both parties. The commencement, indeed, of this great disorder — of this great departure from the law of love — is to be found in the middle age, during the strife of exasperated factions ; but how small are those begin- nings when compared with the excesses of subsequent times ! When we hear the middle age called barbarous, we should remember, that (hat epithet applies with far greater force to the truly barbarous era of the Reformation, and the religious wars which that event produced, and which continued down to the period when a sort of moral and political pacification was re-established, apparently at least, in society and in the human mind." Taylor very ably condenses his views among the historical narrative, and has furnished a vivid picture of the time. Be- fore proceeding further, however, we have a remark of our own to make, in justice to ourselves and with deference to our readers of every class, — which is, that we are not responsible for the epithets ditTerent writers may think proper to employ in their language. We quote them for the sake of comparison, and leave them in the pos- session of the reader's judgment. Taylor remarks : — "The great moral convulsion which I chanffcd the ecclesiastical establishment throughout the north of Europe produced a new era in Irish history. Hitherto, the papal and priestly influence had been em- ployed in the support of the English govern- ment, because the interests of both were in a great degree identified ; but from hence- forth we must look upon the Romish church as the great engine of opposition to the royal power, and find, it earnestly support- ed by a people which it had long injured and insulted. The long baronial wars, and the desultory struggles of the natives, had eflTaced the memory both of the learning and piety of Ireland's national church ; the new discipline introduced by Henry the Second, had triumphed over all resistance ; and the Church had become a third power, placed between the king and people, able to command and control both. The barons and toparchs looked upon the influence of the clergy with no little jealousy. Of doctrines and dogmas they knew little ; but they knew that there had been a time when these prelates, now their rivals and compeers, depended on the chieftains for protection and support. They were, there- fore, not averse from any change by which the paramount authority of the Church might be diminished. Henry, in conse- quence, found as little trouble in introduc- ing the first principles of the Reformation in Ireland as he had experienced in Eng- land (A. D. 1536.) The parliament sum- moned by Lord Leonard Grey commenced by enacting a declaratory statute, which excluded from the privilege of voting the proctors that had been previously returned from the several diocesses ; and having thus secured a majority of the laity, pro- ceeded with all speed to the regulation of the state. The king's supremacy was for- mally established ; his marriage with Ca- tharine of Arragon declared null and void ; and the succession of the crown pronoun- ced to be in the heirs of the king and the Lady Anne. This last act had scarcely passed when the news of Anne Bullen's disgrace reached the assembly. With equal readiness they changed the inherit- ance to the descendants of Queen Jane ; and, in default of such heirs, acknowledged the king's right to dispose of the kingdom of England and the lordship of Ireland, by letters-patent or by will. " Several acts of a similar tendency were passed with little opposition ; but Lord Grey was too politic to rely on statutes alone ; he collected a numerous army, and, marching through Leinster, received not only the submission of the septs, but hosta- ges for the fidelity of the chieftains. Un- A. D. 1545.] SECOND DIVISION. 119 fortunately, he at the same time showed that the government was about to adopt a new line of policy in other matters, fully as beneficial as the religious reformation, but one for which the country was not pre- pared, and which consequently added to its distractions. Henry had firmly resolved to break down the extravagant power of the barons and toparchs, and check the in- solence of an oligarchy whose authority more than rivalled his own. With his usual impetuosity, he overlooked all the difficulties which impeded the execution of such a plan ; he pushed on the civil and religious reformation together ; and thus united in determined opposition the advo- cates of the abuses in both. The Butlers, triumphant over the Geraldines of Kildare, were the most violent antagonists of the deputy. Secretly encouraged by Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh, the most zealous adherent of Rome, they openly resisted the deputy, and even assailed him by force of arms. They were, however, too wise to undertake open rebellion ; and, while en- gaged in resisting the local government, sent over the most fulsome professions of allegiance to the court of England." Sampson's fervid eloquence has left us a thoroughly philosophical defence of Ireland, from which we make the following appli- cable extract : — " There is little of that philosophy which history should teach in those who despatch the character of a nation in unconsidered words. Human nature is everywhere the same. It is circumstances that make the difference, and these are infinite in their combinations. Untutored and unimproved, man appears at home or abroad rude and offensive ; and the most polished nations have passed through the rudest state, and having reached the highest civilization, have again retrograded. Some circum- stances are favourable to improvement, and some present insurmountable impedi- ments. "Slavery has its vices, ignorance its vices, and poverty its vices. War has its crimes ; and even peace and prosperity are not unaccompanied with evils. What- ever habitually excites the angry passions will make men fierce and reckless ; what- ever destroys confidence will make them suspicious ; ill-treatment will make them revengeful, and faith-breaking will make them crafty and deceitful : but bad example will teach every vice ; and as there is in general an aptitude in man for every vice and every virtue, that will prevail which is most called forth. The English borderers, as the Minstrel of the North has shown, became clansmen, and the ancient English settlers in Ireland became degenerate, (as it was called,) and more Irish than the Irish ; Ipsis Hihernicis Hiherniores: and so the manners of a people might be determined d priori, by knowledge of the circumstances under which they lived ; and in this is the great use of history, that by showing the causes it points to the remedies, and the past, like a monument before our eyes, in- structs us what for our own and for our country's sake we should adopt or imitate, and what to shun as foul in its inception and disastrous in its consequences. " But history to be useful must be true, and this can hardly be when rolls and records speak not truth but falsehood, and where contemporary history is written after bloody conflicts, when one party is reduced to silence, and the other, possessed of every organ of publicity, makes it to suit his own views, when the writer is he whom THE SPOIL HAS ENRICHED, and the hand that guides the pen is red with the blood of the calumniated victim. Then, VcB victis ! Then venal tongues and mer- cenary pens will herald forth the triumphs of successful crime, and the name of the patriot who felt, and dared, and bled for his country will be consigned to obloquy or to oblivion. None will then dare to breathe his name, or throw one flower on his silent grave, till time, the great detector, brings truth again to light, restores to virtue her true lustre, and to humanity the most precious of her interests, the heart-stirring and inspiring example of generous martyrs, whom in the gloomiest season of their coun- try's fortunes bribe could not tempt, nor tor- ture move, nor death's worst terrors daunt.** Once more, from the counsellor : — 120 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1545. " To be invaded without provocation, treated as enemies though veilling to be friends, held aliens in their native country, refused even naturalization in the land of their forefathers, punished by the laws of war and peace at one and the same time, (death by the sword and forfeiture by the law,) marked for destruction by deliberate plans of universal extermination from the soil that was their heritage under the hypo- critical PRETEXT OP PIETY AND CIVILIZA- TION, — all this was hard, and hard enough : but to be still put in the wrong, as though they, and not their accusors, had been the invaders and destroyers, was what human nature could not and manhood never should endure. And with all the cruel and too successful endeavours of their enemies to bring them to that state of degradation that might make them answerable to the de- scriptions first invented for them, when it is considered in what school of cruelty and corruption, and by what examples of in- iquity, their manners have been formed, their very turbulence will be found allied to the highest virtues : and it is less won- derful that they have vices, than that they have still preserved so many of their indi- genous virtues." We have presumed to abridge the next ten parasrraphs from Moore's highly useful comparison of England with Ireland at the time of the Reformation: — "A few years before the period we have now reached, that great religious revolution of which Germany had been the birth- place, extended its influence to England, and was now working a change in the condition of that kingdom. In Germany, from an early date, the struggles of the emperors with the popes had conduced to engender a feeling of ill-will towards Rome, which required but little excitement to rouse it into hostility. In the German, too, as well as in the English reformation, finance may be said to have gone hand in hand with faith : as it was the abuse of his spiritual privileges by the pope, for the purpose of fiscal exaction, that gave to Luther his first advantage ground in attack- ing the Roman see. " Nor was England wholly unprepared, by previous experience, for the assaults now made, not only on the property, but the ancient doctrines of her church, as the sect of the Lollards may be said to have anticipated the leading principles of the Reformation ; while the suppression and spoliation of the alien priories, in the reign of Henry the Fifth, and a similar plunder committed by Edward the Second, on the rich order of the Knights-Templars, had furnished precedents, though on a compara- tively small scale, for the predatory achieve- ments of the present monarch. " The first decisive step taken was in 1534, when the pope, by declaring the va- lidity of Henry's marriage with Catharine of Arragon, pronounced sentence against the union, so much desired by the king, with Anne Bullen. As this sentence was only enforced by a mere threat of excom- munication, in case the king should persist in his project of a divorce, an opening was left through which some compromise might have been effected. But the hasty act of Clement's successor, Paul the Third, pre- cluded any such chance of reconciliation. From that moment, the boundaries of spirit- ual and temporal power began, on both sides, to be violently transgressed. Not content with declaring Henry himself ex- communicated, and laying his whole king- dom under an interdict, — measures which, whatever might have been their prudence, where within the scope of his spiritual powers, — Paul, by this bull, deprived the English king of his crown ; dissolved all leagues of Catholic princes with him ; re- leased his subjects from their oaths of alle- giance, and delivered his kingdom up a prey to any invader. " While the pontiflT was thus rashly out- running the bounds of his spiritual domin- ion, the English monarch, on the other hand, self-invested with the supreme head- ship of the Church, was bringing the ter- rors of temporal punishment to enforce the new powers he had assumed, and show how expeditiously a people may be schooled into reformation by a free use of the rack, the halter, and the stake. A. D. 1545.] SECOND DIVISION. 121 "However injudicious, indeed, as re- garded mere policy, was the anathema hurled at Henry by the Roman pontiff, it is to be recollected, that intelligence had short- ly before reached Rome of the trial and exe- cution of the venerable Fisher, Archbishop of Rochester, — a crime which, deepened, as it was, by the insults cast on the aged vic- tim, was heard on the continent with indig- nation and tears. Soon after followed the sentence on the illustrious Sir Thomas More, who, because he refused to acknowl- edge that the king was supreme head of the Church, — a proposition which, three years earlier, it would have been heresy to assert, — was sentenced to die the death of a traitor; nor could all his genius and knowledge, his views extending beyond the horizon of his own times, or the playful philosophy that graced both his life and his writings obtain from the tyrant any further mark of mercy than the mere substitution, in the mode of executing him, of the axe for the halter. " Having achieved thus his double object, — supreme sovereignty over the church, as well as the state, — Henry's next step, to which the former had been but preparatory, was the spoliation of the clergy ; and what- ever wrong and ruin followed in the wake of his predatory course, no compassion is, at all events, due to the higher clergy and spiritual peers, who were themselves the obsequious abettors of all the tyrant's worst measures. Whether, like Gardiner, ad- hering still to the creed of Rome, or, like Cranmer and others, secretly reformers, the prelates of both the religious parties were equally tools of the throne ; and alike servilely lent their aid to every aggression on the rights and property of the Church. " Having now assumed to himself a sort of spiritual dictatorship, and usurped, in his own person, that privilege of infallibility against which he had rebelled, as claimed by the pope, Henry proceeded to frame and promulgate a formulary of faith for his whole kingdom, which, instead of being submitted to the boasted tribunal of private judgment, was ordered to be adopted by all implicitly, under pain of tortures and death. 16 " The king's position, in thus holding su- premacy over two rival creeds, from both of which he himself materially dissented, was such as entirely suited his tastes, both as disputant and persecutor ; and even en- abled him, as in the case of the wretched Lambert, — with whom he condescended to hold a public disputation, — first, to brow- beat his trembling antagonist in argument, and then to complete the triumph by cast- ing him into the flames. The penal power was, indeed, in his hands, a double-edged sword, for whose frightful sweep his com- plaisant legislature had provided victims from both religions. For, as all who de- nied the king's supremacy were declared traitors, and all who rejected the papal creed were pronounced heretics, the freest scope was afforded to cruelty for the alter- nate indulgence of its tastes, whether in hanging conscientious Catholics for trea- son, or sending Protestants to perish in the flames for heresy. On one occasion, sin- gled out of many, the horrible fruits of this policy were strikingly exTiibited. In the same cart were conveyed to execution three Catholics and three Protestants ; the former, for denying the king's supremacy, the latter, for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation. The Catholics were hanged, drawn and quartered, the Protes- tants burned. " Tn 1539, the last of those spiritual ordi- nances by which Henry sought to coerce the very consciences of his subjects, made its appearance, in the form of An Act for abolishing diversity of opinions ; or, as it was called, — from the savage cruelty with which its enactments were enjoined, — ^the bloody Statute of the Six Articles. This violent law, by which almost all the princi- pal Catholic doctrines were enjoined per- emptorily, under pain of death and forfeit- ure, was aimed with ominous malignity, against those of the king's own ministers, who, while appearing to adopt so obse- quiously all his views, were, he knew, se- cretly pledged disciples of the new German school of faith. Most amply, however, has this duplicity been avenged, by the lasting stain brought upon the memories of those 122 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1545. spiritual peers — Crantner himself among the number — who, affecting to be con- vinced by a speech which the king had de- livered in the course of the debate, gave their assent to this arbitrary statute and the barbarous penalties by which it was enforced. There were only two among the prelates, Latimer and Shaxton, who had the courage to refuse their sanction to this sanguinary act. "While such, in ecclesiastical affairs, was the odious policy of this monarch's reign, the spirit of its civil administration was no less subversive of all popular right and freedom. By an act, unparalleled in servility, the parliament gave to the king's proclamation the same force as to a statute enacted by their own body ; thus basely surrendering into the hands of the mon- arch the only stronghold of the nation's liberties." Our own Whelpley, a warm Protestant writer, says — " The cruelty and crimes of Henry in- creased progressively with his years. The noblest blood of England flowed to satisfy his savage barbarity of heart. ***** But we will not waste the reader's time in tracing the atrocities of a villain of the first magnitude, who, considering his superior advantages, deserves to sink into the shades of eternal infamy, ten thousand degrees be- low Nero or Domitian."* Among American writers generally, and especially since Whelpley wrote, there is a desire to consult and compare the best authorities. This is evident from the gene- ral tone of our current literature, where- ever the independence of the writers can be at all proportioned to their ability. There is an article in the North American Review, for July, 1829, almost every para- graph of which contains a volume of his- torical experience. The selections we give from it contain the essence of all the various foreign statements : — " If the student would make up a cool and deliberate judgment as to the ecclesi- astical history of England, from the Refor- mation to the great measure which has * Compend of Hiatoiy ; toI. ii p. 60. carried gladness to the hearts of all friends of the human race by the emancipation of the Catholic population, he must consult Dr. Lingard [Catholic] and Mr. Hallam [Protestant.] He must go back to the religious condition of England before the dissolution of monasteries ; not as it is represented by Protestants, but as he finds it on a fair comparison of conflicting autho- rities. He will there see that what is called the English Reformation, like all other human events, is one of a mixed character. He will see in those religious communities, which have been held up to execration, a great deal to admire and commend. The celibacy of the clergy, which has been the theme of so much reprehension, will ap- pear to be not unsusceptible of plausible defence. That time which the married clergyman devotes to the care of his family, -was supposed to be given up to the duties of charity and exercises of religion. If the testimony of Catholic writers may be relied on, these were much more regularly. per- formed than we have been led to suppose. At all events the estates which by the gifts of the pious had been appropriated to the poor through the medium of these establish- ments, were certainly in most instances devoted to their relief. Whether these estates were not much greater than was consistent with good policy, is of no mo- ment ; nothing could justify the conduct of Henry the Eighth in seizing on this pro- perty, and distributing it among his needy favourites, in violation of every principle of justice and humanity. As this measure grew out of his rapacity, so the Reforma- tion had its origin in a more unworthy motive. His resentment at the firmness of the pope, in the matter of his divorce, transported him beyond the bounds of rea- son or decency. So determined was he to bring about an entire separation from the see of Rome, that the scruples of the most conscientious and the services of the most faithful of his subjects were equally disregarded. We have had the sufferings of Protestant martyrs rung in our ears from our cradles ; but the two most illus- trious of English martyrs, the enlightened A. D. 1545.] SECOND DIVISION. 123 Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher, died rather than abjure the faith of their ances- tors at the bidding of a tyrant." " The student will not have proceeded far in this inquiry before he will begin to suspect that it is one thing to protest and another to reform. The English Reforma- tion (setting aside religious belief, with which we have nothing to do at this time, and looking at its effects on the grand object of constitutional inquiry, tolera- tion) was any thing but a change for the better." " As in the early stages of the Reforma- tion, the professors of the old and new religions pursued each other with unrelent- ing fury — so Churchman and Puritan, who had heartily concurred in the measures of severity against the Catholics, soon turned with equal rage upon each other. The result of this controversey is too well known to be dwelled upon. The Presbyterians, when they had demolished the church, found a sturdy band of Independents all ready to be persecuted ; and the Independents them- selves, who had fled to the rocky shores of New England for religious freedom, had hardly time to make a shelter in their new country when they fell foul on the refractory of their own number." " By the time the student has proceeded thus far, he will begin to ask himself why it is that the Catholic religion has been always identified with persecution, while Protest- antism and toleration have been considered synonymous. The answer seems to us a simple one : — Because the Catholic religion has been the most powerful. Wherever the power of the church and that of the state are the same, there will be intolerance. The cause lies not in this creed or that, but in man. A weak sect is always liberal, b»t we never have yet heard of any which used power with moderation. The further this inquiry is pursued, the more apparent will be the good sense which induced the enlightened framers of our constitution, to leave this matter where alone it belongs, — to the conscience of each individual. If there is any thing of which the United States may justly boast, it is that they HAVE BROUGHT THIS GREAT aUESTION TO THE TEST OF EXPERIMENT WITH THE MOST TRI- UMPHANT SUCCESS."* The necessity of keeping to our main subject precludes us from any further dis- quisitions upon the general ground of the " Reformation," and having already laid before the reader as much argumentative matter as the present circumstances will permit, we now proceed to an examination of Henry's policy towards Ireland. It will be seen that, as usual in times of English confusion and difficulty, the ruling policy of government in Ireland was deci- dedly peaceable and conciliatory during the reign of Henry the Eighth. In Ireland, the only test or symbol of the new orthodoxy required, as yet, from either ecclesiastics or laymen, was the taking of the oath binding them to acknowledge the king's supremacy ; and it may be presum- ed that neither by the clergy nor laity was this substitution of the supremacy of the crown for that of the pope considered as a change seriously affecting their faith, since almost all the native lords and clergy came forward to confirm their allegiance by this form of oath. If, in place of a mere ac- knowledgment of the king's supremacy, — a claim, the extent of which neither the chiefs nor perhaps the clergy themselves clearly understood, — the renunciation of some tenet or observance endeared and hallowed by old tradition and daily habit, had been demanded as the pledge of ortho- doxy, the same tranquil submission would not have attended the first advances of the reformed creed. Without pausing, however, to consider what were the causes of Ireland's exemp- tion, at this period, from that dragooning process of conversion to which England was so brutally subjected, suffice it to say, that such, at this time, was the comparative state of the two kingdoms ; and that what- ever of peace and religious tolerance those islands could boast had all taken refuge on the Irish shore. In 1538, while the scaf- folds of England were reeking with Chris- tain blood, and men were expiring by a * Art. X. — CoDBtitational History. IM HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1545. slow fire, with the words ** none but Christ, none but Christ," upon their hps, not only were the axe, the faggot, and halter, left entirely without employ in Ireland, but the harshest punishment we find inflicted for religious offences, during that period, was the commitment of the delinquents to Dublin Castle. Towards the Irish chieftains, there now appeared a prospect, not merely of mercy, but of favours and honours, at the hands of royalty, which wanted no further induce- ment to draw them in that direction ; and, throughout the remaining years of this reign, little else is left to the historian than to pass in review the different chiefs who, with an almost lavish generosity, were in the same breath pardoned and rewarded, and some of whose names still stand memo- rials of this princely policy, among the most shining and honourable titles of the Irish peerage. The accession of O'Donnell to the ranks of the loyal was hailed with welcome by the government ; and, even before the ad- hesion of O'Neill, we find Cusacke, the speaker of the Irish house of commons, proudly boasting that, as long as O'Brien, O'Donnell, Mac- William, and the Earl of Desmond, were true to the king, there was nothing to be feared from all the rest of Ireland. Morough O'Brien, whose constant en- croachments on the country eastward of the Shannon had kept the government of the Pale in continual alarm, was created Earl of Thomond for life, with the dignity of Baron of Inchiquin descendible to his heirs male ; while Donough, his nephew, as a reward for his unvarying attachment to the English, was made Baron of Ibrack- an, and, after the decease of his uncle. Earl of Thomond for life. On another equally active chief, O'Connor, there had been, as early as 1537, some intention of bestowing the title of Baron of Oflfaly. But, though, at a later period, the king gave formally his assent to this grant, it was never carried into effect. Mac-William Eighter, of Clanricarde, the captain of the Anglo-Irish clan of the De Burghs, had, on the deposition of the former Mac- William by Lord Leonard Grey, been raised to that name and seign- iory, in his place. This lord was, by the natives, called Negan, or the Beheader, from his having constructed a mound of the heads of men slain in battle, and then covered it over with earth. On making his submission, early in 1541, he had peti- tioned the crown for a grant, or rather restoration, of the earldom heretofore en- joyed by his family ; and also a confirma- tion, by letters-patent, of all the possessions which had descended to him by inheritance. It was supposed that he had counted upon being made Earl of Connaught ; but against this the council strongly gave their advice, reminding his majesty that the province of Connaught formed a fifth part of his Irish dominions. It was therefore fixed that he was to be created Earl of Clanricarde, and Baron of Dunkellin, while his relative, Mac- Gill Patrick, was to be made Baron of Up- per Ossory. O'Neill, although the last to tender his allegiance, was the very first to hasten to avail himself of its fruits, set sail, in 1542, accompanied by Hugh O'Cervallan, Bishop of Clogher, for England ; and waiting upon the king at Greenwich, made a surrender to him of all his territory, and agreed to renounce the name of O'Neill. A few days after, both name and estates were regranted to him, by letters-patent, together with the title of Earl of Tyrone. In 1543, in the queen's closet at Green- wich, which was " richly hung with cloth of arras, and well strewed with rushes," for the occasion, took place the ceremony of creating O'Brien Earl of Thomond, and conferring upon Mac-William— or, as he had been styled since his submission. Lord Fitz-William — the name and honour of Earl of Clanricarde. At the same time, Donough O'Brien, who was attended, as were probably all the other lords, by an interpreter, was made Baron of Ibrackan. By a very thoughtful act of munificence, the king granted also to each of these no- blemen a house and lands, near Dublin, for the keeping of their retinues and horses, A. D. 1545.] SECOND DIVISION. 125 whenever they resorted thither to attend parliaments and councils. In allowing full credit to the English monarch for the mild and tolerant character of his policy towards Ireland, it must, at the same time, be recollected, that the fa- cility with which all the great Irish leaders agreed to reject the pope's supremacy, and acknowledge the king their spiritual head, removed all grounds for any such sanguin- ary persecution as raged at the same period on the other side of the channel. Not con- tent with his formal renouncement of Rome, O'Brien, in a paper entitled "The Irish- men's Requests," demanded that "there should be sent over some well-learned Irishmen, brought up in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, not. being infected with the poison of the Bishop of Rome, and that having been first approved by the king's majesty, they should then be sent to preach the word of God in Ireland. The Irish lords, too, following the example of the grandees of England, readily allowed themselves to be consoled for whatever sacrifice they had made in deserting their ancient faith, by the rich share they gained of the plunder which the confiscation of its venerable establishments afforded. One of the requests made by O'Brien, previously to visiting the English court, was, that the grant he had received from the Irish coun- cil, of certain abbeys, lately suppressed, should be confirmed to him by the king, with the addition also of a grant of the house of Observants, at Ennis. To Don- ough O'Brien was given the abbey of El- lenegrane, a small island in the mouth of the Shannon, together with the moiety of the abbey of Clare ; and among the rewards of Mac-Gill Patrick's new loyalty, were the house of the late friars of Hagheyo and the suppressed monastery of Hagmacarte. But, whatever may be thought of those individual chiefs who were now so readily converted from rebels into apostates and courtiers, the wise policy of the govern- ment, in thus diverting into a safe and le- gitimate channel the wild ambition of such powerful subjects, and producing, by con- ciliation, a state of peace which force and repression had vainly for ages endeavoured to effect, cannot be too highly praised, whether for its immediate effects, or the lasting and salutary example it left behind. Although to Henry himself no small share of the honour of that policy is due, un- doubtedly to St. Leger belongs the far higher praise of originating this system of government, and continuing manfully, and even importunately, to press the adoption of it upon the king. Before closing our account of Henry the Eighth, we should mention that by his un- controlled lust of sway, the complete union of Wales with England, the conversion of the English power in Ireland into a king- dom, and the title of " Majesty" annexed to the English monarchs, all date from this reign. It is quite time now that this monster of iniquity should be removed from the scene. We therefore make him over to Mac-G«o- ghegan, who says : — " Previous to his death, Henry the Eighth became so large and unwieldly that it was necessary to invent a machine to change or move him from one place to another. He sank under the weight of his own body, which had become bloated from intemperance, the usual companion of lust. His body might, with propriety, be termed the sepulchre of himself, in which his plea- sures and disappointments had entombed along with him, his religion, his conscience, his glory, and every sentiment of honour, justice, and humanity." Then follows the learned abbe's sum- mary of Henry's character, which we have preferred to all others for its comprehen- siveness, brevity, and impartiality : — " It is diflicult to delineate with accuracy the character of this unhappy prince : his portrait varies according to the different dispositions of the historians who have written on the subject. The partisans of the Reformation consider it a merit in him to have shaken off the pope's authority, and thereby established the new religion. His most zealous panegyrists, however, admit that he was addicted to many vices. In truth, the different opinions of writers, with 126 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. respect to religion and the legitimate suc- cession of kings, have cast so many doubts on historical facts, from the period of the pretended divorce of Henry and Catharine of Arragon to the present time, that it is almost impossible to discriminate between truth and falsehood. " Notwithstanding, however, the various opinions of writers on Henry's character, it may be affirmed that he was a bad king, a bad husband, and a bad Christian. A tyrant is a bad king. Henry spent the first eighteen years of his reign at plays, mas- querades, and nocturnal amusements. He soon squandered the eighteen hundred thou- sand pounds sterling, which, through the avarice of his father, Henry the Seventh, he had found in the treasury on his acces- sion to the throne ; so that, though possess- ing more considerable revenues, he found himself more indigent than any of his pre- decessors. He, however, supplied the de- ficiency by tyranny : the immense wealth of the monasteries, colleges, and hospitals, which were suppressed ; the silver orna- ments and vessels of these houses ; the spoils of Cardinal Wolsey, and Cromwell, his vicar-general ; the estates of several noblemen of the first distinction, which were confiscated for his use, and the large sums that were extorted from the clergy, under pretext of the praemunire law, in- creased the king's exchequer to a consider- able extent, but were not sufficient to sup- port his profligacy. He levied exorbitant taxes upon his people ; raised extensive loans on his privy-seal ; and then procured acts of parliament to annul his engage- ments, and defraud his creditors of their right. Finding the wealth of the kingdom entirely exhausted, he caused the money to be recoined, and made spurious, to such a degree, that, to the shame of the English nation, it was not current in foreign coun- tries, by which means the merchant lost his credit abroad. In Ireland, for want of gold and silver, the king ordered that copper money should be made use of, to the great detriment and displeasure of the public. " Of Henry's six wives, two were re- pudiated, two were beheaded, and one died in childbed ; the survivor, in all like- lihood, only escaped a cruel fate by the sudden death of the prince ; all which facts fully prove him to have been the worst of husbands. "In fine, Henry is represented as a cruel and profligate prince. Neither the most depraved of the Roman emperors, (says Higgins,) nor even Christiern of Den- mark, Don Pedro of Castile, nor Vasilowich of Russia, surpassed him in cruelty and debauchery. This writer, indeed, like Sir Walter Raleigh, affirms, that were the por- trait of tyranny lost, the original might be found in the life of Henry the Eighth. He was a monster of humanity, that never spared man in his anger, nor woman in his lust ; and from the consciousness of his crimes, he died in utter despair." Perhaps, however, we had better allow a countryman of Henry the Eighth's to say the " last words" over the deceased mon- arch. Hear Cobbett : — " Thus expired, in the year 1547, in the fifty-sixth year of his age and the thirty- eighth of his reign, the most unjust, hard- hearted, meanest, and most sanguinary ty- rant that the world had ever beheld, whether Christian or heathen. That England which he found in peace, unity, plenty, and hap- piness, he left torn by factions and schisms, — her people wandering about in beggary and misery. He laid the foundation of immorality, dishonesty and pauperism, all which produced an abundant harvest in the reigns of his unhappy, barren, mis- chievous and miserable children, with whom, at the end of a few years, his HOUSE AND HIS NAME. WERE EXTINGUISHED FOR EVER." The most depraved being that ever heard of his horrible crimes cannot con- template his character without a shudder, and the most charitable frame of mind only could indulge the hope that belongs to a Christian's wish, — Requiescat in pace ! A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 127 CHAPTER XVII. A digression on digressions — Continental progress of the " Reformation" — Catholic and Protestant evidence regarding the religion which Henry the Eighth thought proper to oppose — Leo in Italy and Luther in Germany preparing the way for Henry's changes in England and Ireland. In works confessedly interested and par- tial, so many admirable arguments have already been written, ably supported by all the brilliancy of scholastic disputation, that we have no wish now to take up a glove, (whetli,er right or left,) in the arena of con- troversy upon the subject of the civil and ecclesiastical changes which began to show political effects in the sixteenth century. We would rather employ ourselves (step- ping softly with roselted slippers) in point- ing out the banners, translating the devices, and recording the achievements perform- ed ; and if, in so doing, we should advance the noble cause of human improvement, gain the approbation of our fellow-Chris- tians, or win the patronage of " ladies' eyes," our reward will be as gratifying as it could possibly be to the most successful armour-clanking champion on the field. In the first place, our duty seems to re- quire that we should show what was the religion of England and Ireland prior to the sixteenth century. As this is not the sub- ject for an opponent's evidence, we have extracted the following from the " Dublin Review," the most eminent Catholic au- thority in the English language : — "Whatever ills afflicted the fair realm of England from her conversion to Christi- anity under St. Augustine down to the fatal epoch of 1534, were most assuredly not at- tributable to the religion which, during that long and interesting period of her history, grew and flourished upon her soil in so singular a degree ; for that was a religion more peculiarly adapted to bring a blessing upon the land, — * a vision fair of peace and rest ;' making it ' a land of hills and plains expecting rain from heaven, and which the Lord God for ever visited, keeping His eyes for ever on it, from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof;'* devoting her whole substance in this, to the interests • Deut xi. 11, 12. of a future world, and consecrating her whole self, both spiritual and temporal, to those hallowed purposes. " For, in the first place, it was a religion which ever made the Church her home- stead. There she enthroned her God in splendid pageantry, collecting all her means to honour Him whom she adored, and at- tracting to His worship all the people over whom she ruled. There was enticing imagery for the young, and solemn service for the old ; the note of sorrow or of tri- umph in her voice, the sign of mourning or of gladness on her altars, the daughter of Sion robed in • the garments of her glory,' or clad in the weeds of her affliction, as the season suggested ; the emblem of redemp)- tion elevated on high, that while they gazed upon the sad symbol of their faith it might excite compunction ; and with compunc- tion, hope ; and with hope, charity. More elevated still, they beheld the representa- tion of the last and awful doom, with Him, who was crucified for the sins of men, coming in great majesty and power to judge V mankind by the standard of the cross, attended by choirs of angels to min- ister to His will, with companies of prophets and armies of martyrs to attest the judg- ment, and the whole host of heaven to do homage to His wisdom and His justice ; the blessed on the right and the reprobate on the left, a gleam of eternal brightness indi- cating the reward of the one, and the sul- phurous flame and tormenting spirits the portion of the other. But this was not the only instruction which the pious votary might read in the decoration of the material temple. If his soul were oppressed, or his eyes wearied by the contemplation of this awful scene, and he sought relief by cast- ing them on the ground, there was still a lesson ready for him, for they but rested on the memorials of the dead. If he were a sinner, he was again struck with terror ; if he were looking with pious expectation for what was to come, he read his hope and his consolation, for he knew that if death were the destruction of the wicked it was also the resurrection of the just. Around him he beheld depictured the whole 128 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. story of revelation, to elevate the mind by teaching it the dignity of a Christian, and the value of an immortal soul ; the end for which it was created, and the price paid for its redemption. There were all appli- ances to excite devotion, and every requi- site to satisfy it, — the daily sacrifice, the varied service, the frequent prayer, the priest of God to distribute his graces, to give strength to the weak and fresh vigour to the strong, to relieve the penitent of his burden at the foot of the cross, and impress the judgments of heaven on the obdurate sinner, — to afford consolation to the sor- rowful, courage to the timid, and assurance to the diffident ; in fine, through the pow- ers conferred upon her ministers by her divine Founder, as the vicegerents of Him who said, ' Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will ease and re- fresh you ;' dispensing relief to all the mis- eries, temptations, and afflictions with which the poor wayfarer in this valley of tears is sure to be tried, bewildered, or oppressed. " It was the religion which, from St. Augustine to Sir Thomas More, - never omitted to put forth the most splendid ex- amples of the noblest virtues; of the most steadfast faith, the most heroic courage, and the most ardent charity; leaving monu- ments of zeal to attest the disinterested and benignant piety of men who enthroned the covenant of God in the heart, and gave it dominion over the passions. " It was the only religion which ever possessed within herself such incentives to virtue, or which provided such safeguards against vice ; which ever realized the coun- sels of the gospel, and of frail, sinful crea- tures, made men * rich in virtue,' — burying them in peace, but giving them a name which liveth unto generation and genera- tion,* and sending their souls to that blessed abode where *God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes : and death shall be no more, — nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, — for the former things are passed away.' " It was the religion which, even • in the darkest times, was ever found to be fight- * Eccles. xliv. 6, 14. ing the cause of truth and right against sin, to be a witness for God, or defending the poor, or purifying or reforming her own functionaries, or promoting peace, or maintaining the holy faith committed to her ;'* and it was the only religion that ever put forth all her energies, or combated successfully in such a cause. " And thus it was that the ancient reli- gion of the realm of England covered the land with consecrated spots, where men were separated from this troubled world, and carried into serene and tranquil re- gions before their time — where they es- caped from the thorny desert to dwell among enamelled meads— from the conta- gious atmosphere of every vice to the salubrious abodes of every virtue. They ' who were better than the world in their youth, or weary of it in their age ;' they whose sensitive nature rendered them alike incapable of resisting either the soft breeze or the rude blast, whose sympathizing ten- derness ever melted before the feelings, or whose unresisting timidity ever yielded before the violence of others ; they whose iniquities sat heavier on them than they could bear to carry amid the haunts of sin, and who must needs lay them at the foot of the cross ; they whose pilgrimage of toil and mourning had so bruised the heart that it could alone be healed within the balmy influence of the cloister, because there alone the voice of God could reach it amid the sacred stillness, converting its sorrows into love, — all found their solace and their joy within these holy precincts. " There, too, it was, that the apostolic man was schooled in the science of the saints, till he went forth as the herald of salvation on his triumphant course, con- quering sin and death, enlarging the boun- daries of faith, and establishing the king- dom of God upon earth. " There it was that the otorms of a thou- sand years swept unheeded over the virtue which required the protection of the sanc- tuary to bring it to maturity, and where alone the sublime perfection of the gospel could be attained: there, that men were * British Critic. A. D. 1647.] SECOND DIVISION. 129 congregated together to pray for the sins of their fellow-men — 'for a world which forgets to pray for itself* — and to invoke the blessings of God upon his fallen creatures. " There it was that the arts and scien- ces found their cradle and their refuge in a rude and troubled age : there the lives of the saints were chronicled, and the history of passing events recorded that otherwise had been lost in oblivion. " There it was that the word of God was treasured up, and explored for the benefit of those who had less learning and less leisure ; and there, even, that the classic lore of antiquity was preserved for the amusement and instruction of after genera- tions, till the arts of more modem days were to place them beyond all future dan- ger; then, as now, 'a cloister without a library was said to be like a castle without an armoury.' " There it was that the renunciation of the superfluities of life was reckoned an honourable and meritorious sacrifice, and men were content to be abstemious them- selves to enjoy the means of gratifying the necessities of others ; for there the hand of charity gave out the daily pittance to the destitute, without any offensive inquiry into the cause of a distress the presence of which was alone a sufficient recommenda- tion for relief. The spiritual, too, kept pace with the corporal works of mercy, and while food for the body was distribu- ted without, food for the soul was abun- dantly supplied within. " It was the monastic rule that enabled the possessors of the abbey lands to let them on easy terms, which, together with the hospitality and charity which they practised, served as a check on the rapa- city or cruelty of the feudal baron ; and, as a consequence, a prosperous tenantry and a happy people were sure to grow up around the sanctuary. The same benefits were conferred by the property of the pre- lates and dignitaries of the Church, so that it became a proverb * that it was better to be governed by a bishop's crozier than by a monarch's sceptre;' and such was the condition of about a fourth part of the 17 kingdom, from which not an eighth proba- bly of the revenue was collected. Yet another blessing did they bring with them, that when war and misery had well nigh desolated the land, through the reckless ambition of some daring noble, or the rough tyranny of some lawless sovereign, these • cities of refuge' usually escaped the general wreck, and remained as nurseries of virtue and of learning for the regenera- tion of the people; while, if the Church also fell into disorder or decay, from simi- lar causes or from other untoward circum- stances, it was the monasteries that ever furnished the materials for its reform. " Such were among the blessings which the religion of our ancestors conferred upon the country. But there were others still : let us take them discursively, as they pre- sent themselves to the mind, without order or method. " It was the only religion which has ever really dedicated to God what belongs to God, lavishing the richest produce both of art and nature in His service, and making all things subservient to her sacred and exalted destinies ; adorning the world with temples for His worship, which, having taken centuries to erect — and as many cen- turies having since passed over them — still stand to excite the admiration of all lovers of the beautiful and sublime, and to attest the superior zeal and piety inspired by the ancient faith. " It was the religion under which Eng- land was governed without a standing army, a star-chamber, a national debt, or poor-law unions ; under which all the best and proudest institutions of the country arose and flourished, and attained maturity ; which freed the nation from the tyrannical exactions of the forest laws ; and which won, and then consecrated by her sanction, the Great Charter of our liberties. " It was the only religion that ever really provided, without any state assistance, for the education of all classes — of the poor as well as of the rich — in school, in convent, or in college. " It was the only religion that has ever filled the hospitals with unpaid attendants. 130 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. who, actuated solely by the charity of the gospel, have brought every virtue of the gospel with them, and supplied with a kind heart and a devout zeal the best remedies for the body, because administered in con- junction with the best medicines for the soul. " It was the first religion that ever advo- cated the cause of the slave in the face of power and interest, which broke down the wall of separation between the singular and even antagonist diversities of the human race, and placed * the son of the stranger' upon an equality with the more favoured and cherished of her children. It was the only religion that ever established a com- pany for the redemption of captives, even at the risk of their own liberty, and which, after an honourable existence of six hundred years, still survives the occasion for which it was created ; the only religion in which piety and humanity have united to conquer the repugnance of our nature, and to con- gregate men of feeling hearts and enlight- ened minds within the dark caverns of the unhealthy mine, burying themselves alive within the bowels of the earth, in the sub- lime exercise of corporal and spiritual works of mercy to the wretched inmates of those dreary abodes, whom the avarice of their fellow-men had condemned to this service of privation and misery. " It was the only religion that ever threw her mantle over the persecuted, the forlorn, and the unfortunate. Her voice was ever raised in their defence, and her laws were ever devised for their protection. She never failed to provide shelter and hospi- tality for the houseless traveller ; the way- faring man of business, the prince, the pre- late, and the pilgrim, all equally partook of the charity which the pious care of the faithful of old had so munificently placed at the disposal of men bound by the most solemn compact to do good service to all comers ; while the house of God, which they tenanted and served more especially, stood open to yield its consolations where more was lacked than mere bodily rest and refreshment, — that which might satisfy the cravings of the soul, heal the scathed spirit, and ease the burdened conscience. Even the most bold and indifferent, in those ' ages of faith,' muttered a hasty * Pater' and *Ave! and crossed themselves before they left the hospitable roof, and set forth upon their perilous way ; while the sober and thought- ful made their more fervent orisons at the altar of God, offered up their griefs and their repentance, their hopes and their sup- plications, to the avenger of evil and the re- warder of good, the refuge of the weak and the comforter of the afflicted, that their pangs might be assuaged and their fears dis- pelled, claiming the protection of Heaven in the true feeling of a Christian, against the wiles of Satan and the machinations of wicked men; but more especially against the hazards with which those devout yet troubled times too often beset the path of the wanderer in this wilderness of sin and sorrow. There was a community of senti- ment also between the casual guest and his hospitable hosts, which imparted such a consciousness of sympathy in all his feel- ings as infinitely to heighten the boon con- ferred upon him — which indeed seemed to be rather the immediate providence of Heaven than the extorted charity of man, — and sent the pilgrim on his way with a hymn of gratitude to the Giver of all good gifts, and of increased confidence in his favour. " It was the only religion that ever con- secrated matrimony with a sacrament, or honoured celibacy as one of the first of virtues, remembering that the throne of the Lamb is surrounded by spotless virgins, who enjoy the blessed privilege of waiting on Him wherever he goeth. " It was the only religion that ever peopled the desert with anchorites, or filled the cloister with penitents from among the gay and dissolute ; the only one that ever gained over a barbarous people to civilization and Christianity ; the only one that ever sent a tide of devoted war- riors to stem the torrent of an infidel fana- ticism which threatened to devastate the whole inheritance of Christ ; the only one that ever converted a romantic lover into a true knight, or of a fanatic made a saint. " It was the religion that made Godfrey A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 131 de Bouillon exclaim, in the gratitude of his triumph, that ' he would never wear a crown of gold in that city wherein the Saviour of the world had worn a crown of thorns;' which induced Rodolph of Hapsburg, the sceptre not being at hand, to seize the crucifix, saying, * This is my sceptre, I'll have no other ;' and when Gregory the Seventh thus expressed him- self on his death-bed, (surrounded as he was by every worldly sorrow,) * Because I loved justice, and hated iniquity, therefore do I die in exile,* that inspired a bystander to comfort him by the reply, ' Sir, there is no place of exile for you, for the Lord hath given you the nations for your inheritance, and the boundaries of the earth for the limits of your dominion.* " It was the only religion that ever knit all hearts together in blessed unity, which restrained the unlawful wanderings of the human mind, stifled schism in its birth, re- pressed error, reduced the loftiest spirits as well as the meanest understandings to a just obedience, established a happy sym- pathy between the greatest and the least, placed the prince and the peasant side by side on the bare pavement of her splendid temples, elevating the hopes of the one and depressing the pride of the other, and in- structing both in the wholesome truth that they worshipped a God who was no respec- ter of persons. It was the only religion that, by sound of anointed bell, has ever invited the poor husbandman to prayer before the rising of the sun, and has as- sembled him again at the termination of his labours, when crowds of pious and believing souls came to sanctify the de- clining day by filling the house of God with their holy chaunt, and proffering their sup- plications to heaven for protection till the coming morning. " It was the only religion that ever re- spected the censures of the Church, and exhibited to the Christian world the spec- tacle of a sovereign prince remaining for three hundred years without sepulture — as did Raymond of Toulouse — because he died under the ban of a spiritual attainder, the open enemy of God ; the only one that ever produced a prelate bold enough to close the doors of the sanctuary against imperial majesty, considering even the presence of an emperor — the fountain of honour, the anointed of God, and the de- positary of his power — as a profane in- trusion, when excluded by his crimes, from the communion of the faithful. " It was the only religion which, at the voice of outraged virtue, ever shut her tem- ples, hushed her bells, and made a whole people mourn in sackcloth and ashes, till the sins of their brethren were expiated in repentance; the only one that ever brought an oflfending sovereign to kneel in sorrow and humiliation as a suppliant for pardon at the feet of the common father of the faithful, the common protector of afflicted humanity. " It was the only religion in which the rights of the people were ever respected, and in which, for ten centuries and more, the canonical law or imprescriptible usage required their consent and co-operation in the election of bishops to govern the Church of God, and even in the appointment of the sovereign pontiflf himself; and such was the confidence reposed in their decision, that ' vox populi, vox Def became a pro- verb ; and this honourable privilege might have remained in their possession to this day, had not the vices with which they became infected, and the new order of things which grew up within the republic of Christendom, justly deprived them of it. **It was the only religion that could ever boast of the miraculous attestation of Heaven in its favour, and which, in every age, has gone forth, and the signs have fol- lowed, casting out devils, speaking strange tongues, healing the sick, curing the lame, giving sight to the blind, and raising the dead to life. ** It was the only religion that has ever sung the song of triumph over the solitary grave of a martyred missionary among the trackless deserts of the New World ; and which, imparting fresh energies to their zeal, has carried the messengers of God with an heroic perseverance onward in their enterprise, till after incredible efforts and 133 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1647. sacrifices, they at length reduced within the boundaries of civilization whole tribes of savage wanderers, almost as impatient of control as the wild beasts of the forests in which they dwelled, and converted them into a Christian republic, the most perfect that ever graced the annals of the human race. " It was the only religion that has ever carried the glad tidings of a crucified Re- deemer among the empires of the east ; among a people as singular for their civili- zation as for their obstinate repugnance to the light of the gospel, and where religion, after struggling under alternate destinies for three hundred years, fertilizing the fields of Christianity with the blood of one hundred thousand martyrs, — numbers of them im- molated under the most excruciating tor- ments, — still presents attractions to the pious zeal of the missionary, who at the peril of his life, brings succour to the persecuted and dispirited remnant of what were once so many flourishing proviHces of the king- dom of God upon earth.* ^ " It was the only religion, ^ich, by its love of labour, and its patient industry, has ever converted an arid desert into a fruit- ful garden, and reared the standard of the cross among the mountain tops — that cross, • whose breadth is charity, whose length is eternity, whose height is almighty power, and whose depth is unsearchable wisdom,* — hallowing even the rugged sum- mits of some desolate rock by transform- ing it into the abode of piety and virtue ; or, which, planting the sacred emblem of our redemption along the common thorough- fare, invited the weary pilgrim to offer up his sorrows on the altar of Cavalry, to drop a tear of compunction for his share in that tragedy of woe, to slake his thirst at that fountain of life, and gather strength and joy through the merits and sufferings of his Saviour. "Il was the only religion that ever en- * In 1596, there were in China about five hundred tbouaand Cbristiaas, with more>thaa two hundred aud fifty churches ; and in Japan, in 17 15, three hundred thouEand Christians, with three hundred churches ; living witnesses of the indefatigable labours of the Do- miuicaoB, the FronciscaQS and the Jesuits. listed a society of volunteers in the cause of charity, to do daily duty amid the dreary regions of the Alps, within the limits of eternal snows and incessant storm, beyond the habitations of man, and the boundary line of vegetation, — a society which a thousand years of ceaseless labour has not lobbed of the fresh vigour of its youth, and i^hich still affords shelter and protection from the dangers of those inhospitable climes to all who need it, let their creed or colour be what it may. " It was the religion which alone has adorned the calendar with its thousand saints, — with an Anthony, a Benedict, a Bruno, a Bernard, a Dominick, a Francis, an Ignatius, a Xavier, a Vincent of Paula, a Borromeo, a Francis of Sales, and Philip Neri, men who are despised and dishonour- ed by the world, but who, if we estimate greatness by the only true criterion, — the benefits conferred upon mankind, — are in- finitely superior to those who contemn them : so that well may we apply to them and to ourselves those prophetic words of wisdom — ' We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour : Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, aiW their lot is among the saints !' , " It was the religion in which * the cove- nant of the priesthood' has alone remained for ever in one unbroken line, verifying the promises of God to Peter, and, through Peter, to Peter's successors, * Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre- vail against it ; and to thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven : whatever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ;' and then confirming the everlasting compact by the assurance that 'heaven and earth should pass away, but that His word should not pass.' Look at this sin- gular verification of his great covenant in that eternal and mysterious city, which, serving for a thousand years as the capital of the last and most powerful of the five great empires, was appointed also as the spot wherein the grain of mustard-seed A. D. 1647.] SECOND DIVISION. 133 was to take root and grow into a tree, which, nourished by the blood of martyrs, soon covered with its shadow all the limits of the earth ; a capital which, after the lapse of a few ages, in which the rising religion had to struggle for its ascendancy with all the powers and principalities of this world of pomp and vanity, and of the world of darkness and of Satan, was trans- ferred to the sovereignty of him whose only claim was his rightful heritage from the poor fisherman Peter, who, in the pride of Rome's imperial sway, had been barba- rously and ignominiously crucified as a worthless and ignorant impostor. The heir of Peter, he was the only lawful de- positary of the 'perpetual covenant,' and which, for its blessed fulfilment under an over-ruling and almighty Providence, he has faithfully transmitted to every succeed- ing generation ; while the covenant itself, in eternal memorial of its divine origin, like that to which it had succeeded, written, as it were, upon the tablets of heaven by the finger of God in the great cathedral of Christendom, * the house of prayek for ALL nations'* hangs suspended over the tomb of Peter, — over the very relics of the simple unlettered fisherman, to whom that covenant was made, with all the splendour of art and nature collected around to hon- our and adorn the most gorgeous temple ever erected to God, or the most superb monument ever raised over the remains of man ! Can any one doubt, then, of the ac- complishment of the prophetic pledge ? Behold it verified to the letter in the ma- terial Church ; while history and the attest- ing faith of one hundred and fifty millions of Christians dispersed throughout the uni- verse, yet all professing allegiance to this same successor of Peter, — with those who first afflicted her bowing down to her, and those who slandered her worshipping the steps of her feet, and calling the city of Peter the city of the Lord, — all proclaim its verification in the spiritual Tf We now proceed to examine the aspect of real life furnished by the state of Rome and the posture of ecclesiastical affairs. * Isaiah Wi. 7. t See Isaiah Iv. 14, alias 13. To commence then, with the pope, Leo the Tenth. Luther thus addresses him : — ** Among the monsters of this age against which I am waging war for now three years, my thoughts revert to you, O holy father ! I protest, and I cannot mistake in this protestation, that never have I said or writ one word against thee. * * * * You, Leo, you are a lamb in the midst of wolves ; a Daniel amid lions ; an Ezekiel among scorpions." This is the language of Luther; and Erasmus thus writes to a friend : — "Never shall I forget the grace, the beauty, the elegant manners of Leo the Tenth; they at once struck me with ad- miration ; his noble and lofty bearing, the blandness with which he received me, the indescribable charm of his conversation. The treasures which Plato required of a prince shone forth in him — wisdom and goodness. Others are distinguished for feats of glory and of arms ; to Leo belongs the happiness of peace and the triumph of the arts, — glories which never cost one tear or sigh." The " London Quarterly Review," while noticing Ranke's "Popes of Rome, their Church and State during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries," has observed — "Leo possessed an exquisite taste, and was passionately fond of music ; and Leo, the most fortunate of the popes, (as Ranke observes,) was not least fortunate in his early death, before these splendid scenes were disturbed by the sad reverses which were in some respects their inevitable consequence. " Had Rome been merely the metropolis of the Christian world, from which emana- ted the laws and the decrees which were to regulate the religious concerns of man- kind, this classical and epicurean character of the court would have been of less con- sequence; but it was likewise the centre of confluence to the whole Christian world. Ecclesiastics, or those destined for the ecclesiastical profession, and even religious men of all classes, undertook pilgrimages to Rome from all parts of Europe, To such persons, only accustomed to the rude 134 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. and coarse habits which then generally pre- vailed in the northern nations — to men per- haps trained in the severest monastic rules, who had been taught to consider the au- sterest asceticism as the essence, the perfec- tion of Christianity — what must have been their impressions on entering this splendid and festive city, on beholding the father of the faithful in the midst of his sumptuous entertainments, amid all the luxuries of modern art, with heathen idols in his cham- bers, and heathen poets superseding the study of St. Augustine and St. Bernard ? No doubt much relaxation of morals pre- vailed in this gay and intellectual court- circle, though Leo at least respected out- ward decency ; yet it must be remembered how thoroughly the whole city had been vitiated by Alexander the Sixth ; and since the davs of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, the atmosphere of Rome had not been too favourable to matronly virtue. No doubt much freedom of opinion was permitted among the scholars of the day. The philosophy as well as the art of Greece had revived in all its captivating influence ; but its attempts to harmonize with Chris- tianity did not meet with equal success. The priesthood itself had imbibed irreli- gious or sceptical opinions." Ranke says, in relation to Luther's first visit to Rome, in 1510; — three years before Leo ascended the papal throne : — " How astonished was the youthful Lu- ther when he visited Italy ! At the mo- ment, at the instant, that the offering of the mass was finished, the priests uttered words of blasphemy which vitiated its value. It was the tone of good society to question the evidences of Christianity. No one passed (says P. Ant. Bandino) for an ac- complished man who did not entertain erroneous opinions about Christianity. At the court, the ordinances of the Catholic Church and passages of holy writ were spoken of onFy in a jesting manner — the mysteries of the faith were despised." Upon these evident allusions to "good society" the "London Quarterly" seems roused to observe — " To the coarse and barbarous minds of the less-civilized nations of Europe the ele> gances and refinements of the Roman court would be no less offensive and irreligious than their laxity of morals and belief. •Luxury* is the indefinite and comprehen- sive term of reproach with which the vulgar, in all ages and all classes, brand whatever is beyond their own tastes and habits. In nothing are men more intolerant than as to the amusements and less serious pursuits of others. The higher orders mingle up with their disgust at the boorish and noisy pas- times of the lower a kind of latent feeling of their immorality; the lower revenge themselves by considering as things abso- lutely sinful the more splendid entertain- ments and elegant festivities of their supe- riors in wealth and refinement. All think they have a right to demand from the clergy an exact conformity to their own prejudices with regard to their less severe and even their intellectual occupations ; and the priesthood, which is, as a body, far in advance of the national standard in re- finement and in elegance of manners and in taste, had already lost its hold on the general feeling. Hence Leo the Tenth and his court, even if its morals had been less questionable — its philosophy more in unison with the doctrines of Christianity — and if sacred subjects had been constantly treated with the most reverential decency — would have stood in such direct oppo- sition to the tastes, habits, and manners of the rest of Europe, as scarcely to have es- caped the suspicion of an irreligious and antichristian tendency. As it was, the intelligence of the mode of life practised at Rome by the cardinals and by the pope himself, darkening, of course, as it spread, reached every part of the Christian world ; and thus, even if the lavish expenditure of Leo, in his gorgeous court and in his splendid designs for the embellishment of Rome, had not increased the burden of ecclesiastical taxation throughout Christen- dom beyond endurance, his pontificate must greatly have loosened the hold of popery on the general veneration." Ranke describes the leading policy of Leo's reign as being one continued effort, A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION 135 even at the greatest sacrifices, to preserve the independence of the Roman see with a balance of power among the sovereigns of France and Germany; but the anti-reU- gious and revolutionary influences of the age were never lost sight of by the official capacity of the pontiff. A striking illustra- tion of the aggressive policy and jealous disposition of the Emperor Maximilian is well noticed. It appears that when he (the emperor) was pressed by the papal influence to check the boldness of the young reformer, he said, " No ! we might want him." Vittori, (who has left a manu- script compendium of the aflair,) says, " He excuses himself on account of the passport or safety-conduct he had granted, but, in reality, it was to keep the pope in check by Luther and his doctrines." At the age of forty-six, after a pontificate of eight years, Leo the Tenth gave place to his successor, Adrian the Sixth. Of Leo, Ranke has remarked — " His life passed in a sort of intellectual intoxication, and in the unbroken qualifica- tion of all his wishes, the result of his own kindly and bountiful nature, his refined in- tolleet, and his sense of merit. Towards the close of his reign, all the currents of his policy mingled in one full tide of tri- umph ; and it may be counted among his felicities that he died when he did. Very different times followed, and it is difficult to suppose that he could have successfully opposed their unpropitious influences, al- though his name be stamped on a century, and on a great epoch of human advance- ment." The expression, "unpropitious influ- ences," might lead to the supposition that Ranke is to be classed among Catholic writers; and it may be well to mention that Ranke and his judicious translator, (Sarah Austin,) are both decided Protes- tants. Leopold Von Ranke, (a Prussian, we believe,) is the Protestant colleague of the great Von Raumer in the historical department at the University of Berlin. Possessing opportunities which few could possibly attain for the examination of manuscripts and documents, he has given way to his feelings amid the inconsistent grandeur and puzzling contradictions of his subject, and has produced a book which has brought down the most elaborate hon- ours from " the most eloquent pen of mod- em criticism," — Macaulay. The forgelful- ness of " self" is the real charm of Ranke's writings, even during his most inconsistent inferences, and the " London Quarterly" well observes — " We envy the dispassionate and philo- sophical serenity with which the German historian may contemplate the most re- markable and characteristic portion of the annals of modem Europe, — the rise, pro- gress, and influence of the papal power. In England, the still-reviving, and, it is almost to be feared, unextinguishable ani- mosity between the conflicting religious parties, the unfortunate connection with the political feuds and hostilities of our own days would almost inevitably, even if in- voluntarily, colour the page of a writer ; while perfect and unimpassioned equali- bility would provoke the suspicious and sen- sitive jealousy of the reader, to whichever party he might belong. On one side there is an awful and sacred reverence for the chair of St. Peter, which would shrink from ex- amining too closely the political iniquities which the most zealous Roman Catholic cannot altogether veil from his reluctant and half-averted gaze ; while, on the other, the whole papal history is looked upon as one vast and unvarying system of fraud, superstition, and tyranny. In truth — not- withstanding the apparently uniform plan of the papal policy — notwithstanding the rapid succession of ecclesiastics, who, elect- ed in general at a late period of life, occu- pied the spiritual throne of the Vatican, — the annals of few kingdoms, when more profoundly considered, possess greater va- riety — are more strongly modified by the genius of successive ages — or are more influenced by the personal character of the reigning sovereign. Yet, in all times, to the Roman CathoHc the dazzling halo of sanctity, — to the Protestant the thick dark- ness, — which has gathered round the pon- tifical tiara, has obscured the peculiar and 136 HISTORY OF IRELAND. (A. D. 1547. distinctive lineaments of the Gregories, and Innocents, and Alexanders. As a whole, the papal history has been by no means deeply studied, or distinctly understood : in no country has the modern spiritual em- pire of Rome found its Livy or its Polyb- ius ; no masterly hand has traced the changes in its political relations to the rest of Europe from the real date of its temporal power, its alliance with the Prankish mon- archs — nor the vicissitudes of its fortunes during its long struggle for supremacy. Almost at the same time the slave of the tur- bulent barons of Romagna, or of the fero- cious populace of the city, and the powerful protector of the freedom of the young Ital- ian republics — the unwearied and at length victorious antagonist of the German em- perors — the dictator of transalpine Eu- rope ; now an exile from the imperial and holy city, yet in exile swaying the desti- nies of kingdoms — triumphing even over its own civil dissensions, and concentrating its power, after it had been split asunder by schisms almost of centuries, not merely unenfeebled, but apparently with increased energy and ambition: no subject would offer a more imposing or more noble theme for a great historian than that of papal Rome ; none would demand higher quali- fications, — the most laborious inquiry, the most profound knowledge of human nature, the most vivid and picturesque powers of description, the most dignified superiority to all the prepossessions of age, of country, and of creed." We will again return to the pope who was a contemporary of Henry the Eighth, — that pope of whom Roscoe and Ranke have rivalled each other in ascribing praises for every royalty of character. Yet, Guicciardino says of him : — " Leo disappointed the world ; he was destined by the highest gifts of nature, and the best earthly principles, to benefit the Church ; but he forgot the duties of the pontiff to enjoy the glories of the prince." " How can we be told" (says Audin, in his " Life of Luther") " that in the religious quarrels in which Rome had such a stake, the papacy was behind or remiss in its ef- forts; that what religion and the gospel maxims required was left unheeded ? whereas, the treasures of patience and the resources of zealous mildness were fairly exhausted in Luther's regard." Once more from Monsieur Audin : — " The world was now for three years full of Luther's quarrels about indulgences ; every village in Germany rang with his name, and was up for or against his doc- trines. As they advanced in age they acquired boldness. Luther was no longer the bashful and retiring monk, but the most popular of orators ; nay, to credit himself, when he would fain be silent, the press heralded forth his doctrines. At Rome, Militz will tell you, they would, even then, have given the world to silence him whom neither Francis the First in all his glory nor Charles of Austria (except dur- ing the intensely interesting event of his election) could throw into oblivion. What did not Leo do to avert the coming tem- pest ! From the moment the integrity of the dogma was assailed, briefs were ad- dressed to arouse the archbishops and bishops of Germany, to different religious orders, and to the convents of Saxony and Wirtemberg, to silence the innovator. Luther was deaf to their remonstrance. Then the pope has recourse to the Em- peror Maximilian, but without effect. Per- haps the pomp of Rome might awe the reformer into respect ? Luther holds two conferences with Cardinal Cajetano, ex- hausted his patience, and leaves his emi- nence with a sneer. Then, Militz, a fellow- countryman, is the intercessor, and in order to appease him, annihilates Luther's anta- gonists, (Tezel and his questors,) by his severe reprimands ; but the reformer is not satisfied. Next, Staupitz, his own provin- cial, is unsuccessful ; and his bosom friend, Jerome Spalatin, undertakes the commis- sion of reconciliation, but in vain. Even the poor monks of Juterbock tried entreaty when the eloquence and learning of the former pacifiers had failed ; but to no pur- pose. Thus bent before the innovator, tiara and diadem, the cardinal's purple and monk's coarse cowl ; his inflexibility was A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 137 now fanaticism ; to believe his account of himself,* • Deus rapit et pellit,' God drove him on, etc." The " Reformation" now spread across the English channel, and, as faithful chroni- clers, we must follow. CHAPTER XVIII. Digression continued — Progress of the " Reforma- tion" through England, and safe arrival in Ire- land — Argumentative evidence of Catholic and Protestant authorities — The subject sufficiently explained to proceed with the historical neurative in the next chapter. The many important changes which have accompanied the political consequences of the " Reformation," and have so materi- ally influenced the government, treatment, and legislation between England and Ire- land, must be our excuse for endeavouring to throw as much light upon that period as will exhibit its original connection with the history of Ireland. To do this fairly and effectually, we now proceed to trace the " Reformation" through England, and then to the Irish shores and almost unconscious inhabitants. On reviewing the reign of Henry the Eighth, the first circumstance that attracts our attention is the fact that during twenty- five years of his reign only two persons were condemned for capital crimes.f Bur- net also says that it does not appear that Henry was "naturally prone to cruelty ;" but, for the last ten years of his life, that is to say, immediately after his divorce, his open rupture with the Church, and his usurpation of ecclesiastical supremacy, — then the man was a slave to his passions, and the king became a tyrant to his people. As events generally follow circumstances and secondary causes which have a mutual influence one upon the other, the source of the changes which took place in England may be discovered in the situation of affairs in Europe at that period, and the * Luther's letter to Silvias, Feb. 20, 1519. t Burnet. 18 opposing interests of its princes. About the end of the fifteenth century, the king- doms of Castillo and Arragon were united, and the Moors driven out of Spain. Mary, heiress of Charles, Duke of Burgundy, brought her extensive possessions to the house of Austria. Louis the Eleventh, King of France, having instituted proceed- ings for felony against the memory of the Duke of Burgundy, confiscated the duchy and the county of Artois, belonging to his heiress. Charles d'Anjou, Count de Maine, (to whom his uncle, Rene d'Anjou, had given Provence,) bequeathed that country, and his right over Naples and Sicily, to Louis the Eleventh and his son Charles the Eighth. And lastly, Charles the Eighth, by marrying the heiress of Brittany, united that province to his crown, from which it had been separated for many centuries. France, which had thus acquired so many provinces, became formidable to her neigh- bours. A league was formed between her, England, and Austria, in confirmation of which, Ferdinand of Arragon gave Jane, his second daughter, in marriage to Philip of Austria, son of Maximilian ; and another of his daughters, called Catharine, to Ar- thur, son of Henry the Seventh, King of England, in 1501. These alliances proved unfortunate. The love of Jane for her husband was so excessive that she injured her reasoning powers. Catharine was scarcely married when she became a widow. Her husband, Arthur, had been prematurely born, and the physicians had been of opinion that, in consequence, he would not be long-lived. The same motives which had influenced Ferdinand and Henry to make such an alliance still existed, and gave rise to the idea of forming a second, by giving Ar- thur's widow to his brother Henry, who was then the only son of Henry the Seventh. Rome was applied to for a dispensation, which was granted by Julius the Second. Such was the state in which matters stood on the demise of Henry the Seventh. All things having been duly considered, the marriage of Henry and Catharine was celebrated in the month of June, 1509. 138 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. V The new queen possessed in an eminent degree all those private virtues which are the permanent and chief ornaments of her sex. In piety and in attention to her hus- band she was exemplary : seclusion and employment were manifest in her whole deportment, and she was looked upon as a model of wisdom by all. Her virtues ex- isted without harshness, and she possessed a greatness of soul, an elevation of mind, which far more than her birth, gained for her a universal respect. Henry himself, even in withdrawing his affections, still preserved a high esteem for her. Catharine had three children with Hen- ry ; two sons, who died very young, and a daughter called Mary, who afterwards be- came queen. She experienced several mis- carriages, which occasioned infirm health, and which probably caused displeasure to a husband so abandoned to the indulgence of his passions. The debaucheries of Henry were well known. Having already seduced some of the maids-of-honour belonging to the queen, he fell in love with Anne Bullcn, daughter to Thomas Bullen, and a sister of the Duke of Norfolk, who had gone with Queen Mary, (wife of Louis the Twelfth,) to France, where she was educated. She afterwards became maid-of-honour to the Queen Claude, and after the death of this princess was taken into the household of the Duchess d'Alencon, sister of Francis the First, where, it is said, she first imbibed the principles of Luther. We do not wish to vouch for the narra- tive given by Sanders, concerning the birth and conduct of Anne Bullen, before Henry became enamoured of her, namely, that she was the offspring of Henry's own inter- course with the wife of Thomas Bullen, during the absence of that nobleman. There is no reason, however, for denymg all credence to this historian. He was an Englishman by birth, and a contemporary witness of some of the facts which he re- lates. We may therefore suppose that he wrote what he had seen and heard from people worthy of belief, and it is highly improbable that a man of his character and talents would have ventured to publish such statements at a time when many who were living and interested might have re- futed him. Some Protestant writers wrote refuta- tions of Sanders's history of the schism, among whom were Doctor Burnet, who appeared one hundred years after him, but who was, however, confuted by Joachim le Grand, a learned Frenchman, who un- dertook the defence of Sanders against him ; and also by Bossuet, in his " Varia- tions." Burnet's partiality, and the inaccu- racy of his works, (says Higgins, an Eng- lish Protestant author,) have made him discredited, even by the honourable men of his own party. On Anne Bullen's return to England she appeared at court, with all the advantages arising from her yonth, and being niece of one of the prime ministers. She was not one of those regular beauties without de- fect, but she was very young, and of an agreeable figure ; lively in her manners ; sung and played on many instruments, and danced still better ; so that she easily pro- cured the same rank with Catharine that she had enjoyed with Queen Claude in France. She attracted general admiration. Several noblemen fell in love with her. The monarch himself became enamoured, and ordered a marriage to be broken off that was about to take place between her and Percy, son of the Earl of Northumber- land. The divorce of Henry the Eighth from Catharine of Arragon, after a marriage of twenty years, began now to be spoken of. Cardinal Wolsey gave the first hints of it. He first brought over to his views Long- land, Bishop of Lincoln, the king's confes- sor, whom he found ready to believe all he wished upon that subject. Wolsey, de- lighted that Longland had broached the matter, proposed to Henry to break off his alliance with Catharine, and marry the Dowager Duchess d'Alencon, sister to Francis the First. It was thus the cardi- nal, unintentionally, laid the foundation of the greatness of a girl who was to be one day the cause of his downfall. Anne Bui- A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 139 len was not ignorant of the king's passion for her. She counterfeited a virtuous character, and gave him no hope, but that of marrying her, should he succeed in the divorce proposed to him by the cardinal. Henry had recourse to some of the learned theologians in his own kingdom, and after- wards to those of other universities of Eu- rope, some of whom were favourable to him. Lastly, he sent to Rome, begging very humbly that the pope would send him a judge competent to decide this important matter. Clement the Seventh, who at the time filled the papal chair, had just escaped from the hands of Charles the Fifth, ma- ternal nephew of Queen Catharine, by whom he had been detained a prisoner. The holy see was already indebted to the zeal of the King of England, against the heresies that were springing up, and the pope in particular, to whom Henry had rendered services during his captivity, was desirous of obliging him. Besides, the King of France supported Henry by strong solicitations to the holy see. The pope promised, that as soon as he should be free with the emperor, he would give to his benefactor all the satisfaction in his power. Cardinal Campegio, whom the pope had nominated, in conjunction with Cardinal Wolsey, to investigate the project of the divorce, having received his instructions from his holiness, arrived in England in October, 1528. The king appointed, by letters-patent, Richard Sampson, the dean of his chapel, and John Bell, a doctor of law, as his advocates and pleaders ; to whom are also added Peter and Trigo- nel. The queen had already chosen Wil- liam Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, Nicholas West, Bishop of Ely, and some doctors of law, besides John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, and Henry Standish, Bishop of St. Asaph, and others, according to the permission which had been previously granted to her. On the 18th of the same month, Sampson and Bell presented the commission which the king had given them to act in his name; but the queen herself appearing. declared that she could not acknowledge the legates to be her judges, and demanded the act of her protest. Campegio then ad- journed their sitting to the 21st, on which day the king and queen both appeared. When their names were called, Henry answered ; but Catharine not wishing to reply, threw herself before his majesty's feet, and said in substance, " that she be- sought him to have mercy on her ; that she only asked for justice ; that she was a f)oor stranger, far from her relatives and friends ; that she dared not follow either her own judgment or the advice of her lawyers ; that she took God to be her witness, whether she were not his real wife ; that she had been always faithful to him ; that during more than twenty years of marriage she had been as attached to him as woman could be to her husband ; that she knew not how she could have merited his dis- pleasure ; that he knew well, if he would but speak according to his conscience, that he had found her a virgin at her marriage ; that she consented to be expelled with in- famy, if what she advanced were not true ; that their parents, who were wise princes, had not decided on their marriage without proper investigation; that among all the able characters by whom they were sur- rounded, none had noticed the protests which were now sought after ; that as to herself, she could not discover how her marriage could be called into doubt ; that indeed she had been permitted to have counsel, but she could repose no confidence in them ; that her lawyers and judges were the king's subjects ; that she could not ac- knowledge the authority of the legates ; that, in fine, every thing now appeared to her an object of suspicion : she therefore besought the king that he would postpone the proceedings till she would hear from Spain ; and that if he refused her that fa- vour, he might act as he thought proper." Her majesty then arose, and respectfully retired. She was again called, but would not return. The whole assembly was moved by her discourse. The king him- self appeared affected, and when she had withdrawn, said, " that he had no com- 140 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. plaints to advance against her ; that he was satisfied with her conduct; and that her virtue could not be sufficiently admired." He declared, likewise, " that he would con- tinue willingly to live with her, if his con- science would permit him." The divorce question continued to be de- bated without any decision. The king, therefore, sent for the two cardinals, in order that they might induce the queen to leave the matter to his decision. They immediately repaired to her, and found her busily engaged with her female attendants. When she heard Wolsey continuing to speak, " I see clearly," said she, " that you have come here to debate on matters which surpass my capacity." Then, showing a skein of silk which hung upon her neck, " Behold," she continued, " what I am ca- pable of, and what is my only suitable oc- cupation." Wolsey entreated her, through kindness for the king, not to await the re- sult of a lawsuit, the issue of which could not be favourable to her. " I do not know (replied the queen) who has advised the king to act as he is now doing. I confess, cardinal, that it is you whom I blame for it. Our parents, who were wise princes, had our marriage previously investigated, and obtained from the pope a dispensation for it, of which I hold the original. The king and I have lived for almost eighteen years together, during which no censure has been cast upon us. Your pride, how- ever, I cannot approve of; your debauch- eries, your tyranny, and insolence, I have spoken of. Through the influence of my nephew, the emperor, you have failed in being appointed pope, which is the source of all my misfortunes ; since in order to be revenged, you have not been content with kindling a war throughout all Europe, but have been likewise the secret spring and cause of all my misfortunes. Every thing that I suffer, cardinal, from this disgrace, is known to God, who will be your judge and mine." Wolsey wished to reply, but she would not hear him. Campegio she treated with politeness, but protested that she never would acknowledge either one or the other as her judges, and would continue in the line of conduct she had adopted. After the sitting of the 21st of June, 1529, she re- fused to appear before the legates. A judgment by default was obtained against her on the 25th, and the examination of witnesses commenced. The sittings were not discontinued, but frequently adjourned. The ministers of Charles the Fifth and of Ferdinand de- manded that the matter should be brought to a higher tribunal. The pope, who still feared to irritate Henry, postponed the sub- ject as long as it was possible ; but being at length unable to refuse any longer, he informed that prince, in a letter dated the 9th of July, of his intentions, and without waiting for an answer, signed the evoca- tion, of which he informed him and Cardi- nal Wolsey on the 19th. As soon as in- telligence was received from Rome that the cause had been transferred to another tribunal, the king went to Grafton House with Anne Bullen, where Campegio had an audience previous to his departure. There were different cabals in the Eng- lish court, all of which tended to Wolsey's downfall. Those who were attached to the queen, considered him as the author of her ruin. The relatives and partisans of Anne Bullen were convinced that his presence at court was inauspicious to their advancement. Anne Bullen was minutely informed of every crime Wolsey had com- mitted during the fifteen years that he ruled the state with absolute power ; all which she communicated to the king, who listen- ed to her with pleasure. Orders were despatched on the 22d of October to Wol- sey, to quit Whitehall. He was sent from London to Asher. All his furniture and papers were also seized, by which conduct his enemies deprived him of the means of defending himself. Sir Thomas More was then raised to the dignity of lord-chan- cellor. The new parliament met in London, on the 3rd of November, and was immediately adjourned to Westminster. It seemed as if it were convened expressly for the de- struction of Wolsey, so determined were A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 141 his enemies against him. They presented a petition to the king, containing many points of accusation, and threatened to condemn him as guilty of high treason ; but his cause was ably defended by his secretary, Thomas Cromwell, a member of the parliament. They then dismissed the accusations of high treason against him, but he was arraigned under the law of praemunire, and declared to be out of the king's protection. His property was con- fiscated, and his arrest was even spoken of. Several members of parliament were at- tached to the new doctrines, and laws were enacted against the clergy, under pretext of their exactions, in order to make them appear contemptible in the eyes of the people. Wolsey having fallen sick at Asher, the king, who yet had some consideration for him, permitted him to go to Richmond for change of air ; but his enemies, who were jealous of his being so near the court, im- portuned Henry so strongly, that he gave orders to have him removed to his arch- bishopric of York. Fresh complaints being made to the king, he ordered Sir Walter Walsh and the Earl of Northumberland, to arrest him. This last stroke was too heavy for Wolsey to bear. The shock and surprise were so powerful, that a dysentery ensued, by which his constitu- tion was soon shattered. He set out, but his disease increasing, he was forced to stop at Leicester Abbey, where he died, and was interred the week after his arrival, in 1531. The cardinal's death was the signal for commencing a violent persecution against the clergy. Henry's parliament, which had been so frequently prorogued, met in January. The clergy were accused of having incurred the penalty of the law of praemunire, and immediate submission to the king, together with the payment of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, were made the sole conditions on which he granted them his pardon. No means were now left untried to obtain the decision of the several univer- sities, or the learned men in France and England, in favour of Henry's divorce. Bribes, threats, and sums of money were lavished by Fox, Henry's almoner, and Gardiner, secretary of state, in Cambridge and Oxford, to gain their approval of the divorce. The English began to murmur loudly, and it was publicly declared, that in spite of whatever might be decided upon, he who married the Princess Mary should be King of England. Similar sentiments were entertained by the nobles, who did not express themselves so freely. The theologians and upper house were as un- favourable to Henry as his other subjects. Few could be found to write in favour of the divorce. John du Bellay, Bishop of Bayonne, was sent to England to negotiate affairs with Henry the Eighth. As he was partial to the divorce he could not fail of being well received by the prince. He was there- fore commissioned to conciliate the French theologians in favour of Henry, and for that purpose returned to France. He first brought the university of Orleans to publish a declaration against the marriage of Catharine of Arragon, which example was followed by the university of Tou- louse. The question produced a great sensation among the theologians in Paris. Recourse was first had to some doctors who were easily bribed, and who promised to do every thing that could be desired. Among these was Gervais, a man devoted to those who sought for the divorce, and anxious also to advance himself at court. Noel Beda, a man possessing great merit, throughout opposed the King of England, for which he was at length driven into exile. The King of England honoured the theologians so far as to write to them with his own hand on the subject ; while his ambassadors expended large sums of money, seeking and even begging for suf- frages from door to door. A meeting was at length convened ; one party yielded to Henry in every thing that he wished, while another declared that they could not de- liberate upon the subject, till they would first write to the pope, who had already forbidden any one to interfere in a matter 142 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. of such moment. A third party was then formed, which was desirous of writing to both the king and the pope, and in the meanwhile the deliberations were con- tinued. Having purchased from the English and French academies decisions favourable to his cause, Henry sent some noblemen to the queen about the end of May, to inform her of these results, and to induce her to withdraw her appeal, and submit her in- terests to the arbitration of four bishops and four noblemen, in order that the mat- ter might be set at rest, and tranquillity restored to the king's mind. The queen replied as before, that she was the king's wife ; that she would persist in her appeal, and would consent to nothing without the advice of her nephew the emperor, and also that of the pope, who was the best judge of her rights. The queen's resolution irritated Henry ; however, he dissembled for some time, and went with her to Windsor, where he re- mained till the 14th of July, 1531, when he left her and proceeded to Woodstock. After some time, she was ordered to East- hamstead, which was the commencement of their separation. William Warham, Archbishop of Canter- bury, one of the greatest men that England ever produced, was succeeded by Cranmer. Parker, Fox, and Burnet think that Cran- mer was a man of noble rank, though others do not agree with them. All that is known with certainty of him is, that he was a professor in the university of Cam- bridge ; that he was expelled for breaking the customary vow of celibacy ; and that he was one of the first who wrote in favour of Henry's divorce. From the year 1529, Cranmer placed himself at the head of the party who wished for Catharine's separa- tion, and the marriage upon which the king was determined with Anne Bullen. In 1530 he wrote a book against the va- lidity of Catharine's marriage. He was from this time looked on as a favourite at court, and considered likely to succeed Cardinal Wolsey in influence. Cranmer had already adopted the principles of Luther, and was, (according to Burnet, the most esteemed of those who embraced them. Anne Bullen, (continues Burnet,) had also imbibed the same doctrine. He makes it appear, too, that she was quite attached to the opinions of those who were called reformers. Every one, (continues he,) of the same party, had declared in favour of the divorce. Cranmer was now sent to Rome to sup- port the divorce question, and while there, concealed his views so ably that the pope made him his penitentiary, which proves that he acted under the priestly seal ; and although a Lutheran in belief, he accepted that ofllice from his holiness. From Rome he went to Germany, in order to secure the friendship of the Protestants. It was there that he married the sister of Osiander, after having first seduced her. While there it also was that the archbishopric of Canter- bury became vacant by the death of War- ham. The King of England, from whom Cranmer's marriage had been concealed, appointed him to that see, which he accept- ed ; and the pope, who imagined that his only fault lay in supporting the invalidity of Henry's marriage, a question which was then undecided, gave him his bulls. Shortly after Cranmer returned, the pope, who was aware of the manner in which the King of England was acting, commanded him by letter to send away his mistress and take back his wife ; and in case that he dis- obeyed, ordered him to appear at Rome with Anne Bullen, to answer for the scan- dal they had caused, by living together as man and wife, in contempt of the censures of the Church. The pope concluded by observing, that it was a matter of deep re- gret to him to find himself obliged to have recourse to such measures ; that if it were only his own private interest that was con- cerned, he would gladly submit it to his own decision; but that, as the glory of God, his own conscience, and the honour of a virtuous princess loaded with igno- miny, after twenty years of marriage, were now at stake, he was compelled, in spite of himself, to have recourse to these measures. The English parliament having assem- A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 143 bled in the beginning of 1532, fresh attacks were projected against the clergy and the pope. The commons, who were accus- tomed to complain of the ecclesiastics, ac- cused them in their writings to Henry. They complained of the immense sums drawn by the popes from England, as first- fruits, provisions for benefices, bulls, and various other things of the same character, as being all contrary to English freedom. Henry, in the mean time, gave himself up to his passions. The longer the pope deferred the divorce question, the more his passion for Anne BuUen increased. In or- der to prove his affection for Anne Bullen, the king created her Marchioness of Pem- broke, by letters-patent, dated the 15th of September, 1532, and assigned her one thousand pounds sterling a year. Henry could not bear the absence of the new mar- chioness, and therefore brought her to Ca- lais in October, to be present at an inter- view which he had at Boulogne with Fran- cis the First, and on his return to England, married her secretly on the 14th of Novem- ber,* though the sentence of the divorce be- tween him and Catharine was not yet pro- nounced. Roland Lee, who was after- wards Bishop of Lichfield, performed the marriage ceremony; the king having as- sured him that the pope permitted him to leave Catharine, and take another wife, provided he would marry her in private, and without witnesses, in order to avoid giving scandal. The marchioness being in a state of preg- nancy, the marriage would soon be avowed. Cranmer now laboured hard to have the king's divorce from Catharine sanctioned by the English parliament! Every law * Some authorities give January, 1533, as the date of this fraudulent marriage. Now that the squabbles of Henry's politicians are over, the utmost variation of these dates would prove nothing. For the sake of the lady and of her daughter, we have given the earliest date. Nevertheless, Henry the Eighth's claim to the title of bigamist is as clear as it is to that of adulterer ; for the parliamentary divorce had not been pronounced, and the canonical divorce was never obtained. Although Cranmer was a witness of this marriage, (according to Heylin,) yet that very convenient functionary six months afterwards gravely pronounced the decree of divorce between Henry and his first wife ! that had been previously enacted against the popes was re-enacted by this assembly. It was prohibited to appeal to Rome on any subject concerning England, as that king- dom should not submit to the regulations of any foreign power, in either spiritual or temporal affairs ; and that, therefore, all ec- clesiastical matters, on which appeals had been till then made to the court of Rome, should be finally determined in England, through an appeal from the commissioner to the bishop, from the bishop to the arch- bishop, and from him to the king : that whatever excommunications might arrive from Rome, the divine service should be nevertheless celebrated, and the sacraments administered ; and if difficulties were inter- posed by any of the clergy, those so offend- ing should be condemned to one year's im- prisonment, and a fine to be paid, accord- ing to the king's pleasure ; and that those who violated any of these acts should incur the penalties of the law of praemunire. Lastly, it was concluded that matters re- specting the king's interest should be ad- justed by a sovereign convocation of the clergy. This was the prelude to the ecclesiastical authority which Henry afterwards assumed to himself, and in which he was confirmed by an act passed in the same parliament, entitled " An Act to Extinguish the Autho- rity of the Bishop of Rome." Cranmer now undertook what the pope had not dared to do. Being invested with authority by Henry the Eighth, who was declared by his parliament to be supreme head of the English church, Cranmer removed to Dun- stable in the beginning of May, accompa- nied by some bishops and officers of justice, where they established a sort of tribunal, to which Catharine of Arragon was sum- moned, to be heard on the subject of her marriage with the king. The queen, how- ever, who still adhered to her first resolu- tion, which was, to acknowledge no tribu- nal but that of Rome, or no judge but the pope, having refused to appear, was con- demned for contumacy. The sentence of divorce was then pronounced, and her mar- riage with the king declared to be null. 144 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. This decision was confirmed by the parlia- ment, which deprived this princess of the rank of queen, and decreed that she should thenceforward be called dowager-princess, as being only the widow of Prince Arthur. It was enacted by the same parliament, that it was lawful for the king to marry a se- cond time. Matters being thus arranged, the Marchi- oness of Pembroke was solemnly crowned at Whitehall, with the usual ceremonies, and with the title of queen, in April, 1533. In September the celebrated Elizabeth was born, who became subsequently Queen of England. The parliament continued their endeav- ours, by order of the king, to annihilate the pope's authority in England. The king's second marriage was confirmed, and the former having been declared null, it was enacted that the children born of that alli- ance could not inherit from their father, and should be therefore considered illegitimate ; that the male children whom the king might have by Anne Bullen, should succeed to the crown, and that, in the event of having no male issue, the daughters should succeed ; so that the Princess Mary was disinherited, and Elizabeth declared heiress to the crown. But this law was continued only as long as the king's passion lasted for Anne Bullen, and the offspring of Henry's connection with her was afterwards dealt with as se- verely as the Princess Mary ; the parlia- ment following no other rule in making or rescinding laws, than the caprices of the king. The pope was aware of the progress schism was making in England, and the attempt (of a nature hitherto unheard of among Christians) of Henry the Eighth, who had declared himself head of the English church, both spiritual and tempo- ral. On Monday, the 23d of March, 1534, his holiness held a consistory, at which twenty-two cardinals were present. The divorce question having been proposed, it was under discussion for a very short time only ; every member, with the exception of Trivolce, Rodolphi, and Pesani, being of opinion, that the King of England should be obliged to take back Catharine, and to keep her as his lawful wife. The different opinions being then collected, the sentence was pronounced, by which the pope de- cided that having heard the report of James Simoneta, Bishop of Pisaro, he, with the advice of the cardinals, con- demned the proceedings of Henry as null and unjust, and commanded him to take back his wife Catharine, to live with her, declaring his marriage to be good and valid, and the children of such marriage to be legitimate. The pope forbade him also to continue the separation longer, and con- demned him to pay all the costs of the suit. It much afflicted the pope to pronounce so absolute a sentence. He expressed a desire to do every thing in his power to satisfy the King of England ; and it was his wish not to grant the decision before Easter, though he had been required to do so without delay by many of the cardinals. Clement found himself in a dilemma; he could not deny justice to Catharine, with- out giving scandal to the whole of Chris- tendom ; and by condemning Henry, Eng- land might be lost to the Church. He deferred, therefore, as long as he was able, coming to any decision upon this celebrated suit. When the sentence was pronounced, he spent the night in company with several divines, deliberating on what was best to be done in the unhappy conjuncture ; but Henry's wicked disposition, which would not admit of any control, was stronger than the good-will of the pope. The strength of the English faction in favour of Spain, the justice of Catharine's cause, the wicked conduct of Henry, and the continued remonstrances of the cardi- nals, at length forced the pope to issue a bull of excommunication against Henry and Anne Bullen, unless they made their appearance in the end of September, and put an end to the scandal they had given. It was at this time that the world de- plored the fate of the two men in England most illustrious for their learning and piety, Thomas More, lord-chancellor, and Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. Burnet himself be- wails their death, and considers their tragi- A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 145 cal end as a stain upon the life of Henry. They were the two most distinguished victims of the new ecclesiastical suprema- cy. When More was urged to acknowl- edge it, he made the following noble reply : " That were he alone against the whole parliament, he would have a diffidence in himself; but now, though the grand coun- cil of England were opposed to him, the whole Church, the great Council of Chris- tians, was in his favour." The martyrdom of Fisher and More, and many other sanguinary executions, filled the public mind with horror. The people all took the oath acknowledging Henry's supremacy, no one daring to oppose it. His power over the church of England was established by several parliamentary statutes ; and his first act was to confer on Cromwell the rank of his spiritual vicar- general. Discovering that the king was very ambitious, and that his revenues were not sufficient for his expenses, Cromwell advised him to take possession of the reve- nues of the religious houses. This advice was highly gratifying to the cupidity of Henry, who thought that he who had given it would be the fittest person to carry it into execution. For this purpose he created Cromwell inspector-general of all the convents and religious houses in England ; in which quality, notwithstand- ing that he was an ignorant layman, he was to preside at all the assemblies of the clergy, and to be made acquainted with all matters of an ecclesiastical kind. Crom- well was a Zuinglian, or at least a Luthe- ran : Cranmer belonged to the same party ; he was the intimate friend of Cromwell, and both acted in perfect accordance. The Marchioness of Pembroke supported them with all her influence ; and in order to increase the party, she procured the bishoprics of Salisbury and Winchester for Schaxton and Latimer, her almoners, who were secretly Protestants. Cranmer paid his archiepiscopal visit to his province, with the royal permission. Cromwell also paid a visit to his diocese. These visitations were followed by the suppression of three hundred and seventy- 19 six monasteries, the lands and revenues of which were granted to the king by an act of parliament. This was one of the first effi3cts of Henry's supremacy, who made himself head of the Church to plunder it with impunity. The marriage of Henry with Catharine was declared null by the parliament of 1536 : the divorce pronounced by Cranmer, as well as the king's marriage with Anne BuUen, was declared to be valid ; the succession to the throne was secured to the heirs male, who should be born of this or any other marriage, and in case of there being no male heirs, to the females, beginning with Eliza- beth, daughter of Anne Bullen : and those who might, by writing or otherwise, op- pose this marriage, or these regulations for the succession to the crown, should, it was enacted, be convicted of high treason. A TOTAL SILENCE ou these affairs was enjoined upon all, under pain of being deprived of the benefit of the sanctuary, and an oath to this effect ordered to be taken by all the king's subjects in Ireland. The parliament of Dublin having regula- ted the affairs of state, turned their thoughts to those of religion, of their knowledge and judgment regarding which they felt quite assured. In imitation of the English par- liament, they confirmed Henry the Eighth and his successors on the throne, in the title of supreme head of the Church in Ireland, with the power of reforming and correct- ing heresies and errors in religion. They prohibited all further appeals being made to Rome, under pains and penalties ; and ordained that the clergy should pay the an- nats, or first-fruits of their livings, to the king. They also enacted a law to abolish and suppress the pope's usurpation and au- thority ; penalties were declared against those who should dare to support them ; all persons, both lay and ecclesiastic, who held offices or livings, were ordered to take the oath to maintain the king's supremacy, and their refusal was to be considered high trea- son. This act met with many opponents among the clergy. This convenient parliament also granted to the king and to his successors, for ever, 146 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. a twentieth part of the revenues and annual rents of the secular livings, abbeys, friaries, and religious houses in the kingdom of Ire- land. Henry was so well pleased with this grant, that he wrote a letter of thanks to the clergy. An act was passed prohibiting any but those who spoke English, and fol- lowed the English taste in every thing, to be appointed to livings. In addition, this parliament decreed the suppression of the abbeys of Bectif, St. Peter, of Trim, Dousk, Duleek, Holm-Patrick, Baltinglass, Grany, Teagh- Moling, Dunbroody, Tintern, Bally- bogan, Iloggis, and Ferns, and confiscated their property to the king's use. The pri- ory of St. Wolstan's, in Kildare, was also suppressed. The parliament which had fabricated the above-named laws, and by which the schism of Henry the Eighth was introduced into Ireland, was the parliament of the English province, and not that of all Ireland ; like the preceding ones, it was composed solely of Englishmen by birth or origin ; the an- cient Irish had no seat in it ; they were excluded from all offices in the militia and magistracy, which is the cause of their be- ing scarcely ever mentioned by Ehglish writers. The first person sacrificed for his attach- ment to the cause of the pope, was John Traverse, a native of Ireland, a secular priest, and doctor in theology. About this time he published a book entitled the " De- fence of the Pope's Supremacy," notwith- standing the twenty-eighth statute of Henry the Eighth, who had assumed to himself that prerogative. The author was sum- moned to appear before the judges ; and having confessed the deed, he was con- demned to have his fingers cut oflT and thrown into a fire. Catharine of Arragon had retired to Kim- bolton Castle, in Huntingdonshire. She bore the unworthy treatment which she received as a true Christian. The title of queen was not only wrested from her by act of parliament, but her servants were constrained by oath to address her with no other title than that of princess-dowager.* * Sanders, Heylin, and Baker. John Forest, of the order of St. Francis, her confessor, suffered martyrdom in her cause, after two years' imprisonment, toge- ther with thirty-five others of the same or- der. She was aware, too, of the tragical end of Fisher, More, and several others who were sacrificed on her account ; so that, being unable to bear up against such an overwhelming series of afflictions, she fell into a decHne, which terminated her exist- ence in January, 1537. Her dissolution ap- proaching, she wrote the following letter, which she sent to the king by one of her maids : — " My very dear Lord, King, and Husband, " As the hour of my death is now ap- proaching, my love for you influences me to forewarn you to prefer your salvation to all the perishable things of this world, without even excepting your anxiety for your own person, which has produced to me the heavy calamities that have been in- flicted, and caused such troubles to your- self; but I heartily forgive you all, and pray that the Lord may also forgive you. I re- commend our daughter Mary to your par- ticular care, and beseech you, as I have already done, to act with all the tenderness of a father towards her. I beseech you, likewise, to give my three maids a mar- riage-portion, and to my other servants a year's wages, besides what is already due to them, to secure them against want. Lastly, I declare it to be my desire to see you in preference to any thing this world affords. Farewell." On perusing this letter, Henry could not refrain from tears ; and when informed of her death, a few dajs afterwards, he or- dered his household to put on mourning. The marchioness had herself and her fe- male attendants all gayly dressed ; but her triumph was soon changed into sorrow, for shortly after this she was delivered of a monstrous abortion. About four months after the death of Queen Catharine, Anne was sent to the Tower, where she was ac- cused and found guilty of adultery with se- veral persons, and of incest with her bro- ther George ; she was then condemned to A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 147 be beheaded. Burnet says, " The two sen- tences, the one of attainder for adultery, the other of a divorce because of a pre- contract, did so contradict one another, that one, if not both, must be unjust." Tho- mas Bullen, Anne's supposed father, was one of her judges, and the first to pronounce her guilty ; she was executed in May, 1537. Three days afterwards, George Bullen, the brother of Anne, Henry Norris, Wil- liam Brereton, Francis Weston, and Mark Smeaton, a musician, suffered the same fate as Anne, the first for incest with her, the others for adultery. The day after her execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, daughter of Sir John Seymour and sister to Lord Edward Seymour, Earl of Hert- ford and Duke of Somerset. Anne enjoyed but for three years the elevation to which she had been raised by so many troubles. The same passion which had been the ori- gin of her greatness, became the cause of her ruin ; and Henry, who had sacrificed Catharine of Arragon for her sake, now sacrificed Annb for the youth and charms of Jane Seymour. In losing the king's af- fections, however, Catharine preserved his esteem to the last moment, while he sent Anne, like the most infamous criminal, to die on a scaffold, and caused his marriage to be annulled in favour of Jane Seymour, as he had previously broken his marriage with Catharine for the sake of Anne. Last- ly, he caused Elizabeth, daughter of Anne, to be declared illegitimate, as Mary, the daughter of Catharine, had before been. Polydore Virgil, and Sanders, place the death of Queen Catharine in 1535 ; and the latter, that of Anne Bullen four months af- terwards. According to Baker, the death of Anne took place in '1537. Many excel- lent modern writers have agreed upon using the date 1536 to save trouble, but it has only increased the difficulty of our examination. In 1538, the Irish lord-deputy burned the cathedral of Down, and destroyed the mon- uments of St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columb-Kill. He then made war against images, which were destroyed everywhere at this time, particularly those that were most revered. The celebrated statue of the Blessed Virgin, at Trim, was burned, as also the crucifix of the abbey of Bally- bogen, and St. Patrick's crosier,* which had been removed, by order of William Fitz-Adelm, in the twelfth century, from Armagh to Dublin. Notwithstanding all these demonstra- tions, the schism and supremacy of the King of England made but slow progress in Ireland. They were, however, warmly supported by Archbishop Brown: in his letters to Cromwell, he complains bitterly of the opposition that he had experienced from Cromer, the primate, and the clergy in general, which he ascribed to the igno- rance and zeal of the nation. The conduct of this archbishop in his diocese, and his close intimacy with Cromwell, who was at least a Lutheran, are strong proofs that he did not confine himself exclusively to the af- fair of the supremacy ; but that he intended to carry matters further than even he whom they pretended to make head of the Church. In another letter, in May, 1538, the arch- bishop informed Cromwell that the primate and clergy of Ireland had received a brief from the pope, to excommunicate all those who should acknowledge the king's su- premacy. He also added, that the viceroy possessed but little authority over the an- cient inhabitants of the country ; that the nation (that is, the English province) was poor and unable to subdue them ; that since Ireland had been in possession of the king's ancestors, the ancient Irish had never ceased to solicit the aid of foreign powers ; £uad that at present, the English by descent and the ancient Irish were beginning to forget their national animosities, by oppo- sing the king's ordinances, which might induce some foreign power to invade Ife- larid. - * Upon this circamstance, Mac-Geoghegan has given an interesting note : — " Providence has preserved a crosier to posterity, which St Patrick had used at the baptism of Aongns, King of Cashel; the holy apostle having left it with O'Keamy of Cashel, (to be used by the bishops of that church on days of ceremony,) whose descendants have preserved it with veneration to the present time. This venerable monument of Christian antiquity is still in possession of Brien O'Keamy, of Fethard, in Tipperary, the chief of the ancient family of that name." 148 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1547. Such was Henry's selfish anxiety for le- gitimate male issue, that on the confinement of Queen Jane (Seymour) at Hampton Court, in October, 1538, he ordered the Cesarean operation to be performed, thus sacrificing the young and beautiful mother for the expected child, which proved to be a male. On the 18th of the same month, this child was created Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester, and he reigned after his father with the title of Edward the Sixth. In 1540, Henry began to think of marry- ing again. Among the many matches that were proposed, the Princess Anne, sister to the Duke of Cleves, was one. She was a Protestant, and therefore approved of by Cromwell, who was the king's favourite at this time. The king having conceived a dislike for Anne of Cleves, a few months after his marriage with her, caused Crom- well to be arrested on the 9th of July, and brought to the Tower. He was then tried, and condemned unheard, in accordance with that abominable law, of which, it is said, he was himself the author. About the end of the same month, he was beheaded on Tower Hill. He suffered this punish- ment for having been the chief adviser of his master's marriage, and met his destruc- tion where he thought to have found sup- port. After the execution of Cromwell, the king resolved to break his marriage with Anne of Cleves ; and his parliament of course declared it was null and void ; that either party was at liberty to marry another : and that the queen should hence- forward be called the Princess Anne of Cleves. This lady died a Catholic. In 1541, the Jesuits were introduced by permission of Pope Paul the Third into Ireland, through the exertions of Robert Waucop, a Scotsman, titular Archbishop of Armagh. John Codur was the first of the society that was received into Ireland. He was followed by Alphonso Salmeron, Pachase Broet, and Francis Zapata, all of the same order. Though Waucop was bom blind, he applied himself so closely to study that he became a doctor of theology in the faculty of Paris. He assisted at the Council of Trent, from the first to the eleventh session, after which the pope sent him to Germany as legate a Latere, which gave rise to the saying among the Ger- mans : — "A blind legate to the cleaV-sighted Germans." On the dismissal of Anne of Cleves, the king married in eight days afterwards, Catharine Howard, daughter of Lord Ed- ward Howard, and niece to the Duke of Norfolk. Henry having been informed of the dissolute life of Catharine Howard, caused her to be arrested, eighteen months after his marriage. In 1542, she was ac- cused and convicted of unchastity both be- fore and after her marriage, and con- demned to be beheaded with Derham and Colpeper, the accomplices of her guilt. On the scaffold, Catharine declared herself in- nocent since her marriage, but admitted that previously to it she had been guilty. This gave rise to a ridiculous act of legisla- tion, prohibiting, under the penalties of high treason, any woman who was not a virgin from marrying the king, without first de- claring the fact. The death of Cromer, Archbishop of Ar- magh, took place in 1542. He was a pre- late of great celebrity ; grave, learned, and of a mild disposition. He was strongly opposed to Archbishop Brown respecting the ecclesiastical supremacy which had been usurped by Henry the Eighth. His successor in the see of Armagh was George Dowdal. Henry the Eighth now adopted the policy of bringing the Irish people to the condition of subjects, and endeavoured to win them by a display of kindness, in offer- ing to confer titles of honour upon their chiefs. The real Irish inhabitants were divided into tribes ; each tribe possessing a territory, which was divided between the different branches of the tribe. These branches had each its vassals, these vassals having neither origin nor name in common with their masters. They were the de- scendants of the Milesians from Spain, and of a remnant of the Firbolgs, the ancient inhabitants of the country, who cultivated the lands belonging to their masters. They A. D. 1547.} SECOND DIVISION. 149 did not take the names of their chiefs, as has been asserted by persons little ac- quainted with Irish history. Each tribe acknowledged one sovereign chief, a rank which usually devolved upon the elder branch ; but was sometimes elective, ac- cording to circumstances. The chief and the branches were of the same origin, and bore the same name, preceded by the ar- ticles O and Mac, with this difference, that these articles, without any other addition, belonged to the chiefs; for instance, by Mac-Carty, or O'Donnel, vere meant the heads of these illustrious tribes. The branches were distinguished by their first names, or some other prefix to the sur- name ; as Cormac Mac-Carty, Mac-Carty- Riagh, Niall Garve O'Donnel, etc., and so with the other tribes. Each tribe formed a small republic, the members of which, with their vassals, united under the chief for general safety, and followed him to war. They were all more or less allied ; and when the principal branch became ex- tinct, it was replaced by some of the colla- teral ones, who assumed the title of chief; so that unless a whole tribe became extinct, they could never want a chief. This di- gression is necessary in order to show the political views of Henry the Eighth. That monarch intended to subdue the Irish chief- tains by the pompous title of lords, hoping that they would bring the tribes which they governed under the dominion of the crown of England ; but in this he was doubly dis- appointed. He wrote on the subject to several of those chieftains, some of whose families have carefully preserved his let- ters ; but the proffered favours were gen- erally despised and rejected. Notwithstanding the distaste which the Irish had evinced for English titles, Henry the Eighth found some who were willing to accept of them. The principal of these were O'Neill of Tyrone, and O'Brien of Thomond ; but their example was so far from being imitated, that they were de- spised and avoided. In conferring titles of honour on several of these noblemen, Henry restored to them by letters-patent the estates which they had placed at his disposal, and in order to attach them still more to him, he became sacrilegiously liberal. Without at all de- ducting from his own wealth, he added largely to their revenues, by bestowing upon them the lands of the churches, and the patronage of the livings within their several districts. These newly-created lords subsequently testified their gratitude for the king's favours, by becoming the most zealous destroyers of the altars which had been raised by the piety of their fore- fathers. In this manner did the houses of Thomond, Ormond, Clanricarde, Inchiquin, and some others,* increase their splendour by the spoils of the churches and lands which were confiscated on the pretence of religion, or the alleged rebellion of their neighbours, and even of their near rela- tions — the English court willingly granting to them the confiscated estates as a reward for their services. This policy of corrupting the Irish no- bility was sustained throughout the remain- der of Henry's reign, and he employed his time in regulating (according to the state of his feelings) the regal successions of his family. In 1543, he married Catharine Parr, the widow of Lord Latimer, a lady who was generally considered favourable to the "Reformation." In 1544, he had regulated the succession to the crown by a bill in parliament, declaring his son Ed- ward, and any future male issue, his imme- diate heirs ; and after them, the princesses Mary and Elizabeth, who were thus re- stored to legitimacy after being deprived of it by act of parliament ! These strange facts of history would lead the most sober- minded observer to inquire, — 1. Why did not Henry order the birth of Edward the Sixth to be accelerated by act of parlia- ment? 2. Why did not Henry order his own life to be prolonged by act of parlia- ment? We are partly enabled to account for Henry's dislike to Luther by referring to the unrestrained language employed by the latter during the famous controversy in 1521, when, in answering Henry's book, • See pp. 124, 125 of this work. 150 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1517. Luther had called him a "pig, an ass, a dunghill, the spawn of an adder, a basilisk, a lying buffoon dressed in a king's robes, a mad fool with a frothy mouth and a whore- ish face ;'* and had afterwards said to him, " you lie, you stupid and sacrilegious king !"* These coarse compliments were written by Luther when Henry was young and com- paratively innocent ; but Burnet has since declared that " such a man as Henry the Eighth was necessary to bring about the Reformation." Archdallf has remarked, in relation to the monastic life : — " When we contemplate the universality of that religious zeal which drew thousands from the elegance and comforts of society to sequestered solitude and austere mace- ration ; when we behold the greatest and wisest of mankind the dupes of a fatal delu- sion, and even the miser expending his store to partake in the felicity of mortified ascetics ; again, when we find the tide of enthusiasm subsided, and sober reason re- covered from her delirium, and endeavour- ing, as it were, to demolish every vestige of her former frenzy, we have a concise sketch of monachism, and no common in- stance of that mental weakness and versa- tility which stamp the character of frailty on the human species. We investigate these phenomena in the moral world with a pride arising from assumed superiority in intellectual powers, or higher degrees of civilization : our vanity and pursuit are kept alive by a comparison so decidedly in favour of modern times." Hume, while noticing the reports drawn up by Thomas Cromv/ell, says — " It is safest to credit the existence of vices naturally connected with the very institution of monastic life. The cruel and inveterate factions and quarrels, therefore, which the commissioners mentioned, are very credible among men, who being con- fined together within the same walls, can * See Epis. Luth. ad. Reg. Angl.; quoted by Sir Thomas More. Luther afterwards reproached himself with having been too mild towards Henry, Ad. Maledic. Beg. Angl. See also Collier's Ecc. Hist. t Hist, of Irish Monasteries. See Preface. never forget their mutual animosities, and who, being cut off from all the most en- dearing connections of nature, are com- monly cursed with hearts more selfish and tempers more unrelenting than fall to the share of other men. The pious frauds, practised to increase the devotion and lib- erality of the people, may be regarded as certain in an order founded on illusion, lies, and superstition. The supine idleness also, and its attendant, profound ignorance, with which the convents were reproached, admit of no question. No manly or elegant knowledge could be expected among men whose life, condemned to a tedious uni- formity and deprived of all emulation, afforded nothing to raise the mind or culti- vate the genius." In Sharon Turner's "History of Eng- land," we find the following observation by that able Protestant writer : — " No tyranny was ever established that was more unequivocally the creature of popular will, nor longer maintained by popular support ; in no point did personal interest and public welfare more cordially unite than in the encouragement of mon- asteries." The "London Quarterly Review" has luckily favoured us with some evidence on this old battle-ground of historians : — " The world has never been so indebted to any other body of men as to the illustrious order of Benedictine monks ; but historians, in relating the evil of which they were the occasion, too frequently forget the good which they produced. Even the common- est readers are acquainted with the arch miracle-monger, St. Dunstan, while the most learned of our countrymen scarcely remember the names of those admirable men who went forth from England, and became the apostles of the north. Tinian and Juan Fernandez are not more beautiful spots on the ocean than Malmesbury, Lin- disfame, and Jarrow were in the ages of our heptarchy. A community of pious men, devoted to literature and to the useful arts as well as to religion, seems, in those days, like a green oasis amid the desert. Like stars on a moonless night, they shine A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 151 upon us with a tranquil ray. If ever there was a man who could truly be called venerable, it was he to whom the appella- tion is constantly fixed, Bede, whose life was passed in instructing his own genera- tion, and preparing records for posterity. In those days, the Church offered the only asylum from the evils to which every country was exposed : amid continual wars, the Church enjoyed peace — it was regarded as a sacred realm by men, who though they hated one another, believed and feared the same God. Abused as it was by the worldly-minded and ambitious, and disgraced by the artifices of the design- ing, and the follies of the fanatic, it afford- ed a shelter to those who were better than the world in their youth, or weary of it in their age. The wise as well as the timid and gentle fled to this Goshen of God, which enjoyed its own light and calm amid darkness and storms."* The Rev. James Pycroft, B. A. of Trin- ity College, Oxford, has judiciously ob- served that — " The history of printing and the revival of learning are of course closely connected with the Reformation. Indeed, with all the praise due to Luther and his friends, we must not presume that the most promi- nent are always the most efficient instru- ments in the hands of Providence. The men who, like Petrarch and others, con- tribute to the expansion of the human mind, and thus lay the train and provide the fuel, act a part of greater use, though less self-devotion, than those who, whatever be their piety and courage, merely add the spark. The consideration, though humbling to man, is no less true, that the barbarism of the Turks in disengaging and setting free the pent-up spirits of Constan- tinople, might not have done less service to the cause of Christ than the never-fail- ing faith and courage of those whom every true Christian to the end of time must admire. The truth is, God rolls along the still untiring stream of time ; and whether its surface is ruffled, as it were, by a ripple or whirlpool — whether it bears on its wide • December, 1811. bosom the curling leaf or rifted oak — whether the licentious poets of Italy or the faithful scholars of Germany are struggling on its dark and mighty waters, still it on- ward moves, for purposes transcending mortal ken."* In relation to the reception of the " Re- formation" in Ireland, our old friend, the " London Quarterly," has thus remarked — " The Reformation under Henry the Eighth took place in 1536, and is in all respects the most remarkable era which occurs in Irish history. Ireland, as has often been lamented, had no reformer, and was wholly unprepared for the benefits of the Reformation.! It was purely an act OF THE legislature. Neither the English settlers nor native inhabitants understood or cared about it. During Henry's time, little change was required or enforced. Some conformed, others did not. Gra- dually, the people, ignorant though they were, came to have an indistinct percep- tion of the consequences of the alteration. From that moment the animosities of the great parties into which Ireland was divid- ed took an entirely new direction. Al- though distinctions had occasionally been made in preceding times, between the old and new English, the Englishmen general- ly ranged themselves on the one side, and the natives on the other. Henceforward the distinctions between old and new Eng- lish were forgotten, and all attempts to expel them were abandoned. All other differences were merged in that of religion. The far greater part of the English became Protestants ; most of the natives remained Catholics ; and it is painful to reflect, that, throughout the three centuries which have since elapsed, religion has continued to be the main-spring of all the troubles and atrocities which have disgraced and afl[lict- ed Ireland."! There is one very singular incident in connection with the state of Ireland at the time of the " Reformation," and we mention it here because it will serve to explain the * Course of English Reading ; a little work which we cannot sufficiently recommend, and which ought to be in the hands of every reader of the English language. t Leland. X April, 1836. 152 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1547. reason why we have not quoted much from Archbishop Usher. This incident is thus related by O'Connell : — •' When Luther commenced the great schism of the sixteenth century, all Chris- tendom was Catholic. Ireland of course was so. It has indeed been so said — for what will not religious bigotry say ? — that the Catholic Church in Ireland did not re- cognize the authority of the pope, and was severed from the church of Rome. This assertion was gravely brought forward by Archbishop Usher, who was indeed its principal fabricator. But the Right Rev. Dr. Milner has distinctly shown that there is the most conclusive historical evidence in the works of Usher himself, to demon- strate the utter falsehood of his own asser- tion. And there is a curious incident be- longing to this controversy which occurred before Milner wrote ; namely, that the credit of Usher's assertion having been much impugned, a grandson of his, a Pro- testant clergyman, determined to confute the impugners of his grandfather's state- ment ; and with that view, carefully ex- amined the authorities upon the subject ; when, to his utmost surprise, he discovered the total falsehood of that statement ! Be- ing led by this circumstance to examine the other points of difference between the Catholics and Protestants, he ended by giv- ing up his living, resigning his gown as a Protestant clergyman, and embracing the profession of a Catholic priest." Upon the changes which have taken place since the " Reformation" we have the following evidence from the "Dublin Review:" — " We have already seen what the Church was before the fatal epoch we have en- deavoured to illustrate : let us view her for an instant, in her present condition. In lieu of monasteries, we have work- houses ; in place of voluntary charity, an unfeeling compulsory assessment for the poor ; jails are multiplied or enlarged ; whole masses of the population are unem- ployed and starving ; while vice and crime are increased beyond all former precedent, and discontent and turbulence reign through- out. We have principles of equality, where before, we had principles of subordination ; a spirit of worldly ambition and insatiable covetousness, where formerly was a chiv- alrous sacrifice of self, and a generous out- lay of riches for the public good. Coarse, vulgar, riotous mirth has been substituted for the light-hearted innocent amusements of the people : among the higher ranks, society is overgrown, and the best feelings of the heart are supplanted by pride, envy, hatred, emulation, and contention ; while a universally luxurious extravagance has dis- sipated the means of benevolence, and handed over half the ancient estates of the kingdom to the Jew and the stockjobber."* Our John Bull authority, Cobbett, has something to say on this subject : — " Now, my friends, a fair and honest in- quiry will teach us that this was an altera- tion for the worse ; that the ' Reformation,' as it is called, was engendered in beastly lust, brought forth in hypocrisy and perfi- dy, and cherished and fed by plunder, de- vastation, and by rivers of innocent Eng- lish and Irish blood ; and that, as to its more remote consequences, they are, some of them, now before us, in that misery, that beggary, that nakedness, that hunger, that everlasting wrangling and spite, which now stare us in the face and stun our ears at every turn, and which the ' Reformation' has given us in exchange for the ease and happi- ness and harmony and Christian charity enjoyed so abundantly, arid for so many ages, by our Catholic forefathers." We will now conclude with the follow- ing beautiful extract from the glowing sen- timents of Sampson, to which it would be a sin against propriety for us to add one single word ; — "It might be said, — why at this time dwell upon these scenes of discord, and re- vive the memory of wrongs that can have no remedy ? And certainly if it were for no better purpose than to stir up the em- bers and rouse the flame which has burned before so fiercely and destructively, it would be reprehensible ; but there is more safety • May, 1843. CoQsequeaces. Art. III. — The Beformation and its A. D. 1547.] SECOND DIVISION. 153 in the truth than in concealment. Those who know nothing of the history of their country but the traditions of hereditary wrongs and present griefs, can learn no more from books than is already graven on the tablets of their hearts. It is for such as feel not, know not, nor care not what those people suffer that truth should speak with trumpet tongue. And there is no good cause why torturers should sleep on beds of roses. It is for those in whose hands yet rests the power of good or evil to relax their grasp, or the conflict, though unequal, must be eternal. There must be some good to counterbalance so much evil. To for- give injuries is indeed a godlike act ; but human nature has its principles stamped by the Creator, who has implanted passions in the souls of men, some of which it is the office of reason and religion to watch over and restrain ; some that are necessary even to the preservation of the species or the in- dividual; some that exalt and dignify the beinff within whose breast ihev dwell : and of these last none are more noble than the love of truth, the love of freedom, and the love of country. Till these are extinguished in thtj human heart, and man made brute, he will seek for justice, right and indepen- dence, by the means within his reach, let statesmen, lawyers or divines, say what they may. Doubtless, to forbear vengeance is a godlike virtue ; but there is no precept (human or divine) which bids us bury truth, or blindly pay to sinful man that unreserved obedience due to God alone." CHAPTER XIX. Accession of Edward the Sixth — Formation and proceedings of the council of regency — Funeral of Henry the Eighth — Coronation of the new- king, and subsequent appointments — Domination of Somerset — The " Reformation" laid before the people of England and Ireland — Bellingham's administration — New privileges for Dublin — The English government send an Irish brigade to Scotland — The Scots return the compliment in Ulster — Brabazon's administration — Surren- der of Boulogne — Enforcement of the new Eng- lish liturgy ; opposition of Dowdal— Crofts's ad- ministration — Execution of Somerset — Division of the O'Briens — Desolation of UUter — Death 20 of O'Melaghlin— Death of Edward the Sixtli— Progress of the Reformation — Intrigues of the Duke of Northumberland ; unfortunate effects upon the interests of Lady Jane Grey — Sum- mary of the reign of Edward. Edward the Sixth, only legitimate son of Henry the Eighth, ascended the throne by virtue of his birthright, and (what was far more important at that time) the nomi- nation of his father's will. This will or- dered (of course the word " will" is quite appropriate and " in order") that the ma- jority of Edward should commence at the age of eighteen. Notwithstanding this " will" of Henry's, the unhappy young prince never saw his eighteenth year. However, Edward being now nine years of age, the government was during his mi- nority vested in sixteen executors, namely, Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; Lord Wriottesley, chancellor; Lord St. John, great master ; Lord Russell, privy-seal ; the Earl of Hertford, chamberlain ; Vis- count Lisle, admiral ; Tonstall, Bishop of Durham ; Sir Anthony Browne, master of horse ; Sir William Paget, secretary of state ; Sir Edward Forth, chancellor of the court of augmentations ; Sir Edward Mon- tague, chief-justice of the common pleas ; Judge Bromley, Sir Anthony Denny, and Sir William Herbert, chief gentlemen of the privy chamber; Sir Edward Wotton, Treasurer of Calais ; and Dr. Wotton, Dean of Canterbury. Not only did Henry the Eighth name these councillors, some of whom were, in station at least, far below so important a trust, but he laid down a course of conduct for them with a degree of minuteness, which shows that to the very close of his career his unbounded vanity maintained its old ascendency over his naturally shrewd judg- ment. The very first meeting of the coun- cillors showed the fallacy of the late king's anticipations. He had intended that the co-ordinate distribution of the state author- ity should render it impracticable for the ambition of any one great subject to trouble or endanger the succession of the young Edward ; and this very precaution was done away with by the first act of the coun- cillors, who agreed that it was necessary *o 154 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1647. that some one minister should have promi- nent and separate authority, under title of protector, to sign all orders and proclama- tions, and to communicate with foreign powers. In short, they determined to place one of their number in precisely that tempt- ing propinquity to the throne to guard against which had been a main object of Henry's care and study. The Earl of Hertford, maternal uncle to the king, seemed best entitled to this high office, and he was accordingly chosen, in spite of the opposition of Chancellor Wriottesley, who from his talents and experience had an- ticipated that he himself, in reality though not formally, would occupy this very po- sition. Having made this important and un- authorized alteration in Henry's arrange- ments, the council then gave orders for the interment of the deceased monarch. The body lay in state in the chapel of Whitehall, which was decorated with fine black cloth. Eighty large black tapers were kept con- stantly burning ; twelve lords sat round within a rail as mourners ; and every day masses and dirges were performed. At the commencement of each service, Nor- roy, king-at-arms, cried in a loud voice, " Of your charity pray for the soul of the high and mighty prince, our late sovereign lord, Henry the Eighth." On the 14th of February the corpse was removed to Sion house, and thence to Windsor on the fol- lowing day, and on the 16th it was interred near that of Lady Jane Seymour. Gardi- ner, Bishop of Winchester, performed the service and preached a sermon. As he scattered earth upon the coffin and pro- nounced the Latin of the words, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust," the principal at- tendants broke their wands of office into three parts, above their heads, and threw the pieces upon the coffin. The solemn psalm de profundis was then recited, and the garter king-at-arms, attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Durham, proclaimed the style and titles of Edward the Sixth. The coronation next followed, but was abridged of the usual ceremony and splen- dour, on account of the delicate state of the king's health. The executors of the late king, though they had so importantly de- parted from the express directions of the will upon some points, were very exact in following it upon others. Thus, Henry had charged them to make certain crea'ons of promotions in the peerage; and Hertford was now made Duke of Somerset, marshal and lord-treasurer ; his opponent. Chancel- lor Wriottesley, Earl of Southampton ; the Earl of Essex, Marquis of Northampton ; Viscount Lisle, Earl of Warwick; Sir Thomas Seymour, Lord Seymour of Sud- ley and Admiral of England ; and sirs Richard Rich, William Willoughby, and Edmund Sheffield, barons. Somerset and some of the other peers were at the same time, to enable them to support their dig- nity, gratified with deaneries, prebends, and other spiritual benefices. Wriottesley, Earl of Southampton, was greatly disappointed that he, instead of Somerset, had not been chosen protector ; and this feeling tended greatly to exasperate the political opposition which had ever ex- isted between them. Wriottesley, with a want of judgment strangely in contrast with his usual conduct, gave to Somerset an opportunity to distress and mortify him, of which that proud noble was not slow to avail himself. Desiring to give the utmost possible amount of time to public business, and as far as possible to share and check the authority of the protector, Southamp- ton, upon his own authority, put the great seal into commission, empowering four lawyers to execute the office of chancellor for him ; and two of the four lawyers thus named were canonists, which gave some appearance to his conduct of a desire to show disrespect to the common law. Som- erset and his party eagerly caught at this indiscretion of their noble and resolute op- ponent, and easily obtained from the judges an opinion to the effect that Southampton's course was illegal and unjustifiable, and that he had forfeited his office and even laid himself open to still further punishment. Southampton was accordingly summoned before the council; and, though he ably A. D. 1548.] SECOND DIVISION. 155 defended himself, he w»s condemned to lose the great seal, to pay a pecuniary fine, and to be confined to his own house during the pleasure of the council. Having thus opportunely removed his most powerful and persevering opponent, Somerset immediately set about enlarging his own power and altering its foundation. Professing to feel a delicacy in exercising the extensive powers of protector while holding that office only under the authority of the executors of the late king's will, he ob- tained from the young king a patent which gave to him the protectorate with full regal powers, and which, though it re-appointed all the councillors and executors named in Henry's will, with the sole exception of Southampton, exempted the protector from all former obligations to consult them or to be bound by their opinion. The Reformation was now openly preached before the people. Besides Cran- mer and his agents, Richard Cox and Hugh Latimer, (whom the Lutherans call the first apostle of England,) and other English preachers, the country was visited with swarms of them from Germany. Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr, Bernard Ochin, Fa- gius, and others, all and each preached their own several doctrines. Some were favour- able to Lutheranism, which was professed by Cranmer ; others favoured the doctrine of Zuingle, which was that of the protector. This schism appeared dangerous to the par- liament. That tribunal acknowledged none other in religious matters ; it received its commission expressly from the king, who caused himself to be declared the head of it. In order to appease all parties, and, at the same time, to preserve some appear- ance of unity, these senators adopted cer- tain articles of the tenets of each of the sects whereof the religion of the country was composed ; and in order that none should have cause to complain of having been excluded, they added a portion of Cal- vinism, which was at that time becoming popular. Calvin now had the hardihood to write to the Duke of Somerset, the protec- tor, to exhort him to make use of the sword to reduce the Catholics, and force them to embrace what he termed the doctrine of the gospel. From the many innovations which were introduced that had never be- fore been attempted, the people became alarmed. The celebration of the mass was abolished, the marriage of priests allowed, the images were removed from the church- es, and public prayers said in the dialect of the country. Finally, the six articles which had been established by Henry the Eighth were annulled ; several bishops were deprived of their sees, and thrown into dungeons ; the revenues belonging to the churches, together with their vessels and ornaments, were converted to profane purposes; and a new liturgy was substi- tuted for the old one, by act of parliament. All these things alarmed the people, and gave rise to a rebellion in many parts of England. In 1548, the effects of the Reformation were beginning to be felt in Ireland. Two young noblemen, named Richard and Alex- ander, sons of Thomas Fitz-Eustace, "Vis- count of Baltinglass, having caused disturb- ances in Kildare, by opposing some mat- ters connected with the Reformation, which was beginning to be introduced among them, the government immediately sent troops, commanded by the viceroy, attend- ed by Bellingham and Brabazon, in order to crush the rising conspiracy. A well-dis- ciplined army, headed by the deputy, was more than sufficient to disperse a body of men who had been tumultuously assembled, and badly provided with arms ; their lead- ers soon surrendered to the viceroy, who procured them their pardon, and that of their father, the Viscount Baltinglass, sup- posed to have favoured their insurrection. St. Leger, the deputy, having received orders to return to England, brought O*- Morra and O'Connor prisoners along with him. These noblemen having submitted, received their pardon, and a pension for life, of one hundred pounds sterling a year, from the exchequer. Sir Edward Bellingham, who had been sent to England by the government to ren- der an account of the submission of some noblemen in Kildare, returned to Ireland 156 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A.. D. 1649. as deputy from the court. He landed at Dalkey, near Dublin, on the vigil of Pente- cost, and in two days afterwards, received the sword of office according to custom, in the cathedral church of Dublin. The new deputy re-appointed John Allen chan- cellor, instead of Read, who returned soon afterwards to England. The deputy now made incursions into the territories of Leix and Offaly, where he quelled some disturbances that had been caused by Cahir O'Connor, and other no- Wes. He then marched towards Dealna, which he laid waste, and reduced to obe- dience. He was the first after Henry the Third, (according to Davis and Cox,) who extended the frontiers of the English pro- vince in Ireland. This deputy established a mint in Ireland, by orders of the govern- ment ; it failed, however, for want of means to support it. In April, 1548, the city of Dublin, which had been at first governed by a provost, and subsequently, from Hen- ry the Third, by a mayor and bailiffs, and was honoured with the sword by Henry the Fourth, obtained permission from the court to change its bailiffs into sheriffs. About this time, Francis Brian, an Eng- lishman and baronet, having married Jane, Dowager-Countess of Ormond, was appoint- ed Marshal of Ireland, and Governor of Tipperary and Kilkenny. This governor and the deputy could not agree ; the one being unwilling to acknowledge a superior, and the other an equal ; their animosity was carried to such a pitch that Brian wrote to the king against the deputy, and had him summoned to appear at court, to answer the charges which he now advanced. Teigue, or Thaddeus O'Carrol, also seized upon and destroyed the castle of Nenagh, in Tippe- rary, in spite of the spirited resistance of the English garrison. He then expelled all the English from the district. Some differences sprang up in Ulster between Manus O'Donnel, Prince of Tyr- connel, and his son Calvagh, \yhich ended in an open war. Both parties took up arms, and in February, 1548, came to an engage- ment, in which the father was victorious, and his son put to flight, leaving MacDon- ough O'Cahan, artd several other noblemen, his allies, dead on the field of battle. A dreadful misfortune happened shortly af- terwards to MacCoghlan: his district of Dealna being laid waste by the united forces of Teigue O'Melaghlin and Edmund Fay. Edward being at war with the Scots, the viceroy and council in Ireland sent a bri- gade of Irish troops to his assistance, under the command of Donough, son of O'Connor Fahy, accompanied by the sons of Cahir O'Connor. In November, 1548, Cormoc Roe O'Con- nor, who had been proclaimed a traitor and proscribed, appeared before the deputy and council in Christ's Church, Dublin, where, after making his submission, he was par- doned ; but being possessed of considerable estates, he was soon furnished with fresh cause to rebel ; he was then arrested by the Earl of Clanricarde, and sent to Dublin, tried and condemned to death. About Christmas, 1548, the deputy wrote to the Earl of Desmond, to induce him to come to Dublin on some important business. The earl was then the richest of the kingr's subjects in landed property, and though not one of the privy-council, was Treasurer of Ireland. The deputy, exasperated at his refusal to obey the summons, set out on a sudden with twenty horsemen, for Munster, where he surprised him, and brought him prisoner to Dublin. This, however, proved fortunate for him, as he obtained his pardon some time afterwards, and was restored to favour, through the interference of his ad- versary. Cox draws a very disadvanta- geous portrait of the Earl of Desmond, for rudeness and ferocity of manners. This, however, is contradicted by Ware. In 1549, the conquest of Ireland had not been yet completed. Symptoms, however, appeared from time to time among the an- cient Irish, which portended the speedy re- duction of the island. When the lords of inferior districts had any subject of com- plaint against their superior lords, instead of having recourse to the usual mode of ar- bitration, or referring their differences to the Brehons, who were the ordinary judges A. D. 1549.] SECOND DIVISION. 157 among them, they carried their complaints before the English governor. This politic tribunal, while effecting between them an outward reconciliation, exerted itself to se- ver the ties of subordination and establish an independence among them ; so that by a separation of the vassals from their chief, the body became imperceptibly enfeebled, many instances of which occurred about this time. Con O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, having had a dispute with Maguire, Phelim Roe O'Neill, and other nobles who held un- der him, they presented themselves before the deputy and council, in Dublin, in June, 1549. The tribunal heard their mutual re- criminations and complaints, and had them reconciled on certain conditions ; it deci- ded, that Maguire should be exempt for the future from all subjection, homage, and de- pendence on the Earl of Tyrone and his successors ; that he should always remain in peace under the deputy's protection, and that he should be bound to acquit himself towards his excellency, as often as he should be required by the council, of all homage, debts, and generally of every duty which a subject owes to his lord. In the follow- ing month, a similar decree was made re- specting O'Donnel, Prince of Tyrconnel, and the nobles who held under him. These negotiations were followed by the submis- sion of Brian and Hugh Oge M'Mahon, (the younger,) to the deputy at Kilmainham, and the remission of a fine of five hundred marks, to which they had been condemned some time before. The war had lasted for a considerable time between the English and Scots, re- specting the marriage which it was en- deavoured to conclude between the young king and Mary Stuart, in order to unite England with Scotland. The Scottish nobility having refused to consent to this marriage, the lord-protector marched into Scotland with a powerful army, where he gained the battle of Musselborough. Henry the Second, King of France, whose interest it was to thwart an alliance which would produce the union of these two crowns, averted the blow by sending for the heiress of Scotland. She was afterwards married to his son, Francis the Second. The Scots now sent a body of troops to Ulster to support the Irish against the English, and thereby create a diversion in their own favour ; but these auxiliaries, to the num- ber of two hundred, were defeated. Bellingham, the deputy, having been re- called by the intrigues of his enemies, sailed from Howth in December, for Eng- land. After his departure, Chancellor Allen, by the orders of the king, having convened a meeting of the nobility and privy council, in the church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, in order to appoint a successor, the choice fell on Sir Francis Brian. The adminis- tration of this new deputy was of short duration. Having undertaken an expedi- tion into Tipperary, to quell some distur- bances, and to oppose the incursions of O'Carroll, he fell sick at Clonmel, where he died in February following. His body was removed to Waterford, and interred in the cathedral of the Holy Trinity. After his death the government was confided by the council to Sir William Brabazon, and this governor intrusted Edmund Butler, Archbishop of Cashel, with the superinten- dance of the country of Ormond, during the minority of the earl, who was then but twelve years of age. The new lord-justice marched towards Limerick, where he re- ceived the submission of Teigue, or Thad- deus O'Carrol. This nobleman undertook to pay an annual tribute to the exchequer, and also to maintain a certain number of troops, both horse and foot, at his own ex- pense, for the king's service, and to resign his claims on the barony of Ormond. He also placed the district of Eile in the king's hands, who restored it to him afterwards, by letters-patent, with the title of Lord- Baron of Eile. This nobleman having got over his own difficulties, interfered in fa- vour of M'Morrough, O'Kelley, and O'Me- laghlin, and procured letters of protection for them. The lord-justice at the same time reconciled the earls of Desmond and Thomond, whose differences respecting their frontiers had long disturbed the peace of the province. Boulogne, which had been taken by 158 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1550. Henry the Eighth six years before, was sur- rendered to the French, in April, 1550, on condition of paying, at two separate periods, the sum of four hundred thousand crowns. The King of England expended eight thou- sand pounds sterling of this money in the service of Ireland. He also sent over four hundred men from that garrison, which enabled the lord-justice to pursue the rebels, among others Charles Mac-Art Cavanagh, who had already been proclaimed a traitor. He devastated the country, and killed sev- eral of his followers. In 1550, the Reformation had not yet made much progress in Ireland. In May, Arthur Magennis was appointed by the pope to the bishopric of Dromore, and was confirmed in it by letters-patent from the king. Thomas Lancaster, of the re- formed religion, was consecrated Bishop of Kildare, in Dublin, in July, by George Brown, archbishop of that city. He, however, lost his bishopric under the fol- lowing reign, on account of his having married. The English again sent an army to the frontiers of Scotland. Henry the Second, King of France, considered this step against his allies as an infraction of the peace lately concluded between him and the English : and accordingly sent a fleet, consisting of one hundred and sixty vessels, laden with provisions, powder, and cannon, to Scot- land ; but having been overtaken by a furious tempest, sixteen of the largest ves- sels were wrecked upon the coast of Ireland ; the remainder were scattered and found considerable difficulty in reaching the coast of France. The King of England wished to counteract the designs of France against his dominions, but particularly against Ire- land. He knew that his power was not firmly established in that country ; that the people were in general dissatisfied, and that their fidelity being founded on a forced sub- mission, they only waited for an opportu- nity to shake off the English yoke. For the purpose therefore of guarding it, he sent a fleet of twenty vessels consisting of large ships and sloops, under the command of Lord Cobham, with orders to cruise in the Irish sea, from the north to the south of the island. Henry the Second found means, however, to elude these precau- tions. He sent over De Forquevaux, at- tended by De Montluc, who entered into successful negotiation with the princes of Ulster, O'Neill and O'Donnell, and induced them to enter into a confederacy with France, against the English. The peace afterwards concluded between France and England rendered this league with the Irish abortive. De Serigny speaks in the following terms of this negotiation, in his registry of the nobility of France, in the article respecting Beccarie de Pavie, Marquis de Forque- vaux : — " In the mean time, as the king wished to bring the Irish princes under his dominion, and withdraw them from their allegiance to the King of England, who had many partisans among them, and was in possession of some fortresses ; he gave orders to De Forquevaux to set out for Ireland with De Montluc, (John de Mon- tesquionde Lnsseran Massencomme, brother to Marshal Blaise de Montluc,) who was then Chancellor of Scotland, and after- wards Bishop of Valentia and Die in Dau- phiny. Notwithstanding the delicacy of this affair, they carried on their negotia- tion, which was a dangerous one, with so much skill and dexterity, that in February, 1553, they received the oath of fidelity from Prince O'Donnel, and O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in the castle of Donegal, in Ulster, which princes, both in their own name, and in the names of the other lords of the country, placed their lives, forces, and properties under the protection of France ; it having been agreed upon, that whoever would be King of France, should be also King of Ireland." This is an his- torical fact, of which no mention is made, either by our most correct compilers, or in the extensive works of Du Tillet, De Bel- leforet, De la Popliniere, and others ; but concerning which no doubt can exist, since according to the account of the biographer of Raymond de Beccarie, the Latin tran- script of the oath taken by the Irish lords is to be found in the king's treasury, and A. D. 1551.] SECOND DIVISION. 159 he was moreover well acquainted with the facts.* Allen, Chancellor of Ireland, was re- called at this time to England, and suc- ceeded by Sir Thomas Cusack, of Coffing- ton, in Meath, who had been master of the rolls. The office of chancellor was con- firmed to him by letters from the king, in August. In September, Sir Anthony St. Leger was again appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. This deputy received the sub- mission of M'Carthy, and restored him to favour. Richard Butler, Lord of Mongar- ret, in Wexford, was created a peer of the realm on the 23d of October, under the title of Lord-Viscount Mongarret. He was son of Pierce, or Peter, Earl of Or- mond, and of Margaret, daughter of Fitz- gerald, Earl of Kildare. Charles Mac-Art Cavanagh having ap- peared on the 4th of November before the grand council in Dublin, made his submis- sion, and surrendered his possessions pub- licly, in the name of Mac-Morrough, in presence of the deputy, the earls of Des- mond, Tyrone, Thomond, and Clanricarde, Viscount Mongarret, the Baron of Dun- boyne, and other noblemen. The sub- mission of this nobleman produced him no advantage, as he was stripped of the best portion of his estates. Edmund Butler, Archbishop of Cashel, died about this time ; he was natural son of Peter, Earl of Ormond. This prelate belonged to the privy-council of Ireland, under Henry the Eighth. At the time of the suppression of monasteries, he surren- dered the priory of St. Edmund, of Athas- sel, in Tipperary, to which he had been appointed. Butler was succeeded in the see of Cashel by Roland Barron. Now the King of England sent his com- mands to the deputy of Ireland, to have the liturgy and public prayers performed in the English language; with a direction that orders should be given to all archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and parish priests, throughout the kingdom, to conform in all these matters to the king's will. In * Mac-Geoghegan. obedience to these commands, the deputy convened a meeting of the clergy, to inform them of the orders he had received, and the opinions of some English bishops, who had conformed to the new liturgy. George Dowdal, Archbishop of Armagh, and Pri- mate of all Ireland, who was firmly at- tached to the Catholic cause, spoke with vigour against this innovation, and among other things said, "Any illiterate layman might soon have power to say mass.** After this he left the meeting followed by all his suffragans, except Edward Staples, Bishop of Meath. Brown, Archbishop of Dublin, was more submissive than Dow- dal : he received the king's orders respect- fully, observing that he submitted, as Jesus had done to Caesar, in all that was just and lawful, without inquiring into the cause, as he acknowledged him to be his true and lawful king. On Easter Sunday, 1551, he preached upon this subject, in the cathedral of the Blessed Trinity, Dublin, taking for his text the following words of the Psalmist, " Open my eyes, that I may behold the wonders of thy law." According to Ware, several lords had, at this time, the title of baron, though they did not rank among the nobles ; it is proba- ble that these were popular distinctions, from which they did not derive the privi- lege of sitting in parliament. The follow- ing he mentions as existing in his time : the barons of Burnchurch, Navan, Serine, Gal- trim, Rheban, Norragh, Sleumarg, Browns- ford, Thomastown, Ardmail, and Loughno. When the country was, by order of the English governor, divided into baronies, the people, through courtesy, gave the title of baron to some of the ancient Irish, to whom the lands belonged ; among others, we discover those of Dartry, Tuathra Clan- mahan, Tirereil, Loghtee, who were styled barons of their own estates. All who had large possessions assumed the title likewise, which was also the custom in England, previous to its being conferred by patent. St. Leger, the deputy, was recalled this year, on account of some complaints that were urged against him by the Archbishop of Dublin, either for want of zeal in ad van- 160 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1552. cing the Reformation, or some other secret cause. He was succeeded by Sir James Crofts, a gentleman of the king's bedcham- ber. The new deputy having learned, on his arrival in Ireland, that St. Leger was in Munster, he repaired to Cork, where he received the sword from him in May, 1551. Crofts was a zealous Protestant, and en- deavoured, but in vain, to induce Dowdal, the primate, to conform to the king's wishes respecting the liturgy. Upon his refusal, the king and council of England deprived him of the title of primate, which was there- upon conferred on the see of Dublin. Dow- dal was obliged to withdraw to a foreign country, and Hugh Goodacre was ap- pointed to the Archbishopric of Armagh in his stead. He was consecrated in Febru- ary, with John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, in the church of the Blessed Trinity, Dublin. The first expedition of Crofts was into Ulster, to quell some disturbances that had been caused bv the inhabitants of that province, in conjunction with their neigh- bours, the Scots. The deputy having reached Carrickfergus, sent a detachment under the command of Captain Bagnall, to surprise Rachlin, an island north of Fair- head. This expedition did not succeed to his wishes : the detachment was repulsed with a heavy loss, and one of the vessels was wrecked. Bagnall was taken prisoner by the Mac-Donnels, and afterwards ex- changed for Surly Boy Mac-Donnel, their brother, who had been kept in confinement in Dublin. During his stay in Ulster, the deputy received the submission of some of the nobles of the country. The rest in- trenched themselves in inaccessible fast- nesses, from which he found it impossible to dislodge them. About this time, the king changed the title of the Irish king-at-arms. This ofh- cer, who had till then enjoyed that oflSce for all Ireland, was thenceforward called Ulster king-at-arms, the cause of which change is not known. Nicholas Narbon, one of the English heralds, sumamed Rich- mond, was the first who held the office under the new title. He was succeeded by Bartholomew Butler. When the deputy returned to Dublin, he had the Earl of Tyrone arrested, on ac- count of some complaints which had been made as:ainst him bv his son Ferdorach or Matthew O'Neill, Baron of Dungannon. The brothers of Matthew took up arms and devastated the lands of Dungannon, to avenge the insult which had been offered to their father. It being the interest of the English government to support their client, they gave him a body of English troops to enable him to defend his possessions. The matter was soon decided by a pitched bat- tle, in which the baron was defeated and put to flight, with a loss of two hundred of his men, killed upon the spot. The Earl of Tyrone was detained three months more in prison, after which he received his free- dom, upon giving hostages, and returned to his province. Brian O'Connor Faly, who was a pris- oner in the Tower of London, having found means to escape, was retaken, and again thrown into confinement. MacCoghlan, who had been expelled from his territory of Dealna, or Delvin, was now restored, having yielded to the English yoke. The public archives, which had been before deposited in Bermingham Tower, Dublin, were now removed to the library of St. Patrick. About this period died Robert Waucop, the Jesuit, who was either a Scot or an Irishman. During the lifetime of Dowdal, he was nominated Archbishop of Armagh, to Pope Paul the Third, although Dowdal was a Catholic. It appears that the pope paid no regard to his nomination, it having been made by Henry the Eighth during his schism. Two bishops appeared now for the first time in each diocese in Ireland: the one was called titular, appointed by the pope ; the other received his mission from the kings of England, with the possession of the revenues. The only advantage which Waucop derived from his appoint- ment, was the honour of being titular Arch- bishop of Armagh. Two years had now elapsed since the Duke of Somerset was liberated from the Tower, and deprived of the protectorship ; A. D. 1552.] SECOND DIVISION. IM but fresh accusations having been brought against him, by his rival the Duke of North- umberland, and other noblemen, he was impeached and convicted of high treason, and of having attempted the life of North- umberland, in consequence of which he was beheaded on Tower Hill, in 1552. Such was the end of this ambitious nobleman, who, though but a subject, aspired to be the equal of a sovereign, by assuming the style of " Somerset, by the grace of God." He built a magnificent palace from the ruins of churches and the dwellings of the bish- ops, and from the revenues, which they and the chapters were obliged to surrender to him. On the death of Morrough O'Brien, who was created Earl of Thomond by Henry the Eighth, his nephew Donough, Baron of Ibracan, took possession of the estates and title of Thomond, according to a compact made between them by the king ; but as this title was to end with Donough, he sur- rendered his patent to Edward the Sixth, who conferred a new one on him, by which the title of Earl of Thomond was confirmed to him and his male heirs for ever. He was soon afterwards killed by his brother Donald. The noble family of the Fitz-Geralds of Kildare was now restored, in the person of Gerald, brother to Thomas, last Earl of Kildare, who was executed in England with his uncles on account of their rebel- lion. This nobleman spent several years in different countries of Europe, and having been restored to favour, obtained letters from the king, empowering him to take possession of Maynooth and other estates belonging to his family. Donough O'Brien, who had just been created Earl of Thomond by letters-patent, and declared heir to the estates annexed to that title, was disturbed in his possessions by his brother Donald. This nobleman was exasperated to see his eldest brother, and the head of his family, enter into an agreement with the King of England, so contrary to the interests of his country ; he looked upon the title as the seal of his sla- very, and of the dishonour of a house which 21 had been, till that time, free and indepen*> dent. According to Cox, Donald had another motive for declaring against his brother; he had cause to apprehend the loss of the prerogatives to which he was entitled by the old custom of tanistry, as the submission of his brother to the English government secured the possession for ever to his descendants. This, however, is mere conjecture, on the part of Cox. In order, indeed, to give an appearance of truth to what he advances, Cox says that Donald and Turlough were uncles to the Earl of Thomond, while, according to every other historian who wrote on Irish affairs, they were his brothers. The deputy, in con- junction with some of the members of the council, made use of his authority, and set- tled the matter in favour of the earl. Sir Nicholas Bagnall was appointed to the command of a force which was sent against MacMurrough. Both armies hav- ing met, they fought for a long time with doubtful success ; the loss was heavy on both sides, and the victory remained unde- cided. The English garrison of Athlone pillaged, at this time, the cathedral church of Cluan-mac-noisk, not sparing even the books or sacred vessels. Shortly afterwards, the deputy marched at the head of an army to Ulster, and for- tified Belfast, where he left a strong garri- son. In the meantime, the Baron of Dun- gannon having marched with his forces to join the English army, he was surprised in his camp by his brother Shane O'Neill, who killed several of his men, and put the rest to flight. The deputy finding himself de- prived of this succour, set out for Dublin, with the intention of returning to England. The English monarch having learned that Queen Mary, of Scotland, had sent over O'Connor to Ireland, whose father was a prisoner in England, to influence the Irish to rebel against the government, he gave orders to Sir Henry Knolles to repair thither without delay, and put off the de- parture of the deputy till he should receive fresh instructions: but finding, soon after this, that the Queen of Scotland's plan had failed, he proceeded to England, with the 162 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1553. King's permission, attended by Andrew Wise, the vice-treasurer. Two days after his departure, the privy council and nobility met in the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity, in order to appoint two justices, to be intrusted with the government during the absence of the deputy. The choice fell upon Thomas Cusack, the chancellor, and Gerald Aylmer, chief-justice, both of whom were knights, as, at that time, the title was conferred both on civil and mili- tary officers. Some time afterwards, one of the O'Neills, of the house of Tyrone, was arrested in Dublin for having circu- lated opprobrious reports concerning the deputy, but was liberated on bail. About this period, Hugh Ogue O'Neill, Lord of Clanneboy, submitted to the king, in pres- ence of the lords-justices, and took the oath of allegiance. The king, in gratitude, gave him the abbey of Carrickfergus, with the castle of Belfast, and permission for three secular priests to reside with him. Ulster was desolated in 1552 by a civil war between the Earl of Tyrone and his son John, commonly known in Irish history by the name of Shane O'Neill. All Ire- land was visited by a dreadful famine and a scarcity of grain ; but the year following was a most abundant one ; the same mea- sure which cost twenty-four shillings the preceding year, being sold for five. The sentence pronounced by the deputy in favour of Donough, Earl of Thomond, was not sufficient to thwart the designs of his brother Donald O'Brien against him. Donald, who was seconded by his brother Turlough, and a few other lords of Tho- mond, with their vassals attacked Clon- roan, or Cluanroad, in Clare, and burned all except the castle. The earl defended himself in it for some time, but being at length obliged to yield to a superior force, the castle was taken by storm, and the garrison put to the sword ; the earl being found among the number of the slain. Connor, his only son, whom he had by He- len, daughter of Peter Butler, Earl of Or- mond, being supported by the English gov- ernment, succeeded to the title and estates of his father. This was the source of the discord which prevailed for a long time between the houses of Thomond and In- chiquin, and other branches of the O'Briens. About this time, Teugue Roe O'Melagh- lin evinced the same spirit of patriotism which Donald O'Brien had displayed. Hav- ing received some insult from his relative, Neil Mac Phelim, who was in the interest of the English, he killed him on the road to Mullingar. The chief O'MeJaghlin lost his life, some time afterwards, in a battle against the garrison of Athlone, commanded by the Baron of Delvin, whereupon his estate was confiscated. The quarrels of the Burkes also gave rise to disturbances in Connaught ; Richard Burke having quar- relled with the children of Thomas Burke, called Backagh, gave them battle, in which he was made prisoner, leaving one hun- dred and fifty of his men dead on the field. Richard, Earl of Clanricarde, having had some disputes with John Burke, he entered his lands, sword in hand, and laid siege to his castle ; but on learning that Donald O'Brien was coming to his assistance, the earl raised the siege, not thinking it pru- dent to wait the event of a battle. Edward sent three large vessels this year to discover a passage to the East In- dies through the north of Europe and Asia, at the solicitation of Sebastian Gabato, a native of Bristol, the son of a Genoese, or, as others say, of a Venetian. The king appointed him pilot or director of this little fleet, which was under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby. On reaching the latitude of 74 degrees north, Willoughby's ship was cast upon a desert shore, where he and his crew were found frozen to death. His lieutenant, Richard Cancella- rius, was more fortunate, having discovered a passage into Russia, which had been till then unknown to the English. The third vessel, which suffered from the storm, and was separated from the others, returned to England. On the 6th of July, 1553, Edward the Sixth died at Greenwich at the age of sixteen years, of which he had reigned six. The Reformation advanced with rapid strides during his time, which cannot surprise us, A. D. 15o3.] SECOND DIVISION. 163 since this prince, who began his reign at the age of nine years, was wholly under the control and command of those who were intrusted with the administration during his minority. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, the king's uncle, gov- erned during the first years, as protector, till he was supplanted by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. The former was a Zuinglian, and the friend of Cran- mer ; the latter conformed to the religion which suited "his own purposes best ; so that these two favourites, and the other no- bles belonging to the court, perverted the authority of an infant king to gratify their cupidity with sacrilegious plunder. The supposed reformation of religion, was a pretext made use of by them to seize upon the property of the church. They first proclaimed Edward, as they had done Henry, head of the church of England, both in spiritual and temporal affairs. The maxim which had been established in the time of Henry the Eighth, was, " that the king held the place of the pope in England ;" but they granted prerogatives to this new papacy, to which the pope had never aspir- ed. The bishops were newly appointed by Edward, and were to continue in their sees according to the king's will, as had been settled by Henry, and it was taught that, in order to accelerate the Re- formation, " the bishops should be subject to the yoke of an arbitrary power." The Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of England, was the first to submit to this, which is not surprising, as it was through him these opinions were propagated ; the others followed his example. This system was afterwards altered, and the bishops were forced to consider it as a favour that the king conferred the sees for life. It was clearly specified in their commission, as had been done under Henry, agreeably to the doctrine of Cranmer, that episcopal authority, as well as that of secular magis- trates, emanated from royalty, as its source; that the bishops should exercise it under a precarious tenure, and give it up at the pleasure of the king, from whom they de- rived it ; in short, every branch of author- ity was made subject to royal power. The bishoprics, which had thus become offices to be filled by persons who might be recalled at the pleasure of the king, like the governors of provinces, or common clerks, frequently changed their bishops. The most zealous suffered imprisonment, and by their perseverance lost their sees ; the more politic subscribed to every article of the Reformation, and were satisfied with a small portion of the revenues of their rich bishoprics, scarcely sufficient (says Heylin) for the support of a curate ; the vacant ones were conferred on men who readily consented to the dismemberment of the lands of their churches, which were formed into baronies, to enrich (as Heylin observes) the pirates of the court, who had no right by birth to such brilliant fortunes. The death of Edward the Sixth was followed by a kind of interregnum of a few days. The Duke of Northumberland caused Jane, eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, and Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, and Mary, sister of Henry the Eighth, Queen of France, and widow of Charles the Twelfth, each to be proclaimed Queen of England. Jane was of royal descent through the female line, being grand niece of Henry the Eighth ; she was also daughter-in-law to the Duke of Northumberland, being married to Lord Guildford Dudley, his fourth son. Upon this was founded her claim to the crown, and the interest which the duke took to have her proclaimed. This nobleman was the favourite of Edward the Sixth, and finding that the prince's end was approach- ing, represented to him that his conscience required that he should look to the preser- vation of the new religion, not only during his life, but also after his death ; that his sister, the Princess Mary, was opposed to it, but that he could not exclude her from the succession, without also removing Elizabeth : and in short he prevailed so far with this weak prince, that he brought him to make a will, by which he declared his cousin Jane the lawful heiress to the crown. The Duke of Northumberland, who was determined to support the cause of Jane, 164 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1553. put himself at the head of an army of ten thousand men. He vf&a attended by sev- eral noblemen, many of whom, however, deserted him on their march. Mary, who was at Framlingham, in Suffolk, having heard of her brother's death, had herself proclaimed queen, whereon all the nobility of Norfolk and Suffolk flocked to her stand- ard. The nobles who were in London met at Baynard castle, and acknowledging Ma- ry's incontrovertible right to the throne, had her proclaimed by the Lord-Mayor of London. The Duke of Northumberland was at Bury St. Edmunds when he heard of this general defection in favour of Mary, and deeming it a matter of prudence to fol- low the current, he immediately repaired to Cambridge, where, for want of a herald, he went attended by the Mayor, and pro- claimed Queen Mary in the market-place, throwing up his cap in the air as a token of joy. This show of loyalty, however, availed him nothing ; he was arrested the day following, with other noblemen, by the Earl of Arundel, in the queen's name, and gent to the Tower. In the meantime the Duke of Suffolk advised with his daughter. Lady Jane Grey, the supposed queen, and informed her that she should lay aside the insignia of royalty, and be content to lead thenceforward a private life. She answered him with modesty, that she resigned it as obediently as she received it. Thus ended this interregnum of " nine days' wonder." Taylor has given the following able sum- mary of the reign of Edward the Sixth : — ** The reign of Edward the Sixth was the crisis of the Reformation in Ireland. The guardians of the young king, intent on their own schemes of petty ambition, neg- lected the important interests of the nation ; and the fabric that Henry had erected with 80 much labour soon fell to ruin. The first recorded incident of importance in the new reign is a monstrous instance of impolicy and injustice. The O'Moores of Leix, and the O'Connors of Ofally, excited some dis- turbances in Leinster. An army, com- manded by Bellingham, was sent to re- strain their excesses, and soon drove them to seek refuge in their fastnesses. " Representations were made to these chieftains of the favour that Henry had shown to O'Niai and others in similar cir- cumstances, by which they were easily in- duced to submit, and to undertake a jour- ney into England. Scarcely, however, had they arrived at court, when they were treacherously seized and thrown into pri- son, while their estates were seized by the rapacious adventurers who had advised this base act of perfidy. The high spirit of O'Moore sank under the indignity of con- finement. He died, bequeathing to his fam- ily the memory of his wrongs, and a heavy debt of vengeance, which they failed not subsequently to exact. O'Carroll was less fortunate, and long lingered in hopeless captivity and exile. " The effect of this detestable transaction on the mind of the Irish princes and the colonial barons may be easily conceived. Their nascent confidence in the govern- ment was destroyed ; and Bellingham, who had been appointed deputy for his treach- ery, found it impossible to restrain the agi- tation which everywhere prevailed. At this unfavourable moment, the Protector Somerset determined to introduce the re- formed liturgy into Ireland, and sent over St. Leger again as deputy for the purpose. " The Reformation in England was sup- ported by the majority of the people, and a great body of the clergy, weary of the papal yoke. Even before the preaching of Luther, the English church had obtained a qualified independence, and the nomina- tion to its dignities was virtually vested in the crown. The sovereign, in asserting his supremacy, only consummated what had been commenced by the constitutions of Clarendon, and completed an influence which had been already exercised. The condition of the Irish church was far differ- ent. The English owed their possession of Ireland to a bargain made with the pope and the prelates. The Romish church was the guaranty of their security ; and they gladly assisted in strengthening the power which seemed alone able to ensure their safety. The Romish church in Ireland had consequently been long an estate of the A. D. 1653.] SECOND DIVISION. 165 realm paramount to all the rest, compared with which the power of the crown and the oligarchy was as nothing. As for the peo- ple, they did not possess as yet a voice in the state. Had the judicious measures of Henry been steadily pursued — had the ba- rons and toparchs been conciliated by kind- ness — had the people been won by gentle remonstrance, the papacy would soon have lost its Irish followers ; but measures far different were pursued, and we all know the consequence. The reformed clergy were strangely and culpably negligent. We are told by an Irish chancellor of the time, that they did not preach more than once a year ; and that this annual sermon was the only instruction they vouchsafed to afford their flocks. In default of more efficacious means, they placed their reli- ance on acts of parliament and bands of soldiers, substituting the law and the sword for the gospel and the cross. St. Leger would willingly have used expedients less violent, but more efficacious. He was, however, stripped of his office, on the re- presentations of the reformed Archbishop of Dublin, and the administration given to Sir James Crofts, who was supposed not to be troubled with uhnecessary scruples. "The means of conversion which the protector designed to use in Ireland were soon exemplified. A party, issuing from the garrison of Athlone, attackefd the an- cient church of Clonmacnoise, destroyed its ornaments, and defiled its altars. Sim- ilar excesses were committed in other parts of the country ; and the first impression produced by the advocates of the reformed religion was, that the new system sanc- tioned sacrilege and robbery. " Dowdal, who had been appointed to the Archbishopric of Armagh by Henry, on the death of Cromer, in opposition to the papal nominee, unexpectedly became the most violent impugner of the royal supremacy. But Dowdal was a coward ; and when the parliament, to punish his obstinacy, trans- ferred the primacy from Armagh to Dub- lin, he abandoned the contest and his dio- cese together. O'Nial, the Earl of Tyrone, was a much more formidable enemy. The fate of the O'Moores and the O'Carrolls ex- cited his fears. The plundering of Clon- macnoise alarmed his prejudices ; and the eldest of his legitimate children, Shane or John O'Nial, successfully laboured to pre- judice him against Matthew, on whom the late king had settled the inheritance. While Tyrone yet wavered, Matthew, seeing the danger by which he was threatened, made the most alarming representations to Crofts, the lord-deputy ; and the governor, with the short-sighted policy which character- ized his administration, contrived, by treach- ery, to secure the persons of Tyrone and his countess, whom he instantly placed in close confinement. The inevitable conse- quence was, to place the clan entirely at the disposal of the turbulent Shane, who, assisted by a body of Scots, committed the most fearful depredations. " While affairs were thus in confusion, the death of Edward the Sixth produced a new revolution. The officers of state changed their religion with the same faci- lity they had displayed on former occasions, and the great body of the clergy followed their example. Unfortunately, some priests and prelates had evidenced the sincerity of their conversion by marrying. Wives were not so easily got rid of as creeds ; and they were unwillingly forced to preserve their consistency, and retire. Dowdal was re- stored to his see and the primacy, while the most violent of his opponents were compelled to fiy." CHAPTER XX. Accession of Mary — Proclaimed in Dublin — Cath- olic influence restored — Movements of O'Neill — Administration of Sir A. St. Leger — Kildare reinstated — Mary's marriage with Philip of Spain — The O'Briens and O'Neills at variance — Brian O'Connor Faly reinstated — Administration of Sussex — Claims of Shane O'Neill — Restoration of Dowdal — Death of Mary — Writers of Ire- land. Queen Mary having been proclaimed in the principal towns of England, left Framlingham for London in July, 1553. On arriving at Wanstead, in Essex, she 166 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1554. was met by her sister Elizabeth, attended by a cavalcade of a thousand English yeo- men on horseback. On the 3d of August she made her entry into London, with the usual pomp and magnificence. She then took possession of the Tower, where Tho- mas, the aged Duke of Norfolk, Edward, Lord Courtney, Gardiner, deposed Bishop of Winchester, and the Duke of Somerset, were prisoners. They humbly saluted her on their knees ; but she embraced them, saying, " These are my prisoners." They were soon afterwards restored to liberty. Gardiner was reinstated in his see of Win- chester, and appointed Chancellor of Eng- land. All the other bishops, who had been dispossessed in the preceding reign, name- ly, Bonner, Bishop of London ; Tunstal, of Durham ; Day, of Chichester ; West, of Extcr ; and Heath, of Worcester, were also restored to their sees. All married men, who possessed livings in the church, were removed by Queen Mary, and she herself renounced the title of head of the church of England. This princess was obliged to make examples of some distin- guished personages. The Duke of North- umberland, Sir John Gates, and Sir Tho- mas Palmer, were executed on Tower Hill, in August. Shortly afterwards, Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lady Jane Grey, Lord Guildford, and the lords Am- brosius and Henry, sons of the Duke of Northumberland, shared the same fate. Queen Mary was crowned with the usual solemnities, in Westminster Abbey, by the Bishop of Winchester. The English council having informed the lord-justice and privy council of Ireland of all that had taken place respecting Mary's succession to the throne, she was proclaim- ed in Dublin, and afterwards in the other towns and burghs in the kingdom to the great satisfaction of the people. The queen afterwards sent over patents to continue the lords-justices and other magistrates in office. As Mary was already planning the re- storation of the ancient religion, she caused a declaration in favour of the mass, and the other dogmas of the Catholic faith, to be published in Ireland, that is, in the Eng- lish province. About this time, O'Neill made some at- tempts in the county of Louth, which drew the attention of government towards Ul- ster. The lords-justices having collected their forces, marched towards Dundalk, where they dispersed his troops, after kill- ing several of them. Donough O'Connor also made an incursion into Offaly, but was put down by the superior force of the lords-justices. Sir Anthony St. Leger was appointed by the queen Lord-Deputy of Ireland, in No- vember. Having landed at Dalkey, he re- paired to Dublin, where he took the oath on the 19th of the same month, and receiv- ed the sword from Cusack and Aylmer, his predecessors, in the cathedral of the Blessed Trinity ; the patent of Cusack, the chancellor, was renewed at the same time. In November also, Cormac MacCoghlan and his allies, the O'Ferralls, having applied for assistance to Richard, Baron of Delvin, against MacCoghlan, chief of Dealna, the baron entered freely into their confederacy, which, however, was productive of no other result than the burning of some villa- ges in the territory of Dealna.' It tended to perpetuate the animosities and destruc- tive warfare between the tribes of the Mac- Coghlans and the O'Ferralls. In December, Owen Magennis, chief of Iveach, in the county of Down, surrender- ed ; in consequence of which, he was ap- pointed governor of that district by the deputy and council. This nobleman paved the way, by these means, to the title of lord, which was subsequently taken by his descendants. In the following spring, George Dowdal, Archbishop of Armagh, who had with- drawn to a foreign country, was recalled by Queen Mary, and restored to his former dignities of Archbishop of Armagh, and primate of Ireland, in 1554. The priory of Athird, in Louth, was added to his reve- nues. The primate convened a provincial synod in Drogheda, in the church of St. Peter, in which several deprees were pass- ed tending to the restoration of religion. A. D. i554.] SECOND DIVISION. 167 and the ancient rights of the Church ; and statutes enacted against married ecclesias- tics. In the month of April, the primate and Doctor Walsh, who was appointed Bishop of Meath, received an order to de- pose such bishops and priests as had mar- ried. This order was put into execution, in the month of June following, against Edward Staples, Bishop of Meath, who was forced to give up his see. About the end of the same year. Brown, Archbishop of Dublin, Lancaster, Bishop of Kildare, and Travers, Bishop of Leighlin, shared the same fate. Bale, Bishop of Ossory, and Casey, of Limerick, avoided a similar pun- ishment by leaving the country. The bishoprics were then filled by Catholic prelates. Walsh had been already ap- pointed to the see of Meath ; Hugh Cur- vin succeeded Brown in the see of Dublin : Thomas Lavereuse filled that of Kildare ; Thomas O'Fihely was appointed by the pope Bishop of Leighlin ; Hugh Lacy of Limerick, and Bale was replaced by John Thonory, in the see of Ossory. It should be observed that those bishops who were dispossessed, were Englishmen, and the first who preached the Reformation in Ireland. Bale and Brown, the most prominent of those who introduced the Reformation, were monks who had been expelled. Brown was an Augustinian monk in London. He be- came provincial of the order in England, and was appointed to the archbishopric of Dublin by Henry the Eighth ; but a desire to marry made him renounce the solemn vow he had made to God, when he em- braced the monastic state. He is con- sidered as the first who endeavoured to introduce the Reformation into Ireland. His memory is held in veneration among Protestants, and they have taken care to write his life, as worthy of being handed down to posterity. Bale was a native of E^and ; he began his studies at Norwich, came a monk of the Carmelite order, nd afterwards went to Cambridge to per- fect his studies. Having abilities for preach- ing, he never ceased to declaim against the Roman Catholic religion ; he was arrested twice and put into prison, first by order of the Archbishop of York, and afterwards by the Bishop of London ; but was restored to liberty through the influence of Crom- well, the spiritual vicar-general of Henry the Eighth. He was at last forced to leave the country, and withdrew to Germany, where he remained for eight years, after which he returned to England in the reign of Edward the Sixth, who appointed him to the bishopric of Ossory. This prince died six weeks afterwards, and Mary having ascended the throne. Bale left his library at Kilkenny, and fled to Basle in Switzerland, where he remained till her death, and the accession of Elizabeth. He then returned to England, and was content with a canon- ship in the church of Canterbury, not wish- ing to go back to his diocese. " He published several works both in Latin and English, a catalogue of which he himself gives in his book on British writers. In November, Gerald, Earl of Kildare, who had been lately restored to his hon- ours, Thomas Duff", or the black, Earl of Ormond, and Brian Fitz-Patrick, Baron of Upper Ossory, having distinguished them- selves in the war in England, against Sir Thomas Wyat, returned to Ireland. Fitz- Patrick was noticed on account of the strict and reciprocal friendship that sub- sisted between him and Edward the Sixth. In the month of February following, Cahir Mac- Art Cavanagh, an Irish lord, who was highly esteemed in Leinster, and descend- ed from the kings of that province, was created (for life only) Lord-Baron of Balian, in Carlow. He was succeeded in this title by his brother Dermot. The queen had given orders at this time to reduce the troops in Ireland to the num- ber of five hundred men ; the state of afifairs, however, prevented the deputy and council from carrying that measure fully into effect. They retained six hundred foot soldiers, four hundred horsemen, and some light troops ; and were obliged soon after- wards to increase the number, and to ask for further reinforcements from the English, to repel the Scots of the Hebrides. Before this, mention was made of a mar- riage between Queen Mary and Philip the 168 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1554. Second of Spain, eldest son of Charles the Fifth. When this news was spread in England, a serious disturbance broke out in the province of Kent, and other places, in which Wyat was one of the principal performers. Some dreaded that by this marriage, England might become a prov- ince of the Spanish monarchy ; while the partisans of the Reformation feared that the alliance of the queen (who was already opposed to that object) with a Catholic prince, might put an end to the principles which had made such rapid a progress du- ring the two last reigns. The queen, how- ever, was so ably seconded hy her subjects, that the only result which attended this out- break was the punishment of the rebels. Charles the Fifth would let no opportu- nity escape that might contribute to the aggrandizement of his house. In January he had sent ambassadors to England, and among others, the Earl of Egmond, and John de Montmorency ; they were honour- ably received, and wer6 successful in their negotiation concerning the marriage. Phi- lip landed at Southampton, in England, on the 19th of July, and proceeded to Win- chester on the 24th, where the queen waited his arrival, and the marriage was celebra- ted on the following day, which was the festival of St. James, by the bishop of that see. Mary was then thirty-eight years of age, and Philip but twenty-seven ; they were immediately proclaimed by the garter herald-at-arms, under the following titles: — " Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, King and Queen of England, France, Na- ples, Jerusalem, and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Prince and Princess of Spain and Sicily, Archduke and Archduchess of Aus- tria, Duke and Duchess of Milan, Bur- gundy, and Brabant, and Count and Count- ess of Hapsburg, Flanders, and the Tyrol." Although the queen had done much, since her coming to the throne, for the re- establishment of the Catholic liturgy ; had the mass and divine offices celebrated, ac- cording to the canonical rule of the Roman church, in the Latin language ; and had caused heresy to be proscribed, and for- eign heretics to be driven out of the coun- try, (of whom, it was said, that at least thirty thousand had by various routes de- parted from England.) still she was unable to bring back the people to their obedience to the see of Rome. The parliament first made some objections on this head, lest the pope might insist upon the restitution of the property of the Church, which had been seized upon by the nobles; but all these difficulties being removed, they repealed the laws which had been enacted during the preceding reigns, against the authority and jurisdiction of the popes. They also repealed those respecting Cardinal Pole, who had just arrived from Rome; and finally submitted to every thing, avowing their deep regret for having seceded from the obedience due to his holiness, and for having consented to the enactment of laws against him. They then asked upon their knees, his absolution both for themselves and the people, from the censures which they had incurred by their schism ; which was granted to them by the Cardinal Pole, who read aloud the power delegated to him by the pope. A splendid embassy was then sent to Rome, to have all things con- firmed by the sovereign pontiff; and on their being thus ratified by his holiness, solemn thanks to God were oflfered through- out Italy, for the happy reconciliation of England with the holy see. A war broke out between Connor O'- Brien, son of Donough, Earl of Thomond, and his uncle Donald O'Brien. Connor had lost the affection of the people by re- taining the English title of earl, which he had assumed after his father, while Donald became very popular by taking the name of O'Brien without any addition, which was considered much more honourable by his countrymen than the title of earl. Donald was very powerful, and took-several places from the earl, who required the aid of the English to maintain himself in his districts. An alliance and close friendship had sub- sisted for a long time between the houses of Tyrone and Kildare, which made them assist each other mutually. John, or Shane Doulenagh O'Neill, son of the Earl of Ty- rone, having had a dispute with Phelim A. D. 1555.] SECOND DIVISION 169 Roe O'Neill, a powerful nobleman of his family, demanded assistance from Kildare. In order to justify the confidence of his ally, the earl joined in his expedition. The Baron of Delvin thereupon marched at the head of his forces to Ulster ; but his suc- cess did not equal his expectation. He carried away some booty, but lost fifty of his men, who were killed in a skirmish against Phelim O'Neill. Soon after this, a bloody battle took place between the Earl of Tyrone and Hugh O'Neill of Clanneboy, respecting some claims of the earl on his territory ; the earl was defeated. The court of England sent to Ireland in October, Sir William Fitz-William, Sir John Allen, and Valentine Brown, as com- missioners, to assist the deputy in the regu- lation of the crown lands, by which means they were enabled to procure settlements for themselves in the country. Valentine Brown was a Protestant, but his son em- braced the Catholic religion. Brian O'Connor Faly, who had been a prisoner in London for four years, was re- stored to liberty this year, by orders of the queen, who generously continued the pen- sion which had been granted to him by the court. On his landing in Dublin, however, notwithstanding the pardon he had just re- ceived from the princess, he was confined in the castle, under pretext of preventing the disturbances he might cause to the state ; but in reality to prevent him from reclaiming his property, of which he had been unjustly deprived. We witness in this a surprising contrast between the con- duct of the queen and that of her subjects ; but their acts were influenced by different motives. The queen found O'Connor inno- cent, and from a motive of justice gave him his freedom ; the council of Dublin were desirous of condemning him as a criminal, and from a mere suspicion that he might become so, deprived him of the benefit of the pardon which the queen had granted him; and then put him in confinement, where he remained till he had given host- ages. This mysterious affair should be ex- plained. Whenever the Irish had recourse to arms, it was not so much in opposition 22 to the king and his government, as against their English neighbours, who, always eager to increase their possessions, were continually encroaching upon the lands of the Irish. None but the English being hearkened to by the government, they con- strued the battle of one individual against another into rebellion or high treason, the Irish were consequently declared rebels, which declaration was followed by the con- fiscation of their estates in the name of the king, but in reality, for the benefit of the informers, who, alleging their pretended services against the rebels, found means to have the possessions of the supposed crimi- nals conferred upon themselves. These abuses continued to increase ; most of the public offices were filled by Englishmen ; the ancient Irish were altogether excluded from them, and the English government reposed no confidence in those who had first settled in Ireland. These were called the degenerate English ; and in every suc- ceeding reign fresh colonies came over from England, who were enriched at the expense of the old inhabitants. The cathedral church of St. Patrick, in Dublin, which had been suppressed in the preceding reign, was restored by letters- patent, dated the 25th of March, 1555. Thomas Lever, or Levereuse, was made dean, and prebendaries were appointed the May following. Levereuse, who had been appointed the preceding year to succeed Lancaster in the bishopric of Kildare, was confirmed this year by a bull from the pope, who granted him a dispensation to retain both livings. He was dispossessed in the succeeding reign, for having refused to take the oath of supremacy to Queen Elizabeth, and was obliged to become a schoolmaster in Limerick to obtain a livelihood. In June, 1555, Pope Paul the Fourth is- sued a bull confirming Ireland in the title of kingdom. We can discover no neces- sity for this new creation of the title of kingdom for Ireland, since it was considered in that light long before the English were known in it, and even before the institution of the popedom.* Mac-Geoghegan. 170 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A.. D. 1556. In July, 1555, Cusack, the chancellor, re- ceived orders from their majesties to re- sign the great seal to St. Leger, the lord- lieutenant, and in the following month Sir William Fitz- William was appointed to this office, and Hugh Curwin, who had just been consecrated Archbishop of Dublin, was ap- pointed Chancellor of Ireland in October. He convened a provincial synod during the same year, in which several regulations were made respecting religion. In the meantime, the Scots of the He- brides made an attempt on Carrickfergus, in Ulster ; but the plan was badly laid and executed. A misunderstanding still con- tinued between Manus O'Donnel, Prince of Tyrconnel, and his son Calouagh, or Charles. This young nobleman crossed over into Scotland, and having received some assistance from Gilaspock MacAllen, he returned to Ulster, entered Tyrconnel, sword in hand, and took his father prison- er, at Rosrach. This prince died soon af- terwards, in confinement; Calouagh then made himself master of the fortress of Inis- Owen and the castle of Enagh, which he razed to the ground, and in the May fol- lowing dismissed his Scottish allies. The proximity of Ireland to Scotland, and the frequent intercourse of the inhabitants with those of the north, was often productive of quarrels between the two countries. Hugh O'Neill, Lord of Clanneboy, on the confines of Down and Antrim, was shot in a skir- mish with a party of Scotsmen, who came to attack him on his own estate. The Eng- lish government availed themselves of the opportunity, to divide this extensive district into two, between Phelim Duff O'Neill, and the children of Phelim Backagh, (the Lame,) in order to weaken this princely tribe. The emperor Charles the Fifth, being de- sirous of withdrawing from the cares of the world, first gave up all the Low-Countries to his son Philip, King of England. He soon after this surrendered to him all his hereditary dominions, and abdicated the empire in favour of his son Ferdinand, who was already King of the Romans. He withdrew afterwards to a convent in Es- tremadura, in Spain. In May, 1556, the Cavanaghs and their allies made some incursions into the south- em parts of the county of Dublin ; but they were surprised and dispersed by the garri- son of the city, who killed several of them. A troop of one hundred and forty men with- drew to the fortress of Powerscourt, where they determined to defend themselves. They were besieged by the company of the lord-marshal and others from Dublin, under the command of Sir George Stanley ; and being unable to withstand the great number of their besiegers, were obliged to surrender. They were ungenerously treat- ed by their enemies, and brought to Dub- lin, where seventy-four of their number were put to death for having rebelled. St. Leger, the deputy, had before this been recalled, and Thomas RadclifTe, Vis- count Fitz- Walters, was appointed lord-lieu- tenant in his stead. This nobleman land- ed in Dublin on the day of Pentecost, and a few days afterwards took the usual oath, in Christ's Cathedral, where St. Leger re- signed the insignia of office to him. The new governor was accompanied from England by Sir Henry Sidney as treas- urer, and Sir William Fitz-Symons. He also brought over twenty-five thousand pounds, to be applied against the Scottish and the Irish rebels. Queen Mary sent instructions -to the dep- uty and council of Ireland, to use every means for advancing the glory of God, and the Catholic faith, and to support the honour and dignity of the holy see. Her majesty ordered them to assist the ministers of the gospel against the heretics, and their erro- neous principles ; and also to aid the com- missioners whom Cardinal Pole, the legate from the see of Rome, intended sending to Ireland, to visit the clergy. The deputy having collected his forces, marched towards the north of Ireland, in the beginning of July j on the 18th of the same month he defeated the Scottish island- ers near Carrickfergus ; two hundred were killed on the field of battle, and several pri soners taken. Thomas, Earl of Ormond, and Stanley, lord-marshal, distinguished themselves in this engagement. The dep- A. D. 1557.] SECOND DIVISION. 171 uty having provided for the necessities of the toven of Carrickfergus, and regulated the affairs of Ulster, where he left Stanley as lieutenant-general, returned to Kilmain- ham. Soon after this he went to Munster, where he received the submission of seve- ral Irish and Englishmen, to whom he granted protections. In September, Shane O'Neill, son of the Earl of Tyrone, having given a promise of submission, repaired to Kilmainham, where he made peace with the deputy. Rory and Donough O'Connor did the same at Dingen ; but these arrangements were of short dura- tion, the occasions to rebel being too fre- quent. The O'Connors soon fell into the snares which had been laid for them. On taking up arms they were declared traitors and expelled from their country, which was laid waste by the English troops. In June, 1557, a parliament was con- vened in Dublin. It was adjourned to Limerick the month following, till Novem- ber, and from thence to Drogheda, till March. But the lord-lieutenant, who be- came Earl of Sussex by his father's death, having returned to England in December, the parliament ceased its sittings during his absence, and was afterwards prorogued. Cox mentions some acts of this parliament, which had not been printed. In them the queen's legitimacy was admitted ; she was invested with royal authority, and her pos- terity declared entitled to inherit the crown of England and Ireland ; heresy was made liable to punishment and ordered to be sup- pressed ; all the acts which were passed against the pope since the twentieth year of the reign of Henry the Eighth, were re- pealed, and all concessions made by Arch- bishop Brown were declared null and void ; the first-fruits too were restored to the Church: but all these statutes were an- nulled in the beginning of the succeeding reign. An act was also passed for grant- ing the queen a subsidy of thirteen and four- pence on every plough-land ; and another, by which it was prohibited, under pain of felony, to introduce or receive armed Scots- men into Ireland, or to intermarry with them, without a license under the great seal. On his return from England, the deputy undertook an expedition into Connaught in July, against the O'Maddens of Silanchie, at present the barony of Longford. This district had been divided the preceding year between Malachy More O'Madden, and Brassal Dabh, after the murder of John O'Madden, to whom it belonged. The ob- ject of the expedition was to punish the O'Maddens, who protected Donough O'- Connor, contrary to the law by which he had been declared a rebel. The deputy laid siege to the castle of Milick, on the banks of the Shannon ; and being unable to resist the cannon, it surrendered imme- diately. The conqueror placed a garrison in it, and returned to Kilmainham to pre- pare for another expedition against the Scots, who had invaded Ulster. Having collected all his forces, he set out on his march in August, accompanied by the earls of Kildare and Ormond, Viscount Baltin- glass, and the barons of Delvin, Dunboyne, and Dunsany. His preparations were, however, not very successful ; the Scots having intrenched themselves in woods, and other inaccessible places, the exploits of the deputy consisted in taking booty, which was carried off by his soldiers, and in conferring knighthood on Donald Mac- Donnell, and Richard MacGuillan, who made their submission to him. The deputy returned to Ulster in Octo- ber. He devastated the lands about Dun- dalk, Newry and Armagh. This latter city he burned, sparing only the cathedral ; after which he returned triumphant to Dub- lin, about the end of the month. Her majesty's service required the pres- ence of the Earl of Sussex in England, and in order to secure tranquillity in the English province during his absence, he exacted a promise of peace from some of the neigh- bouring nobles whom he thought likely to disturb it; namely, O'Carroll of Ely,0'Mol- loy of Fearcall, Mageoghegan of Kina- lyach, O'Duinne of Hy-Regan, MacCogh- lan of Dealbna, and the two O'Maddens of Silanchie ; and received hostages from them. During the absence of Sussex, Curwin, 172 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1558. the chancellor, and Sidney the secretary at war, were appointed, by letters-patent, lords-justices of Ireland. Having taken the oath in Christ's Cathedral, Dublin, they received the royal sword from Stanley, Lord-Marshal of Ireland, to whom Sussex had confided it for that purpose. They filled this commission together till the 6th of February following, when the queen thought fit to confer it on Sidney alone. The new lord-justice carried his arms immediately against Arthur O'Molloy, Lord of Fearcall, under pretext of his having protected the rebels ; and having pillaged and burned his district, he granted the lordship to Theobald, Arthur's brother, on condition that he would give his son as a hostage, to serve as a pledge for his fidelity. In the parliament we have mentioned as having been held this year, an act was passed by which the districts of Leix, OfTaly, and the adjacent baronies, name- ly, Slewmarg, Irris, and Clanmalire, were confiscated for the use of their majesties. These territories had belonged, for more than twelve centuries, to the O'Morras, O'Connors Faly, and the O'Dempsys.* By the same statute, the deputy was au- thorized to divide these extensive districts into fiefs, and to make prudent grants of them to any English subject whom he might deem likely to advance the English interest; and in order that such concessions should be rendered valid by law, he was autho- rized to have the great seal affixed to them by the chancellor, or whoever had custody of it. It was thus that those masters re- formed the manners of the Irish nobility. This was an important privilege for the deputy, since by his signature, he possess- ed the power of making his valet, or any other favourite servant, a rich and power- ful nobleman. By another act of the same parliament, it was decreed that these dis- tricts should be hereafter called the King's and Queen's counties ; that the fort of Dingen should be called after the king's name, Philipstown, and that Leix, which was called Protector, under Edward the Sixth, should bear the name of Maryborough. * Irish Statutes. Sidney, the deputy, having terminated his expedition against O'Molloy, applied the tax which had been raised on the Eng- lish province, in revictualling the garrisons of Leix and Offaly ; he then returned to Dublin, where he published a proclama- tion prohibiting any one to take provisions out of the English province, or to furnish any to the Irish who were living without the limits. The lands of the monasteries and abbeys, which had been converted, under the pre- ceding reign, into lay-fiefs, and divided among the courtiers, remained in the same state in Mary's time, except the estates of the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, near Dublin, which were restored to their for- mer masters, through the influence of Car- dinal Pole. Oswald Messingberd was, about this time, appointed prior, of that house, and confirmed by letters-patent. The queen had conceived the project of restoring all things to their former state, but her reign was too short for the comple- tion of so great an undertaking. In April, 1558, O'Reilly, chief of the O'Reillys of eastern Brefny, (Cavan,) re- paired to the deputy at Kilmainham, where he surrendered, and took the oath of fidelity to their majesties. The Earl of Sussex was again appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and arrived in Dublin towards the end of April, with five hundred armed men, who were to be em- ployed both in putting down the rebels, and repelling the Scots, who were committing piracies on the coasts. Sussex having re- ceived the sword and other ensigns of his authority, marched at the head of his army towards Limerick, whence he advanced into Thomond, in order to reduce Donald O'Brien, who had renewed the war against his nephew, Connor O'Brien, Earl of Tho- mond. Having taken the castles of Bun- ratty and Clare, he quelled all disturbances, and restored those places and the territo- ries which had been invaded by his ene- mies, to Thomond. He obliged those possessed of freeholds to take the oath of allegiance. Sussex having returned to Limerick, re- A. D. 1558.] SECOND DIVISION. 173 ceived the submission of the Earl of Des- mond ; he stood sponsor a few days after- wards, to his son, and had him baptized James Sussex, and gave him a gold chain ; he conferred another, at the same time, with a pair of gilded spurs, on Dermod Mac-Carthy of Muskerry, whom he created a knight. The Earl of Sussex embarked in Septem- ber with his forces at Dalkey, near Dublin, to go in pursuit of the Scottish islanders, who had taken possession of the isle of Rachlin, in the north of Ireland, whence they made incursions and committed pira- cies on the coast of Ulster. On the arrival of the fleet at Rachlin, it encountered a dreadful storm, in which one of the vessels was wrecked. Sussex landed with the remainder, put the inhabitants to the sword, and pillaged the islands. Thence he sailed to Scotland, laid waste Cantyre, and the isles of Arran and Comber ; but was at length checked in the course of his con- quests by the severity of the weather, which obliged him to put into Carrickfer- gus. He burned several villages inhabited by the islanders, and returned to Dublin in November, where he received new patents and seals for the chancellor, for the chief- justices of the other courts, and the chief- baron of the exchequer. In the meantime, some families of the Burkes of Connaught, having received cause of dissatisfaction from their chief, Clanricarde, called the Scottish islanders to their assistance, but they and their allies were cut to pieces in an engagement with the earl. Shane O'Neill, son of Con O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, was indignant to see his house degraded by the title of earl, which had been disgracefully taken by his father, in place of hereditary Prince of Tyrone, and the illustrious title of O'Neill given up. He was jealous, too, of the preference which his father evinced for his natural son Mat- thew, (whom the Irish call Fardorach,) in procuring for him the title of Baron of Dungannon, by which he was secured in the succession to the principality, in prejudice to himself. Shane was continually under arms, either against his father or O'Donnel, who, as well as his rival, the Baron of Dun- gannon, was supported by the English ; the latter was killed in the beginning of this war. When questioned upon his conduct in this and the other accusations made against him, either by Sydney, or in the presence of the queen in England, (accord- ing to Camden,) Shane answered that he was son and heir of Con O'Neill and his wife Alice ; that Matthew was the son of a blacksmith in Dundalk, subsequent to the marriage of Con O'Neill and Alice, of whom he, Shane, was the legitimate son, and consequently had a right to succeed to his father's property. He added, that the surrender which had been made by his father, of the principality of Tyrone to the King of England, and the restitution he had received from the latter by letters- patent, were null, since his father's right to that principality was confined to his life, while he himself had been acknowledged the real O'Neill, by a popular election, according to custom, notwithstanding that he claimed no other superiority over the lords of his province than that which had been exercised by his ancestors. It appears that the prince's arguments pre- vailed, as he retained possession of Tyrone till his death, which occurred a few years afterwards. Dowdal having gone to England on some affairs of the church, died in London, in August, 1558. This prelate having been expelled from his see, under Edward the Sixth, withdrew to the Abbey de Centre, where he remained till the death of the king and the reign of Mary, who restored him to his rights. Even his enemies acknowl- edged him to have been a learned man and an able preacher. The successors of Dowdal in the see of Armagh were, it is probable, principally of the reformed religion, as the first that was appointed to it after a vacancy of a few years, was Adam Loftus, Queen. Ehzabeth's chaplain. In October, 1558, James, Earl of Des- mond and Treasurer of Ireland, died, leav- ing three legitimate sons. After repudiat- ing the daughter of the Viscount of Fermoy, he married the daughter of O'Carroll, by 174 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1558. whom he had Gerald, otherwise Garret, and John. His second wife having died, he married M'Carty's daughter, who was mother to James, his third son. By the daughter of the Viscount Fermoy he had a son called Thomas Ruadh, (Rufus,) who was his eldest; but some doubt having arisen of his legitimacy, he could not suc- ceed to his father ; from which important disputes arose between the brothers. Gar- ret was readily acknowledged successor to James, and heir to his titles and extensive estates. This was the last year of Mary's reign; she died at St. James's Palace, in the forty- second year of her age and sixth of her reign. The Bishop of Winchester died just pre- viously, and Cardinal Pole survived her but sixteen hours. The Catholics thus be- held their three principal supporters sud- denly carried off. It is remarkable, (says Cox,) that though Mary was a zealous Catholic, the Irish were not more tranquil under her reign than under that of Edward ; on the contrary, their antipathy to the English and their government hurried them to commit the same excesses as under the preceding reigns.* The most celebrated writers in the two last reigns, were Edward Walsh, a native of Ireland, who went over to England about the year 1550, and was received into the household of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, uncle to Edward the Sixth, and protector of the kingdom ; he com- posed two treatises, one entitled " De Offi,- cits Pugnantium Pro P atria" or, the du- ties of those who fight for their country ; and " the other, " Ut Hibemia per Verbum Dei Reformetur," or the manner in which Ireland ought to be reformed — by the word of God. It would appear by this treatise, and the attachment of the author to the Duke of Somerset, that he had embraced the new religion. Sir Thomas Cusack, of Coflingston, in Meath, having filled the offices of master • "Although she endeavoured to protect and advance the Cathulic religion, still her officers and lawyers did not cease to inflict injuries upon the Iri^h." — Cox. of the rolls, keeper of the seals, chancel- lor, and lord-justice of Ireland, wrote a long epistle to the Duke of Northumber- land, dated 8th May, 1552, on the state of Ireland at that time. This epistle is with the books of Darcy and Finglass, among the manuscripts of Dr. Sterne, in the li- brary of Trinity College, Dublin. Thomas Waterford, called by others Waterfield, Archdeacon of Leighlin, wrote a treatise on the affairs of Ireland, which is quoted by Dowling in his annals. Nicho- las Stanihurst wrote a small work in Latin, entitled " Dieta Medicorum,^ or the regi- men of physicians. Richard Stanihurst mentions it in the seventh chapter of the " Description of Ireland." Lastly, George Dowdal, Archbishop of Armagh, a native of Louth, wrote some sermons, and also translated the life of the celebrated John de Courcy, the imputed conqueror of Ulster, from Latin into English. Taylor has given the following excellent review of this unfortunate queen's govern- ment of Ireland : — "The queen commenced her reign by several acts equally just, humane, and poli- tic. She granted an amnesty to those who had proclaimed Lady Jane Grey in Dub- lin ; she restored the heir of Kildare to his title and estates ; and she liberated O'Con- nor of Ofally, who had been so long a prisoner. " The restoration of the old religion was effected without violence ; no persecution of the Protestants was attempted ; and several of the English who fled from the furious zeal of Mary's inquisitors found a safe retreat among the Catholics of Ire- land. It is but justice to this maligned body to add, that on the three occasions of their obtaining the upper hand, they never injured a single person in life or limb for professing a religion different from their own. * They had suffered persecution and learned mercy,* as they showed in the reign of Mary, in the wars from 1641 to 1648, and during the brief triumph of James the Second. " Even in Ireland, however, Mary fully proved her right to the title of * Bloody.* A. D. 1558.] SECOND DIVISION. 175 The septs of O'Moore and O'Carroll ar- gued, with great justice, that they had no right to forfeit their lands for the errors of their chiefs. The ground was the property of the clan ; and the guilt of the leaders, though ever so clearly proved, could by no means involve their feudatories, against whom not the shadow of a charge could be brought. The Irish government answered by an argument sufficiently characteristic. They deigned no reply, verbal or written, but sent an army to drive the people of Leix and Ofally from their possessions, and to punish by martial law all who dared to make any resistance. Military violence and martial law are the species of reason- ing to which local governors of Ireland have, on more than one occasion, had re- course, to silence the clamours of suffering innocence, or to punish resistance to intol- erable oppression. In this instance they were successful. The inhabitants of the devoted districts were pursued with fire and sword. In the words of an old histo- rian, ' the fires of burning huts were slaked by the blood of the inhabitants ;' and it was with difficulty that a miserable remnant was saved by the generous interference of the earls of Kildare and Ossory. To per- petuate the memory of the massacre, it was directed by the government that Ofally and Leix should for the future be named the King's and Queen's county, and their chief towns Philipstown and Maryborough, in honour of King Philip and Queen Mary. " The turbulent Shane O'Nial, or O'Neill as the name now began to be written, was as little inclined to submit to Mary as he had been to Edward. In contempt of the deputy's remonstrance, he renewed the war against his brother Matthew, and pro- cured his assassination. He then joined a son of the chieftain of Tyrconnel in an at- tempt to subdue Calvah, the heir of that chieftaincy, who had deprived his father of power, and detained him in prison. This expedition nearly proved fatal to the adventurous youth. His camp was sur- prised by night, his followers routed, and he himself escaped with difficulty by a rapid flight. John, though thus defeated, lost neither his courage nor his spirit. On the death of his father he unhesitatingly took upon himself the command of the sept, and thus openly set the government at defiance." This eventful reign would seem to de- serve a longer chapter, but there is very great difficulty in constructing a correct statement of the important facts of Queen Mary's reign, which occurred at a critical period in history, whence printing, preju- dice, and political pandering have contribu- ted to confuse all the accounts relating to Ireland. From among the plausible per- versions of Hume down to the painful ig- norance of Maunder, we have laboured diligently to extract our present narrative of Irish affairs, for which we are principally indebted to Mac-Geoghegan, as, after com- paring his account with all the most promi- nent authorities, it was found to come the nearest to truth and probability. CHAPTER XXI. Accession of Elizabeth — 1558 to 1570 — Policy of the new queen — Consecration of Parker — Ad- ministration of Sussex — English liturgy reformed again — Intrigues of the French and the Scots — Treatment of the dissenters who did not conform to the act-of-parliament religion — ^O'Neill's visit to Elizabeth, and temporarily amorous regard of the lady — Disputes between Ormond and Desmond — Mac-Carty Mora's visit to England — Blowing up of the fort at Derry — Death of Shane O'Neill — Dublin parliament of 1569 — Rebellion of the Ormond family — Rising of Turlough Ly- nogh O'Neill — Illustrative authorities. Elizabeth, only surviving daughter of Henry the Eighth, was now declared by parliament heiress to the throne. She was crowned Queen of England, in 1558, ac- cording to the Roman ritual, in Westmin- ster Abbey, by Oglethorp, Bishop of Car- lisle: the Archbishop of York and other bishops of the kingdom, refused to attend. This princess was then in her twenty-fifth year: her reign was long and eventful. The contemporary sovereigns were Ferdi- nand, Emperor of Austria, Henry the Second, King of France, Philip the Second, King of Spain, and Paul the Fourth, who held the see of Rome. Elizabeth soon assumed the spiritual and temporal govern- 176 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1559. ment of the state. She had previously de- termined to make a cliange in religion, but, in order not to excite the alarm of the Catholics, or depress the hopes of the Protestant party, she selected her council from among noblemen of either side, after which, ambassadors were sent to all the princes of Europe, to announce her acces- sion to the throne of England.* The ruling passion of Elizabeth was am- bition. A desire of reigning alone, and of being absolute mistress in all things, made her object to marriage, though she was strongly urged to it by her parliament, and solicited by many princes, the most con- siderable of whom was Philip the Second, King of Spain, her brother-in-law. Influ- enced by political motives, this prince made the proposal to her, through his ambassa- dor, the Count de Fcria, undertaking, at the same time, to obtain a dispensation from the pope. Elizabeth received the ambassador with politeness, but gave him no hope of succeeding in his project. In- dependently of her dislike to a master, she perceived how strongly such a dispensation would tend to affect her honour and that of her mother, Anne Bullen. She knew that by submitting to the pope and acknowledg- ing the necessity of a dispensation in this instance, she would approve of the marriage of Henry the Eighth with Catharine of Arragon, whereby Anne Bullen would be stigmatized as a concubine, and would establish the right of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, to the crown of England. That princess had been just married to Francis, son of Henry the Second, she was acknowledged by France as Queen of England, and had the arms of that kingdom quartered with her own. * The commonly received story about the remarks made by the pope, on hearing of the accession of Eliza- beth, has been dispelled by the patient researches of Mr. Howard, of Corby Castle. The refutation is so satisfactory that Tierney has given it in a preliminary note to the fourth volume of his valuable edition of " Dodd's Church History." Originating with Sarpi, this Btory had never been doubted when Howard made the correction ; and even Lingard adopted it without ex- amination. The details are ably explained in the " Dub- lin Review," for May, 1812, pp. 348—350. • It is said that Henry the Second, King of France, had used his influence, both to thwart Philip the Second, who was solici- ting a dispensation for the marriage he was desirous of contracting with Elizabeth, and to induce the pontiff" to declare that prin- cess to be illegitimate. However this may have been, Elizabeth did not affect to ques- tion her own birthright ; and it is a singu- lar fact that the parliament, which by a solemn act acknowledged her right to the throne, never passed one in favour of her legitimacy, nor on the validity of her mother's marriage, whereon she founded her claim. Elizabeth now commanded that the holy scriptures should be read to the people in the English language ; she next published a declaration, prohibiting all disputes on the score of religion, and ordered every preacher to observe a general silence on the dogmas which had been the theme of controversy. It was then that a difference was discoverable among pastors ; some con- tinuing to preach at the peril of their.liberty and even of their lives, while the mercenary and politic, in order to preserve their liv- ings, conformed to the necessity of the times. In the meanwhile, the queen caused the Book of Common Prayer, which had been published in English under Edward the Sixth, to be corrected ; for which purpose she nominated Parker, Cox, Sir Thomas Smith, an emiiielit lawyer, and other doc- tors, who were favourable to the Reforma- tion. Every thing being thus prepared, the Book of Common Prayer and Liturgy translated into English were laid before, and approved of by the English parliament. It was then ordered to be use'd by the whole kingdom ; the sacrament in both kinds was established ; the mass was abol- ished ; and an act passed to have the tithes, the first-fruits, and the revenues of the monasteries which had been re-established under the preceding reign, transferred to the crown. A warm debate arose, in the parliament, respecting the ecclesiastical su- premacy ; the majority, however, were in the queen's favour, and she was declared A. D. 1559.] SECOND DIVISION. 177 sovereign pontiff, or, to avoid the ridicu- lous appellation, supreme governess of the church, by the parliament, which had now become an ecclesiastical tribunal. The same parliament reduced the number of sacraments to two, namely, baptism and the holy eucharist, and had the altars de- molished, and the images in the churches taken down. The queen being thus confirmed in the ecclesiastical supremacy, the taking of the oath became the touchstone of faith ; and those who refused to take it were immedi- ately deprived of their livings. The number indeed was inconsiderable, and amounted to not more than two hundred in a country where there were more than nine thousand ecclesiastics in orders ; the greater part of whom acknowledged the supremacy, with- out hesitation, by taking the oath; some, from zeal for the Reformation, others through a temporizing policy. It was at this time that the bishops displayed a firm- ness truly apostolical. Many sees remained vacant, the number of bishops amounting to but fifteen, among whom there was but one apostate, viz., Kitchin, Bishop of Lan- daff. The rest, namely. Heath, Archbishop of York, Bonner, Bishop of London, Tun- stal of Durham, White of Winchester, Tirlby of Ely, Watson of Lincoln, Pool of Peterborough, Christopherson of Chiches- ter, Brown of Wells, Turbervil of Exeter, Morgan of St. David, Bain of Litchfield, Scot of Chester, and Oglethorp of Carlisle, being determined not to comply, were thrown into prison and deprived of their bishoprics, which were conferred on those who were more influenced by political power. The see of Canterbury having become vacant by the death of Cardinal Pole, was given to Parker, by letters-patent. It is said that he was consecrated by Barlow and two others. Parker consecrated all those who were nominated by the queen to fill the sees of the deposed bishops. Debates on the validity of those ordinations occupied many writers of that day, and even of the present, who undertook to refute the book of Coroyer ; namely, Fennell and Quin. 23 Here Mac-Geoghegan remarks : — " Such was the reformed religion, which was firmly established in England in the begin- ning of Elizabeth's reign. That capricious nation which accuses its neighbours of in- consistency, changed her religion five times within thirty years. The English were Catholics in 1529; immediately after this they became schismatics and formed a re- ligion, no part of which they understood ; in Edward's reign, the heresy of Zuingle prevailed ; under Mary the Catholic reli- gion was restored ; and on the accession of Elizabeth, another was established, com- posed, with some alterations, of the tenets of Luther and Calvin, to which was given the name of the English church. Such was the state of affairs in England, in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth." Sidney governed the English province in Ireland, as deputy. The privy council informed him of what had taken place in England, the news of which was highly gratifying to the partisans of the Reforma- tion. Tlie funeral ceremonies for Mary, and the coronation of Elizabeth, were suc- cessively celebrated in Dublin. Thomas, Earl of Sussex, was appointed Lord-Deputy of Ireland for the second time, in 1559. He arrived in August, with thirteen hundred and sixty foot soldiers, and three hundred horsemen accompanied by Sir William Fitz- William. This gover- nor repaired to Christ's Church, where, for want of clergymen, the litany was recited in the English language, by Sir Nicholas Dardy, after which the deputy took the oath, and the Te Deum was sung in the same language, to the sound of trumpets. The Earl of Ormond took the oaA also as member of the privy council. Soon after- wards a proclamation was issued to abol- ish the mass. Sidney convened a parliament in Janu- ary, in Christ's Church, Dublin, to repeal all the acts that had been passed two years before, in another parliament, at which that nobleman had presided. Several acts were passed in this parlia- ment for the establishment of the Reforma- tion in Ireland ; all the spiritual and eccle'^ 178 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1559. siastical authorities were annexed to the crown, and all foreign influence (which im- plied that of the pope) was prohibited ; all acts appertaining to appeals were renewed ; the laws that had been enacted in the reign of Philip and Mary, concerning reli- gion or heresy, were repealed ; the queen and her successors were given the power of exercising clerical jurisdiction by com- mission ; every individual, whether lay or ecclesiastic, in possession of livings and offices, was obliged to take the oath of su- premacy, under pain of losing their livings, or appointments ; whoever would introduce or support a foreign power was to be pun- ished by having his property confiscated, or by a year's imprisonment, for the first offence ; for the second, he was to undergo the penalty of the law of praemunire, and for the third, that of high treason. It was decided, that no opinion should be consid- ered heretical, unless it were so according to the scriptures, or to the four first general councils, or by an act of parliament. This parliament also passed acts ordain- ing the uniformity of common prayer, regu- lating the sacraments, particularly that of the Lord's Supper, and also the consecra- tion of prelates according to the ritual of the book of Common Prayer, as approved of by Edward the Sixth, under pain of a fine to be paid by the delinquents. The first refusal led to the confiscation of a year's income of the culprit, and six months' imprisonment ; the second to the loss of his living, and a year's imprison- ment ; and the third, to imprisonment for life. In the same statutes the restitution of the first-fruits was decreed, and the pay- ment of a twentieth part of the revenues of livings to the crown ; lastly, it was enacted that the queen's right to the crown should be acknowledged, and it was prohibited to all persons, under the penalties of praemu- nire, or high treason, to speak or write against it. The English church retained some of the privileges of the old religion. Every bishop had his tribunal for the settlement of matters of ecclesiastical discipline, or as it is termed " officiality ;" excommunication retained its full force, and pastors were authorized to refuse communion to whom- soever they considered unworthy of it, without being accountable to any but the established judge, as appears from the Book of Common Prayer, printed at that time in London. It appears, (says Ware,) that these de- crees met with resistance from the Irish, and that many members of the parliament were opposed to them. Consequently the deputy was obliged to dissolve it in February, and repair to England, to inform the queen, leaving Williams in Ireland, with the title of deputy. Although the Irish had been deceived in religious matters, under Henry the Eighth, from his quarrel with the pope being represented to them as a civil ques- tion, merely relating to temporal govern- ment ; and though they had been confirmed in this opinion by the example of the king himself, and his English parliament, who, though at variance with the pontiff, still professed the Catholic faith, and had in consequence passed some acts against the jurisdiction of the pope ; yet we discover that this people, having relinquished their errors, and displayed their zeal for the Catholic cause, in a parliament held in the reign of Mary, repealed, with one voice, all their preceding acts. Authors who flourished about this time affirm, that, as to the parliament* we now speak of, instead of being an assembly com- posed of persons from all the estates, those alone were appointed who were known to be devoted to the queen, or who were eas- ily bribed. The nobles of the country, who were all Catholics at the time, were carefully excluded ; so that by these and other similar means, any act could have been passed into a law. However, it is well known that such acts were not pub- lished during the lifetime of those who sat in the parliament, nor rigorously enforced till after the defeat of the celebrated Span- ish Armada, in 1588. Elizabeth's moderation was the result of * " It should be remembered that though this was called the Irish Parliameut, it was composed of English- men either by origin or by birth." — Mac-Gsoghegan. A. D. 1560.] SECOND DIVISION. 179 the dangerous situation in which she was placed at this time. Her enemies were numerous ; Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, had no small claim on the crown of Eng- land ; Henry the Second, King of France, instead of withdrawing his troops from Scotland, sent over secretly fresh rein- forcements, with the intention of having ifllizabeth declared heretical and illegiti- mate by the pope ; the emperor and the King of Spain joined in this confederacy, and the Irish were waiting an opportunity to shake off their yoke. Elizabeth foresaw all these circumstan- ces and their results. She prepared to de- fend herself against foreign power, to quell the disturbances caused in England by the Reformation, and secure Ireland by send- ing over frequent succours. She judged it prudent, also, to put off to a more favoura- ble time the execution of the acts of the Irish parliament, which she knew would tend to rouse the Irish to rebel against her. Time proved that she was not mistaken. Henry the Second died ; the Huguenots having raised some disturbances in France, she frequently sent them assistance, and supported the rebels in the Netherlands against Philip the Second. She proposed to the Protestants of Scotland to form a league with her, by which she violated the laws of nations, by encouraging subjects to rebel against their lawful princes. Finally, she reduced the Irish by a long and fatal warfare, notwithstanding the efforts of the Spaniards to assist them ; and then found herself able to enforce any law which she wished to establish over them. The severity which was exercised in the beginning of Mary's reign against the re- formers, forced many of them to seek an asylum in foreign climes. It is said that they amounted to eight hundred persons. Embden was the only city in which the re- ligion of Luther prevailed that would re- ceive them ; these looked with horror on the English Protestants, on account of their having denied the real presence. The re- fugees were, however, received at Zurich, Geneva, and Frankfort, as confessors of the faith. The many privileges which were granted them in Frankfort, soon drew them thither in crowds. The fame of this new church at Frankfort having spread itself abroad, John Knox left his retreat at Ge- neva to join it. When Knox was expelled from Frank- fort, by order of the government, he re- turned to Geneva, where he was appointed preacher, together with Goodman. They then rejected the English reformation, con- formed to the ritual of the church of Gene- va, and adopted the doctrine of Calvin. This was the foundation of the Presbyte- rian religion, and the sect of Puritans which afterwards prevailed in Scotland. Open enemies to hierarchy in the church, and monarchy in the state, they opposed episcopacy, and resisted lawful princes. By such principles as these their conduct was regulated ; they deposed the dowager queen who held the regency, and forced her daughter Queen Mary, their legitimate sovereign, to seek an asylum in England, where she was put to death after eighteen years' imprisonment ; and lest King James the Sixth might be any obstacle to their undertaking, they drove him from Edin- burgh, and kept him in confinement at Stir- ling. All his faithful servants were re- moved, and possession taken of his principal fortresses. In 1560, the Earl of Sussex having spent some months in England, returned to Ire- land as lord-lieutenant. He was commis- sioned by the queen to prevail on the Earl of Kildare, who was creating disturbances in the latter country, to go to England, and in case he refused to have him arrested. He also received orders to have castles built and fortified in Leix and Offaly ; to people these districts with Englishmen, and confer estates on their chiefs and male children ; to establish order in the province of Ulster, and admit Surley Boy (M'Donnel) into the possession of the lands which he claimed as fiefs, on condition that he would contribute to the public welfare. He was further ordered to reduce Shane O'Neill, either by force or otherwise : to invest the Baron of Dungannon with the government of the county of Tyrone ; and to have the 180 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1562. O'Briens, who resisted the Earl of Tho- mond, arrested. Queen Elizabeth was particularly desi- rous of having the Protestant religion es- tablished in Ireland. She sent orders to Sussex to call a meeting of the clergy for that purpose ; but the attachment of the bishops to the ancient religion rendered the attempt abortive, notwithstanding the offers which were made in order to bribe them. After this meeting William Walsh, Bishop of Meath, who was particularly zealous in the Catholic cause, having preached at Trim, in his own diocese, against the Book of Common Prayer, was arrested, thrown into prison, and deposed shortly afterwards by orders from the queen. This prelate was sent into banishment, and died at Complute, in Spain, in 1577, where he was interred in a monastery of the Cistercian order, of which he was a brother. The bishopric of Meath having remained vacant for two years, Elizabeth conferred it on Hugh MacBrady, who was more accommodat- ing than Walsh : he died at Dunboyne, the place of his birth, having held this see for twenty years. Thomas Leverous, Bishop of Kildare, was treated almost in the same manner as Walsh. Having refused to take the oath of supremacy, he was deprived of his bishopric, and of the deanery of St. Patrick. In order to gain his livelihood, he was reduced to the alternative of keep- ing a school in Limerick, and died at Naas, in 1577, at the age of eighty years. He was succeeded in the bishopric of Kildare by Alexander Craike. The latter, not content with the revenues of the bishopric and the deanery of St. Patrick, which he held together, exchanged most of the estates of that see, with Patrick Sarsfield, a lord of the country, for tithes of little value. By this means the ancient see of Kildare was reduced to great distress. The Irish Catholics, particularly the an- cient inhabitants, were much alarmed at these symptoms of persecution ; the con- tinuance of which they foresaw, by the changes which took place in church and state. They saw no security, either for their churches or the preservation of their estates, but by arms. Having received promises of assistance from the pope and the King of Spain, they assembled in great numbers, under the command of Shane O'Neill, at that time the bravest and most powerful nobleman in the country. Mac-Geoghegan says : — " This resist- ance of the Irish differs from that of sub- jects, who under pretext of religion or otherwise, rebel against their lawful prin- ces, conduct which will never receive the approbation of polished and well-informed nations. Ireland had not yet been sub- jugated ; her people acknowledged only the authority of the English by compul- sion, whatever their adversaries may ad- vance to the contrary, who always denomi- nated them rebels, an epithet which can only apply to insurgent subjects. They deemed it just to resist a foreign power which was endeavouring to direct their consciences, by introducing a new religion among them." O'Neill finding his countrymen zealous in the common cause, took the command willingly, and marched into the English province, where he carried on the war with success. When the campaign was over, this prudent general, not willing to spend the winter in a hostile country, which was already laid waste, returned to Ulster with an intention of renewing hostilities in the spring. In the mean time, Sussex made active preparations to oppose him. He received from England fresh troops to the number of four hundred men, four pieces of cannon, a mortar, sixty barrels of gun- powder, and other ammunition ; but not be- ing satisfied with this reinforcement, he sailed thither to receive fresh instructions respecting the operations of the campaign. Sussex returned to Ireland in June, 1561, with the title of lord-lieutenant, which he had previously enjoyed. He now thought seriously of an expedition against O'Neill. He therefore set out from Dublin for Ul- ster on the 1st of July, at the head of five hundred men, attended by John Bedlow, one of the sheriffs of the city, who com- manded eighty men. Another detachment of eighty archers and fusiliers followed him A. D. 1562.] SECOND DIVISION. 181 soon after, under the command of Gough, another sheriff; all of whom were supplied with provisions for six weeks. O'Neill's forces being inferior both in numbers and discipline to the army of Sussex, he posted himself so as not to be surprised ; and the only fruit of the expedition was a suspen- sion of hostilities, and a reconciliation be- tween the chiefs. O'Neill went over to England in December, where he concluded an honourable peace with Elizabeth ; and returned to Ireland in May, much pleased with the reception he had met with from her majesty. In the meantime, the Earl of Sussex was recalled, and William Fitz- William appointed Lord-Justice of Ireland in his stead. Roland Fitz-Gerald, Archbishop of Ca- shel, died about 1561. This prelate was descended from the Fitz-Geralds of Bum- church, in Kilkenny, who held the title of non-parliamentary barons. This see hav- ing remained vacant for six years, Eliza- beth nominated James MacCaghwell to it; but his successor was Maurice Gibbon, or Reagh, whom the Protestants accuse of having stabbed MacCaghwell. Gibbon was afterwards driven into exile, and died in Spain. The ancient see of Emly was uni- ted at this time with that of Cashel, by au- thority of parliament. The hierarchy has been always preserved in the church of Ireland, and every see has two bishops, one a Catholic, appointed by the pope, and the other a Protestant, nominated by the king. In 1562, the Earl of Sussex was again made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Having taken the oath, the first act of his adminis- tration was to change some of the districts into counties ; to the ancient territory of Annaly, on the borders of Meath, he gave the name of the county of Longford. He then divided the province of Connaught into six counties ; namely, Clare, Galway, Sli- go. Mayo, Roscommon, and Leitrim. O'Neill's enemies were continually en- deavouring to have him suspected by the government. Loftus, who had just been appointed Archbishop of Armagh, on the deposition of a domestic, wrote against O'Neill to the lord-lieutenant, in 1563. The suspicions against him having gained ground, the lord-lieutenant advanced his troops, and O'Neill was forced to have re- course to arms. The English army set out in the beginning of April for Ulster. In a skirmish near Dundalk, with O'Neill's troops, twenty-one of them fell on the field of battle. Sussex crossed the Blackwater on the 16th, at the head of his army; but fearing that he might be surprised, he re- turned to Dundalk, whither he carried great booty in cattle. In June he proceeded to Dungannon. The day following he endea- voured, but in vain, to dislodge O'Neill, who was advantageously posted in the wood of Tulloghoge, after which he re- turned with his army to Drogheda, plun- dering every place on his march. The Earl of Kildare was deeply inter- ested for O'Neill, who was both his rela- tive and friend. He entreated him to lay down his arms and submit ; and O'Neill was so swayed by the arguments of the earl, that he went to England, where he made peace with the queen, in presence of the ambassadors of Sweden and Savoy. That princess granted him her friendship, and sent him back with rich presents. The Earl of Sussex published an edict this year against the Catholic clergy, by which monks and popish priests were in- terdicted either to meet or sleep in Dublin. The head of every family was ordered, under pain of being fined, to attend every Sunday at the Protestant service. Those who were unable to pay the fine went to mass in the morning, and to the Protestant sermon afterwards ; but in order to pre- vent this, the inhabitants were registered, and their names called during service in the Pi'otestant churches. When O'Neill returned to Ireland, in 1564, he declared war against the inhab- itants of the Hebrides, defeated them, and killed their chief. While the Prince of Tyrone was putting down his enemies, and labouring to establish peace and good or- der in his own district, he drew upon him- self the hatred of the nobility of the coun- try, whom he looked upon as his vassals. 182 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1564. Maguire, Magennis, and others, presented their complaints against O'Neill to the lord- lieutenant, in consequence of which he was reduced to the alternative either of taking up arms against the government, or of sub- mitting to the decision of the lord-lieuten- ant ; but, unwilling to acknowledge the power of the governor, he adopted the for- mer as the more honourable alternative. The lord-lieutenant took care to inform the queen of O'Neill's movements, and to explain how much was to be feared from such an enemy. Elizabeth sent him the following reply : — " Let not your suspicions of Shane O'Neill give you uneasiness ; tell my troops to take courage, and that his rebellion may turn to their advantage, as there will be lands to bestow on those who have need of them." O'Neill was now levying troops, under pretext of defending his boundaries against the Scots. The government became alarm- ed, and the lord-lieutenant issued aj)rocla- mation, which declared that any one enlist- ing under an officer who had not received his commission from her majesty, or from him, should be considered a traitor : he therefore enjoined all those who had en- rolled themselves for O'Neill's army, to come forward and lay down their arms within a limited time, under pain of death and confiscation of their properties. The deputy collected his forces on the borders of the English province, but nothing could check the rage of O'Neill. In order to be revenged on Loftus, the Protestant Arch- bishop of Armagh, who had written against him, he burned his church, on which ac- count the Protestant prelate pronounced sentence of excommunication against him. O'Neill then entered Fermanagh, sword in hand, from which he expelled Maguire. After this he laid siege to Dundalk, which was relieved by William Sarsfield, Mayor of Dublin, at the head of a chosen body of men, who forced him to raise the siege, but was not able to prevent him from devasta- ting the country around. A serious difference had arisen between the earls of Ormond and Desmond, respect- ing the boundaries of their estates, which was followed by a bloody conflict. It may be necessary to observe that the earl of Desmond in question was Garret Fitzger- ald, son of James, and grandson of John, who successively held that title. His first expedition was against MacCarty Riagh, by which he acquired great honour. He, however, was not so successful in his bat- tle with Edme MacTeugue, son of Mac- Carty of Muskerry. The several families of the O'Briens were continually at war against their chief, the Earl of Thomond ; as they imagined that his title of earl authorized him to oppress them. Teugue MacMurrough O'Brien hav- ing been besieged in his castle of Inchiquin by this earl and Clanricarde, sent to solicit assistance from his friend Garret, Earl of Desmond. Garret sent him word to keep up his courage, promising to be with him on a certain day : he then crossed the Shan- non at Castle-Connell, above Limerick, at the head of five hundred foot soldiers, with about sixty horsemen, under the command of his brother, and marched directly for In- chiquin, intending to raise the siege. The earls having received intelligence of the march of Desmond, were determined to op- pose him. Unable to withstand the shock, they fled, leaving Desmond at liberty to relieve his friend. Jealousy continued to prevail between Desmond and Ormond. Desmond was of an ingenuous and upright character ; Tho- mas Butler, surnamed Duff, or the Black, was cautious and politic. Being brought up at the English court, he imbibed Protest- ant opinions, in consequence of which he was more favoured by the queen than Des- mond. The estates of these noblemen were adjoining; they made frequent incursions on each other's lands, and their animosity ran so high that the ambition of power fre- quently drove them to arms. In one of their battles Desmond was wounded, and taken prisoner to Clonmel, where he was attended by a surgeon, but ever after con- tinued lame. As soon as he had recovered sufficiently he was sent prisoner to Lon- don. The Earl of Sussex was recalled, in A. D. 1566.] SECOND DIVISION. 183 1565. Sir Nicholas Arnold was appointed lord-justice, and sworn in, during May. This new magistrate brought over a rein- forcement of fifteen hundred and ninety- six men. His stay was of short continu- ance, since some complaints being made at court against him, he was recalled in the following January. Sir Henry Sidney was the next lord- deputy. His instructions enjoined him to form a privy council, to be sworn, in his presence ; which he was to consult, and which should co-operate with him for the general good of the people. Being assem- bled together, affairs were found to be in a very bad state. The province was harass- ed and oppressed by a licentious and un- disciplined soldiery, who became also ob- jects of suspicion to the government on account of their intercourse with the Irish. In Leinster, Kilkenny was in particular attacked by the O'Tools, the O'Birns, O'Kinsellaghs, O'Morroghs, the Cavanaghs, and the O'Morras. In Munster, the counties of Tipperary and Kerry were brought to the verge of ruin by the wars between the partisans of Ormond and Desmond. The barony of Ormond was devastated by Pierce Grace ; the country of Thomond suffered greatly by the warfare of Sir Daniel O'Brien and the Earl of Thomond. Connaught was torn by the factions of the Earl of Clanricarde and other families of the Burkes. Finally the whole of Ulster, commanded by Shane O'Neill, was in arms against the English government. Cox and Hooker remark, that in addition to the miseries with which Ireland was then afflicted, religion had become almost ex- tinct, the clergy dispersed, and the churches stripped ; and that scarcely any vestige of the knowledge of the true God could be found in that ignorant and barbarous nation. Upon these statements Mac-Geoghegan remarks : — " An insinuation is thrown out by these authors, that either the pretended reformed religion was generally received at that time in Ireland, and abandoned in consequence of the dispersion of its min- isters, or that the Irish Catholics opposed to the new doctrine, after losing their pas- tors, had become at one stroke ignorant barbarians. These two propositions are equally false and deceitful. Some Catholic bishops had been deposed, and were suc- ceeded by Protestant bishops ; but the number was inconsiderable, not amounting to more than five or six. The new doc- trine which was preached had not made great progress in so short a time among a people strenuously attached to their ancient religion. The persecution which had been commenced was not directed against the Protestants, since they were protected by the very power from which it had arisen. All Ireland was still Catholic ; for it may be affirmed, that among every five hundred scarcely one Protestant appeared ; conse- quently the dispersion of the clergy, to which the above authors allude, cannot apply to the Catholic clergy. It is not to be wondered at, that a religion should suffer much in a country where it is strong- ly opposed, but it is impossible that it should be effaced in five or six years, so as that no knowledge of God could be discovered. They were, however, Englishmen, who put forward the above statement." Mac Carty More went to England about this time, and placed at the queen's dispo- sal all his possessions, of which she made a regrant to him by letters-patent, together with the titles of Earl of Glencar and Baron of Valentia. This prince, the chief of the Eoganachts, was descended from Heber, eldest son of Milesius, King of Gallicia, by Oilioll-Olum, and his eldest son Eogan- More, and Dermod Mac-Carty, King of Cork, in the twelfth century, who was the first that submitted to Henry the Second, King of England. According to the right of primogeniture, this illustrious house is the first in Ireland. There were several branches of it, namely, the Mac-Cartys of Muskerry and Carbry ; those of Cluan, Maolain, Alia ; and many others. The deputy returned to England in 1566, to receive fresh instructions, and give an account to the queen of the situation of affairs in Ireland. During his absence the 184 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1566. troops of O'Neill thrcatenod Drogheda. At the request, however, of Lady Sidney, wife of the deputy, who resided there at the time, Sarsfield, Mayor of Dublin, came with troops and saved the city, for which the deputy, on his return, conferred on him the honour of knighthood. O'Neill always maintained an army of four thousand foot, and a thousand horse : he was a prince of great skill and talents ; he took care to have his vassals instructed in discipline, and inspired them with a love of war, but his pride rendered him insup- portable to his neighbours, and added daily to the number of his enemies. Besides the English troops, he had to contend with O'Donnel, Moguire, and other powerful noblemen of Ulster, who complained of his tyranny. He made frequent incursions upon the English province, and laid siege to their towns, by which, though sometimes unsuccessful, he became formidable to the government. He defeated also a Scottish legion, killed three thousand of them, and took their chief, Mac Donnel, prisoner. O'Neill's power engrossed much atten- tion in the English government at this time. The queen offered to him the titles of Earl of Tyrone, and Baron of Dungannon, with a promise to annul the patents of Henry the Eighth, which secured to Matthew O'Neill, of Dungannon, the right of succes- sion to the estates and honours of Tyrone. O'Neill received the proposal with a haugh- tiness expressive of his contempt for such titles, which he looked upon as beneath the name of O'Neill. The commissioners re- ceived from him the following reply : " If Elizabeth your mistress be Queen of Eng- land, I am O'Neill, King of Ulster ; I never made peace with her without having been previously solicited to it by her. I am not ambitious of the abject title of earl ; both my family and birth raise me above it ; I will not yield precedence to any one : my ancestors have been kings of Ulster ; I have gained that kingdom by my sword, and by the sword I will preserve it." He then spoke contemptuously of Mac Carty More, who had just accepted the title of earl. The English government now despatch- ed seven hundred men to Derry. They took possession of the town, and converted the ancient church of St. Columb into a magazine for powder and warlike stores ; the priests and monks being driven out, and other sacrileges committed in the churches. The deputy repaired soon after- wards to Derry, where he continued a few days. Having given the necessary orders for defending the town, and rein- forced the garrison with fifty horsemen and seven hundred foot, he returned to Dublin. O'Neill saw that it was against his in- terest to suffer an enemy to establish a garrison so near, and always in readiness to attack him. He marched therefore to Derry with two thousand five hundred in- fantry, and three hundred cavalry, and posted himself within two miles of the town. According to Cox, Randulph, the English colonel, made a sally on the Irish, with three hundred foot and fifty horse, and after a vigorous attack, killed four hundred of them and put the rest to flight, without any loss on the side of the English but that of Randulph himself, who was killed in the action ; but this account appears to be a mere boast, since, independently of . the sally alluded to not being mentioned by O'Sullivan and other writers, it is impossi- ble that two armies could have come to so close an engagement, with only the loss of the commander on one side, while four hundred men were killed on the other. It is, on the contrary, certain, that the powder magazine took fire, and that seven hundred Englishmen, and their commander, met a miserable end. Discord still prevailed between O'Neill and O'Donnel. The latter was supported by the English, whose aim was to weaken O'Neill, as his power was an obstacle to the Reformation, which they wished to intro- duce into Ireland, and to the conquest of the country, which was not yet complete. These two princes fought many battles with unequal success. O'Neill, at length, having collected all his forces, gained over the queen's troops that were sent to assist A. D. 1567.] SECOND DIVISION. 185 O'Donnel, the celebrated victory of the red Sagiims,* called in the Irish language, " Call na gassogues Deargs." In this bat- tle four hundred English soldiers were killed, besides several officers who had lately arrived from England. We have already mentioned that Garret, Earl of Desmond, was a prisoner in London. During his confinement the other branches of his family caused many disturbances in Munster. John, his brother, defeated in battle and killed John Butler, brother to the Earl of Ormond. James, son of Maurice Fitzgerald, undertook to defend the right of Garret, and for that end strenuously op- posed the attempts of Thomas Rua, who had taken the title of Earl of Desmond. The queen, in order to allay the disturban- ces caused by these noblemen, sent to Ire- land the real Earl of Desmond, and after exhorting him to continue loyal and at- tached to the crown of England, said, that he might hope by his loyalty to obtain fa- vours and rewards. The earl was received with universal joy throughout the kingdom, and restored to his title and the estates of his ancestors. Finding himself free, he ordered his vassals to raise troops, and to put on foot an army of two thousand men, conduct which caused great uneasiness to Sidney, the deputy. He endeavoured to fathom the designs of the earl. Whatever they might have been, he obeyed a sum- mons that he had received from the deputy, and proceeded to Dublin with a troop of a hundred horsemen, accompanied by Sir Warham St. Leger, who had been commis- sioned to guard the frontiers of the English province during the absence of the deputy, while absent on an expedition into Ulster. Accompanied by the Earl of Kildare and other noblemen, the deputy set out from Drogheda, in September. He marched through a part of Ulster, and passed near Clogher. The troops of O'Neill harassed his rear-guard on their march. O'Donnel on this occasion paid him homage, and was * " The Sagum was a warlike dress in use amDng the Persians, Carthaginians, and the Romans, and here signifies the red uniform of the English." — Mac-Geo- OHEGAN. 24 reinstated by him in the possession of his estates, particularly the castles of Bally- shannon and Donegal, for which O'Donnel agreed to pay to the crown a revenue of two hundred marks a year. Thus the Prince of Tyrconnel leagued himself with the enemies of his country to save himself from the attacks of a powerful neighbour. After this the deputy marched into Con- naught, where he retook the castle of Ros- common. Sir Edward Fitton was ap- pointed president of the province : the O'Connor Sligoe, the O'Connor Don, O'- Flinn, and others, made their submissions to the deputy, who obliged them to pay an annual revenue to the crown. He marched afterwards to Athlone, where he caused a bridge to be built, and then sent his troops into winter quarters, after placing garrisons along the frontiers of the English province ; but all those precautions did not prevent O'Neill from devastating it with fire and sword. The deputy then laid siege to Dun- dalk, in which he failed. The great exploits of O'Neill were not sufficient to save him from ruin. He was brave, and his vassals well disciplined, but they fought better in the field than in their attacks on towns, or in defending them. The deputy was more frequently victorious by stratagem than by force of arms; he was in possession of fortifications and garri- sons from which he made occasional incur- sions on the lands of Tyrone, and was art- ful enough to foment discord between that prince and his neighbours. He detached Maguire of Fermanagh, a powerful noble- man of the country, from his interest, and always supported O'Donnel against him ; so that O'Neill, finding himself hemmed in on all sides, and his forces weakened, was reduced to the sad alternative of seeking safety among his enemies. He had twice defeated the Scots ; in the first battle he had killed their chief, James Mac- Donnel, and in the second Surly-Boy Mae- Donnel, brother of the latter, was taken prisoner. Still his misfortunes forced him to have recourse to those whom he had in- jured. He restored Surly-Boy to his lib- erty, and set out for Northern Clanneboy 186 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1567. where the Scots to the number of six hun- dred were encamped, under Alexander MacDonnel, brother to Surly-Boy, in 1567. O'Neill appeared with a few attendants in the camp, where he was received with ap- parent politeness: but the Scots, either through revenge for the injuries they had received from him, or hoping to obtain a considerable reward from the English gov- ernment, stabbed him, with all his follow- ers, and sent his head to the deputy, who exposed it upon a pole on the castle of Dublin. O'Neill left two legitimate sons, Henry and John. After his death, he was accused and convicted of the crime of rebellion, and his estates confiscated for the queen's use, in 1567, by an act of the parliament held in Dublin. The estates of the other nobles who had been of O'Neill's party in the war, were also comprised in this act of confisca- tion ; namely, Clanneboy and Fews, the patrimonies of the two branches of the O'Neills, Kryne, or Coleraine, the country of the O'Cahans ; Route, belonging to the MacQuilins ; the territory of the Glinnes in possession of the Scots, of which James MacDonnel styled himself the lord and conqueror ; Iveach, the country of the Magennises ; Orior, that of the O'Hanlons ; the district of Ferny, Uriel, Loghty, and Dartry, belonging to four branches of the MacMahons ; Truogh, the estate of the MacKennas ; and Clancanny or Clanbres- sail, belonging to the MacCanns. These proprietors were, however, conciliated in some measure. Turlough Lynogh, one of the most powerful nobles of the family of O'Neill, was acknowledged " The O'Neill," with the queen's consent ; but in order to check his authority, she confirmed Hugh, son of Matthew O'Neill, in the title of Baron of Dungannon, and subsequently in that of Tyrone. Peace having been partly restored in Ulster, war broke out anew in Munster, be- tween the houses of Desmond and Ormond. Their animosities drove them to the fatal alternative of a battle near Drumelin, after which the earls were commanded to repair to England, in order that their quarrels might be investigated in council. The sub- ject, however, being too intricate to be tried in England, they were sent back to Ireland, where witnesses might more con- veniently be examined. They, however, would not submit to the laws ; but again took up arms, and recommenced hostilities. In consequence of the complaints of Or- mond, the queen sent orders to the deputy to repair to Munster without delay, and to put down Desmond. The deputy set out with a few troops for that province, where he remained three months. The reasons and complaints of both parties being heard, he decided against Desmond, whom he ordered to idemnify his enemy ; and on his refusal to submit to this decision, the deputy had him arrested at Kilmallock, and brought to Limerick, where he was accused of high treason for having taken up arms against the queen. While the deputy was waiting the termination of the trial he created John Desmond, the earl's brother, a knight, and appointed him Seneschal of Desmond ; this promotion gave great umbrage to the Earl of Ormond, who represented to the queen that the deputy was partial to Desmond, which had excited her majesty's displeasure towards him. Sidney began to feel thwarted in his views by the Earl of Ormond, to whom he thought the queen listened too attentively. He was also importuned with the complaints of Oliver Sutton, a gentleman of the Eng- lish province, against the Earl of Kildare ; and accusations were brought against Sir Edmund Butler and his brother, by Lady Dunboyne, MacBrian Ara, Oliver Fitz-Ger- ald, and others, so that he begged of the court to appoint a chancellor capable of assisting him in the administration of affairs. This office was, in consequence, conferred on Doctor Weston, who landed in Dublin in the July following. Sidney still contin- ued to request a recall, which he obtained at length, and was permitted to return to England. He brought with him the Earl of Desmond, the Baron of Dungannon, O'- Connor Sligo, O'Carroll, and others. The Earl of Desmond and O'Connor were con- fined in the Tower, and Sir John Desmond A. D. 1569.] SECOND DIVISION. 187 sent for from Ireland, to keep them compa- ny. O'Connor submitted to the queen, and was restored to his liberty ; the same fa- vour was soon afterwards extended to the Earl of Desmond, on similar conditions. In the absence of Sidney, Weston and Sir William Fitz- William governed Ireland as lords-justices, by commission under the great seal, dated the 14th of October, 1568. During the administration of the latter, quarrels arose between some private fami- lies, which subsequently degenerated into religious feuds. Such was the state of affairs on Sidney's return to Ireland, in 1568. He landed at Carrickfergus about the end of September, and had an interview with Turlough Ly- nogh O'Neill, respecting the hostilities which the latter had committed against O'Donnel, the Scots, and others who were under the protection of the court. O'Neill, however, cleared himself with the deputy, and both noblemen separated on good terms. The deputy was sworn in on the 20th of Octo- ber, in Dublin, and gave orders that Sir Edmund Butler should be sent for ; he did not, however, think fit to obey his mandate. In January, 1569, the deputy convened a parliament in Dublin, in which angry de- bates took place between the Catholics and the Protestants, respecting the elections of members. The matter was decided by Dillon and Plunket, judges of the grand council, and by the report which was made to parliament by Sir Luke Dillon, who was then attorney-general. Several acts re- specting religion, and other public affairs, were passed by this parliament. After the death of Shane O'Neill, the re- formed religion began to spread in Ireland. Queen Elizabeth desired nothing more ar- dently than to extend the ecclesiastical ju- risdiction, and to rule over the church in that country, as she did in England. The English government adopted every meas- ure likely to advance her views. For this they took care to send over English con- formists, attached to the opinions of the court; on whom the bishoprics and other ecclesiastical dignities were conferred ac- cording as they expelled the Catholic min- isters. To these bishops orders were given to suppress every Catholic institution in their several dioceses, and to establish Pro- testant free-schools, under the guidance of English Protestants. Laws were enacted, compelling parents to send their children to these schools, and to attend the Protest- ant service themselves on Sundays. These laws also decreed pecuniary fines against all who refused, which were changed af- terwards into the penalties of high treason, so that by acts of parliament, the fidelity and attachment of the Catholics to the reli- gion of their forefathers were construed into this enormous crime. Every individ- ual, both of the clergy and laity, was com- manded to acknowledge the ecclesiastical supremacy of Elizabeth, and to renounce all obedience to the pope and church of Rome. Many able preachers, both Eng- lish and Scottish, were sent to Ireland. The principal were Goodman, Cartwright, Knox, Janson, Burchley, and Brady. It was hoped that their great eloquence would win the people to them ; but the court find- ing these missionaries unsuccessful, and the Irish still adhering to their own tenets in religion, determined to change matters and attack the heads of the Catholic party. Richard Burke, Earl of Clanricarde, a pow- erful nobleman in Connaught, was arrested by orders of the queen. Ulick and John, the earl's two sons, assembled their vassals, however, and took up arms against the gov- ernment in revenge for the injury done to their father, and thus procured him his free- dom. The ecclesiastical tyranny of the Eng- lish government excited the alarm of the Irish. In Munster they first signalized themselves ; the chief of the confederacy was James Filz-Maurice, cousin to the Earl of Desmond, MacCarty More, Earl of Glen- car, MacDonogh, and other branches of the MacCartys, and Fitz-Gerald of Imo- kelly. The hatred of the Butlers against the house of Desmond did not prevent Ed- mund, Edward, and Peter Butler, brothers to the Earl of Ormond, from uniting with Fitz-Maurice in defence of their religion. The Earl of Desmond, whose memory 188 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1569. should be for ever dear to the Catholics of Ireland, was still a prisoner in the Tower of London. He had intrusted the manage- ment of his estates to James Fitz-Maurice, his relative ; but Ormond and Thomond had already sacrificed their religion, and the freedom of their country, to ambition, and a desire to ingratiate themselves with the English court. The first step of the confederates was to depute the bishops of Cashel and Emly, and one of the sons of the Earl of Desmond, to go with letters to the pope and the king of Spain, to solicit their assistance. Sid- ney being informed of their movements, proclaimed them all as traitors, and dis- patched Sir Peter Carew with a body of troops against Sir Edmund Butler. Carew was so expeditious that he took the castle of Cloghgriman by surprise, and gave it up to plunder. He then marched to Kil- kenny, where he defeated a body of light troops. On the other hand, the confederates lost no opportunity of harassing their enemies. James Fitz-Maurice intended to besiege Kilkenny, but having no artillery, and the garrison being strong, and provided with every thing necessary to make an able de- fence, he abandoned his design, and had to content himself with ravaging the estates of the English in the neighbourhood, while his allies laid waste the counties of Wex- ford, Waterford, and Ossory, and proceed- ed to the very gates of Dublin. The cam- paign thus passed over in hostile attacks on both sides. The Earl of Ormond was in England when he heard with regret of the rebellion of his brothers in Ireland. He set out by leave of the court, for Ireland. He landed at Waterford, or, (according to Cox,) at Wexford, the 14th of August. His arrival was immediately communicated to the dep- uty, whom he soon after joined at Limerick. Ormond sent for his brother Edmund to come to the camp of the deputy, who re- ceived his submission, enjoining him to ap- pear before him on his arrival in Dublin. He became security for his brother, who proved faithful to his engagement, by his appearance at the time appointed. To the deputy's questions on the cause of his hav- ing rebelled, he answered the representa- tive of majesty with so much haughtiness, that he was arrested and imprisoned in the castle of Dublin, from which he shortly af- terwards escaped. Ormond himself con- tinued faithful to the queen, whose confi- dence he had gained. The rebellion of his brothers he considered as a stain upon his family. They received a second time, by orders of \he queen, a general pardon from the council in Dublin, without being obliged to make their appearance. The Irish parliament of 1569 passed several acts : among others, one giving to her majesty a right to estates and lands in the county of Kildare, belonging to Chris- topher Eustace, Lord of Cotlanston, who was executed, under Henry the Eighth, for high treason. By a similar act, the estates of Thomas Fitz-Gerald, and his son Tho- mas, were- confiscated, for rebellion. The deputy being at Cork, entered the district of Cirricurry, and seized on the castle of Carigoline ; after which he marched to Orrery, and took possession of Buttevant. He intended to proceed to Kilmallock, but was prevented by James Fitz-Maurice, who scaled the walls, and made himself master of the town, but finding it impracti- cable to hold it, he set it on fire. The deputy had the town rebuilt, and put a garrison into it, of four hundred soldiers, one hundred horsemen, and some light troops, under the command of Colonel Gil- bert, whom he appointed governor of the province. Having received the oath of allegiance of the nobles of these districts, viz., Roche, Courcy, Power, Decye, and some others, the deputy returned to Lim- erick. Soon after, Gilbert was created a knight, at Drogheda, for his services during his ad- ministration in Munster. He then went to England, where he married a rich widow ; but having died suddenly. Sir John Perrott was appointed President of Munster in his stead. As war still raged in Leinster and Con- naught, Sir Peter Carew endeavoured to A. D. 1570.] SECOND DIVISION, 189 reduce the Cavanaghs. The tyranny of Fitton over the inhabitants of Connaught was so great, that Conoghor O'Brien, Earl of Thomond, although a loyal subject to England, was obliged to take up arms, and in spite of the mediation of the Earl of Or- mond, who was sent by the deputy to quell the disturbances, they came to an engage- ment. Thomond was defeated, and obliged to fly into France, where he met Norris, the English ambassador, who procured him his pardon from Elizabeth. The earl testified his gratitude, by the important services he afterwards rendered to the crown of Eng- land against his country. In 1570, Turlough Lynogh O'Neill, who had been acknowledged chief of that illus- trious tribe, continued to support the Cath- olic cause in Ulster. The noblemen of Ulster and Scotland made frequent allian- ces about this time. O'Neill married the Earl of Argyle's aunt, and kept Scottish troops in his pay. This prince was plan- ning an expedition against the English province, but was completely prevented from carrying it into execution. His life being endangered by a wound he received, either by accident or by design, the Scots began to desert him, and the tribe was about to appoint another chief. Having, however, recovered, while preparing to accomplish his first project against the English, the deputy dispatched two commissioners, on the part of the queen, to his camp at Dun- gannon ; and a treaty was entered into be- tween them in the next January, which was afterwards ratified by the deputy. Perrott being appointed Governor of Munster, George Bourchier, and George Walsh were appointed his colleagues. This president was successful in a war he car- ried on against the confederates, and obliged some of their chiefs, namely, Mac Carty More, Lord Barry, MacCarty Riagh, Donough MacTeigue of Muskerry, Lord Courcy, and MacDonough, to defray the expenses of the war, and thus weakened the party of James Fitz-Maurice. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XX. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " The enemies of O'Neill have described him in the most inconsistent colours. They assert that he was addicted to the most brutal excesses, particularly to beastly in- toxication ; that he was rude, ignorant, and barbarous ; while, at the same time, they represent him as cautious, circumspect, and acute. A man, however, who was able to win the confidence of the gallant Sydney, and subsequently to obtain a more than ordinary share of Elizabeth's favour, could neither have been uncivilized nor brutal. They who plundered his estates by their rapacity slandered him by their malice ; but time, the redresser of injuries, permits us now to do justice to the unfor- tunate with impunity. " Warned by the fate of O'More and O'Carroll, John was too wise to enter the English eamp. When summoned he re- plied, that he was engaged in celebrating the christening of his child ; and added a request that Sydney would come and witness the ceremony, and become spon- sor to the new-born babe. To the great annoyance of those underlings who infested the seat of government, and hoped to carve out fortunes for themselves by confiscation and plunder, Sydney accepted the invita- tion. He was entertained with great hos- pitality, and even magnificence. The cere- mony was performed with more than or- dinary solemnity, and Sydney then pro- ceeded to enter on the real business of his visit. To his great astonishment, the ac- count given by O'Neill of all former trans- actions was totally different from the re- presentations made at the castle. So far from being an obstinate rebel, he proved himself a man ' more sinned against than sinning ;' one who had been driven to take up arms as the only means left for protect- ing his property and person. With great dignity and composure, he stated his right to the succession of Tyrone, which was equally clear by the English and the Irish law. According to the former, he was the heir, as being the eldest legilirnate son ; 190 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1570. and, in accordance with the latter, he had been unanimously chosen tanist by the sept. He denied the authority of any letters-pat- ent to destroy a right of succession derived from a long line of illustrious ancestors ; and though he professed himself a liege subject of the queen, he claimed his right to the sovereignty of Tyrone, both by de- scent and the free election of the clansmen. Sydney was struck with the force and justice of these arguments. He consulted his counsellors, whom the candour and firmness of O'Neill had thrown into con- fusion. By their advice he declared that the matters stated were too important for him to decide, but promised to lay them before the queen. In the meantime he advised the chieftain to preserve his alle- giance, and to confide in the royal honour for such an arrangement as would be found right and equitable. O'Neill promised to observe this advice, and they parted in the utmost amity. This incident has been detailed at some length, on account of the important light it throws on the character and motives of this gallant but unfortunate chief, whose future career must occupy no inconsiderable portion of this history." — Taylor. " The spirit and address of this plea do not bespeak the sottishness and stupidity of a drunkard. Sydney consulted his coun- sellors : his counsellors were silenced by the reasoning, and astonished at the firm- ness of the Irish lord. By their advice he replied that the points now stated were of too great consequence to receive an immediate decision ; that they were first to be communicated to the queen." — Le- LAND. " The actual appearance of a native chief, attended by his escort of wild Irish- men, created a sensation in the English capital that has rarely been equalled. O'Neill had judiciously selected the tallest and best looking of his Galloglasses ; their heads were bare, protected only by long and flowing tresses ; they wore linen vests of a deep saffron colour, with wide open sleeves, protected by a light and graceful coat-of- mail ; their arms were broad battle-axes and short swords, forming altogether a specta- cle equally novel and interesting. The citizens of London, then as now ardent admirers of novelty, were enraptured ; they crowded round the chief, and loudly cheered him as he passed through the streets. Elizabeth herself was delighted at so romantic an incident; she received O'Neill with more than ordinary favour ; listened to his allegations with complacen- cy ; promised to do his claims full justice : and added to these substantial benefits flattering courtesies of a more intoxicating nature." — Taylor. " Armed with the battle-axe, their heads bare, their hair flowing on their shoulders, their linen vests dyed with saffron, with long and open sleeves, and surcharged with their short military harness ; a spectacle astonishing to the people, who imagined that they beheld the inhabitants of some distant quarter of the globe." — Leland. " He [O'Neill] reduced the north so pro- perly, that if any subject could approve the loss of money or goods, he would as- suredly either force the robber to restitu- tion, or of his own cost redeeme the harme to the loosers contentation." — Campion. " Sydney knew the most effectual method of reducing the northern chieftain, and pur- sued it with vigour and address. It had been his first care to engage the northern Irish, who had been injured by O'Nial, firmly to the interests of the crown. He conferred with Calvagh of Tyrconnel ; re- instated him in full possession of his ter- ritory ; and so wrought upon him by cour- tesy, that he acknowledged the queen his rightful mistress, and sovereign of Ireland, in all causes ecclesiastical and temporal ; promised due obedience to her deputy ; engaged, that if it should please her majesty at any time, to change the customs of his country, and to govern it by her laws ; or to confer a title of honour on him, or any of his people, he would assist and co-ope- rate with her gracious intentions ; but above all, he bound himself to oppose the rebel John O'Nial with all his powers. In like manner he restored Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, to his territory, and engaged A. D. 1570.] SECOND DIVISION. 191 him in the service of the queen, with several of the Irish lords of Connaught. Thus did Sydney raise up a number of neighbouring enemies against John O'Nial, provoked by his injuries, and ever ready to seize the occasion of infesting him ; while he himself took his station on the northern bor- ders with a considerable force." — Leland. " When all these arrangements were completed, the nobility were easily insti- gated to make their ' complaints,' as Sir James Ware states ; and the determination to • root him out,' long since formed and resolved on, was announced. The lord- lieutenant, Sussex, who preceded Sydney, had received instructions from Elizabeth's council, among the items, * To reduce Shane O'Nial by force or otherwise.' * Otherwise,' is here a word of great latitude — It implies ' Flectere si nequeo superos Acheronta mo- veboJ The object must be accomplished by force or fraud — by fair means or foul. Doubtless Sydney had the same instruc- tions — and fatally for O'Nial, he strictly obeyed them." — M. Carey. " To augment the king's revenue, in the same parliament, upon the attainder of Shane O'Nial, Sydney resumed and vested in the crown more than half the province of Ulster." — Da VIES. "Albeit he had most commonlie two hundred tunnes of wines in his cellar at Dundrum, and had his full fill thereof, yet was he never satisfied till he had -swallow- ed up maruellous great quantities of vsque- bagh, or aqua vitae, of that countrie ; where- of so vnmeasurablie he would drinke and bouse, that for the quenching of the heat of the bodie, which by that meanes was most extremelie inflamed, and distempered, he was eft soones conueid, as the common report was, into a deep pit ! and standing upright in the same, the earth was cast round about him, up to the hard chin, and there he did rcmaine vntil such time as his body was recouered to some temperature ! by which meanes, though he came after in some better plight, yet his manners and con- ditions became daily worse !" — Hollinshed. " This nobleman, who had amazed Syd- ney and his council with his powers and his eloquence, and, what is more remark- able and striking, who, in spite of the pre- judices existing at the court of Elizabeth against the Irish in general, and himself in particular, ingratiated himself by his ad- dress and talents, into her favour and that of her ministers, is represented by most of the English writers as a mere brute and savage, destitute of humanity and cultiva- tion. Among the absurd tales fabricated against him, one was, that he hung one of his followers for eating English bread ! Another, that he was lost in habits of the most beastly intemperance. There is hard- ly the shadow of a doubt that both these stories are utterly destitute of foundation. They are belied by the whole tenor of his history. Campion states a trait of his daily conduct which displays humanity and re- ligious feeling, not very consistent with the tales narrated of him by his enemies — ' Sitting at meate, before he put one morsel into his mouth, he used to slice a portion above the dayly alms, anil send it, namely, to some begger at his gate, saying, it was meete to serve Christ first* This is not the act of such a deplorable wretch as he has been pourtrayed. The idea of putting one of his followers to death for eating English bread is too farcical, and is a mere nursery tale. Let it be observed that while Le- land and other writers state that he hung only one of his followers — Camden extends the story to the plural number — ' He stran- gled some of his own men for that they fed on English bread.'" — M. Carey. "Having sent an embassy to Clan-hu- boy, and obtained a favourable answer, O'Neill, with a few faithful followers, pro- ceeded to the Scottish camp. But an em- issary of government had preceded him. Piers, a British oflicer, a disgrace to his country and his profession, had undertaken the task of persuading the Scottish chief to murder his unsuspecting guest. The desire of revenge united with the thirst of gain in seducing Clan-hu-.boy to consent. At an entertainment given by an Irish lord, a pre- concerted quarrel was raised with some of O'Neill's followers. At a given signal the banqucting-room was filled with soldiers, 192 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1574. and all the Irish were slain. O'Neill's head was sent to Dublin, and Piers received a thousand marks from the government as a reward for the murder. The deputy then marched through Tyrone without meeting any resistance, and nominated a feeble old man tanist of the sept, to prevent the clan from choosing a more efficient leader. " Thus terminated the first important civil war after the Reformation. It can- not without a gross abuse of terms be called a rebellion ; and the authors who have chosen to describe it as a religious rebellion are guilty of positive and wanton falsehood. The burning of the cathedral at Armagh, the only evidence of hostility to the newly established form of religion, was, in O'Neill's circumstances, an act of necessary policy. When his old feudatories and friends were bribed to desertion ; when his allies in the west and south became either neutral or hostile ; when he was left almost alone amid his enemies, the only chance of escape remaining was to obtain aid from abroad. The orthodoxy of the chieftain was more than suspected. In fact, he was supposed to have become at- tached to the principles of the Reformation during his visit to England, and to have been deterred from a public acknowledg- ment of his conversion by a well-grounded fear of losing the confidence of his follow- ers, without in the slightest degree abating the rancorous and rapacious enmity of the Irish government. He burned the cathe- dral as an evidence of his sincerity in the cause of the old religion ; but the Romish party still refused to trust him ; and some of its most violent supporters united with the deputy for his destruction. But though the war against O'Neill had no connection with religion, either in its cause or pro- gress, its consequences were most injurious to the cause of the Reformation. The de- testable policy by which their favourite leader was destroyed inspired the Irish with a fierce hatred against every English institution, civil and religious. They judged of the new system by its effects ; and these they found were treachery, robbery, and assassination." — Taylob. CHAPTER XXII. Reifi;n of Elizabeth— 1571 to 1580— Visit of the Earl of Essex to Ireland — Opernlions of James Fitz-Maurice in Connaught — Liberation of the Earl of Desmond, and his brother John, from the Tower — Plague in Ireland — Sidney re-appointed — Death of the Earl of Essex — The nobility of Leinster complain against Drury — James Fitz- Maurice sent to France and Rome by the Earl of Desmond — Death of Rory O'Morra — Arrival of Fitz-Maurice's fleet at Smerwick — Death of Theobald Burke, and of Fitz-Maurice — Subse- quent warfare — Treacherous treatment towards Desmond — Activity of Pelham and Ormond — Administration of Lord Arthur Grey — Sir Wal- ter Raleigh in the field — General horror thrdugh- out Europe at Grey's proceedings — Historical authorities. Sidney, the deputy, obtained permission to return to England, with orders to be suc- ceeded by his brother-in-law. Sir William Fitz- William, who was sworn into office in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, in April, 1571. Types of the Irish characters, for printing, were introduced into Ireland the same year, by Nicholas Walsh and John Kerne. Government gave orders to have prayer-books printed in the Irish lan- guage. Brian Cavanagh, son of Cahir MacArt, who was created Baron of Balian by Queen Mary, caused great disturbance in Lein- ster; he was a brave and accomplished nobleman. He killed Robert Brown, Lord of Malrenkam, for having insulted him. Brian's pride made him so formidable to his neighbours, that Sir Nicholas Dcvereux and the principal inhabitants of Wexford, assembled to check his progress. They came to an engagement, which was fatal to Devereux. Connaught was also in a state of rebel- lion, at the head of which were the Burkes of Clanricarde, who could not bear the ty- rannical government of Fitton. Elizabeth saw that the rebellion in Connaught was caused by Fitton's severity ; he was con- sequently removed from the government of the province, and appointed treasurer. The O'Morras and O'Connors of Leinster made attempts to create a diversion in favour of the rebels in Connaught ; they burned Ath- lone, and made some incursions on the Eng- lish province, where they committed terri- ble devastation. In Ulster, Brian Mac- A. D. 1573.] SECOND DIVISION. 19i Phelim O'Neill, having succeeded in taking Carrickfergus, destroyed the town by fire. During the administration of Fitz- William, several grants of the forfeited lands were made by the queen ; but the selfishness of her agents frustrated any corresponding bene- fit to the English crown. Elizabeth now began to form a project, afterwards executed by her successor, namely, the plantation of Ulster with English colonies, holding their possessions from the crown by a direct and n)ilitary tenure. Her predecessors often pro- nounced sentence of confiscation against per- sons in Ireland who not only refused to ac- knowledge such authority but always opposed it. The real extent of this authority of the kings of England, (with respect to the greater part of Ireland, particularly Ulster,) consisted in the permission which they granted to their subjects, of seizing on the possessions of others by force, any resistance to which was gladly construed into rebellion. An Englishman, named Thomas Smith, who was one of the queen's counsellors, asked permission of his royal mistress to exercise his expansive philanthropy by send- ing over to Ireland his illegitimate son for the purpose of founding an English colony at Ardes, in Ulster, and, by concealing the ignominy of his origin, eventually become a powerful nobleman. The queen having given her consent, young Smith sailed for Ireland, with a suitable retinue. On ap- proaching the place of his destination, he met Brian Mac-Art O'Neill, to whom Ardes be- longed, ready to receive him. The pretended master of Ardes was killed in a skirmish, and his troops were dispersed by Brian Mac-Art. Whether young Smith was a deceiver or one of the deceived before he left England we have not been able to discover ; but it appears certain that, after landing in Ireland, he ac- quired knowledge at a rate altogether incom- patible with his health. But perhaps the most prominent adven- turer produced by these remarkable times was Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex. In order to gratify him, the queen, whose most attached favourite he was, gave him the half of certain leirge estates which had been con- 25 fiscated in Ulster, (with the title of captain general of that province,) on condition of lead- ing thitlier two hundred horse and four hun- dred foot, whom he was to support for two years at his own expense. To induce men to join readily in this expedition, they were flattered with the hope of estates ; whoever should have served without pay in the cavalry for two years, was to receive four hundred acres of land, and those who served in the in- fantry were to have similar terms, namely, re- ceive two hundred acres on condition of their paying an annual rent of two pence per acre. Sir William Fitz- William, the then lord- deputy, was envious of his new rival ; and fearing that his own station would be eclipsed by a nobleman invested with royal authority, he made use of all his influence to counter- act this enterprise. In order to reconcile both parties, the queen commanded Essex to receive his patents for the government of Ulster from the deputy. This difficulty be- ing removed, the earl, accompanied by sev- eral English nobles, who wished to be Carers of his fortune, and witnesses of his exploits, sailed for Ireland, and landed at Carrickfer- gus about the end of August, 1573. He was waited upon and complimented by several Irish nobles, who did not suspect him in the beginning ; but on seeing the train that ac- companied him, they suddenly retired, and joined the standard of Tirlough Linogh O'Neill. The year 1573 is noted in the annals of Dublin by the escape of the Earl of Desmond from the custody of the mayor of that city. The history of this Earl of Desmond is also a prominent feature among the aflairs of Ire- land in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Between the Desmond and Ormond families deadly hostilities had long existed, the chief sources of which were disputes arising from ill-defined boundaries of conterminous estates. They were daily augmented, as is usual in such cases, by the petty broils engendered through the insolence and impertinence of ten- ants, servants, and other retainers. On the mediation of some mutual friends, it had been agreed that the points of difference should be submitted to the decision of EUzabeth and 194 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 15Y3. her council. Sydney, to whom they had apphed to arrange the prehminaries, bound them to abide the award in the enormous penalty of twenty thousand pounds sterling. Elizabeth had long been hostile to the Des- mond family. Her award was in favour of Ormond. In consequence of the many proofs of her partiality, new strife took place between the parties and more blood was shed on both sides. Sydney now had a good excuse for seizing Desmond, and carried him in durance round the country in a circuit through Munster. Afterwards, Desmond was sent to England, committed to the Tower in London, and kept in close confinement, without trial or any legal process whatever, for seven years, till 1573, when he was sent to Dublin, whence he made his escape in a few months, the mayor having informed the government that the earl should be welcome to meat, drink, and lodging, but that he would not be respon- sible for him. The escape of Desmond may have been a friendly connivance on the part of the mayor, or else it was a movement of the policy of the government, for it was accompanied by the most exasperating treachery towards Des- mond. It appears that James Fitz-Maurice, who frequently defeated Sir John Perrot and the government troops in Munster, so alarmed the queen, that she sent orders to her deputy to offer him terms of peace. Fitz-Maurice agreed to lay down his arms, provided that the persecution against the Catholics of the province ceased ; and that the Earl of Des- mond and his brother John, who were pris- oners in the Tower, should be set at liberty. These conditions were willingly accepted by the queen, and Fitz-Maurice put a stop to hostilities. Elizabeth gave orders to liberate the earl ; and his brother : she had them brought be- fore her, and admonished them to put an end to a rebellion which disturbed the public peace. The earl replied that he never wished to rebel, and that his own loyalty, and that of his ancestors, to the kings of England, were well known, but that he could not bear the tyranny practised by her majesty's min- ij isters upon the people for their religion. The queen dismissed both noblemen with apparent kindness, promising to fulfil the treaty she had concluded with Fitz-Maurice. She then sent orders secretly for the captain of the ship that was to bring them to Dublin, to give them up to the deputy, who resided there. She also despatched a secret com- munication for the latter to retain the earl with him in Dublin, and send his brother John to Munster, in order to bring James Fitz-Maurice with him to that city, so that the three might confirm and sign the treaty made with the queen. Such was the plau- sible and treacherous motive assigned ; but the secret determination was, to have the three beheaded together. The earl, how- ever, being apprized of the design, fled as we have described. He owed his life to the swiftness of his horse, by which means he arrived, after travelling five days with his brother John and his cousin James Fitz- Maurice, among the remotest parts of the county Kerry. Sydney having resigned the government, the administration of the affairs of Munster devolved on Sir William Drury, who pursued a policy which resulted in the destruction of Desmond and the desolation of the largest part of the province of Munster. One of his first measures on his accession to office, was eminently calculated to exasperate Desmond. The county of Kerry had been erected into a palatinate by Edward the Third, and royal jurisdiction given to the earls of Desmond, of all pleas, reserving only four capital ex- ceptions for the authority of the crown. These high privileges had been considered sacred, and duly respected by all the pre- ceding lords deputies and justices. But Drury audaciously violated them, in all pro- bability, judging from subsequent events, with the hope of exciting resistance — and thus lead to military executions, attainders, and confiscations. If these were his views, he was disappointed. Desmond, how griev- ous soever was the violation of his privileges, quietly submitted, allowing free course to the jurisdiction of Drury. Oj)posed by the inveterate hostility of the A. D. 1677.] SECOND DIVISION. 195 native Irish and the secret artifices of the local government, the Earl of Essex and the other adventurers, after a great waste of blood and treasures, at length began to despair of success. Essex petitioned to be recalled in 1574 ; but, by the influence of his rival the Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth was persuaded to refuse the request, and the disturbed state of Ireland afforded a sufficient pretext for detaining him in that country. Essex de- stroyed what little influence he might have had with the people, by his perfidious conduct in inviting Brian O'Nial of Claneboy, with a great number of his relations, to an entertain- ment which ended in the treacherous destruc- tion of the whole party, including women and children. This circumstance naturally in- creased the hatred which the northern Irish felt towards the intruders upon their ancient possessions. War was not the only scourge with which Ireland was afflicted at this time. The plague carried away numbers in the English province, while the Irish, who were ani- mated by the promises they received from Rome and Spain, were everywhere up in arms. Fitz- William, the deputy, was re- called in 1575, after much importunity on his own behalf. In 1576, Sir Henry Sydney was again sent to Ireland, at a time when plague and pestilence were added to the calamities under which that wretched country laboured. The deputy, by a vigorous display of power, over- awed the discontented in the west and north. On the removal of Perrot, he sent Sir Wil- liam Drury as president into Munster, trust- ing that his firmness and valour would estab- lish the supremacy of the law in that province. Drury, who had displayed considerable abili- ties as Governor of Berwick, seems to have been in many respects well suited for this important office. Unfortunately, he laboured under the disadvantage of being wholly ig- norant of the usages of the people over whom he had to preside, and, like most of Eliza- beth's courtiers, was inclined to despise the ancient nobility of the country. The presi- dentiary courts, (from which the present Irish courts of quarter-session are derived,) were regulated more by the discretion of the president than by established principles of law ; consequently, their efficiency and utility depended mainly on the personal character of the judge. Sydney, having learned at Drogheda that Surly Boy Mac-Donnel was laying siege to Carrickfergus, proceeded at the head of six hundred men, and forced Surly Boy to aban- don his enterprise. He then pacified the O'Neills, O'Donnells, M'Mahons, Maguires, and other nobles of the North. After this expedition to Ulster, Sydney marched into Leinster, where he found the county of Kil- dare, particularly the barony of Carbry, laid waste by the O'Morras and O'Connors. The King's and Queen's counties had shared the same fate ; but Rory O'Morra made peace with the deputy at Kilkenny, through the interference of Ormond. After leaving Kil- kenny, Sydney marched through the counties of Waterford, Cork, and Limerick. He then passed through Thomond and Galway, hold- ing courts in all these places ; received the submission of the Burkes of Clanricard, who had rebelled ; and left garrisons in the towns on his route to Dublin. Having thus far tranquillized the country, Sydney determined to relieve the English gbvernment from some part of the great ex- penses which the state of Ireland had im- posed upon it. The tax of purveyance, or a certain supply of provisions for the royal gar- risons and the support of the governor's table, had been levied irregularly for several years in the English Pale. Most of the nobles, however, claimed the privilege of exemption, and threw the entire burden on the labouring classes. Sydney now resolved to convert this occasional subsidy into a permanent reve- nue, and to levy it equitably on all, some- what in the manner of a county rate. The exaggerated professions of loyalty made by the lords of the Pale, when they wished that their unprincipled aggressions on the Irish should be sanctioned by royal au- thority, were forgotten when the power was to be exercised against themselves. The passive obedience which they had inculcated was found to mean nothing more than the 198 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1679. partial support of the royal power whenever it did not interfere with their own interested views. The deputy, however, encouraged by the queen, determined to persevere ; and the proprietors of the Pale were equally reso- lute not to yield. They sent over a deputa- tion to remonstrate with the queen ; and the imperious Elizabeth at once threw the agents into prison. Even this spirited proceeding failed to humble the factious oligarchy ; they persisted in their opposition, and finally tri- umphed. The queen compromised the affair by accepting an apology for the undutiful manner of the remonstrance, and the pro- posed assessment was abandoned. Taylor here remarks — " Thus terminated a transaction which most Irish historians have studiously misrep- resented. The advocates of the oligarchy describe it as an unwarrantable usurpation on the part of the government, which ought to have been vigorously resisted. The few who support the cause of the native Irish profess to see in it a continuation of the sys- tematic tyranny which they attribute to all Enghsh rulers. Impartial posterity rejects both, even though both coincide for once in sentiment. The adoption of the measure would have given strength to the government and security of the nation. It would also have circumscribed the power of a factious ascendency, whose extravagant privileges were ever opposed to the justice and benev- olence of the prince — to the peace and the happiness of the people." In the mean time, the Earl of Essex un- dertook a second expedition into Ulster, which proved fatal to him. He had many enemies at court, the principal and most formidable of whom was the Earl of Leicester. The latter inherited the talents and artifices of his father the Duke of Northumberland, who was beheaded in the first year of the reign of Queen Mary. Leicester was well versed in the intrigues of the court ; the favourite of Elizabeth, and a sworn enemy to Essex, who was sent back to Ireland with the empty title of lord-marshal, which by its attractions would necessarily render his fall more sure. He was forced soon after, by the treachery of his private enemies, to resign his com- mand. The insult being too great to be en- dured, he died in Dublin, after recommend- ing his son, who was about ten years of age, to the protection of the deputy. The Earl of Leicester was suspected of having caused Essex to be poisoned, which is not improba- ble, as Leicester married the Countess of Essex during the lifetime of her husband, which ceremony was again solemnized after the death of Essex. Fitz-Maurice, one of the Geraldines, having been long detained a prisoner, was at length dismissed without a trial. Inflamed with resentment, he visited successively the courts of Paris, Rome, and Madrid, representing to the several sovereigns the hostility of the Irish to their present rulers, and the ease with which the conquest of that island might be effected. In France the adventurer met no encouragement ; at Rome he received promises and good wishes, in addition to the favour and approbation of Gregory the Thir- teenth. In that city, he met with Cornelius O'Moel Ryan, titular Bishop of Killaloe, and Thomas Stukely. Nothing certain is known either of the family or country of the latter : however, his conduct proves him to have beea a knight-errant, seeking to improve a very moderate fortune. The sovereign pontiff evinced great zeal for the Irish Catholics, to whom he sent sev- eral letters, and caused two thousand men to be collected in the Italian States for the expedition to Ireland. Hercule de Pise, an experienced general, was appointed to com- mand them. All things being prepared, and the troops embarked on board a small fleet, the command of it was given to Thomas Stukely, whose orders were to sail for Lis- bon, and to wait there for James Fitz-Mau rice, who had occasion to go thither by land. On reaching Lisbon, Stukely found that Sebastian, King of Portugal, was preparing a considerable expedition for a war in Africa. This prince readily prevailed on the ambi- tious Stukely to join his fleet, promising that he would bestow on him rich rewards, and that he would assist him in the proposed war in Ireland. Stukely accompanied Sebas- A. D. 1679.] SECOND DIVISION. 197 tian to Africa, determined, at all hazards, to advance his own interest. On their arrival, a sanguinary battle was fought, in which three kings lost their lives, namely, Sebastian, King of Portugal, Abedelmelic, King of Mau- ritania, and Mahumet, who was the promoter of this unlucky expedition. Stukely, and the greater part of his Italians, shared the same fate. When Fitz-Maurice reached Portugal by land, and found that Stukely had betrayed his trust, he was highly indignant and almost discouraged. Having no remedy, he col- lected the remnant of his Italian force which had returned through Spain, and been joined by some Cantabrians contributed by the king of that country. By the time of embarka- tion, Fitz-Maurice mustered eight hundred picked soldiers.* He then sailed for Ireland with six vessels, provided with all kinds of ammunition, and arms for four thousand men. He was accompanied by Cornelius, Bishop of Killaloe, and Doctor Sanders, an English priest, as legate from the pope. This little fleet arrived about the end of July, 1579, at Ardnacant, (which the English call Smer- wick,) in the western part of the county Kerry, near Dingle. In this harbour there is an islet fortified by nature ; on one side it is washed by the sea, and on the other defended by a steep rock, leaving a passage, where it is joined to the continent by means of a draw- bridge. Fitz-Maurice knowing well the im- portance of this place as an arsenal for the succours that he expected from Spain, added other works to render its natural situation impregnable. All kinds of provisions were put into it, and a garrison of six hundred men, the command of which was given to Sebas- tian de Saint Joseph and other officers of experience. The career of Sir James Fitz-Maurice was now very short. Soon after his arrival, he marched towards Connaught with a few fol- lowers, to prevail on his friends, whose in- tentions he was aware of, to join in the com- mon cause ; but on his way he was attacked * Taylor has only specified " a troop of eighty Span- ards ;" but hia subsequent narratiTO shows this to be an jTorsight. by Theobald Burke, eldest son of Sir Wil- liam Burke, of Castle Connel, who, from a desire to please Elizabeth, sacrificed the in- terests of religion and of his country. Find- ing it impossible to avoid an engagement, Fitz-Maurice resolved to conquer or die. Being wounded in the breast by a musket ball, and roused to a last effort, he cleared a passage through the enemy, and cut off the head of Theobald Burke with a single blow. The brothers of that captain fell also, and their entire force was routed. The victory, however, proved a dear one to Fitz-Maurice. His wound being mortal, he died in six hours after the action. Sir John Desmond now took command of the insurgent army, and justified, by his vigorous conduct, the choice which James Fitz-Maurice, when dying, had made of him. Drury now marched towards Munster at the head of four hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry, attended by Bagnal, Malby, Wingfield, Waterhouse, Fitton, Masterson, and other officers. He was also joined by the lords Kildare, Mountgarret, Upper Osso- ry, and Dunboyne, with two hundred horse- men, and a few foot-soldiers. On arriving at Kilmallock, the deputy sent word to the Earl of Desmond, and a few other lords of the province whose loyalty he suspected, to appear before him, in his camp, at Kilmal- lock. After some hesitation, the earl repaired to the deputy, who committed him to the lord-marshal ; but policy soon induced the deputy to set him at hberty, as he knew that Sir John Desmond, the earl's brother, was encamped, with the insurgent army, at Sleve- logher. After several severe battles between the government troops and the insurgents, Pelham, appointed lord-justice on the 11th of October, advanced into Munster, attended by three large bodies of troops, lately come from Berwick, called " red coats," from the colour of their uniform. On his arrival at Kilkenny, he held assizes, at which he pre- sided in person, and condemned Edmund MacNeill, arui a few others, to death for high treason. He reconciled the Earl of Ormond to the Baron of Upper Ossory, obliging them to give bail for mutually repairing the dam- 198 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1579 ages which had been caused by their dissen- sions. He went to Cashel in October, where he was joined by the Earl of Ormond at the head of two hundred and thirty men. From that city he wrote a flattering letter to the Earl of Desmond, to induce him to repair thither under pretext of wishing to reconcile him to Malby, but the earl could not be prevailed upon to trust himself in such hands again. Pelham afterwards went to Limerick, where he was received with distinction by Malby at the head of the army, and by the mayor and a thousand citizens under arms. From Limerick he proceeded to the village of Fannings, which was the rendezvous of the army. Here he was visited by the Countess of Desmond, who brought him letters from her husband, with an apology for not obey- ing his orders. The lord-justice was not satisfied with this, and sent Ormond (Des- mond's old enemy) to the Earl of Desmond to know his final intentions ; and, on his re- turning an evasive answer, it was decreed that he should be publicly proclaimed in the camp as a traitor, unless he submitted within twenty days ; and the troops were ordered to lay waste his lands at the expiration of that time. Viscount Gormanstown and the Baron of Delvin signalized their zeal in the cause of Desmond on this occasion. These noble- men were Catholics, and although members of the council, and companions of the lord- justice in his expedition, they generously refused to sign the sentence which was pro- nounced against Desmond, whereupon they were reprimanded by the council in England. The Earl of Desmond was now in a most embarrassing situation. He had taken no share in the insurrection ; he had loudly denounced the atrocities which his brother sanctioned ; but he knew that he was viewed with suspicion and hatred by the local gov- ernment, and that he could expect no aid from England, where his rival Ormond possessed the unlimited confidence of the queen. No prudence could probably have saved this un- fortunate nobleman, whose destruction was long predetermined. His professions of loy- alty, his complaints of unmerited injuries, were equally disregarded. Of the remaining ten members of the privy council, whose signatures appear to sanction this cruel proclamation, five belonged to the Ormond family, whose inveterate malice the persecution and utter ruin of Desmond were well calculated to gratify ; namely, Ormond, Edward Butler, Edmund Butler, Theobald Butler, and Piers Butler. Among the other five were the Baron Dunboyn, and the Bishop of Waterford, who, for aught we know, may also have been connections or dependants of the Ormond family. The reader will doubtless excuse the prom- inence of the statements in relation to this unfortunate nobleman, on considering that this case is an embodiment of the history of Ireland from 1570 to 1580, — ^the scope of the present chapter. The case of Gerald Fitz-Gerald, sixteenth Earl of Desmond, is the " Case of Ireland" exactly. Upon this stage of the proceedings, Taylor has well remarked — " That Desmond was justified in refusing is evident. The political history of Ireland, and especially the state trials in that country, fully exemplify the maxim of honest old Ful- ler, — ' It is quarrel and cause enough to bring a sheep that is fat to the shambles.' In fact, the partisans of government deigned not to disguise that the possessions of Desmond were deemed too extensive for a subject, and that their forfeiture was irrevocably deter- mined. Besides, the earl remembered his former severe imprisonment, and was natu- rally disinclined to trust a second time those who had previously treated him with tyranny and treachery." Desmond, finding himself condemned, marched towards Cork, hoping to create thereby a diversion which might check the ravages that the enemy were committing ii> the territory of Connillo. Following the ad- vice of his relative, Fitz-Gerald, Seneschal of Imokilly, he attacked Youghal, which he took and gave up to plunder. Dermond O'Sullivan, of the noble family of Beare, con- tributed greatly to the taking of this town, by his intrepidity in scaling the walls at the head of a body of infantry which he commanded, notwithstanding the obstinate defence of the besieged. He destroyed a body of troops A. D. 1580.] SECOND DIVISION. 199 under Captain White, which had been sent by sea from Waterford, by the Earl of Or- mond, to reheve Youghal. By way of retal- iation for the taking of this place, Ormond made an inroad into Connillo, where he was bravely opposed by the seneschal, and though he remained master of the field, he sustained a heavy loss in killed. After pillaging and burning the whole country, and treating the inhabitants with cruelty, he marched towards Cork, plundering every place as he passed. He was, however, greatly harassed by John Fitz-Maurice, the seneschal, who gained an important advantage over the government troops in a battle near Lismore. Notwith- standing these successes, Desmond had al- ways despaired of final success. He made the most humble tenders of submission and allegiance, which were uniformly rejected. He even offered to surrender to Admiral Winter, on condition of being conveyed to England to plead his cause before the queen, but was sternly refused. By the time Ormond arrived in Cork, find- ing the season far advanced, he ordered his troops into winter quarters. He then pro- ceeded to Cashel, through Youghal, where, to appease the queen's anger for the taking of this town, he had the mayor hanged, un- der pretence of his not having defended it against Desmond. The winter of 1579-80 was occupied with the most disastrous effects of civil war. About the end of January, Pelham left Dub- lin for Wexford, where he presided at the as- sizes. On proceeding to Waterford, he was joined by the Earl of Ormond, and having intelligence that a detachment of the enemy was marching towards Dungarvan and You- ghal, they despatched Captain Zouch to defend those towns. After remaining three weeks at Waterford, Pelham went to Clonmel, where he was again joined by Ormond. He then proceeded to Limerick. The chancellor of the church in that city was arrested on suspicion of hold- ing a correspondence with the Earl of Des- mond ; and the bishop was confined to his palace for the same cause. The lord-justice and Ormond having re- moved to Rathkeale in March to consult together on the operations of the campaign, they resolved in council to divide the army and act separately. Ormond marched his division towards Slevelogher, burning and destroying the country as he passed. Pel- ham took the route towards Slevemish, near Tralee. Finding it impossible to proceed further, he fell back to besiege the fortress of Carrikifoyl, which belonged to Desmond. The commander of a detachment of Pelham's army, when passing through the territory of Clanmorris, obliged Fitz-Maurice, Baron of Lixnaw, to give him hostages as a pledge of his loyalty. The inhuman officer had these hostages hanged, violating thereby the rights of war. His crime, however, met with a due chastisement : he was afterwards attacked at Ardfert by the troops of Fitz-Maurice, and his men cut to pieces. Pelham having reached Carrikifoyl, laid siege to the castle ; the garrison of which consisted of nineteen Spaniards and fifty Irish, commanded by an Italian engineer called Ju- lio. Having effected a breach, Captain Mac- Worth entered at the head of a strong force, put part of the little garrison to the sword, and caused the remainder, together with their chief, to be hanged. Askeaton and Ballyloghan, the last fortresses belonging to Desmond, shared the same fate. The lord-justice left four companies in gar- rison at Askeaton, and returned to Limerick in the beginning of April, 1580. After giv- ing his troops some repose, he recommenced hostilities, devastating the lands of the Mac- Auliffs as far as Slevelogher : he then pene- trated into the county of Kerry, towards Castlemaine, whence he carried off" large herds of cattle, but the army, being badly paid, began to mutiny, which checked his further operations for a short time. In one of the engagements, so frequent at this period among the Irish lords, James Desmond was taken prisoner in Munster, and given up to Warham St. Leger, the high-sheriff" of the province. By order of Captain Walter Raleigh, this unfortunate man was executed at Cork for high-treason. While Ormond was leading a body of 800 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1580. troops towards Buttevant, the whole army suflfered from an extraordinary malady com- monly termed the "mild correction." It was represented as consisting of a violent headache, which lasted for two or three days, and deprived those who were attacked by it of consciousness, although not fatal to many persons. In August, 1580, the government of Ire- land was transferred to one whose name en- joys a bad pre-eminence in the list of those who rivalled in Europe the barbarities of the Spaniards in South America. Arthur Lord Grey superseded Pelham, and hastened, by what he called vigorous efforts, to put an end to the Irish war. Grey's first enterprise was an attack on the sept of the O'Byrnes, who were said to have joined Lord Ballinglass in alliance with the Geraldines, and to have formed a camp within twenty-five miles of Dublin. The station chosen by the insurgents was in the midst of those wild and romantic valleys in the county of Wicklow which are now so often visited by the admirers of sublime scenery. At Glendaloch, secured by rock and mountain, and lake and morass, a numer- ous force was collected, unable, indeed, to meet even a detachment of regular troops in the field, but strong enough to defy myriads in their fastnesses. The royalist ofllicers, experienced in former Irish wars, vainly remonstrated with the deputy when com- manded to attack this impregnable position ; but they were answered with reproach and insult, and an immediate assault was ordered. The soldiers advanced through ground which became more difficult with every step, and at length were entangled in a bog between two wooded hills, where it became impos- sible to preserve any longer the semblance of order. While thus confused and broken, they were suddenly exposed to a murderous fire, that opened at once on front, flank, and rear, from the woods and rocks that skirted the ravine. No exertion of the ofiicers could save this devoted army. They were cut off almost to a man. James Eustace, Viscount of Baltinglass, and Fiach Mac-Hugh, Chief of the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, were declared the conquerors by the confederacy whose troops they led. The English lost eight hundred soldiers, be- sides Sir Peter Carew, Colonel Moor6, and captains Audely and Cosby. This last com- mander was particularly cruel, as has been already observed. His greatest pleasure con- sisted in putting the inoffensive peasants, and even their infants, to death, by hanging them on a tree which grew before his house. Pelham having regulated the affairs of Munster, passed through Connaught, and confirmed Malby in the government of that province. He proceeded to Dublin in Sep- tember, and gave up the sword of justice to the new deputy in the cathedral of St. Pat- rick. The severe repulse at Glendaloch bitterly enraged the new lord-deputy, and probably rendered his hatred of the Irish insurgents more inveterate. To retrieve his fame, he resolved to bring the Desmond war to a speedy conclusion, and made instant prepar- ations for a march to Munster. According to some authorities, James Fitz- Maurice had brought to Ireland eight hun- dred Italians and Spaniards, and had fortified Smerwick as a garrison and arsenal for the rest of the Spaniards who were expected. It is also stated, that he left six hundred men in it, under the command of Sebastian de Saint Joseph ; but Camden and Ware con- sider the arrival of these troops as not taking place in Ireland until 1580. However this may be, the new deputy determined to be- siege Smerwick, and drive away these for- eigners. Every thing being prepared, the deputy, accompanied by the Earl of Ormond, cap- tains Zouch, Raleigh, Denny, Mac-Worth, and others, marched towards Smerwick at the head of eight hundred, or according to others, of fifteen hundred men, to besiege that fortress, while Sir William Winter block- aded it with his squadron by sea. The siege lasted for forty days, the place being well provided, and obstinately defended ; so that the deputy finding the winter draw near, and knowing the inconvenience of being en- camped in bad weathef, was resolved to ac- A. D. 1580.] SECOND DIVISION. 201 complish by treachery what he could not effect by force. For this end he displayed a flag of truce, and demanded a parley. An Irish nobleman named Plunket, belonging to the garrison, was very zealous in the cause of the Catholics, and strongly averse to any truce with the besiegers, alleging that they possessed neither probity nor honour, and could not be relied on. Sebastian, the gov- ernor, was opposed to Plunket's advice. He was desirous of capitulating. A treaty was subsequently entered into ; an Englishman, who was acquainted with the Spanish language, being the interpreter. Se- bastian returned joyfully to the fortress, say- ing that he was surrendering the place to the English upon honourable terms, and that see- ing matters so desperate, he thought it pru- dent to save the garrison. The captain of the Cantabrians, and Hercule de Pise, in- veighed loudly against the treaty, saying, that so far from fearing for the place, they would be able, if necessary, to oppose the enemy in the field ; but the soldiers, who appear to have preferred life to glory, de- clared for the governor, and lost both. Though the garrison surrendered on con- ditions which were sworn to by the deputy, the men were immediately ordered to lay down their arms, and were then slaughtered by the English troops. The governor alone escaped, but was banished from the kingdom. Plunket was. reserved for a worse fate — his arms and thighs being dislocated with ham- mers. It is from these events that "fides Greia," or " the faith of Grey," became a proverb in the country, whenever mention was made of any signal act of treachery be- ing committed. There are two names mixed up with this detestable transaction among the proudest in the annals of English literature, and the highest in the records of fame, — Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spenser. It is with feelings of pain for the degradation of human nature that we see Raleigli presiding at the ruthless massacre, and Spenser, who was G/ey's secretary, sharing in the counsels by which it was sanctioned, and subsequently veriling in its vindication. 26 The fortress of Smerwick being evacuated, a strong garrison and governor were placed in it by the deputy. The government of Munster was then consigned to the Earl of Ormond. Four hundred and fifty men were left under Captain Zouch, whom the deputy appointed commander of Kerry and Des- mond. He placed troops in the other cities, towns, and villages of the province, and gave orders to the principal officers to destroy with fire and sword every place that con- tinued faithful to the earl, and to bring the war to a speedy termination. He then re- turned to Dublin. The arrival of a hundred and fifty horse- men, and six companies of infantry from England, gave Grey fresh confidence. With this reinforcement, and his other troops, he scoured the territories of O'Faly, Fearcall, Kinalyagh, and Ely. He condemned O'Mol- loy, Lord of Fearcall, to death as a rebel ; the O'Connors Faly,Mac-Geoghegans of Kin- alyagh, and O'Carrols of Ely, he appeased, and thus crushed the conspiracy in its infancy. The Earl of Kildare, and his son-in-law, the Baron of Delvin, who were suspected of hold- ing correspondence with Baltinglass and the other Catholics, were arrested and given in custody to Wingfield, master of the ordnance. At the same time, the earl's friends persuaded his son, Henry Fitz-Gerald, to withdraw for a while to the country of Offaly, from which he derived the title of baron. He there fell into the power of the O'Connors, who, for his own safety, detained him against his will till the fate of his father should be known. The deputy sent the Earl of Ormond to de- mand him. The O'Connors at first refused to give him up ; but fearing that by detain- ing the young nobleman tliey might injure the father, they sent him to Ormond, who brought him to Dublin, He was then, to- gether with his father the earl, and the Baron of Delvin, sent to England, where all three were committed to the Tower. In this manner the whole country was over- run and devastated by Raleigh, Ormond, and Grey, immediately after the taking of Smer- wick. These outrageous proceedings are thus described by Taylor : — 203 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1580. " The war with Desmond — if, indeed, the name of war could be given to a systematic career of devastation and cruelty that met no resistance — was continued ; and efforts were made to enlarge the expected forfeitures, by involving all the Catholic proprietors in the guilt of pretended rebellion. Raleigh distin- guished liimself in the south by insulting those who dared not resist, and seizing on the persons of men whose wealth formed their only crime. Among other heroic ex- ploits, we find him taking the Lord Roche by stirprise, and dragging him to Cork, whence, after a painful imprisonment, he was dis- missed, after having satisfactorily established his innocence. Grey's proceedings in Lein- ster were still more enormous. He seized Nugent, a baron of the exchequer, the Earl of Kildare, Lord Delvin, and others, on a charge of conspiracy, and hastened to bring them to trial. Nugent was the only victim. To be accused and convicted were long sjmon- ymous terms in Irish courts of law ; and Nugent was found guilty on evidence which no historian has yet ventured to pronounce worthy of credit. Hig execution followed with indecent precipitation ; and the retainers of government themselves were ashamed of the outrageous conduct of the deputy. Kil- dare, his son Lord Ofally, and his son-in-law Lord Delvin, were sent for trial to England. The charges brought against them were dis- proved to the satisfaction of even the jealous Elizabeth. She pronounced them acquitted not only of the guilt, but of the very suspi- cion of disloyalty." Such is a decade in Irish history. Ireland now presented very little more than ashes and carcasses in acknowledgment of Eliza- beth's absolute power and its murderous ad- ministration by her minions. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXII. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " The lords of the Pale and the other barons of Norman descent witnessed the destruction of O'Neill with indifference. They little thought that the governors looked with equal cupidity on the estates of the native Irish, and the extensive domains acquired by the descendants of the early settlers. But they were soon taught that rapacious avarice is indiscriminate in its objects ; and that one successful act of treacherous policy soon leads to the commission of another. The vast estates of the Earl of Desmond were not likely to escape the notice of those whom a contemporary justly calls ' the hungry vul- tures that haunted the castle of Dublin.' * * * " Ormond, his great rival, inferior to the Geraldine in wealth, power, and valour, more than atoned for this deficiency by his politi- cal skill and superior talents as a courtier. He visited England, and soon insinuated him- self into the confidence of the queen. He returned to Dublin, justly believing that the royal favour would more than counterbalance the valour of his rival, or the justice of his claims. The dispute about the boundaries of their several estates was referred to Syd- ney, the lord-deputy. After a careful inves- tigation he decided in favour of Desmond. Ormond appealed to the queen, and accused Sydney of partiality. Without the slightest inquiry Elizabeth severely reprimanded the chief governor, and commanded him to * ex- amine' the case again. Sydney, on the sec- ond trial, reversed his former decision, and not only commanded Desmond to restore the disputed lands, but also to reimburse Ormond for the losses he had sustained. Irritated at such flagrant injustice, Desmond flatly re- fused obedience ; whereupon he was seized by the deputy, and sent a prisoner to Dublin. The earl requested permission to lay his griev- ances before the queen, which was granted. He proceeded to London with several Irish lords, who were graciously received ; but Desmond and his brother were, without the slightest investigation, sent to the Tower, where they were detained as prisoners for years. It is not surprising that such mon- strous tyranny should inspire both with an aversion to the English government that ended only with their lives." — Taylor. " The great basis of the Reformation rest- ed on the right of every man to interpret the A. D. 1580.) SECOND DIVISION. SOS scriptures for himself, unfettered by the de * crees of popes, or councils, or synods. On the Protestant standard was imprinted in conspicuous characters — * Search the Scrip- tures. There the rule of faith is distinctly developed.' The reformers, therefore, hav- ing duly searched the scriptures — abandoned, from conscientious motives, the religion of their ancestors and of their youth — and chosen a religion for themselves — it would appear that nothing but insanity could have led them to suppose that they had any right to control their neighbours' religious opinions, or that their neighbours did not possess an equal right with themselves cither to choose a new re- ligion or to adhere to the old, as their con- science might prescribe. Yet, in opposition to these plain dictates of reason and common sense, the voice of history proclaims, that in England, and indeed in almost every part of Europe, the reformers, when possessed of power, persecuted not merely the followers of the old religion, but even those who, like themselves, had abandoned that religion, choosing a different system from their own. " I trust, therefore, it will appear as clear as the noonday sun, that the persecuting re- former was far more culpable than the perse- cuting Roman Catholic, odious as the latter undoubtedly was. To the native and inhe- rent turpitude of one of the most hideous crimes — a crime offering outrage to the mild dictates of the religion both descriptions of Christians professed — the former added the grossest inconsistency — the most direct vio- lation of the vital and fundamental principle on which his religion was established." — M. Carey. " One moment of calm unbigoted reflec- tion must convince every man, not only of the folly, but of the impiety, of such contro- versies. The point is plain, the dogma sim- ple, that no human authority should control man as to his choice of what words he may utter, what language he may adopt, what posture he may choose, or what ceremonies he may practise, in the abstract act of piously supplicating the mercy of his Creator." — J. Barrington. "An attempt to make men change their manner of thinking, under pain of death or confiscation of property, gives a true idea of tyranny ; for no power upon earth can accom- plish such a change. The will (say the phi- losophers) cannot be coerced in its acts : of this the greatest conquerors have been so convinced, that they were content with the submission of those whom they conquered, without seeking to interfere with their rights of conscience." — Mac-(»eoohecan. "When secular men prescribe to the Church, when those who are strangers to anti- quity give laws for discipline, 'tis no wonder if they mistake in their devotion." — Collier. "A tax was laid on every housekeeper, who omitted coming to church on Sundays, and it was collected exactly, so that many came to church, rather than they would pay that tax : at first they went to mass in the morning, and to church in the afternoon ; but to prevent that, a roul of the housekeepers' names was called over by the church-ward- ens in every parish." — Ware. " The lord-deputy bound several citizens by recognisance of forty pounds to come to church to hear divine service every Sunday, pursuant to the queen's injunctions." — Cox. " Uppon the face of the earthe, where Christ is professed, there is not a churche in so miserable a case ; the miserye of whiche consistethe in thiese three particulars, the ruyne of the verie temples theimselves ; the want of good mynisters to serve in theim, when they shall be reedified ; competent lyvinge for the mynisters beinge wel chosen." Sydney. " Nor were the parochial churches in a better condition than the cathedral. They had most of them in the coimtry been de- stroyed in the troubles, or fallen down for want of covering ; the livings were very small, and either kept in the bishops' hands by way of commendams and sequestrations, or else filled with ministers as scandalous as their income ; so that scarce any care was taken to catechise the children, or instruct others in the grounds of religion; and for years together, divine service had not been used in any parish church throughout Ulster, except in some city or principal towns." — Carte. 904 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1680. " I was advertized of the perticuler estate of ech churche in the bishopricke of Meilhe, (being the best inhabited countrie of all this realme,) by the honest, zealous, and learned bishop of the same, Mr. Hugh Bradye, a godlye minister for the gospell, and a good sarvaunt to your highnes, who went from churche to cimrche hym selfe, and found, that tliere are within his dioces 224 parrishe churches, of which number one hundred and five are impropriated to sondrie possessions, nowe of your highnes, and all leased out for yeares, or in fee farme, to severall farmers, and great gayne reaped out of thcim above the rent, which your majestic receivethe ; no parson, or vicar, resident upon any of theim, and a very simple or sorrye curat, for the most parte, appointed to serve theim : amonge which nomber of curatts, onely eightene were founde able to speake English." — Sydney. " The clergy, who refused to conform, abandoned their cures. No reformed minis- ters could be found to supply their places. The churches fell to ruins. The people were left without any religious worship or instruc- tian." — Leland. "And though the outrages in the civil government were great, yet nothing to be compared to the ecclesiastical state, for that was too far out of order, the temples all ruined, the parish churches for the most part without curates and pastors, no service said, no God honoured, nor Christ preached, nor sacraments ministered." — Hooker. "It is great wonder to see the oddes which is between the zeale of popish priests, and the ministers of the gospell ; for they spare not to come out of Spaine, from Rome, and from Remes, by long toyle and daungerous travayling hither, where they know perill of death awayteth them, and no reward or rich- esse is to be found, onely to draw the people tmto the church of Rome ; whereas some of our idle ministers, having a way for credite and estimation thereby opened unto them, and having the livings of the countrey offered unto them, without paines, and without per- ill, will neither for the same, nor any love of God, nor zeale of rehgion, or for all the good they may doe, by winning soules to TJod, bee drawne foorth from their warms neasles, to looke out into God's harvest, which is even ready for the sickle, and all the fields yellow long agoe." — Spenser. "As scandalous livings naturally make scandalous ministers, the clergy of the estab- lished church were generally ignorant and unlearned, loose and irregular in their lives and conversations, negligent of their cures, and very careless of observing uniformity and decency in divine worship." — Carte. " There were few churches to resort to ; few teachers to exhort and instruct ; fewer still who could be understood ; and almost all, at least for the greater part of this reign, [Elizabeth's,] of scandalous insufficiency." — Leland. "As to Ireland, where the estates of the convents, and where the church property had been confiscated in the same way as in Eng- land, and where the greater distance of the people from the focus of power and apostacy and fanaticism had rendered it more difficult to effect their * conversion' at the point of the bayonet, or by the halter or the rack ; as to this portion of her [Elizabeth's] dominions, her reign was almost one unbroken series of robberies and butcheries. One greedy and merciless minion after another were sent to goad that devoted people into acts of despera- tion ; and that, too, not only for the obvious purpose, but for the avowed purpose, of ob- taining a pretence for new confiscations. The ' Reformation' had, from its very outset, had PLUNDER written on its front ; but, as to Ireland, it was all plunder from the crown of its head to the sole of its foot." — Cobbett. " The Reformation, (now fully established in England,) furnished Elizabeth with a weapon for the general subjugation of Ire- land, more fatal and effective than the keenest sword which had been whetted by any of her predecessors for the same purpose." — J. Bar- RINOTON. " In the northern province, which had but just now professed to accept the English polity, the execution of the laws was ren- dered detestable and intolerable by the queen's officers. Sheriffs purchased their places ; acted, as in Connaught, with insolence and A. D. 1580.] SECOND DIVISION. 805 oppression ; spoiled the old inhabitants, and obliged them to recur to their native chief- tains for protection." — Leland. " For to what end was the parliament holden by the Lord Leonard Gray in 28 H. VIII. but to attaint the Giraldines, and to abolish the usurped authority of the pope ? " To what purpose did Thomas, Earl of Sussex, hold his first parliament in the 3d and 4th King Philip and Queen Mary, but to set- tle Leix and Offaly in the crown ? "What was the principal cause that Sir Henry Sydney held a parliament in the 11th year of Queen Elizabeth, but to extinguish the name of O'Neal, and entitle the crown to the greatest part of Ulster ? " And lastly, what was the chief motive of the last parliament holden by Sir John Perrot, but the attainder of two great peers of this realm, the Viscount Baltinglas, and the Earl of Desmond, and for vesting of their lands and the lands of their adherents, in the actual possession of the crown ?" — Davies. " The Irish manuscript annals of this reign, [Elizabeth's,] mention a very dishonourable transaction of Essex on his return to Ulster. It is here given in a literal translation from the Irish, with which the author was favoured by Mr. O'Connor. * Anno 1574. A solemn peace and concord was made between the Earl of Essex and Felim O'Nial. However, at a feast wherein the earl entertained that chieftain, and at the end of their good cheer, O'Nial with his wife were seized, their friends who attended were put to the sword before their faces. Felim, together with his wife and brother, were conveyed to Dublin, where they were cut up in quarters.' This execu- tion gave universal discontent and horror. " In like manner, these annals assure us, that * a few years after, the Irish chieftains of the King's and Queen's county were in- vited by the English to a treaty of accommo- dation. But when they arrived at the place of conference, they were instantly surrounded by troops, and all butchered on the spot.' — Such relations would be more suspicious, if these annals in general expressed great viru- lence against the English and their govern- ment. But they do not appear to differ es- sentially from the printed histories, except in the minuteness with which they record the local transactions and adventures of the Irish : and sometimes they expressly condemn their countrymen, for their rebellions against their prince." — Leland. " Verily there were at this time some sub- tile ways taken to try how men stood affected. Counterfeit letters were privily sent in the name of the queen of Scots and the fugitives, and left in Papists' houses. Spies were sent abroad up and down the country, to lake notice of people's discourse, and lay hold of their words. Reporters of vain and idle stories were admitted and credited." — Cam- den. " The agents of Elizabeth pursued, by her direction, a crafty course. They did not disclose their objects of general confiscation and extermination. They engaged in the warfare of the chiefs and clans against each other. In some places they warred openly, and vanquished and cut down whole districts, parcelling out the lands of the slain among the swarms of English adventurers who now came into the country. On the breaking up of the monasteries in England, and the con- sequent withdrawal of employment and relief which had been previously afforded to the people by the industrious and considerate monks, the towns of England became thronged with idle, starving people, who gladly enlisted in any enterprise which promised them a change from their present condition." — Mooney. " Thus it was, that Ireland was pillaged without the smallest chance of even the res- toration [the poor laws] which the English obtained ; and thus have they, down unto this day, been a sort of outcasts in their own country, being stripped of all the worldly goods that God and nature allotted them, and having received not the smallest pittance in return." — Cobbett. " Francis Cosby being appointed Governor of Leix, ruled that district as a true tyrant. His son Alexander equalled him in cruelty, and wreaked his vengeance on inoffensive Catholics for the opposition he had received from O'Morra. Having convened a meeting 306 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. t). 1580. of the principal inhabitants in the castle of MoUach, under pretence of the public wel- fare, he had them all murdered by assassins posted there for the purpose, violating there- by all honour and public faith. One hun- dred and eighty men of the family of O'Morra, [O'Moore,] with many others, were put to death upon that occasion. This cruel and bloody tyrant took such delight in putting Catholics to the torture, that he hanged men, women, and children, by dozens, from an elm-tree that grew before his door at Strad- bally, where he resided." — Mac-Geoghegan. " No spectacle was more frequent in the ditches of the towns, and especially in wasted districts, than to see multitudes of these poor people, the Irish, dead, with their mouths all coloured green by eating nettles, docks, and all things they could rend above ground." — Morrison. " Nothing could be more common than scenes of premeditated slaughter — massacres perpetrated under the guise of friendly inter- course, into which the natives permitted themselves to be betrayed. No faith was kept with the Irish ; no treaty nor agreement was observed any longer than it was the in- terest of the English settlers to observe it, — or whilst they were not strong enough to violate it with safety. " It would be equally shocking and tedious to recite all the well-attested acts of cruelty and perfidy which were perpetrated on the Irish people by the order or connivance of the Enghsh Government." — O'Connell. " After the 19th year of Queen Elizabeth, videlicit anno 1577, the Lords of Connaught and O'Rooke, made a composition for their lands with Sir Nicholas Malby, governor of that province ; wherein they were content to yield the queen so large a rent and such services, both of labourers to work upon occasion of fortifying, and of horse and foot to serve upon occasion of war, that their minds seemed not yet to be alienated from their wonted awe and reverence to the Crown of England. Yet, in the same year a horri- ble massacre was committed by the English at Mulloghmaston on some hundreds of the most peaceable of the Irish gentry, invited thither on the public faith and under the pro- tection of government." — Morrison. " The English published a proclamation, inviting all the well-affected Irish to an in- terview on the Rathmore, at Mulloghmaston, engaging at the same time for their security, and that no evil was intended. In conse- quence of this engagement, the well-affected came to Rathmore aforesaid ; and soon after they were assembled, they found themselves surrounded by three or four lines of English horse and foot completely accoutred, by whom they were ungenerously attacked and cut to pieces ; and not a single man escaped." Leland. " They have drawn unto them by protec- tion, three or four hundred of these country people, under colour to do your Majesty's service, and brought them to a place of meet- ing, where your garrison soldiers were ap- pointed to be, who have there most dishon- ourably put them all to the sword ; and this hath been by the consent and practice of the lord-deputy for the time being." — Memorial of Captain Lee. " The next daie following being the twelfe of March, the Lord Justice and the Earle divided their armie into two severall compa- nies by two ensigns and three together, the Lord Justice taking the one side, and the other taking the side of Sleughlogher, and so they searched the woods, burned the towne, and killed that daie about foure hundred men, and returned the same night with all the cat- tel which they found that day. And the said lords being not satisfied with his daie's ser- vice, they did likewise the next daie divide themselves, spoiled and consumed the whole countrie until it was night." — Hollinshed. " Edward the Third had granted the royal- ties of this county [Kerry] to the Earl of Desmond : but Drury, without regard to an- cient patents, determined to extend his juris- diction into Kerry. Desmond pleaded the ancient privilege and exemption of his lands ; but finding the lord-president obstinate in his purpose, reserved himself for an appeal to the chief governor, assuring Drury, in the mean time, that he should be received in Kerry with all honour and submission, and inviting A. D. 1580.] SECOND DIVISION. 207 him to reside at his house in Tralee." — Le- LAND. " We now draw towards the awful catas- trophe of this unfortunate nobleman, [Des- mond.] Whatever causes of complaint he had received from or afforded to the govern- ment, the utmost peace and harmony were restored in 1578, when all grievances and heart-burnings were entirely swept away, and a cordial good understanding established between him and Sir Henry Sydney. This acute and vigilant officer, (who was not easily deceived, and who was extremely jealous of the Irish nobility,) on the first of July of that year, wrote a long letter to Queen Elizabeth, containing the strongest assurances of the loyalty and fidelity of the Irish chieftain, of which he had received such satisfactory de- monstration as to remove all doubt from his mind." — M. Carey. " Since the writinge of my last, the gen- tleman I sent to my Lord of Desmond is retorned, who hath brought so sound tokens and testimonies of the earles fidellitie, (where- of although for myne owne parte I had never cawse to doubt,) as her majestic may make as assured an accomple of his loyaltie, and of all the friendes and forces he is able to make to serve her majestic, as of any one subjecte she hath in this land ; soche hath beene his publique speaches and demonstra- cions, and so plainelye hath he nowe discov- ered hymselfe to the world, as a greater proffe cannot be made of any man than he hath in this tyme made of hyme selfe. " And amongest other thinges, I havinge conceived some suspicion of his brother. Sir James, being in this queisye tyme accompa- nied with a greater trayne than I thought it convenient, consideringe the waveringe opin- ions of somme men, howe easilye they will conceive the woorst of the least pointe that may be doubtfullye taken, (and yet the sup- posall was more than the matter was in dede, when the troth was knowen,) I requ)rred of the earle by my messenger, the better to sat- isfie the world, and put me out of doubt of his brother, sir James, that he would either vndertake for hym hymselfe, so that thereby 1 might be assured of hym, that he should lyve duetifuUy, and do no harme, or ells that he would send him unto me. He assured my messenger that he would doe in the one and the other as I would direct hym. And thereupon, (hopinge by this meanes the bet- ter to assure me,) delyvered his brother by the hand to my messenger, who, together in companie with the bishopp of Lymericke and Morrice Shean, the earles secretarie, came hither to me to Dublin, and offered to justifie hymselfe in any thinge he should be justlye charged with, and withall proffered, if it pleased me, in any thinge to commaund or imploy hym, he would make that good prouffe of his assured loyaltie and fidellitie to hir majestic, as I should have cawse to geve hym further creditt. I was glad to heare it, and hope that when I shall have occasion of triall for hir majesties service, that I shall fynd it." — Sydney. " The uniform custom in providing for the support of the army, by what was termed cess, previous to this [Sydney's] administra- tion, was to fix the rate by act of parliament ; and when any material alteration of the prices of 'the necessaries of life, rendered a change in the contribution necessary, it was always made by the same authority. Sydney wished an increase of the cess, but would not con- descend to accomplish his purpose by the fair and regular means. He ordained the increase on his own mere motion, without any consultation with parliament. The lords of the Pale, aggrieved by the oppression of the new rates, and indignant at the violation of their privileges, remonstrated on the pro- cedure with the deputy. It was in vain. He was inexorable. They then despatched agents to the court of London, to seek redress. But the paramount influence of the deputy defeated their application. Redress was not only arrogantly denied, but the agents were confined in the Fleet prison for months, for no other crime but laying their own griev- ances and those of their constituents at the foot of the throne." — M. Carey. " When hir hignesse had read and tho- roughlie considered their opinions and resolu- tions, and finding Jier selfe undutifullie to be handled by her subiects, commanded by the 908 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1580. advise of her councill the said agents which followed their sute to be committed to the Fleet." — Hooker, in Hollinshed. " Whereupon I assessed heavy fjmes up- pon the baron of Dunboyn, and Piers But- ler, his brother, for the contempte. And committed them both to warde, and their wifes, with a bastarde sonne of Dunboynes. All which I presentlie doe detayne in the castell of Dublyn, and will doe untill they shall procure the bringinge of suche their lewde followers, destroyers of that countrie, unlesse your majestic commande me to the contrarie ; which if you doe at anny mannes sewte, actum est de hac repuhlica" — Syd- ney. " Sir Henry Sydney, disgusted witli the office of governor, and finding that liis ser- vices were treated with contempt, eagerly solicited his recall, which was at length ob- tained ; and having regulated all public mat- ters, he resigned the sword of justice to Sir William Drury, president of Munstcr. Syd- ney was considered an upright man : he had filled high offices in England with integrity ; and as a proof of his disinterestedness, it is affirmed that he never, though four times lord-justice, and three times deputy of Ire- land, appropriated to his own use an inch of land in the country, which was a rare exam- ple among his countrymen." — Mac-Geoghe- GAN. " Robert Dudley, being distinguished by the queen for the beauty of his person, and raised by her to the earldom of Leicester, and other high dignities, he launched forth in every excess witli all the insolence and im- punity of a royal minion. He caused the death of his wife by throwing her down stairs, in order to pave the way for his ex- pected union with the queen. Being disap- pointed in this hope, he debauched Lady Sheffield, under promise of marriage ; but getting into an intrigue with the wife of Walter, Earl of Essex, he attempted to poi- son her, and actually poisoned the said no- bleman as he was returning home from Ire- land to avenge the insult thus offered to him ; after which Leicester married that infamous countess. This scandalous behaviour lost him the affections of Elizabeth, but not her protection." — J. Milner. " Leicester engrossed the disposing of all offices of state and preferments of the church, proving himself so unappeasable in his mal- ice, so insatiable in his lust, so sacrilegious in his rapines, so false in his promises, so treacherous in point of trust, and so destruc- tive to particular persons, that his finger lay heavier on English subjects than the loins of the favourites of the two last reigns." — Hey- LIN. " Sir William Cecil was an apt political instrument for the ever-varying and unprinci- pled times in which he lived ; and became the confidant and assistant of Dudley in all his criminal measures." — J. Milner. " Leicester cloaked all his monstrous vices under a pretended zeal for religion, being the head of the Puritan faction." — Heylin. '* When men of such principles had the wealth and power of a great kingdom in their hands, we may easily conceive to what lengths of calumny, oppression, and cruelty they were capable of proceeding against any man or body of men who had the misfortune to incur their hatred or their jealousy, as was the case with the hapless professors of the ancient religion." — J. Milner. " Here we have one of the many futile proclamations which were issued to denounce ; the Irish possessed of property, previous to the confiscation of their estates." — M. Carey. " Wherefore they did pronounce, proclame, and publish him [Desmond] to be a most no- torious, detestable, and execrable traitor, and all his adherents, against hir majesties crowne and dignitie, vnlesse within twentie daies after this proclamation, he did come in, and submit himselfe." — Hollinshed. " The earl was, and with reason, afraid to visit the lord-justice. He had gone to the camp at Kilmallock, in consequence of a summons from Drury, some months previ- ously ; had been immediately imprisoned ; and had considerable difficulty in procuring his release. It is not therefore wonderful, that he shrunk from again confiding his per- son in the same quarter. " The execution of the bishop and friar A. D. 1580.] SECOND DIVISION. S09 was actual murder. They were sent as guarantees for the fidelity of the earl, and not being accepted for that purpose, ought to have been returned, the lord-justice having then no more right to put them to death than any other individuals in the country." — M. Carky. " Desmond returned his answer by a letter, dated at Crogh, the 30th of October, 1579, vsing therein nothing but triflings and delaies, requiring restitution for old wrongs and inju- ries, and iustifieing himselfe to be a good subiect, though he doo not yeeld to the fore- said articles." — Hooker. " One feature of the transaction stamps all the parties concerned with lasting infamy, and clearly proves that Desmond's destruc- tion had been resolved upon. The procla- mation allowed him twenty days to surrender himself. During these twenty days, every principle of honour, honesty, and justice, im- periously demanded a suspension of all hos- tile proceedings. On any other ground, the indulgence offered was a solemn mockery. This is the language of common sense. But the enemies of the unfortunate nobleman, in order to render his case utterly desperate — to destroy all chance of submission on his part — or of his escape from the toils spread for his destruction — immediately broke up the camp, and a war of extermination com- menced. " The countess came to the camp with some propositions from her husband, within one hour after the publication of the procla- ^mation — but even then found it too late. The horrible orders had already gone forth to convert the fairest portion of the beautiful province of Munster into a human slaughter- house. " This atrocious circumstance would be incredible, were it not explicitly narrated by Hooker." — M. Carey. " Immediatlie, and within an houre after this proclamation, the Countesse of Desmond came to the campe ; but the campe was be- fore dislodged from the towne, and all his countrie foorlhwith consumed with fire, and nothing was spared which fire and sword could consume." — Hooker, in Hollinshed. 27 " Fitz-Maurice's ill-omened expedition ar- rived safely in the bay of Smerwick, in the county of Kerry ; but scarcely had the in- vaders landed when their vessels were taken by an English ship of war. The Earl of Desmond positively refused to countenance this insane undertaking; but his brothers were not equally prudent. Sir James and Sir John, with a small troop of their retain- ers, joined the adventurers. Fitz-Maurice, enraged at the coolness of the earl, pretended to doubt the sincerity of Sir John of Pes- mond, and thus induced that turbulent knight to prove his zeal in the cause by an atrocious murder. Henry Davels, an English gentle- man, from his well-known attachment to the Geraldines, was supposed to possess consid- erable influence over the family of Desmond, and was therefore sent by the deputy, on the first news of the invasion, to persuade them to continue their allegiance. He succeeded with the earl, and did not altogether despair of rescuing Sir John from his dangerous en- terprise. But while Davels was quietly wait- ing the effect of his remonstrances in Tralee, Sir John suddenly attacked the house and put all within it to the sword." — Taylor. " The deputy now collected the remnant of his forces, and, with the supplies from England, proceeded to the south, where the Spaniards, under Desmond [Sir John] were still unconquered. He laid siege, by sea and land, to the garrison of Smerwick, which bravely held out several weeks. At length, a flag of truce was sent to the garrison. Deputies were appointed to treat. Some confusion occurred between the interpreters and the Spanish commander. Large terms were offered to the garrison, who, being many days without provisions, clamoured for a capitulation : it was at length accepted, and as soon as these poor fellows, numbering six hundred, laid down their arms, they were instantly butchered." — Mooney. " The garrison of Smerwick, in the county of Kerry, consisting of seven or eight hun- dred men, chiefly Italians, was besieged by the lord-deputy Arthur Grey, anno 1579, and after a short resistance, offiered to capitulate. Terms being inexorably refused, they were 310 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1580. constrained to surrender on mercy. Except the officers and the Irish, the latter of whom were reserved for an ignominious death on the gallows, they were all infamously butch- ered in cold blood. To Walter Raleigh, on whose chivalrous spirit so much applause has been absurdly lavished, was committed the perpetration of this murderous deed." — M. Carey. "That mercy for which they sued was rigidly denied to them. Wingfield was com- missioned to disarm them, and when this ser- vice was performed, an English company was sent into the fort. The Irish rebels found there were reserved for execution by martial law. The Italian general and some officers were made prisoners of war ; but the garrison was butchered in cold blood ; nor is it without pain that we find a service so hor- rid and detestable committed to Sir Walter Raleigh." — Leland. " The war against Desmond was con ducted with ferocious cruelty, unsurpassed in the history of mankind. Fire, famine, and slaughter together desolated the most fertile parts of Munster. From the savage rage of a relentless soldiery innocence furnished no protection. Helpless infancy and tottering age found no mercy. Admiral Winter, with the humanity natural to a British sailor, was shocked by the horrid massacre, and granted protection to a few that escaped to his fleet. Will it be believed that even this partial mercy was denounced by the zealous parti- sans of government, who would be satisfied with nothing short of extermination? Yes, it must be believed ; for, within the memory of man, [1798,] the merciful policy of Lord Comwallis was similarly honoured by the opposition of those who were maddened by a rabid appetite for blood." — Taylor. " But it w^as not in Munster only, that the horrors of this system were practised. I may observe that it was in the reign of Eliza- beth that the general practice commenced of calling the Irish * rebels' instead of * enemies,' the reason of which is sufficiently obvious." — O'CONNELL. " They wasted and forraged the country, so as in a small time it was not able to give the rebells any reliefe ; having spoiled and brought into their garrisons the most part of their corne, being newly reaped." — Pacata Hihernia. " A report was spread at this time of a conspiracy to surprise and seize the deputy in the castle of Dublin. Though this was never clearly proved, the persons suspected were capitally punished ; John Nugent, one of the barons of the exchequer, and several others, being put to death." — Mac-Geo- GHEGAN. " On a fair and candid examination, they [Kildare and Delvin] were all acquitted of every charge and suspicion of disloyalty. The precipitation with which Nugent and the other culprits had been executed, now became doubly odious. Grey was repre- sented as a man of blood, who had not only dishonoured his nation and sovereign among foreigners, but alienated the hearts of all the Irish subjects by repeated barbarities. De- tested in his government, and severely cen- sured in England, he grew weary of his pres- ent charge, and petitioned to be recalled." — Leland. " The outcry against Grey's mifitary cru- elties and judicial murders became now too loud to be disregarded. The acquittal of Kildare, the principal, as was asserted, in the pretended conspiracy, proved the innocence of Nugent cuid the others who had been exe- cuted as accessaries. The people of Eng- land (always just when their passions and prejudices are not artificially roused) joined in the clamour ; and the continental nations repeated the accounts of the barbarities and butcheries perpetrated in Ireland. The queen at length yielded to these representations. She was assured, with truth, that, in conse- quence of Grey's tyranny, little remained for her to rule over in Munster but ashes and carcasses." — Taylor. " Hooker, a cotemporary writer, resident and employed in Ireland, and by no means partial to the old English race, doth not take notice of this formidable conspiracy, except by slightly mentioning a design formed against the person of the deputy." — Leland. " Complaint was made against him, [Grey,] A. D. 1581.] SECOND DIVISION. 211 that he was a bloodie man, and regarded not the hfe of her subiects no more than dogges, but had wasted and consumed all, so as now she had nothing almost left, but to raigne in their ashes." — Spenser. " Repeated complaints were made of the inhuman rigour practised by Grey and his officers. The queen was assured that he tyrannized with such barbarity, that little was left in Ireland for her Majesty to reign over but ashes and carcasses." — Leland. "The theory of reduction which Henry the Seventh attempted to realize in Ireland, was amply fulfilled in the ruthless reigns of his successors, Henry the Eighth, and Eliza- beth. By enormous cruelties, successful military depredations, depopulation, destruc- tion of the food of the people, and by other means, of which the barbarities practised by the Spaniards in the Americas were but faint resemblances, the power of England was de- clared to be supreme over ashes and car- casses." — T. Mac-Nevin. " The historian, after all, is the true aven- ger. Shall I, armed as I am with the sword of justice, prove a venal, corrupt officer? What would honest men say of me, were I base enough to pander to power or to false- hood? Let those who recoil with horror from association with the perpetrators of such butcheries and such robberies, join with us in redeeming Ireland from the state of slavery to which Elizabeth and her successors have reduced that great and noble country." — MOONEY. CHAPTER XXIII. Reign of Elizabeth — 1581 to 1590 — Lord Grey re- called — Movements of Zouch — Death of Dr. San- ders — Ormond's reinforcement — Death of the Earl of Desmond — Expatriation of the Catholic clergy and gentry — Perrot's administration — Campaig^ns in Connaught, Munster, and Ulster — Irish parlia- ments of 1585 and 1586 — Shameful scramble for the estates of Desmond — O'Donnel perfidiously kidnapped — Perrot's adulterated coinage — Digres- sion on the fate of Mary, Queen of Scots, for the » sake of a comparison witli that of Ireland — Resig- nation of Perrot — ^Appointment of Fitz- William — Wreck of the Spanish armada — Calumnies against O'Neill of Tyrone — Suspicions of Elizabeth — Ty- ranny of Fitz-William — Commencement of the fifteen years' war — Authorities for the historical student to trace and examine. The appointments of the Earl of Kildare and Loftus, Archbishop of DubUn, to take charge of the Irish government, were made by Elizabeth in order to counteract the odium produced by the career of Grey, who was shortly recalled. This change, although looked upon at the time as an act of kindness, is now known to have been a deceptive and malicious cruelty, invented by that vile woman, whose mind teemed with wickedness and selfish barbarity. The real power was contrived to be actually in the hands of the Earl of Or- mond, with Captain Zouch as a sort of as- sistant executioner. Kildare and Loftus having held a meeting or council at Tara, in July, 1581, Ormond was sent at the head of two hundred horse and seven hundred foot, to propose such terms to Viscount Baltinglass as would in- duce him to desert his old friend, Desmond ; but, meeting with no success in his efibrts, he withdrew. Zouch, having learned that the Earl of Desmond and David Barry were collecting their forces near Achadoe, in Kerry, marched with his army towards Castlemain, and obliged the earl to withdraw to a place called Harlow Wood. Fitz-Gerald, Seneschal of Imokilly, then made some incursions in the neighbour- hood of Lismore, and on being attacked by a detachment from that garrison, he compelled them to retreat. Zouch was now in great danger ; but, fortunately for him, David Barry and the Seneschal of Imokilly had a dispute which broke out into an open rupture at this time, and destroyed that harmony and union which should subsist between the sup- porters of the same cause. Barry and Fitz-Gerald were encamped on the right bank of the Blackwater. Desmond and his brother John, who were posted on the opposite bank, were particularly interested far the reconciliation of these noblemen, who were to share in the perils of the war ; and John Desmond having undertaken to bring it about, repaired to the camp for that purpose. Zouch and Dowdal having learned, from a^ spy, that John Desmond was to cross the river the day following, on his way to Barry's camp, set out, during the night, from Cork, 213 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1583. with a strong force. They arrived at break of day at Castlelyons, and posted themselves near a wood through which Desmond would have to pass. This nobleman, not suspecting an enemy so near, had the misfortune to fall into their hands, with James, son of John Fitz-Gerald, Lord of Stonacally, who accom- panied him. Having refused to surrender, they were surrounded by Dowdal's men, and brought to Cork ; but Sir John, being mor- tally wounded, died on the way. His head was cut off and sent to Dublin ; and his body tied to a gibbet on the gates of Cork, where it remained till it was blown away by the wind. James Fitz-Gerald was afterwards executed. The loss of the rash and impetuous Sir John Desmond was soon perceived by the parties interested in the support of the earl, for although the movements of both the younger brothers were not approved of by him, the opposition between the Desmond connections and the queen's officers had be- come too confirmed to be counteracted by any exercise of moderation or wisdom on the part of the earl himself. This posture of affairs highly favoured the general object of confiscation, and particularly the seizure of the Desmond estates. Elated with success, Zouch surprised the camp of David Barry, and entirely routed all his troops ; after which, supposing Munster to be completely subdued, the troops in that province were reduced to four hundred foot and fifty horse. In this matter, Zouch was very soon undeceived. Fitz-Maurice, Baron of Lixnaw, with his sons, took up arms again to revenge some injuries he had received from the government, and made himself master of Ardfert, putting the garrison, under Captain Achin, to the sword. He also took the cas- tle of Lisconnel, and forced the troops who defended it to leap over the walls. He after- wards devastated the districts of Ormond, Tipperary, and Waterford, without meeting any opposition. Zouch, after waiting for a reinforcement of two hundred men, under Sir Henry Wal- lopps and Captain Norris, marched towards Kerry, to check the progress of the Baron of Lixnaw, in 1582. He retook Ardfert, Lisconnel, and other places which had been abandoned by the baron ; and having defeated a body of the enemy near Lisconnel, he pro- ceeded to Limerick, utterly destro3ring the country and the crops, so that the natives could find no sustenance from the land. Dr. Sanders was one of the victims of this famine. His body was afterwards found in a roadside hovel, mangled since death by the attacks of wild beasts, whose ordinary ferocity was ren- dered desperate by the general destruction of the usual productions of nature. In January, 1583, the Earl of Ormond de- termined to follow up the successes of Zouch, for which purpose he received a reinforce- ment of four hundred Englishmen, who were placed under the command of Bourchier, Stanley, Barclay, and Roberts. Ormond was also intrusted with the entire govern- ment of Munster, by a special commission from the queen. He obtained an increase to the soldiers' pay, of two pence a day, by which he gained the love and confidence of the army. His very first expedition was against the Earl of Desmond. Having re- ceived intelligence that the earl, and his fol- lowers, were in Harlow Wood, he surprised and cut off several of them, dispersing the rest, and forcing them to abandon their chief. Desmond, finding himself unassisted by the Spaniards, and cut off from communica- tion with his adherents, became a hunted fugitive in his native land. On arriving in Kerry, with a few followers, he took refuge in a small house in the middle of a wood, called Gleam-a-Ginkie, near Tralee, where he was subsisted by whatever Goron or Gof- fred Mac-Sweeny, who was faithfully attached to him, could procure by hunting. The fee- ble health and previous habits of the aged nobleman rendered such a mode of life almost insupportable. At length the earl was reduced to such straits that there was good reason to dread he and his small train might perish by famine. Two horsemen and a few kernes seized on some cattle to supply the necessities of their old master. They were watched by the owner of the property, and subsequently A. D. 1584.] SECOND DIVISION, 213 chased by a party of English soldiers. It was evening when the pursuers came to the opening of a wooded valley, where they re- solved to halt. Suddenly, they saw a light in a small hut at a distance, and, supposing that they had discovered a party of insurgents, they cautiously advanced under the guidance of Kelly of Morierta, a man of Irish race. On entering the hovel, they found in it an old man of a venerable aspect, but exhausted by famine and fatigue, stretched languidly be- fore the expiring embers. Kelly struck and wounded him. " Spare me," exclaimed a feeble voice, " I am the Earl of Desmond !" Kelly, however, repeated his blow, and the victim of merciless persecution was slain. His head was chopped off and sent to Or- mond, by whom it was forwarded to the queen for her most gracious disposal. Eliza- beth immediately ordered it to be impaled, and then exposed on London Bridge. The death of Desmond spread a gloom over the whole of Ireland, and even excited the sympathy and suspicious forebodings of the lords of the Pale. The Catholics of Leinster were quite discouraged on witness- ing the unhappy fate of Munster ; and James Fitz-Maurice, Viscount Baltinglass, retired to Spain, where he died of patriotic grief in a few years afterwards. The principles and objects of the English governors were fol- lowed with more rigour than before. Their movements, being led by the most selfish passions of human nature, were unceasing and relentless. Sir Nicholas Bagnal, Sir Lucas Dillon, and James Dowdal, were ac- cordingly sent into Ulster, with a commis- sion to settle the affairs of that province with the Baron of Dungannon, and the deputies of Turlogh Lynogh and O'Donnel. The power of the queen's troops, by the instrumentality of the Earl of Ormond, being now generally obeyed in every province of Ireland, the native gentry were compelled to look abroad for the education of their children and the secure enjoyment of their early reli- gious principles and privileges. The estab- lishment of seminaries for these purposes appears to have had the approval of the Cath- ohc clergy as well as the continental princes who were consulted on the subject. The generosity of France, the hospitality of Spain, and the fervour of Italy, mainly contributed to these pious undertakings, as is shown in the magnanimous conduct of the numerous individuals on the European continent who assisted in fulfilling the wishes of the unfor- tunate Irish refugees. Mac-Geoghegan has given some pleasing and characteristic details of these proceedings, and thus ably describes the effect produced upon the politics and legislation of England and Ireland : — " These seminaries were filled with learn- ed ecclesiastics, who, .after they had com- pleted their studies, returned to their own country to console the faithful, and adminis- ter to them spiritual assistance ; in which efforts they were seconded by the truly apos- tolical zeal of the Jesuits. These establish- ments did not fail to attract the attention of the English court ; they were considered as very dangerous to the government, and op- posed to the reformation of the church. In order to remedy this, an edict was published, commanding all who had children, wards, or relations in foreign countries, to send, within ten days, their names to the judge of the dis- trict, to recall them within four months, and present them immediately on their return, to the said judge. By the same edict, it was prohibited to send them money ; and the peo- ple were strictly forbidden to receive these seminarians or Jesuits into their houses, or to support, nourish, or relieve them in any man- ner, under the penalty of being treated as rebels, and punished according to the laws. In consequence of this proclamation, several priests, Jesuits, and monks, suffered martyr- dom with Christian fortitude, among whom were the two celebrated Jesuits, Parsons and Campion." In June, 1584, Sir John Perrot, who had been so successful as President of Munster, was sent over as chief-governor to Ireland. His commission, which he was to retain ac- cording to the queen's pleasure, authorized him to make peace or war; to punish or pardon any crime, except that of high treason against her majesty and that of forgery ; to issue proclamations, impose fines, dispose of su HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1585. the estates of the rebels, exercise martial law, and convene parliaments with the queen's con- sent. He had the appointment of all officers, except the chancellor, treasurer, the three prin- cipal judges, and the master of the rolls. He had also the right of conferring livings, except archbishoprics and bishoprics; and, in fine, he possessed power over every thing relative to government, and the administration of jus- tice. Whatever Perrot might have intended in his own mind, for good or for evil, he cer- tainly could not complain of want of power. The very first act of his administration was to publish a general amnesty, and to issue a strict prohibition against the outrages and spoliations of the soldiers, too often encour- aged by their commanders. The youthful son of the unfortunate Desmond, who had been left in the hands of Drury as a hostage, was now released from Dublin Castle, and sent over to England, in order that he might receive an education suitable to his rank. In July, Perrot set out from Dublin to visit the provinces of Connaught and Munster. On reaching Limerick, he learned that Surly Boy Mac-Donnel had made a descent on Ulster, accompanied by a thousand men from the Scottish isles. Perrot's real intention appears to have been to make a circuit of the whole country, and, until then, he despatched a fleet to Lough Foyle where the Scottish troops were ; but they, being informed of his intentions, set sail, and gained their own coasts in spite of the English admiral. The deputy, accompanied by Ormond and other nobles, then proceeded on the right bank of the river Bann, where he laid waste the lands of Brian Carrows, and forced him and Surly Boy to retreat. After several severe skir- mishes with different chieftains, and compel- ling all who were only suspected of disloyalty to give hostages, Perrot marched northwards to besiege Dunluce, and sent his artillery by sea for that purpose, to Portrush, an island near the coast; whence it was brought to the camp before Dunluce. Of course, a place not provided with cannon could make but a feeble resistance. Donfert soon after- wards shared the same fate, and thus obliged Surly Boy to surrender and give hostages. Perrot returned to Newry about the end of September, after leaving a strong garrison at Coleraine. Turlough Lynogh gave him up the son of Shane O'Neill, as a prisoner. Conn, son of Neil Oge, or the Young, Lord of Clanboy, was forced, by orders of the deputy, to surrender half of his estates. The government of Ulster was divided between Turlough Lynogh, Baron of Dungannon, and Sir Henry Bagnal ; so that the deputy re- turned to Dublin in October. The Desmond estates amounted to six hundred thousand acres ; and it was neces- sary to summon a parliament, in order that this vast property should be vested in the crown. A host of hungry expectants eagerly waited the event, hoping that rich estates would reward the crimes which had brought about the confiscation. In April, 1585, the parUament was con- vened in Dublin. The deputy was desirous of introducing the English dress among the Irish nobles. To this they were opposed, as they deemed a conformity in apparel as a mark of their subjection. To induce them to comply, the deputy presented English costumes to Turlough Lynogh, and other Irish noblemen who had not been too proud or too patriotic to wear English titles. In this assembly we find, for the first time, sev- eral of the original Irish families joined in deliberation with the settlers of the Pale. Cavan was represented by two of the ancient house of O'Reilly ; O'Brien was returned for Clare ; the county of Down sent Sir Hugh Mac-Gennis ; John Mac-Brien was member for Antrim ; and the representatives of Long- ford were the O'Ferghals or O'Ferrals. In the Upper House sat two bishops, professed Roman Catholics, from the sees of Clogher and Raphoe, over which Elizabeth had as yet exercised no control ; and Turlough, the nominal chief of the O'Nials, took a seat as Earl of Tyrone. The best Irish vmters concur in stating that no representative government ever met for the despatch of business with a more hostile legislature. The suspension of Poyn- ings's Law, at that time quite an ordinary mark of confidence in a new chief governor, A. D. 1585.] SECOND DIVISION. SIS was refused ; thirteen bills, transmitted from England, were rejected ; the ordinary subsi- dies were withheld ; and two acts, of inferior importance, concluded the labours of the ses- sion. Perrot's indomitable perseverance and self-reliance were just now the best friends he had in Ireland. The barbarous system of crushing the re- sources, lest, if cultivated, they might enable Ireland to rival England, or perhaps attain independence, had been zealously advocated in the English parliament. The members of the Irish legislature have frequently been deaf to the claims of justice and patriotism, but seldom blind to their own private interest. They saw, or thought they saw, measures taken for their destruction, and therefore met the government with the most obstinate re- sistance. The cause of this spirit, so unusual in the annals of Irish legislation, was the general hor- ror which the iniquitous proceedings against the Earl of Desmond had occasioned. The great lords of English descent, who had pass- ively witnessed the robbery and treacherous murder of the Irish chieftain, O'Neill, were alarmed by the destruction of the greatest of their own party, and felt sympathy for the fate of one connected with many of them by marriage or by blood. Seeing the state of opinion in this assemblage, Perrot prorogued the parliament until April of the following year. The administration of Perrot has given rise to many differences of opinion, but it is gen- erally admitted that severity was its principal characteristic. The same may be observed of all the provincial presidents about the same period. The cruelties practised in Connaught by Sir Richard Bingham, the governor, gave great displeasure to the nobles of that prov- ince. Many of the Catholic clergy and laity were put to death : O'Connor Roe, aged eighty years, was hanged, notwithstanding his birth, rank, and age : several of the O'Con- nors, Burkes, O'Kellys, and other noblemen, shared the same fate. Similar persecutions were going on without any check in the other provinces. Norris, President of Munster, did not vary from the Governor of Connaught in cruelty. The Catholics were hunted in all directions. It may be observed, that what- ever might have been Elizabeth's feeling to- wards them, she was ably seconded by her subordinate ministers in Ireland, who laid their snares to make the most innocent ap- pear guilty. The two Mac-Sweeneys, Ge- lasius and Bernard Fitz-Gerald, of the house of Desmond, and Donald Macrah, all noble- men of Munster, were inhumanly put to death. Daniel Mac-Carty, son of the Prince Muskerry, Dermod O'SulUvan, of the house of Beare, and many other nobles, were obliged to be continually under arms, to defend them- selves against those sanguinary men, or to wander in the mountains and woods to escape their pursuit. Notwithstanding these movements in the provinces, Perrot took great pains to assure all parties of protection in person and prop- erty; to administer justice without regard to sect or party ; and to reform the gross abuses that had been encouraged by his pre- decessors. The native Irish, conciliated by the mere appearance of equal government, vied with each other in expressions of loyalty and allegiance. The lords of the Pale laid aside their suUenness, and crowded to the court of the deputy ; the feuds between the barons were suspended ; and an opportunity was apparently offered of removing the in- tolerable load of evils which had been accu- mulating for centuries. The unalterable malignity of Elizabeth is too well proved by the despotic humour with which Perrot's exertions were treated, and her refusal to furnish him with men or money. She even yielded to the secret whispers of his opponents, and received the news of his popularity with suspicion. The creatures of the late government still held their offices in the Castle. Nurtured in corrupt practices, they naturally detested an equitable adminis- tration, and laboured, not wholly without suc- cess, to counteract the measures of the lord- deputy. One of Perrot's worst enemies was a wor- thy of the mischief-making school, who had grown rich on forgery and crime ; and it is 316 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1586. not only amusing but instructive to observe the flood of light which their quarrel throws upon the political movements of those days. Conceiving that one cathedral was sufficient for Dublin, Perrot had proposed that the other should be converted into a university, and its revenues employed for the diflusion of edu- cation. Loftus, the archbishop, immediately became, not only Perrot's political opponent, but his bitter and violent enemy. The most wicked perversions of his words and actions were transmitted to England. Even the most audacious forgeries were framed— one, a pretended complaint from Turlough O'Neill, which the old chieftain denounced by a sol- emn embassy to Elizabeth. The second and more mischievous, was a pretended pro- tection granted to a Catholic priest, in which the deputy was construed to assume the style of a sovereign. It was easy to expose these abominable frauds ; but it was impossible to remove the jealous suspicions with which they filled the mind of Elizabeth, and the cruelty which she pretended to consider re- quisite for the government of Ireland, even after they were all explained. In April, 1586, in the second session of Perrot's parliament, his general popularity became decidedly manifest. The bills for the regulation of public affairs, and the rais- ing of necessary supplies were passed almost unanimously ; but the forfeiture of the Des- mond property was still resisted. At length, after a fierce struggle, acts were passed for the attainder of the deceased lord, and one hundred and forty of his associates, all of whose immense estates were thus vested in the crown. The grand object which had excited the ambition of all Elizabeth's ministers, and caused the commission of every description of crime for so long a time, was now con- summated. The glorious opportunity (as it was considered) now offered itself for the planting (as it is called) an English colony in Ireland. The younger sons of people of title, — the needy followers of the court, who live on slavery and the crumbs of liberty, — the adventurers of more questionable descrip- tion, but of unquestionable desperation, — were all invited to become undertakers and over-reachers in this business. The lands were granted at a nominal rent, on the con- dition that the undertakers should let them to none but English tenants ; should support garrisons on the frontiers of the province ; and should not permit any of the native Irish to settle on their estates. A portion of the property was also granted to some of the Ger- aldines ; and a very considerable share of it was seized by the retainers of the local gov- ernment, who well knew the safe method of resisting the royal rights without incurring the penalties of rebellion. Of this notable scheme it is now our duty to announce that it was a failure. The undertakers selfishly violated their contracts. They, as others of the same class before and since have done, preferred the Irish peasant to the imputatively inde- pendent freeholder ; and the opportunity of introducing an orderly middle-class into Ire- land, which Elizabeth had acquired at the expense of so much blood, was lost by the reckless greediness of her unprincipled ser- vants. The tyranny of Bingham, Governor of Connaught, forced the Burkes to act again on the defensive. For this purpose the Clan- Donnells, the Joyces, and other tribes of the province, were gained over to their party, and the castle of Lake Mask, generally call- ed the castle of Necally, or of Thomas Roe, was fortified. Bingham was at the time lay- ing siege to the castle of Clan-Owen, in Thomond, of which Mahon O'Brien was commander. The castle of Clan-Owen was not sufficiently strong to maintain a siege against so powerful an enemy, but O'Brien would not surrender, and died in defending it. Bingham's disregard of his word was so well known, that no reliance could justifiably be given to any promise which he might make. We have a striking instance of this just after the defeat of Mahon O'Brien. Richard Burke, one of the insurgent chiefs, being desirous of making peace with the government, submitted to Bingham, giving the usual promise to be loyal to her majesty. Bingham received his submission ; but, under a pretence that Burke might betray him, he A. D. 1587.] SECOND DIVISION. 217 had the unfortunate chief arrested and con- demned to death. Such outrageous cruelty caused Perrot to send orders into Connaught granting protec- tion to the Burkes and other rebels of the province. Bingham, incensed at this order, repaired to Dublin to have an interview v\rith the council, at which mutual recriminations took place between the deputy and himself ; but, on hearing that the rebels in Connaught had recommenced hostilities, he returned. He found the province in a state of confusion ; the Clan-Donnells and Clan-Gibbons having joined the Burkes, whose hopes were raised by the arrival of two thousand Scots. When Perrot heard of the landing of the Scottish allies in the north, he sent orders to the Baron of Dungannon to engage with and oppose them until he could repair thither in person. In June he set out from Dublin for Ulster. O'Donnel and some of the other Ulster noblemen having refused to give any hostages, Perrot adopted an expedient, which, besides being the last act of his pubhc admin- istration, has attracted much odium upon his general character. It appears that he sent to Dublin for a merchant, called John Bingham, whom he ordered to freight a vessel with wine and other merchandise, on board of which were fifty armed men. He then sent word to Captain Skipper to sail towards the coasts of Tyrconnel, and to stop in some of its ports, as if to sell his cargo, but in reality to decoy young O'Donnel on board, and bring him to Dublin. This plan suc- ceeded according to the deputy's wishes. The vessel cast anchor in Lough Swilley, on the borders of Tyrconnel. The report was soon spread, and wa)rfarers, either to pur- chase goods or through curiosity, repaired on board. Among the number was Hugh, son of Magnus O'Donnel, Prince of Tyrconnel, aged fourteen years, accompanied by Eugene Mac-Sweeny, Lord of Tueth, Mac-Sweeny of Fanid, and Sir Eugene O'Gallachuir. The captain of the vessel, delighted with their visit, received them with polite attention ; but the visitors soon found themselves con- ducted by armed men into the hold of the vessel, while the crew commenced weighing 28 anchor. The nobles who belonged to O'Don- nel's suite obtained their liberty by giving hostages ; and the captain, content with his spoil, sailed for Dublin, where he gave up the young Prince of Tyrconnel, and the hos- tages, to the deputy, who had them confined in the Castle. This circumstance, bad as it was, had been much exceeded in deliberate wicked- ness by Perrot's proposition to the queen for the issue of an adulterated coinage in pieces of eightpence, fourpence, twopence, and a penny, to the amount of four hundred thou- sand pounds, which were to contain only one hundred thousand pounds of real value, and to be backed by a proclamation prohibiting its refusal when offered for circulation in Ireland. We need scarcely support the assertion that this proposition met with the most gracious approval of Elizabeth. Elizabeth's want of money for her schemes of what is commonly called " good govern- ment," caused her to act in many respects exactly like her august father, of reforming and adulterating memory. Few transactions, however, were more completely copied from the reign of Henry the Eighth than the trial and condemnation of Mary, Queen of Scots, (who was the cousin of Queen Elizabeth,) with the trial and subsequent death of Queen Catharine, Henry's consort. The circum- stances are as similar as their nature would permit. They will be found narrated in the histories of England and of Scotland. During the nineteen years of imprisonment which Mary Stuart endured previous to her execution in 1587, Elizabeth kept intriguing with Mary's rebellious subjects in Scotland, spreading corruption among the traitors, ha- tred among the sectarians, and distrust among the well-disposed and best portion of the pop- ulation. Mary, on her own part, continually solicited her liberty from Elizabeth, and was supported in her solicitations by the French and Spanish ambassadors, but without suc- cess. Truth, however, prevailed over cal- umny, in favour of Mary's innocence, through the declarations made by Morton, Bothwell, and many others, in their last moments, when every man is supposed to speak truly. There 318 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1587. was no longer any ground of accusation against this unfortunate victim in Scotland, but conspiracies were plotted in England against Elizabeth, of which, though in prison, Mary was accused. Walsingham succeeded by his emissaries in entrapping a few Catho- lics in a plot to rescue the Queen of Scots by open force, of which Babington and others became the victims. Commissioners having been appointed to examine into the affair, they repaired in October, 1586, to Fotherin- gay Castle, in Northamptonshire, where Mary was confined. That princess appealed against their authority, as being a sovereign, and independent of any such tribunal : but, on the threat that she would be condemned for contumacy, she submitted, declaring, at the same time, that " despairing of her freedom, she had endeavoured to escape, in doing which she considered herself justified by the laws of nature and self-preservation ; but, that as to any attempts against the person of the queen, or her authority, she was wholly innocent." Nevertheless, the commissioners assembled ; when, having put the questions, and read to Queen Mary the charges which had been brought against her, she still main- tained that she was a sovereign, and not sub- ject to a law made in England for her de- struction ; and demanded to be tried by her peers in open parliament, in presence of Elizabeth. The commissioners had not suf- ficient authority to concede this request, and repaired immediately to Westminster, where, of course, verdict was pronounced in the Star Chamber against the unfortunate Mary. The first exclamation made by persons who begin to comprehend the enormity of these proceedings generally is — " How could such things be done in England, glorious England, enlightened England, law-loving England ?" A full answer to this question might lead us too far away from our main sub- ject, although the task would be a pleasure, for the circumstances are of such a nature as to enlighten our knowledge and consideration of the most intricate suggestions of human action, Cobbett, who was a Church-of-Eng- land man, and had an e.xtra allowance of that dislike towards foreigners which is commonly supposed to animate " a full-blooded English- man," has offered the following explanation, which we adopt for its general correctness, and hope that it will be as generally accepta- ble :— " That very thing now took place which old Harry had been so much afraid of, and which, indeed, had been the dread of his councillors and his people. Edward was dead. Queen Mary was dead, and, as EHzabcth was a bastard, both in law and in fact, Mary Stuart was the heiress to the throne of Eng- land, and she was now the wife of the imme- diate heir to the King of France. Nothing could be so fortunate for Queen Elizabeth. The nation had no choice but one : to take her and uphold her ; or, to become a great province of France. If Elizabeth had died at this time, or had died before her sister Mary, England must have become degraded thus ; or, it must have created a new dynas- ty, or become a republic. Therefore it was, that all men, whether Catholics or Protest- ants, were for the placing and supporting of Elizabeth on the throne ; and for setting aside Mary Stuart, although unquestionably she was the lawful heiress to the crown of England. " As if purposely to add to the weight of this motive, of itself weighty enough, Henry the Second, King of France, died in eight months after Elizabeth's accession ; so that Mary Stuart was now, 1559, Queen-Consort of France, Queen of Scotland, and called herself Queen of England ; she and her hus- band bore the arms of England along with those of France and Scotland ; and the pope had refused to acknowledge the right of Elizabeth to the English throne. Thus, as old Harry had foreseen, when he made his will setting aside the Scottish branch of his family, was England actually transferred to the dominion of France, unless the nation set at nought the decision of the pope, and sup- ported Elizabeth. " This was the real cause of Elizabeth's success in her work of extirpating the Cath- olic religion. According to the decision of the head of the Catholic Church, Eliza- beth was a usurper ; if she were a usurper, A. D. 1587.] SECOND DIVISION. 219 she ought to be set aside ; if she were set aside, Mary Stuart and the King of France became Queen and King of England ; if they became Queen and King of England, Eng- land became a mere province, ruled by Scots and Frenchmen, the bare idea of which was quite sufficient to put every drop. of English blood in motion. All men, therefore, of all ranks in life, whether Protestants or Catho- lics, were for Elizabeth. To preserve her hfe became an object dear to all her people ; and, although her cruelties did, in one or two instances, arm Catholics against her life, as a body they were as loyal to her as her Prot- estant subjects ; and, even when her knife was approaching their bowels, they, without a single exception, declared her to be their ' lawful queen,' Therefore, although the decision of the pope was perfectly honest and just in itself, that decision was, in its obvious and inevitable consequences, rendered, by a combination of circumstances, so hostile to the greatness, the laws, the liberties, and the laudable pride of Englishmen, that they were reduced to the absolute necessity of setting his decision at nought, or, of surrendering their very name as a nation. But, observe, by-the-bye, this dilemma and all the dangers and sufferings that it produced, arose entire- ly out of the ' Reformation.' Had the savage old Harry listened to Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher, there would have been no obstacle to the marrying of his son with Mary Stuart; and, besides, he would have had no children whose legitimacy could have been disputed, and, in all human prob- ability, several children to be, in lawful succession, heirs to the throne of England. " Here we have the great, and, indeed, the only cause, of Elizabeth's success in rooting out the Catholic religion. Her people were, ninety-nine hundredths of them. Catholics. They had shown this clearly at the accession of her sister Mary. Elizabeth was as great a tyrant as ever lived ; she was the most cruel of women ; her disgusting amours were notorious ; yet, she was the most popular sovereign that had reigned since the days of Alfred ; and we have thousands of proofs, that her people, of all ranks and degrees, felt a most anxious interest in every thing affect- ing her life or her health. Effects like this do not come from ordinary causes. Her treat- ment of great masses of her people, her al- most unparalleled cruelties, her flagrant false- hoods, her haughtiness, her insolence, and her lewd life, were naturally calculated to make her detested, and to make her people pray for any thing that might rid them of her. But, they saw nothing but her between them and subjection to foreigners, a thing which they had always most laudably held in the greatest abhorrence. Hence it was, that the parliament, when they could not prevail upon her to marry, passed an act to make any bas- tard (' natural issue') of hers lawful heir to the throne. Whitaker (a clergyman of the church of England) calls this * a most infa- mous act.' It was, in itself, an infamous act ; but, that abjectness in the nation, which it now, at first sight, appears to denote, disap- pears when we consider well what I have stated above. To be preserved from Mary Stuart, from the mastership of the Scots and the French, was, at that time, the great ob- ject of anxiety with the English nation. Hume, whose head always runs upon some- thing hostile to the Catholic religion, ascribes Elizabeth's popularity to the dislike that her people had to what he calls the ' Romish superstition.' Whitaker ascribes the ' extir- pation' of the Catholic religion to the ' choice of her people,' and not to her. The Catholic writers ascribe it to her cruelties ; and they are right so far ; but, they do not, as I have endeavoured to do, show how it came to pass, that those numerous and unparalleled cruel- ties came to be perpetrated with impunity to her and her ministers. The question with the nation was, in short, the Protestant reli- gion, Elizabeth, and independence ; or, the Catholic religion, Mary Stuart, and subjec- tion to foreigners. They decided for the former; and hence all the calamities, and the final tragical end of the latter lady."* This digression will justify itself. History cannot be studied with reference to the last three centuries without observing the mutual obligations of royalty and Protestantism. Our » Hist, of Prot Ref. Letter X. 320 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1687. own Brownson has traced this subject to its source, and favoured us with the following candid and able acknowledgment of his dis- coveries : — " Protestantism was not, in its origin, as some in these days pretend, a protest against tyranny, and an uprising of the soul for reli- gious freedom. No such thing. It origi- nated with the temporal powers who sought to crush religious liberty. It was a move- ment, not in behalf of religious liberty, but against it. It is all very fine to talk of Lu- ther and Melancthon, Calvin and Zwingle, Carlostadt, and John of Leyden ; but these men were merely instruments in the hands of the political sovereigns. The fathers of your 'glorious Reformation,' — yes, republi- cans, democrats, hear the truth ! — the fathers of your * glorious Reformation' were the tem- poral princes who were hostile to religious liberty, who were opposed to the independ- ence of the Church, who wished to bring it into subjection to the state, and to make it their ally, their tool in oppressing the masses and fleecing the multitude. They would have no power that dared rebuke the wearer of a crown, no priest whom they could not * make or unmake,' as he conformed or not to their will. They wished to make the Church a branch of the civil police, and the sovereign- pontiff a sort of high-constable, or chief of the constabulary, and responsible to the crown. They wished to make the Universal Church the mean, contemptible, crouching slave of the state which the Anglican church has been for three hundred years, and still is, — power- less for good, but a most effective instrument in the hands of the sovereign for oppressing the people, and keeping them quiet under the most grievous burdens. This could not be done, so long as the people acknowledged the spiritual authority of the pope, or a common centre of ecclesiastical unity. Here is the noble, the royal origin of Protestantism, which has the impudence in open day to call herself republican, and the friend of rehgious liberty !"* Before we take leave of the subject of Mary's claims to our manly and charitable » Boston Quar. Rev. ; July, 1845. consideration, we wish to notice one of the calumnies which we have often heard urged against her by persons who had evidently been beaten from every other point of objec- tion while forming an estimate of the real character of that unfortunate princess. It is still confidently asserted by many that Mary was guilty of consenting to the murder of Darnley, her husband, on the 9th of Februa- ry, 1567, and that, therefore, her life was forfeited to the law twenty years before her death. If this charge were true, the ques- tion then arises of how far it is allowable to slander criminals. During Elizabeth's reign, every imaginable means were employed to sully the fame and blacken the memory of the unhappy Mary. The most laborious historians are not always the most observant, and in all cases of misrepresented character, there is much more to be examined than the mere documents of the time. Even P. F. Tytler, highly gifted and ably seconded as he is, thus coolly and sagaciously leaves the question open for further consideration : — " It is difiicult to draw any certain conclu- sion as to the probability of Mary's guilt or innocence in the murder of her husband. * * * * Upon the whole, it appears to me that, in the present state of the contro- versy, we are really not in possession of sufficient evidence to enable any impartial inquirer to come to an absolute decision."* The London Quarterly Review, however, understands the genius of the British govern- ment in all those matters connected with the Reformation, and its political changes, much better than Mr. Tytler might wish to express in Edinburgh. Accordingly, in reviewing P. F. Tytler's " History of Scotland," the hard- cheeked reviewer seems to draw a long breath of happy freedom from ancient tram- mels, and boldly announces — " It appears to us, on the contrary, that Mr. Tytler's own labours have done much to resolve such doubts, and will appear far more conclusive to others than they have done to himself. We do not see any reason for leaving the mind under what Mr. Tytler proceeds to call ' this painful and unsatisfy- * Hist of Scotland ; vol. tu. A. D. 1588.] SECOND DIVISION 221 ing impression.' The documents on this controversy are, perhaps, more ample than on any other disputed point in history ; and the time has come when there is no longer any poUtical object in perverting them. No longer is it attempted to serve an exiled family by proving that no Stuart could possibly do wrong. No longer is it deemed the best proof of loyalty to the reigning house of Han- over to heap insults and invectives on one of its own lineal ancestors. In short, if we forbear to judge, the fault, as we conceive, lies no /longer in the deficiency of informa- tion, nor yet in the prevalence of party."* How charming are the rays of truth after a long night of successful calumny and chill- ing distrust ! The fate of Ireland may be compared to the character of Mary, for the same reasons and by the same hopes. The most unpoetical of readers may rest assured that there is more truth than poetry in our assertion. The most unpoetical of writers may as well brush up and review their facts, for the time is coming when some will not be missed in case of displacement, and empty heads would be as useless as empty shelves in a dark dungeon. Our bold friend in the "London Quarterly" gives a similar warning, while concluding the article we have just quoted. It is thus ably and beautifully ex- pressed : — " Mr. Laing has saidt that * the suffering innocence of Mary is a theme appropriated to tragedy and romance ;' a remark not strict- ly accurate, since the great dramatic poem founded on her fortunes, proceeds upon the theory, not of her innocence, but of her guilt.t But undoubtedly he is right in thinking that the influence of poetry (or of feelings akin to poetry) has been favourable to this unfortu- nate princess. Even the most thorough conviction of her guilt could scarcely steel the breast against some compassion for her fate. Who might not sigh as such a tale is told — how near arid close allied are human sins and human sorrows — how fatal, through our own errors, may become the bright gifts * London Quar. Rev. ; March, 1841. t Dissertation ; vol. ii. p. 66. t See Schiller's Maria Stuart ; act v. scene 7. of beauty, warm affections, and a throne ! Who, that stands as we have stood, on the green knoll of Fotheringay, with the neigh- bouring scenes yet unchanged ; the same small village clustered around us ; the same glassy river rolling by ; but no remains of the strong and grated castle except the swell- ing mounds and the darker verdure on the grass ; who that sees the quiet flock now feed on the very spot once all astir with the din of preparation, the mock-trial, and the bloody death, could forget that fatal 8th of February, when, amidst wailing attendants and relenting foes, the victim alone appeared steadfast and serene, and meekly kneeled down to pray forgiveness * on all those who have thirsted, without cause, for my blood,' and for a long life and peaceable reign to Elizabeth! " Some feelings of compassion at such an ending are not, we trust and believe, incom- patible with zeal for historic truth. But if we are warned against poetry and pity on one side, shall nothing be said of prejudice upon the other ? Have we not, in the case of Mary, reversed, as it were, the divine de- cree, and visited the sins, not of the fathers upon the children, but of the children upon the parent ?" The truth will appear, all in good time, for Mary and Ireland — Ireland and Mary. In 1588, the "fifteen years' war," as it is generally styled, commenced in Ireland. Perrot, who had frequently applied for a re- call, was at last released by the appointment of Sir William Fitz-William to succeed him. On his return to England, Elizabeth contrived to have him imprisoned in the Tower, where she also contrived to take his Ufe " suddenly," as Mac-Geoghegan politely expresses it in very polite French. The conduct of Perrot's successor pro- duced a new train of calamities and crimes, the consequences of which are scarcely yet effaced. Sir William Fitz-William had but one object in view, — ^his own private emolu- ment ; and in pursuit of this he disregarded even the mere appearances of justice and de- cency. After the defeat of the Spanish ar- mada, several of the ships were wrecked on 222 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1589. \ the northern and north-western coasts of Ireland. Reports were circulated that these vessels contained enormous wealth, and that the Irish chieftains were secreting the treas- ures which ought to enrich the state. Blinded by avarice, Fitz- William, without inquiry as to the accuracy of this intelligence, seized Sir Owen Mac-Toole and Sir John O'Dogherty, on suspicion of having concealed these sup- posed stores, and consigned them to a painful imprisonment, which lasted for several years. Such unjust severity towards two gentlemen conspicuous for their zealous loyalty, revived the jealous hatred of the English government, which Perrot had so happily suppressed. James the Sixth, of Scotland, either to re- venge the death of his mother, Mary Stuart, or to secure to himself the right of succeeding to the thrones of England and Ireland, se- cretly afforded help to the Irish, who were opposed to the English court. As the want of union is generally fatal to the best cause, so the ambition of some of the Irish chiefs induced thenj to prefer their own interest to the general good. Some were seduced by titles of honour ; others were attached to the English influence by political views, while others, fearful of success, continued neutral.* The house of Desmond was considered ex- tinct. Ormond and Thomond, two of the most powerful in Munster, had embraced the reformed religion. They received many fa- vours for their attachment to the court, and knew how to turn the misfortunes of their neighbours to their own advantage. O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who had long been aware of the antipathy of the Dublin governments, resolved to anticipate the dan- ger ; and, without waiting for the deputy's license, presented himself at the court of Elizabeth. Here he was accused by one of his relatives, a natural son of John O'Neill, of having entered into a secret alliance with the Spaniards, and endeavoured to form a general confederacy against the English. These calumnies were easily refuted : and Elizabeth, persuaded of O'Neill's integrity, dismissed him with marks of confidence and favour. About the same time, several hos- • Hist. Cath. Ibcm tages of the northern lords, who were detained as prisoners in Dublin, made their escape, as was suspected, by the secret connivance of the deputy. They were hotly pursued. Hugh O'Donnel, whose seizure by Perrot has been already mentioned, and one of the O'Neills, sought refuge among the septs in the vicinity of the capital. The season was uncommonly rigorous, the power of the gov- ernment justly dreaded, and the friends on whom the young noblemen relied, too weak or too cautious to afford them protection. After some days, their pursuers found them in a miserable hovel, where young O'Neill was expiring of famine, and O'Donnel de- prived of the use of his limbs by cold and fatigue. The latter was brought to Dublin, where his health was gradually restored ; but his opposition to the government which had subjected him to so much misery, became a fixed principle of action with him for the future. A still more atrocious outrage increased the hostility of the Irish. Fitz- William, un- der pretence of settling some disputed claims to property, marched into Monaghan, the ter- ritory of a chief named Mac-Mahon, and arrested that lord on a charge of treason. The accusation was, that he had, two years before, employed a military force to collect his rents — an offence pronounced treasonable within the limits of the English jurisdiction, but which was by no means an unusual prac- tice in Monaghan and other districts beyond the Pale. For this pretended crime Mac- Mahon was tried by a jury of common sol- diers, found guilty, and, to his utter astonish- ment, ordered to be immediately executed. This judicial murder was followed by the im- mediate forfeiture of the chieftain's lands, which were shared between the unprincipled Fitz-William and Sir Henry Bagnal. Peter Lombard asserts positively that the first twelve men selected for the jury were ordered be- forehand to find Mac-Mahon guilty ; upon which they expressed their unwillingness to proceed at all in such an unsoldierlike duty ; whereupon, after a little delay, Fitz-William procured twelve other soldiers who better suited his purpose. A. D. 1590.] SECOND DIVISION, 223 O'Neill viewed with just alarm this infa- mous transaction, and began secretly to pre- pare for a struggle which he knew could not much longer be averted. His marriage with Bagnal's sister had procured him the bitter enmity of that powerful officer ; and this un- natural hatred was manifested by a pertina- cious system of misrepresentation at the Eng- lish court, which soon revived the natural jealousy of Ehzabeth. The politic mind of O'Neill enabled him to baffle the artifices of his insidious enemies ; and he soon gave a proof of his loyalty too unequivocal to be misrepresented or denied by the most inter- ested enemies. It appears that Mac-Guire, the Chieftain of Fermanagh, had been guilty of some out- rages which the deputy determined to chas- tise ; and Bagnal was ordered to lead an army against him. O'Neill immediately brought his forces to aid his mortal enemy against his kinsman. He rescued Bagnal from the dan- gers into which he had been brought by his presumption, and was severely wounded in a successful battle which he fought against his countrymen. His enemies were for a time disconcerted by this bold proof of loyalty, and their crafty insinuations were for a season silenced or disregarded. The only thing needed in the state of poht- ical affairs at this time to produce a war was the administration of just such a man as Fitz- William ; and, as the " fifteen years' war" was continued to the last year of Elizabeth's reign, the remaining details belong to our next chapter. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXIII. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " The conduct of the extraordinary woman who then governed England is an admirable study for politicians who hve in unquiet times. It shows how thoroughly she under- stood the people whom she ruled, and the crisis in which she was called to act." — Macaulay. "The wisdom of Elizabeth was not the wisdom of philosophy. It was a penetrating sagacity, prompt, vigilant, and inflexible. . The energy of her resolution, and her pro- found dissimulation, surmounted what her physical powers would have been unable to accomplish ; at home, she was despotic, abroad, she was victorious ; by sea, by land, by negotiation, she was every way success- ful. The external glory of England arose under her administration. Providence seemed to pardon her disregard of moral principles, and to smile even upon the vices of this cele- brated woman. The people admired her, because she was a successful queen ; and she liked the people, because they were sub- missive vassals. By the acuteness of her dis- crimination she chose able ministers. They served her with fidelity, because they feared her anger; and they flattered her vanities, because it prolonged her favour. But they served her at their peril; and she selected and sacrificed them with equal policy and indifference. " She affected learning, and she professed religion. In the one she was a pedant without depth ; and in the other, she was a bigot without devotion. She plundered her people, to be independent of her parliaments ; and slie bullied the parliaments to be independent of the people. She was frugal of their money where she had no passion for expending it ; and she was generous to her favourites for her own gratification. ♦••*•* "The word 'mercy' was banished from her vocabulary. Her administration as to Ireland, where she experienced no restraint, gave the strongest proofs that she felt no com- punctions. In her nature there was no femi- nine softness to moderate her cruelties ; no moral scruples to arrest her conscience ; no elevated generosity to counteract her dissi-, mulation. Though she was mistress of tlie great qualities, she was a slave to the little ones; and though the strength of her judg- ment somewhat restrained the progress of hey vices, she was intrepid but harsh, treacherous^ *^ and decisive : even *he spirit of the murdered Mary could not appal her fortitude. The eyes of the people were closed by the bril- liancy of her successes, and the crimes of the S34 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1590. woman were merged in the popularity of the monarch." — J. Barrington. " Her amiability and morality must be at once given up. She had no feminine graces. Like her person, her mind, passions, and even accomplishments, were masculine. The execution of the unfortunate Scottish queen, though deemed necessary by her ministers, is an ineffaceable blot on her memory. Among the legislative and judicial machinery she used, her absoluteness was ever the guiding principle. " First was the star-chamber, whose mem- bers held their places during the pleasure of the crown, and might fine, imprison, and punish corporeally, by whipping, branding, slitting the nostrils and ears. The queen, if present, was sole judge ; and the jurisdiction of the court extended to all sorts of offences, contempts, and disorders, that lay out of the reach of the common law. " The * Court of High Commission' was a still more arbitrary jurisdiction. Its ven- geance was directed against heresy, which was defined to be * a difference of opinion on religion and morals with the queen.'" — Wade. " From the accession of Elizabeth to the <;ivil wars, England enjoyed a period of un- broken internal peace ; but this peace had nothing of the languor of exhaustion or the dreary repose of a tyrannic rule. The spent wave of the Reformation had left a strong and tumultuous swell. The land had burst her bonds, and rejoiced in the fresh and con- scious strength of her emancipation. There was a splendid court under a female sove- reign, which could not but retain something of a chivalrous and romantic tone. There was a nobility, enriched with the spoils of the monasteries, with its adventurous spirit kept sufficiently alive by the still menaced feuds of foreign war and of Spanish invasion ; yet with much idle time, some of which, among those of high attainments, could not but be- take itself to the cultivation and patronage of letters. There was a church, which still re- tained some magnificence, and though trium- phant, was yet in too unsafe and unsettled a state to sink into the torpor of an ancient establishment ; it was rather in constant agi- tation, on one side, from the restless spirit of the Roman Catholics, with all their busy array of missionary priests and Jesuits ; on the other, against the brooding spirit of eccle- siastical democracy, among the Mar-prelates, the first religious ancestors of the Puritans." London Quar. Rev. ; March, 1840. " Some of her counsellors appear to have conceived an odious jealousy which reconciled them to the distractions and miseries of Ireland. " * Should we exert ourselves,' said they, * in reducing this country to order and civility, it must soon acquire power, consequence, and riches. The inhabitants will thus be alienated from England ; they will cast themselves into the arms of some foreign power, or perhaps erect themselves into an independent and separate state. Let us rather connive at their disorders ; for a weak and disordered people never can attempt to detach themselves from the Crown of England.' We find Sir Henry Sydney and Sir John Perrot, who perfectly understood the affairs of Ireland, and the dis- positions of its inhabitants, both expressing the utmost indignation at this horrid policy, which yet had found its way into the English Parliament." — Leland. " Next to Cecil, for subtlety in contriving plans of treachery, corruption, assassination, and forgery, but superior to him for boldness and dexterity in executing them, was his fellow secretary of state. Sir Francis Walsingham. To his savage nature the actual perpetration of cruelty, independently of the advantages to be derived from it, was peculiarly grateful. He was accustomed to beat and kick the Catholic prisoners who were brought before him for examination, and his mistress knew his disposition so well, that when she had signed the death-warrant for the execution of Mary, she ordered it to be immediately car- ried to Walsingham, as the most efficacious cordial for raising his spirits, then depressed by a severe illness. He was the master-arti- ficer in those horrid forgeries, for which a writer [Whitaker] of high character, still living, and a clergyman of the establisrhed church, says the heads of the Reformation at that time were infamous, both in England and in Scotland." — J. Milner. A. D. 1680.] SECOND DIVISION, 225 " Forgery, I blush for the honour of Prot- estantism while I write it, seems to have been peculiar to the reformed. * * * * I look in vain for one of those accursed out- rages of imposition among the disciples of popery. * • * » Forgery appears to have been the peculiar disease of Protestant- ism." — ^Whitaker. " Persecution, which had somewhat abated during the war, began anew with increased severity after the death of the Earl of Des- mond, and the other defenders of the Catholic cause. It was crime enough, being an Irish- man, to be persecuted, or if a Catholic, to be crucified. Their neighbours, the English Catholics, were not exempt from the persecu- tion." — Mac-Geoghegan. "In 1583 the Earl of Desmond was at- tainted, and 574,628 Irish acres fell into the hands of the crown. The two great northern chieftains, Tyrone and Tyrconnell, were ac- cused of having engaged in a conspiracy, and aware of the result of awaiting the process of English law, they fled the country and were attainted." — T. Mac-Nevin. [See chap. 24.] "The confiscation in Munster proved as ruinous to the power and interest of the crown as it was iniquitous in itself. The new pro- prietors, suddenly raised to wealth and sta- tion from comparative insignificance, disre- garded the royal authority ; and, being sup- ported by the local government, were enabled to indulge in excesses and outrages with im- punity." — Taylor. "It is melancholy to relate, and stamps the character of Spenser, the poet, with in- delible disgrace, that after having been an eye-witness of the Desmond war, in which the sword, famine, and pestilence devoured so large a portion of the population of the south of Ireland, and produced scenes of misery suflicient .to mollify the heart of a Herod or a Nero, he was ferocious enough to advise a recurrence to the destruction of the fruits of the earth, for the purpose of producing another famine, in order to force them, 'quietly to consume themselves, and devoure one another !' It is difiicult to be- lieve that such a diabolical plan could have entered the heart of the poet, whose soothing 29 and tender strains have been the admiration of readers of taste, for above two centuries. It affords full proof, that a man may write like an angel, and yet possess the heart of a de- mon. He proposed that twenty days should be allowed for them to come in." — M. Carey. " Afterwards I would have none received, but left to their fortune and miserable end : my reason is, for that those which will after- wards remaine without, are stout and obsti- nate rebells, such as will never be made dutiful and obedient, nor brought to labour or civill conversation, having once tasted that licentious life, and being acquainted with spoyle and outrages, will ever after be ready for the like occasions, so as there is no hope of their amendment or recovery, and there- fore needfull to be cut off. " The end will (I assure me) bee very short, and much sooner than it can be in so great a trouble, as it seemeth, hoped for, although there should none of them fall by the sword, nor bee slain by the souldiour : yet thus being kept from manurance, and their cattle from running abroad, by this hard re- straint, they would quietly consume them- selves, and devoure one another ; the proofe whereof I saw sufficiently in these late warres of Munster ; for notwithstanding that the same was a most rich and plentiful coun- trey, full of com and cattle, that you would have thought they should have been able to stand long, yet in one yeare and a halfe they were brought to such wretchednesse, as that any stony heart would have rued the same. Out of every comer of the woods and glynnes they came creeping forth upon their handes, for their legges could not beare them ; they looked like anatomies of death ; they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves ; tliey did eate the dead carrions, happy where they could find them, yea, and one another soone after, insomuch as the very carcass- es they spared not to scrape out of their graves ; and if they found a plot of water- cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time ; yet not able long to continue therewithal]; that in short space there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful country sud- 226 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1680. dainly left voyde of man and beast." — Spenser. " It is singular what parts three of the great literary reputations of England have played in Ireland, or in her regard — the cor- rupt Bacon, the sanguinary Raleigh, and the gentle Spenser. The latter of these bad men gratifies the poetic tendencies of his na- ture in a vivid description of the effects of the diabolical policy which he has the hardihood to defend. • * • • The result of the false and vicious morality which pervades English literature cannot be better illustrated than by the fact, that we are taught to think admiringly of a wretch capable of devising so horrible a villany as that which his own callous pen thus coldly records !" — T. Mac- Nevin. " It is painful, for the honour of human nature, to reflect on the baseness and perfidy which characterized a great proportion of the English oflficers in Ireland. In their inter- course with the natives, the ties of honour, honesty, and justice, were wholly disregard- ed. Among the guilty are many who stand high in the British annals, and are regarded as shedding lustre on their nation." — M. Carey. " I am perswaded, if a penny in the pound which hath been spent in pcena, a chastise- ment of rebels, without other fruit or emolu- ment of this state, had been spent in praemio, that is, rewarding, things had never grown to this extremity." — F. Bacon. " The lord-deputy. Sir John Perrot, sunk into the base character of a kidnapper. Be- ing desirous of obtaining possession of O'Donnel, one of the most potent proprietors in Ulster, or his son, he despatched a crafty captain with a vessel laden with wine, to Don- egal, to entrap the unsuspecting youth. The vessel was reported as having arrived from Spain — and the young man being invited on board, accepted the invitation, with two of his companions. They were plied well with drink, and as soon as a favourable opportu- nity offered, were loaded with chains, when the captain set sail for Dublin, where he de- livered his victims to the deputy, by whom they were perfidiously immured in prison, where they languished for many years ; till at length, probably by bribing their keepers, they found means to escape." — M. Carey. "The deputy sent one Skipper, a mer- chant of Dublin, with a shippe loaden with sacks, as if he had come out of Spain, directing him to runne up by Donagall, as farre as hee could unto O'Donnell's country, where he should not only offer to sell at a cheape price, but be liberall in giving wine to such as should come aboard him. And that if O'Donnell or his sonne come aboard him by that meanes, (as he knew they would,) hee should give them so much as might make them forget themselves, as being drunke should clap them under hatch, and bring them away to Dublin. This device was as carefully performed as projected, young O'Donnell being by this means sur- prised and brought away." — Perrot. "As if the secret fire of disaffection were not sufliciently kindled in the northern prov- ince, Fitz- William by his intemperate conduct seemed to court every occasion of inflaming it. Mac-Mahon, chieftain of the district called Monaghan, had surrendered his coun- try held by tanistry, to the queen, and receiv- ed a regrant thereof, under the broad seal of England, to him and his heirs male, and in default of such heirs, to his brother Hugh. As he died without issue, this brother peti- tioned to be admitted to his inheritance. He is said to have promised a considerable bribe in order to facilitate his suit : and to his failure of payment it was imputed, that he was for some days imprisoned, on his arrival at Dublin. Fitz-William, however, was pre- vailed upon to promise that he would settle him in peaceable possession of his inherit- ance, and for this purpose that he meant to go in person into Monaghan. But scarcely had he arrived thither, when he eagerly re- ceived a new accusation against Hugh, that two years before, he had entered hostilely into a neighbouring district, to recover some rent due to him, by force of arms. In the unreformed parts of Ireland, such actions were common and unnoticed ; but the Eng- lish law declared them treasonable. The unhappy Mac-Mahon, for an offence commit- ted before the law which declared it capital A. D. 1580.] SECOND DIVISION. 227 had been established in his country, was tried, condemned by a jury said to be formed of private soldiers, and executed in two days ; to the utter consternation of his countrymen. His estate was distributed to Sir Henry Bag- nal and other adventurers, together with four of the old Irish sept. « • • » " The condemnation of this chieftain con- firmed the Irish in their aversion to English pohty, which they considered as a system of hateful tyranny and cruelty. They combined in a resolution of opposing the admission of sheriffs, and other officers of justice, into their respective counties. When Fitz- William intimated to the chieftain of Fermanagh that he intended to send a sheriff into his district, Mac-Guire answered with a well-affected simplicity — ' Your sheriff shall be welcome ; but let me know his erick, [legal value,] that if my people should cut off his head, I may levy it upon the district.' " — Leland. "A great part of that unquietness of O'Donnel's country, came by Sir William Fitz- Williams his placing of one Willis there to be sheriff, who had with him three hun- dred of the very rascals and scum of that kingdom, which did rob and spoil that people, ravish their wives and daughters, and made havoc of all, which bred such a discontent- ment, as that the whole country was up in arms against them, so as if the Earl of Ty- rone had not rescued and delivered him and them out of the country, they had been all put to the sword. " They have seen pardons serve (in their conceit) rather for traps to catch others in, than for true and just remission and accept- ance into the free bjenefit of subjects, which maketh him [Tyrone] fear the like practice towards himself." — Memorial of Captain Lee. " Sir John Perrot, among his Machiavelian advices to Queen Elizabeth, for the govern- ment of Ireland, was base enough to recom- mend a swindling project of adulterating the coin of Ireland, which she was profligate enough to adopt ! He advised to coin four hundred thousand pounds, so far adultera- ted, that it should cost the queen only one hundred thousand pounds. And, strange as it may seem, he pretended seriously to be- lieve that it would confer a lasting benefit on Ireland, and tend to the reformation and im- provement of the country ! His reasoning on the advantages to flow to Ireland from this piratical project is truly curious and highly worthy of the projector." — M. Carey. " As imbasing of coyne and such like dan- gerous innovations, may breed harme in well- gouemed states : so in Ireland, being all out of order, it can doe no harme at all ; but rather it is to be hoped, that this small in- conuenience, may be a meane to redresse not onely a number of other greater inconue- niences, but also itselfe too withal in the end." — Perrot. " Her highnesse, being a prince that in her gracious disposition, doth ever affect to make all her actions cleare and allowable, in their owne nature, rather than in the power of su- preame authoritie, intending in this cause to giue to all persons such satisfaction as is rea- sonable." — Pacata Hibemia. " There should be coyned yeerely, during the first four yeares, one hundred thousand poundes, in pieces of eightpence, fourpence, twopence, and onepence, the same to con- taine but a fourth part of fine siluer, letting all coines that are currant there, of good gold and siluer, to run as now they doe : so your maiesties charge, besides all charges of coyn- age, will amount to no more but twenty-five thousand poundes yeerely, which, by that time your maiesty with God's fauour should see, would bring you a fair reckoning of that countrey and gouernment." — Perrot. " It is worthy of remark, that Queen Eliz- abeth, in the proclamation prohibiting the refusal of this base money, under severe penalties, had the hardihood, in utter disre- gard to truth and common sense, to make a hypocritical parade of her honour and regard for justice, while she was promulgating a swindling scheme for depredating on and plundering her poor subjects. The folly of attempting to deceive the world by such a hollow pretence, is almost as contemptible as the fraud itself is detestable." — M. Carey. " Her majesty doth expressely charge and command, that they, nor any of them, shall not after the day of the pubUshing heereo^ 328 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1580. refuse, reject, or denie to receiue in payment of wages, fees, stipend, or in payment of debts, or in bargaine, or for any other matter of trade, commerce, or dealing betweene man and man, any of the said moneys of either kind, either mixed of siluer, or pure copper, but that they shall receiue and accept the same at such values and rates as they are coyned for, viz. shillings for shillings, pieces of six-pence for six-pence, and so of all other the severall kinds of that coyne respectiuely ; denouncing hereby to all such as shall be found wilfully and obstinately to refuse the said moneys of this new standered being ten- dered unto them in payments, or in any deal- ings betweene partie and partie, that they shall for that their contempt, receiue such punishment, as by her majesties prerogatiue royall may be inflicted upon persons con- temning publique orders established for the universall good of that her realme." — Pacata Hibernia. " This was then the present state of all Ireland, altogether devoured with robberies, murders, riots, treasons, ciuill and intestine warres, and few or none assured and faithfull to hir highnesse out of the English pale, and out of cities and townes : and yet the one be- ing gentlemen and living by their lands, by continuall spoiles and robberies were decaied ; the other by the losse of their traflUce, being merchants, impoverished, and brought to such extremities, as not able to relieue and main- teine themselves." — Hollinshed. " Suche horrible and lamentable specta- cles there are to beholde, as the burninge of villages, the rxxyu of churches, the wastinge of suche as have ben good townes and cas- tells ; yea, the view of the bones and seniles of the ded subjectes, who partelie by murder, partelie by famyn, have died in the feelds, as, in troth, hardelie any Christian with drie eies could beholde." — Sydney. " The miseries which the wretched Irish endured, from the vicinity of the royal forces, which prevented them from seeking any means of subsistence, were afflicting to the humanity even of their enemies. Thousands perished by famine ; and every road and district was encumbered by their unburied carcasses. The hideous resources sought for allaying the rage of hunger, were more terrible even than such desolation." — Leland. " And, as for the great companies of soldiers, gallowglasses, kerne, and the common peo- ple, who followed this rebellion, the numbers of them are infinite, whose bloods the earth drank up, and whose carcasses the fowls of the air and the ravening beasts of the field did consume and devour. After this followed an extreme famine : and such whom the sword did not destroy, the same did consume and eat out ; very few or none remaining alive, excepting such as were fled over into England : and yet the store in the towns was far spent, and they in distress, albeit nothing like in comparison to them who lived at large ; for they were not only driven to eat horses, dogs, and dead carrions ; but also did devour the carcasses of dead men, whereof there be sundry examples ; namely, one in the county of Cork, where, when a malefactor was exe- cuted to death, and his body left upon the gallows, certain poor people secretly came, took him down, and did eat him ; likewise in the bay of Smeereweeke, or St. Marieweeke, x (the place which was first seasoned with this rebellion,) there happened to be a ship to be there lost, through foul weather, and all the men being drowned, were there cast on land. " The common people, who had a long time lived on limpets, ore-wads, and such shellfish as they could find, and which were now spent ; as soon as they saw these bodies, they took them up, and most greedily did eat and devour them : and not long after, death and famine did eat and consume them. The land itselfe, which befo/e those wars was populous, well inhabited, and rich in all the good blessings of God, being plenteous of corne, full of cattell, well stored with fish and sundrie other good commodities, is now be- come waste and barren, yielding no fruits, the pastures no cattell, the fields no corne, the aire no birds, the seas, (though full of fish,) yet to them yielding nothing. Finallie, every waie the curse of God was so great, and the land so barren both of man and beast, that whosoever did travell from the one end to the other of all Munster, even from Water- A. D. 1580.] SECOND DIVISION. 229 ford to the head of Smeerweeke, which is about six score miles, he would not meet anie man, woman or child, saving in townes and cities ; nor yet see anie beast, but the very wolves, the foxes, and other like ravening beasts ; many of them laie dead, being fam- ished, and the residue gone elsewhere." — HoLLINSHED. " The Irish clans, under the name of their respective princes, never died. It was in vain that the chieftain of the day, when cap- tured by the English, was beheaded, and his head placed upon a pike. There was anon * another Richmond in the field.' These clans were regulated by a singularly repub- lican law. The property of the clan or tribe was owned almost in common. On the death of any member, all the property be- longing to him was cast into the common lot, and redistributed among his family." — MOONEY. " In 1588, the last war which the Catholics of Ireland had to maintain against Elizabeth and the whole array of English sectarians, commenced. This was called the war of T3nrone, because the earl of that name was the chief leader ; it was long and bloody. Philip O'SulHvan, in his Catholic history, calls it 'Bellum quindecem annorunC — the fifteen years' war. It began in the thirty- first, and ended in the forty-fifth year of Eliz- abeth's reign, which was also that of her death." — Mac-Geoghegan. " By the patent of Henry VIII. the suc- cession to the earldom of Tyrone, and chief- tainry of Hy-Niall, had been granted to Mat- thew, Lord Dungannon, and his heirs. Hugh, the eldest son of the baron, had been educated in England, and had served with great eclat in the royal army. His valour, activity, and skill had been commemorated by several generals, and his fidelity proved in the long war against Desmond. He petitioned for permission to take his seat in the Lords as Earl of Tyrone, and also the restoration of his estates. The first request was readily granted by Perrot ; for the second, he was referred to the queen in person. Hugh O'Neill appeared at the court of England, not like his uncle John, as an Irish chief, but as an accomplished courtier, versed in all the politeness of the age. His easy manners, his superior information, and his winning address, delighted a queen never bUnd to such accom- plishments. She treated him with the great- est partiahty, and finally granted him the ancient possessions of his family. " Nothing could exceed the rage and dis- appointment of the faction that directed the Irish government when they received the in- telligence of this event. Little did they dream, when opposing the plantation of Ul- ster, that, instead of securing estates for them- selves, they were only preserving for O'Neill the inheritance of his ancestors. They felt like ravenous beasts whose prey is rent from their jaws, and were unable to control some indiscreet displays of their vexation. Their malice soon found vent in calunmy ; and Elizabeth, ever prone to jealousy, lent too ready an ear to their insinuations. She had ordered O'Neill to raise six companies for the defence of Ulster. It was reported, that by continually changing his soldiers, he was training the entire province to arms. She had directed him to build a house in the English fashion, suited to his rank ; it was asserted that the lead which he purchased for the battlements was designed to form bul- lets. She requested him to use his influence over the neighbouring chieftains for the main- tenance of tranquillity. His exertions for the purpose were stigmatized as a direct assump- tion of royal authority. O'Neill disregarded these plots while Perrot continued to hold the reins of power ; but his administration was fast drawing to a close." — Taylor. " Perrot had applied, long before this, for his recall. Finding a powerful faction raised against him, who laboured to blacken him in the eyes of the court, he wrote an urgent letter to the queen, begging that she would exonerate him from the commission of the lord-lieutenancy. Elizabeth could now pay attention to his request, and appointed Sir William Fitz-William to succeed him. Per- rot, on his return to England, was imprisoned for some offence, in the Tower, where he died suddenly." — Mac-Geoghegan. " Betsy was a great * doctor of divinity.' 930 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1590. She was extremely jealous of her prerogatives and powers, but particularly in what regarded her headship of the Church. She would make all her subjects be of her religion, though she had solemnly sworn, at her coro- nation, that she was a Catholic, and though, in turning Protestant, she had made a change in Cranmer's prayer-book and in his articles of faith. In order to bend the people's con- sciences to her tyrannical will, which was the more unjust, because she herself had changed her religion, and had even changed the Protestant articles, she established an ' inquisition' the most horrible that ever was heard of in the world. • • * " When one looks at the deeds of this foul tyrant, when one sees what abject slavery she had reduced the nation to, and especially when one views this * commission,' it is im- possible for us not to reflect with shame on what we have so long been saying against the * Spanish Inquisition,' which, from its es- tablishment to the present hour, has not com- mitted so much cruelty as this ferocious Prot- estant apostate committed in any one single year of the forty-three [forty-five] years of her reign." — Cobbett. " In Spain, during the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries, there were none of those bloody revolutions, conspiracies, and cruel punishments which were seen in the other courts of Europe. Neither did the Duke of Lermo nor Count Olivarez shed the blood of their enemies on the scaffold. Her kings were not assassinated, as were those of France, neither were they brought to the block, as were those of England. In a word, were we to except the horrors of the Inquisition, Spain would have been irre- proachable." — Voltaire. " Tell us not that the Spanish Inquisition has been guilty of various abuses at various times. That is not the question we are now considering. The real object of importance in our inquiry is, to learn whether, for the last three centuries, the Inquisition has en- sured more peace and happiness in Spain than were in all the countries of Europe add- ed together. To sacrifice the positive to the problematic happiness of future generations may be the visionary calculation of ' a philos- opher,' but real legislators would adopt a different course." — J. Le Maistre. " I do publicly avow, in order to pay hom- age to truth, that the Spanish Inquisition might be cited in our days as a model of equity." — Bourgoing's " Nouveau Voyage en Espagne,''^ 1804. " The first cause of Tyrone's difliculties with Elizabeth, was drawn upon him by the hospitality with which he had received some Spaniards who were cast by a storm upon the coasts of Ulster. A misunderstanding existed between Philip the Second, King of Spain, and the Queen of England. Treaties of peace were often entered into between them, and as frequently broken off. The sovereignty of the Low-Countries had already been wrested from Philip by the States of Hol- land, under the advice of William, Prince of Orange, and transferred to the Duke d'Anjou. Queen Elizabeth assisted Philip's rebellious subjects, of whom Alexander Famese, Prince of Parma, was named governor, and, on the other hand, Philip sent aid to the Catholics of Ireland against Elizabeth. • * • " When the above information was given against O'Neill, an order was sent to him, in the njime of the queen and council, to appear in England in order to clear himself. O'Neill, desirous of retaining the confidence of the queen for some time longer, repaired to Lon- don in May, 1590, attended by a retinue suited to his rank, and pleaded his cause so ably that he was judged to be innocent, in spite of the treasurer, William Cecil, who possessed great influence, and was equally hostile to the Catholics and the Irish nation. The Prince of Tyrone being reconciled to the queen and council, returned to Ireland." Mac-Geoghegan. " The penal laws were in general no less severely exercised against the Catholics of Ireland, though they constituted the body of the people, than they were against those of England. Spondanus and Pagi relate the horrid cruelties exercised by Sir William Drury on F. O'Hurle, O. S. F., the Catholic Archbishop of Cashel, who, falhng into the hands of this sanguinary governor in the year A. D. 1591.] SECOND DIVISION 231 1579, was tortured by his legs being immers- ed in jack-boots filled with quick-lime, water, &c., until they were burnt to the bone, in order to force him to take the oath of Su- premacy, and then, with other circumstances of barbarity, executed on the gallows ; hav- ing previously cited Drury to meet him at the tribunal of Christ within ten days, who ac- cordingly died within that period, amidst the most excruciating pains. See in Bourke's * Hibernia Dominicana,^ a much longer list and a more detailed account of Irish sufferers, especially in Elizabeth's reign, on the score of religion. It was a usual thing to beat with stones the shorn heads of their clergy, till their brains gushed out. Others had needles thrust under their nails, or the nails themselves were torn off. Many were stretched upon the rack, or pressed under weights. Others had their bowels torn open, which they were obliged to support with their hands, or their flesh torn with curry- combs." J. MiLNER. " Bearing these strong truths in mind, let us cast a glance at the persecution of the Irish Roman Catholics, and we shall find that it bears imprinted on its forehead the unerring mark of antichrist ; for after the hundreds of volumes employed in investiga- ting who, and what, and where is antichrist, I am fully persuaded, that the true and gen- uine antichrist is religious persecution ; that every persecutor, of whatever denomination, was a lineal descendant of antichrist ; and that religious persecution, in all its shapes and forms, whether exercised by Dioclesian at Rome, Mahomet at Mecca, Dominic at Madrid, Charles IX. at Paris, Calvin at Ge- neva, Knox in Edinburgh, Mary in England, or Elizabeth in Ireland, was utterly anti- christian." — M. Carey. CHAPTER XXIV. Reign of Elizabeth — 1591 to 1603^Foun(iing of Trinity College, Dublin — Edict against the Cath- olic clergy — ^Fitz-William succeeded by Sir John Russell — ^Large force sent to Ireland under Sir John Norris— Siege of the fort on the Blackwater — Defeat of the English army — General rising of the septs — Alarm of the queen — Earl of Essex appointed lord-lieutenant, and provided with an army of twenty thousand men — Disappointment of the queen — Departure of Essex — Operations of Montjoy and Carew — Critical situation of O'Neiirs affairs — Arrival of succours from Spain — Hasty battle — Success of the English — At- tempts of O'Neill to rally the septs after the loss of Kinsale — Campaign in Ulster-— Gallant defence of Dunboy — Every living thing destroyed over the surface of Munster — Retreat of the southern in- surgents towards Ulster, where O'Neill perse- veres until the death of Elizabeth — Indicative evidence of historical authorities. The most solemn and fanatical of the would-be-learned enemies of Ireland have been obliged lately to put on a look of cun- ning candour, and bravely confess, that the schools and colleges of Ireland constituted a large portion of the real glory which celebra- ted her name for ages before misrepresenta- tion and calumny were enlisted to perform what the sword could not accomplish. In truth, such was the superiority of these insti- tutions, that they were frequented by the am- bitious scholars of every country in Europe. For centuries they had in return supplied the various universities of the continent with some of their ablest professors in every de- partment of learning ; but, according to Mac- Geoghegan, " much of this celebrity was lost by the invasion of the English in the twelfth century." This statement of his, although apparently improbable, is confirmed by the policy observed in the modes of government adopted for Ireland by the English diuing the four following centuries. Unfortunately, there is too much evidence that the Irish mind was necessarily occupied with war, or its consequences, almost without any cessa- tion. Queen Elizabeth, in one of those fits of selfish and equivocal kindness for which she is so famous, took the pleasure and pains to establish Trinity College, in Dublin. The first stone was laid on the 13th of March, 1591 ; the corporation having, during the previous year, granted the grounds of the monastery of All-hallows for the purpose of establishing a college on the same site. Elizabeth's real sentiments in this matter may be seen by the edict she issued on the 18th of October following, against the minis- 932 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1595. ters of the Catholic religion. In this docu- ment the miserable woman unconsciously dashes her head against the walls of her own ignorance, as may be seen in the violent language she employs towards the King of Spain, the pope, the priests, and all the semi- narians and Jesuits. Those individuals who might be guilty of harbouring any rank of Catholic ecclesiastics were condemned to pay heavy fines under her construction of high- treason, which was defined as consisting in the refusal to embrace and believe whatever went by the name of " the reformed religion." Fitz-William's decided unpopularity indu- ced Elizabeth to recall him and appoint Sir John Russell, son of the Duke of Bedford, to succeed him. O'Neill presented himself to the new deputy, but was unable to efface the unfavourable impressions which the slan- ders of Bagnal and his other enemies had produced. The expediency of arresting the chief while in Dublin was debated at the council board, and only negatived by a very small majority. O'Neill soon learned his danger, and fled to his own province with the utmost precipitation. Hugh O'Donnel, Daniel Mac-Sweeny, and Fluan O'Gallachur, having been arrested by stratagem, as already described, were impris- oned in Dublin for nearly seven years, when, in 1591, they found means to escape with Henry and Art, two sons of Shane O'Neill, and Philip O'Reilly. Fiach O'Birne and young Edward Eustace contributed greatly to their escape. These noblemen having pacified the jailers, sent the princely captives a piece of linen, as if for clothing. O'Donnel cut it into strips, which he then tied together like a rope, by which means they all descend- ed safely into the trench, except Art O'Neill, who was dangerously wounded by a stone that fell from the wall, and caused his death shortly afterwards. Thus delivered from prison at midnight, they left the city before daybreak. It was then the depth of winter, and they were obliged to take by-paths, in order to escape the pursuit of their enemies, so that they suffered great fatigue and hard- ships before they arrived in Ulster. This Hugh O'Donnel, Prince of Tyrcon- nel, called rightly Bal Deargue O'Donnaill, from a red spot on his body, was considered next to O'Neill in point of power. Though not twenty years of age, he was remarkable for his prudence and other virtues. He mar- ried the daughter of O'Neill, and succeeded the elder O'Donnel (with full consent) as tanist at Tyrconnel. Irritated by the recol- lection of his unmerited sufferings, and by the state of affairs in Ireland, the young chief did not long hesitate before taking up arms against the English power, and soon prevail- ed on several other septs, particularly the De Burghs, to follow his example. The situa- tion of O'Neill was now in the highest degree embarrassing ; his countrymen unanimously invited him to become their leader in war ; the royal oflicers were resolved to discredit his sincere anxiety for peace ; the perfidy and treachery of the Irish government was so notorious that it would have been madness to place any confidence in it ; and his letters to England were intercepted by the malig- nant vigilance of Marshal Bagnal. O'Neill had long felt the same embarrass- ment in many other respects. The title of Earl of Tyrone was a clog upon all his move- ments while in Ireland. While he appeared to act for the queen's interest, the English always pretended to mistrust him, and the Irish at every opportunity charged him with inactivity and lack of patriotism. Until 1595 he had been thwarted by Tirlough Linogh, cousin to Conn O'Neill, first earl of the name, and son of the brother of Con More O'Neill, who was father of the earl. Tirlough assum- ed the name of O'Neill ; disputed the prin- cipality of Tyrone with Hugh, and was sup- ported by the greater part of the tribe, who despised English titles, and considered the family name alone to be much more honour- able. On the death of his rival, he was acknowledged as the O'Neill. Hugh then renounced the title of earl, and declared him- self against the power of the queen. He was afterwards nominated commander-in- chief of the league, which consisted of sev- eral branches of the O'Neills, Maguires, Mac-Mahons, Magennises, Mac-Donnels, O'- Cahans, O'Flannagans, and many other A. D. 1598.] SECOND DIVISION 233 powerful nobles of Ulster, with their military vassals. On the first news of these hostilities, a force of two thousand veterans was sent into Ireland ; and soon after Sir John Norris, a general of approved skill and valour, was ap- pointed to take the command of the army. O'Neill, dreading the chances of civil war, wrote to the general, detailing his grievances, and the arts by which he was driven to revolt. Bagnal, as before, intercepted some of the letters ; but others reached their destination, and led to a general conference. The Irish chiefs detailed their grievances in simple but forcible terms. Norris, who was an honest as well as an able man, was convinced of the injustice which had driven them to arms, and zealously laboured to effect a negotiation. The arrangement of a treaty was protracted to a very unusual length, and was not unfre- quently interrupted by renewed hostilities. In fact, with the single exception of Norris, none of the parties sincerely laboured for peace. The Irish lords began to be con- scious of their strength. The successes they had already obtained were sufficiently deci- sive to inspire confidence, and they had re- ceived many promises of assistance from Spain. After several severe battles, in which the Irish troops were generally victorious, and O'Neill and O'Donnel had performed actions which considerably increased their influence, Elizabeth sent commissioners to O'Neill with terms of peace from her council. From Norris's high reputation when serving in the Netherlands, much disappointment was ex- pressed at his reverses in Ireland. The Earl of Essex, Elizabeth's prime favourite, was also personally opposed to Norris. By his influence, in May, 1598, both the general and the deputy were deprived of their power, and his partisan, Lord Burgh, invested both with the civil and military authority. Norris was ordered back to his presidency, Munster, where he died of grief, in consequence of the stain cast upon his reputation. Lord Burgh had served in various coun- tries, generally with success, and had lately returned from a successful campaign in Hol- 30 land. His first act in Ireland was to make a truce for one month, with O'Donnel, O'Neill, and other Catholic chiefs, and terms of peace were offered to them, but in vain. The month being expired, the English general marched to Ulster at the head of a powerful army. Besides the troops which served un- der Russel and Norris, a large reinforcement was sent to him from England. The Anglo-Irish of Meath were zealous to signalize themselves in the cause of Eliza- beth : they assembled at MulUngar to the number of a thousand men, under the com- mand of Bamewall, Baron of Trimlestown, and marched after the deputy. In their route, however, they were entirely defeated. Richard Tyrrell, who was of English de- scent, and lord of FertuUagh, in West Meath, served at that time in the army of O'Neill. He was a nobleman by birth, and attached to the Catholic religion. His talents peculiarly fitted him to command skirmishing parties. From the rapidity of his expeditions, and ca- pability of sustaining fatigue, he had already become formidable to the English. The Prince of Tyrone saw with calm re- flection the preparations that were in progress against him. The march of the deputy was known to him ; he therefore prepared to cause a diversion. Captain Tyrrell was despatched at the head of four hundred infantry, with orders to act in either Meath or Leinster, according to emergencies. Tyrrell marched through the whole of Meath without meeting an enemy, and having reached Fertullagh, he encamped, in order to give his army some repose. The troops which had been assem- bled at MuUingar, as has been already ob- served, being apprized of Tjnrell's march, determined to take him by surprise. The baron who commanded them looked upon this expedition as unworthy of himself, on account of the small number of the enemy he had to fight, and therefore commissioned his son to undertake it, thinking it a good oppor- tunity for him to signalize himself, and there- by to make his court to the deputy. At the dawn of day Tyrrell received information that the enemy were in full march to surprise him. Without losing a moment, he put him- 234 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 169& Belf in a state of dcfenco, but made a feint f flying before them as they approached ; by which movement he gained a defile cov- ered with trees, which has been since called Tyrrell's Pass. He then detached half of his little army, and posted them in a hollow adjoining the road, giving the command to his lieutenant, O'Connor, a brave and intrepid man like himself. He then, in order to in- fluence his enemy to pursue him, marched on with his division. While the English were passing the place where O'Connor lay in ambuscade, this officer sallied forth with Ms troops, and caused the drums and fifes to play Captain Tyrrell's March. This was the signal agreed upon for an attack ; the Eng- lish army were cut to pieces ; and so general was the slaughter, that one soldier only es- caped, through a neighbouring bog, to carry the news torMullingar, from whence the army had set out three days previously. Tyrrell had sufiicient generosity to spare the life of the young nobleman who commanded his en- «!my, but brought him a prisoner to O'Neill. Burgh, the deputy, having reached Ulster with all his forces, his first step was to take possession of Armagh and Portmor, which O'Neill had abandoned after destroying the fortifications. The English general being afraid to proceed further, repaired Portmor, where he left a garrison of five hundred men, and drew ofi" the remainder of his army. While on bis way to Dublin, he learned that Tyrrell was besieging Portmor ; he therefore returned, collected his forces, and crossed the Blackwater, but was prevented from advancing by O'Neill, who had divided his army and formed two camps, sufficiently near to assist each other. The command of the first division was given to his brothers Cor- mac and Art O'Neill, and Mac-Mahon, at Droum-Fluich, on the road to Beaun-Bhoruib, (at present Binburb.) on the left bank of the river. The prince himself commanded the second camp at Tobuir-Masain, and was as- sisted by James Mac-Donnel, Prince of the Glynns. The deputy endeavoured, in spite of Tyrone's position, to force a passage ; but O'Neill's two divisions having united, they made a desperate attack. In the onset, Burgh was mortally wounded, and was car- ried to Newry, where he died in a few days. This battle was renewed several times. The Earl of Kildare, on whom the command of the English army devolved after Burgh's retreat, suffered the same fate. Having been wounded, and twice thrown from his horse, his two foster-brothers were killed in endea- vouring to put him again on horseback. The carnage was dreadful ; numbers of the English lay dead upon the field ; many were drowned in the river, and very many wounded. Several persons of note fell upon this occa- sion. Kildare died of grief for the loss of his two foster-brothers. The civil administration was now commit- ted to Archbishop Loftus, and Gardiner the lord- chancellor, while Ormond was intrusted with the command of the army. To this lord O'Neill made overtures for an accommoda- tion, and a new treaty was commenced. The object of Tyrone in this negotiation, was manifestly only to gain time, for the double purpose of recruiting his own strength, and wearing out the patience of his opponents. When' his preparations were complete, he summoned to his aid the sept of the O'Don-" nel&j and that clan of the De Burghs which bore the name of Mac-William, boldly de- clared his independence, and laid close siege to the fort of Blackwater. Bagnal was or- dered to relieve the place ; and the armies of two generals, nearly connected by marriage, and yet animated with more than mortal en- mity, met near Armagh. The forces on both sides were nearly equal. The English pos- sessed superior advantages in arms and dis- cipline ; the Irish were animated by a fiercer spirit, and had a more skilful commander. During the engagement, an explosion of pow- der killed nearly all the men who were guard- ing the baggage, and threw the royalists into confusion and dismay. Bagnal, while rais- ing his beaver, was shot through the brain. The victory of the Irish was decisive ; fifteen hundred more of the royal soldiers, and many of their best officers, fell. Thirty-four stand- ards, all the artillery, arms, and ammunition, were left in'the possession of the conquerors. The bravery of O'Reilly, an Irish chieftain A. D. 1698.] SECOND DIVISION. 2.15 attached to the royal cause, alone saved the royal army from annihilation. He covered the retreat with a body of his own clan, and was ably assisted by Montague, the com- mander of the English cavalry. The fort of Blackwater was immediately surrendered, and ihe town of Armagh abandoned by the queen's garrison. The example of the men of Ulster roused the Catholics in other provinces, particularly in Munster, where the bravery of the cele- brated Earl of Desmond was still fresh among his allies. This feeling it was necessary to encourage, and to effect that object, Sir Peter de Lacy, a powerful nobleman in Limerick, wrote to Owen, or Owny Mac-Rory-Oge O'Morra, who had an army on foot ; and invited him, in the name of the Catholics in Munster, to come to their relief. O'Morra, having consulted with O'Neill, undertook the expedition. He committed the government of Leix to his brother Edmund, and, at the head of eight hundred infantry and some horsemen, set out for Munster. Raymond Burke, Baron of Leitrim, and his brother William, as also Dermod O'Connor, and his brothers Cairbre and Conn, with Richard Tyrrel, of Fertullagh, accompanied O'Morra in this expedition. The Earl of Ormond, who had still the title of general in the Eng- lish army, made a show of intercepting O'Morra, but he and his army arrived with- out interruption in the county of Limerick. Thomas Norris, who was then Governor of Munster, was greatly alarmed by this inva- sion. His duty impelled him to attempt driving the enemy out of the province, and for that object he collected his forces and marched to Kilmallock, with a design of fight- ing O'Morra; but dreading the result of an engagement with liim, he placed a strong garrison there, after which he marched for Cork. He, however, had the mortification to witness his rearguard pursued by the light troops of O'Morra, through the whole of his march. The success of O'Morra produced an al- most universal rising of the noblemen in Munster against the queen. Mac-Carty More was prevented only by death from joining the confederates. He left a legitimate daughter, named Helena, that was married to Mac- Carty Riagh ; and a natural son called Dan- iel, who aspired to inherit the title and es- tates of his father. The earls of Thomond and Ormond, and the Baron of Inchiquin, inclined always to the side that gave hopes to their ambition ; and the desire of titles of honour and court favours prevented them from joining in any league against Elizabeth. The extensive influence of these noblemen marred the good intentions of the Mac-Ma- bons, Mac-Namaras, O'Connors, O'Loghlins of Thomond, O'Dwyers, O'Fogartys, O'Mea- ghers, O'Moel-Ryans, O'Kennedys, and other noblemen of Tipperary, and restrained them from uniting against the Queen of England. The other prominent m^n of the province generally looked with contempt upon influ- ences which interfered with their reli<»ion and freedom, and therefore took up arms in defence of both. Among these were Fitz. Maurice, Baron of Lixnaw ; William Fitz- Gerald, Knight of Kerry and Lord of Kafin- nin; Edmund Fitz-Gerald, Knight of the Glinn ; Sir Edmund Fitz-Gerald, (called the White Knight,) with many other branches of that illustrious house : Dermod and Do- nough Mac-Carty, rival candidates for the principality of Alia; Daniel, son of Mac- Carty More ; Patrick Condon ; 0-Donohoe More of Onachte ; O'Donohoe of the Glinn ; Roche, Viscount Fermoy ; Richard Butler, Viscount of Montgarret, who had married the daughter of O'Neill ; and Thomas Butler, Baron of Cahir. The same disposition ani- mated the several tribes of the O'Sullivans, the O'Driscolls, the O'Donnevans, and the O'Mahonys of Carbry. These confederates appointed for their leader, James, son of Thomas Fitz-Gerald, surnamed the Red, and acknowledged him as Earl of Desmond. Thomas the Red was brother to Garret, last count-palatine of that illustrious family. He left a son named James, who had been given by the countess his mother as a hostage to the English, and who had been kept prisoner in the Tower of London for seventeen years. James was the lawful heir of the earl, and to his title of Des- 236 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. ir,w. mond ; but so long an absence rendered him almost forgotten, and caused the title to be conferred upon James, son of his cousin Thomas ; who was therefore chosen as the leader in that portion of the province where the name and fame of the ancient earls were sacredly respected. Something like unity being now restored, O'Neill boldly gave out intimations that he was to be assisted by Spain. Elizabeth could not now hide the alarm which she had long experienced regarding what she considered her interests in Ireland. The base sycophants whose avarice and cruelty had driven the Irish into insurrection stood aghast at the consequences. Reports arrived that Philip of Spain was preparing two immense armaments, one to invade En2- land, and the other to aid O'Neill in Ireland. It became manifest that without great and speedy exertion the queen would irretrieva- bly lose the fairest possession of the crown. She acted on this trying occasion with her usual promptitude. She sent into Ireland an army of twenty thousand men, command- ed by the Earl of Essex, then esteemed the most gallant soldier of the age. Her flustered majesty invested him with the prerogative of pardoning any crime, even that of high treason ; besides the power of appointing to ofiBces of trust ; of removing those who enjoyed them without a patent ; of suspending others from exercising them ; also of making military laws, and carrying them into execution ; of conferring in fief, according to his pleasure, the confiscated estates of the Catholics, (reserving a moder- ate and yearly revenue from them for the crown ; and in absence of the High-Admiral of England, he had the command of the fleet, in addition to the despotic privilege of apply^ ing the money in the exchequer without be- ing accountable for the disposal of it. It is not easy to discover the real motives that impelled the unfortunate earl to seek this fatal command. Probably he expected a cheap victory, and hoped that military glory would increase his ascendency over the mind of his fond mistress. His friends and ene- mies alike were eager to hurry his departure; the former, in delusive anticipation of tri- umph ; the latter, more cunningly calculating on the diminution of his influence by his ab- sence from court, and on the probable efiects of his presumptuous folly in rousing the jeal- ous anger of Elizabeth. Accompanied by three young noblemen who wished to be partakers of his glory in the expedition, Essex set out from London, about the end of March, 1599, with the ac- clamations of the people. The fleet having sailed, it was overtaken and dispersed by a violent storm, during which many lives were lost. Notwithstanding this misfortune, he landed on the 15th of April in Dublin, where he took the usual oath, and received the sword of justice as lord-lieutenant. The news of the arrival of such an im- mense armament did not diminish the confi- dence of O'Neill and his supporters. They waited with stern indifference the proceedings of the lord-lieutenant, and determined to wear him down by a tedious defensive war. There is reason to believe that a part of the Irish privy-council had engaged in the service of the enemies of Essex in the English cabinet; at all events, their persuasions precipitated his ruin. Instead of marching into Ulster and bringing O'Neill at once to a decisive engagement, he sent detachments southward into an exhausted country, where his troops were sure to be wasted by fatigue and fam- ine. These detachments considerably reduced the forces of the viceroy. Accompanied by three hundred gentlemen, who had volun- teered in London to accompany him, he set out from Dublin, on the 20th of May, with the remainder of his army, and marched to- wards Munster. In passing through Lein- ster, the rearguard of the English was se- verely handled in a defile, by Owen O'Morra, at the head of five hundred men, who killed several officers and privates. The place where they fought was called after this " Bearna na Gleti," which signifies the Pass of Plumes, on account of the great number of them which the English lost in it. The O'Byrnes of Leinster, with inferior forces, severely and shamefully defeated another A. P. 1599.] SECOND DIVISION. 237 division of the new army ; and Essex could only show his vexation by decimating the unfortunate soldiers, and cashiering the of- ficers.* This check did not prevent Essex from continuing his march into Munster. He laid siege to the castle of Cahir, situate on the Suire, in Tipperary; the place which gave the title of lord-baron to Thomas Butler. The confederate Catholics had in it only seven or eight soldiers, without artillery, so that they were of course unable to maintain a siege against the army of Essex. The Eai-1 of Desmond, however, assisted by Raymond Burke, Baron of Leitrim, and his brother William, having attracted the attention of tlie English, fought several skirmishes with them, aad by this means afforded to William Burke an opportunity of driving off a detach- ment that was guarding the bridge, and of tlirowing into the castle about fifty men, un- der the command of James Butler, brother to the Baron of Cahir. This small force con- tributed only to prolong the siege. Essex played upon the castle with his artillery ; several English nobles, in endeavouring to mount the breach, were killed by the mus- ketry of the besieged ; but finally, James Butler, being unable to defend the castle, surrendered it to the English general. Essex had the castle of Cahir repaired, and leaving a strong garrison in it, with can- non and ammunition, he marched to the re- lief of Askeaton. His army received a con- siderable reinforcement by the junction of some Irish royalist troops, under the earls of Thomond and Clanricard, Mac-Pieris, and Henry Norris. On his way back from As- keaton, Essex was pursued by Daniel Mac- Carty More and the Earl of Desmond, at the head of two thousand five hundred men. These chiefs having attacked his rearguard, at a place called Baile en Finitere, the action was very bloody ; it lasted from nine in the morning till five in the afternoon : a great number of the English fell, and Henry Norris, one of their leaders, was found among the killed. The loss of the confederates was comparatively slight. After a short • Taylor, Mac-Qeoghegan, etc respite in camp, Essex marched to Water- ford, but was harassed on the rear during the six days he was going there. General Harrington, in the mean time, received a decided check in the principality of Leix. He had been appointed to restore peace to that district, and having surrounded the troops of O'Morra, flattered himself that he would be able to reduce them with little loss ; but the bravery of the Catholics snatched the victory from him. He lost in this en- gagement twelve hundred men, with all their officers, and, among the rest, Adam Loftus, son of the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, who was found among the slain. The re- mainder of Ills army was put to flight. Ware, Cox, and others, mistake the circumstances of this victory, or confound them with a similar one gained over Harrington by the O'Byrnes, in the glinns of Wicklow. Elizabeth, who had expected rapid success from the well-known valour of her favourite, was irritated by the news of these reverses. She answered his letters with severe repri- mands, and could with difficulty be per- suaded to grant him a reinforcement. He earnestly pressed on the cabinet the necessity of conciliation and concession, and solicited their attention to the interests of the people. The answer to all his state-papers was a peremptory order to march into the north. While the earl was advancing through Ul- ster, Sir Con)'ers Clifford, who was leading an army to his assistance, fell into an ambus- cade, contrived by O'Ruarc, and was slain. His army suffered only a trifling loss ; but the soldiers were so dispirited that they re- treated to their garrison. Essex advanced to the Blackwater River; but O'Neill had, by this time, studied the character of his op- ponent, and thought proper to open a negotia- tion. The earl graciously listened to the flattering messages of the gallant chief, and granted him the favour of a personal inter- view." The two generals led their armies to opposite banks of the river, and then sep- arately rode to a neighbouring ford. Scarcely had the feet of the lord-lieutenant's charger touched the water, when O'Neill spurred his horse through the stream, while the water 338 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1599. rose above his saddle, and crossed over to pay his respects. This union of a delicate compliment and generous confidence completely won the no- ble soul of Essex. He at once entered into an animated conversation with the Irish chief- tain, and rode with him along the banks of the river in view of the wondering armies. Their private conference lasted a long time, and speculation has been busy in guessing at the subjects they discussed. It is considered cer- tain that O'Neill, well acquainted with the intrigues of the English court, called the attention of Essex to the machinations of his own enemies, and promised to assist him in their overthrow. Finally, the officers of both armies were summoned, and, in their pres- ence, O'Neill, having stated the grievances by wJiich he was driven to revolt, proposed terms of accommodation. A truce for six weeks was established, in order to afford time for the due consideration of the several arti- cles of agreement ; and the royal troops once more returned to their quarters in Leinster. The subsequent adventures of the gallant Essex belong properly to English history, where it will be seen that the advice of O'Neill was well founded, and that (leaving Irish affairs out of sight) Essex found a sin- cere friend where he might have reasonably expected a bitter enemy. Elizabeth's indignation at this unexpected termination of a campaign from which she had expected so much, was violent. She wrote a severe letter (September 14, 1599) to the Jord-lieutenant, reprobating his conduct in no measured terms, and pettishly banishing him from her sight. Essex at first meditated the rash project of leading the flower of his army into England, and forcing his way to the royal presence ; but, being dissuaded by his friends, he adopted a course scarcely less pernicious ; and, resigning his power to two lords-justices, departed to England alone on the 28th of September. Ormond was now reinstated as commander-in-chief of the army. Shortly after Essex left Dublin, a Spanish captain arrived on the Ulster coast command- ing two ships laden with warlike stores, which Philip the Third, the new King of Spain, had sent to the Prince of Tjrrone. He received the officer, and asked why the king had omit- ted so long to send the succours which he had promised, and why he did not send all at the same time. The officer answered, that his majesty intended it, but that the report of peace having been made between the Prince of Tyrone and Queen Elizabeth, was the cause ; and added, that the King of Spain sent him for the express purpose (with these two ships) of bringing him an account of how affairs stood in Ireland. This reply did not quite satisfy O'Neill ; however, he concealed the disappointment with his accustomed pru- dence. The Spanish king, being desirous of fol- lowing out the plans of his late brother in regard to Ireland, sent over two legates, Matthew d' Oviedo, whom the pope had ap- pointed to the archbishopric of Dublin, and Don Martin de la Cerda, a Spanish knight. The legates were empowered to grant indul- gences to those of the Irish who fought against the English in defence of the ancient religion. The legates also brought with them, from the King of Spain, twenty-two thousand pieces of gold, to assist in the pa3rment of troops for the Catholic lords. Encouraged by this very moderate assist- ance, and hoping for greater from the Span- iards, Tyrone resumed hostilities, after a no- tice of fourteen days, in pursuance of the stipulations made with Essex. Having pro- vided for the security of the principality of Tyrone, he marched through the whole of Leinster, at the head of seven thousand men. He then advanced towards Cork, where he encamped, and consulted with the Earl of Desmond, Florence Mac-Carty Reagh, and other chiefs of the province, ab6iit the means of supporting the war. He sent deputies to those whose sincerity he doubted, to solicit their decided co-operation with him in estab- lishing a national confederacy. Several chiefs were brought over by the reasoning of Tjnrone ; particularly Finian Mac-Carty, who was always remarkable for his attachment to the religion of his ances- tors. Others, influenced by a different policy, though strongly attached to the Catholic faith, A. D. 1600.] SECOND DIVISION. replied, that a subject of such moment ought to be suspended for a short lime, as the opin- ion of the see of Rome was not well known. These circumstances, doubtless, were instru- mental in producing the famous bull of Pope Clement on the 16th of April, in 1600, the following year. O'Neill, deeming such procrastinating de- lay hurtful to the Catholic cause, expressed his displeasure at the rephes of these noble- men. Some of them he treated with severity, and devastated their lands, in order to deprive the enemy of subsistence ; others he com- pelled to give hostages for their future con- duct.* While he stayed in Munster, even the queen's troops kept in their forts, not daring to take the field, so that the time passed over without hostihties, except an affair between Hugh Maguire, Prince of Fermanagh, who commanded O'Neill's cavalry, and St. Leger, President of Munster, in which both combat- ants fell. Maguire, attended only by Edmund Mac-Caffry, his standard-bearer, Niall O'Dur- nin, and a priest, left his camp one day, either to take an airing or to reconnoitre the coun- try. Having advanced too far, he met with St. Leger, who was at the head of sixty cavalry. Notwithstanding this difference in numbers, Maguire's spirit would not permit him to avoid fighting: putting spurs to his horse, he forced his way through the cavalry to their commander, who immediately shot him through the body. Though Maguire's wound was mortal, he determined to be re- venged ; he struck St. Leger such a blow with his lance that he cleft his head through the helmet, and afterwards made his escape, sword in hand, from the surrounding horse- men. Both generals died shortly afterwards, much regretted by their followers. Before leaving Munster, O'Neill placed some veteran troops among the posts of that province, and returning through Leinster, he left a reinforce- ment with O'Morra of Leix. Previously to this, he had passed in full view of Ormond, who commanded the English army. He then arrived safely in Ulster, having fulfilled the designs he had in view when he set out. Essex having given up the government of • Peter Lombard. Ireland, it was of importance to appoint a successor to him, and a Governor of Munster to succeed St. Leger, who was killed by Maguire. Charles Blunt, Baron of Mont- joy, was therefore appointed viceroy, and Sir George Carew was named President of Munster. These two noblemen repaired to DubUn about the end of February, 1600. Carew waited for his conamission to under- take the duties of his appointment. In the mean time, the viceroy and supreme council of Ireland had regulations drawn up for the guidance of the president and council of that province. The new President of Munster left Dublin on the 7th of April, and took the road that led to his province. The Earl of Thomond, who always sought opportunities of display- ing his zeal for the royal cause, with Lord Audley, captains Harvey, Browne, Dillon, and a force of seven hundred foot and a hundred horse, accompanied the president on his route. On the first day they arrived at Naas, on the next at Carlow, and on the third at Kilkenny, where they visited the Earl of Ormond. Ormond had promised to meet Owen, son of Rory O'Morra, on the borders of Idough, (at present the barony of Fessadining, in the county of Kilkenny,) at a place called Corronneduffe, and the presi- dent proposed to accompany the earl, with his attendants. The troops of both parties were at a distance when the conference began between Ormond and O'Morra, and it lasted for an hour with- out any thing being concluded. O'Morra had a Jesuit with him named Archer, with whom Ormond began a controversy on reli- gion, in the course of which he called the Jesuit a traitor; saying, that imder a sem- blance of religion he was seducing her ma- jesty's subjects from their allegiance ; after which he proceeded to abuse the pope and the church of Rome. O'Morra, no longer able to endure such language from a pretend- ed advocate of religious liberty, whose con- versation was quite foreign to the subject before them, seized the earl, dragged him from his horse, and made him prisoner. The new president and Thomond, with his other 240 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1600. friends who were at hand, being alarmed, ran to his assistance and commenced fighting. Some of the Enghsh were killed, several wounded, and more made prisoners ; while the president and Thomond took to flight, and owed their safety only to the swiftness of their horses. Their subsequent endeav- ours to rally the English soldiers were un- successful, and they returned to Kilkenny, where the Countess of Ormond was re- siding, inconsolable for her husband's cap- ture. The deputy was in Dublin when he heard of this unfavourable occurrence, as well as that the sons of Montgarret and several other noblemen of the Butlers were up in arms. He at once despatched Sir George Bourchier and Christopher St. Laurence to Kilkenny, with orders to collect the troops, and keep the peace of the city and its neigh- bourhood. The President of Munster, on the arrival of these officers, set out with Tho- mond for Waterford, where they arrived on the 16th of April. In the spring the war had generally re- commenced with great activity, but no deci- sive action was fought. O'Neill, with con- summate ability, avoided every attempt to force him to a general engagement, and broke through the hostile lines when attempts were made to blockade his troops or cut off his supplies. Perhaps the most detestable feature of the unmilitary warfare carried on by the English government was the hiring of bravoes and assassins to betray or murder such of the Irish chieftains as were too formidable to be conquered in the field. War, in its best regulated movements, is allowed by the greatest captains to be an evil of the very last choice. In Ireland its inseparable hor- rors were wilfully increased by the unmiti- gated sway of the vilest passions that degrade human nature. To express these sickening details suitably for the general reader, the best way will be to give a case or two in point. Nothing short of what Thomas Car- lyle would call "a cast-iron preacher" could relate with coolness the horrible cruelties and cowardly intrigues which disgrace the latter part of EHzabeth's reign. Having carefully examined all the authorities, we are constrained to endorse the following subdued statements which have been furnished by the industry and patience of Matthew Carey: — "It would be endless to detail all the base and profligate tricks to which the government had recourse. Here follows one practised by Carew, President of Munster, to circimi'- vent John Fitz-Thomas, brother to the Earl of Desmond. Carew had corrupted Der- mond O'Connor, an Irish nobleman. To this traitor he gave a letter written in his name, and addressed to Fitz-Thomas, which O'Connor was to use on a proper occasion, under the pretence that it had been intercept- ed. The letter was written with great ad- dress, and fraught with commendations of Fitz-Thomas, for expiating his offences by treachery towards his countrymen. It an- swered the end proposed, and enabled Carew to triumph over the confederate Irish, among whom it spread distrust and dismay." Sir George Carew had improvements upon this plan, especially adapted for partic- ular cases. Start not, sympathizing reader ; consider, it is the history of Ireland we are tracing : — " The Baron of Lixnaw having died, his son Thomas applied to the president, George Carew, for his favour and the protection of the queen, in order to gain possession of his inheritance. Both were promised him, on condition that he * did some service, which might entitle him to them.' The kind of ser- vice expected, may be satisfactorily ascer- tained by a passage in the * Pacata Hibernian wherein this application is stated : — ' It was thought no ill policy to make the Irish draw blood upon one another, whereby their pri- vate quarrels might advance the pubHc ser- vice.' But the high-minded nobleman scorned to acquire, by the murder of his countrymen, possession of an estate which of right be- longed to him — and therefore he absolutely refused the proposition, because * it stood not with his conscience nor his honour,' as he expressed himself in a letter which he wrote to the Earl of Thomond. " These scruples, which would have ele- A. D. 1601.] SECOND DIVISION. 841 vated him in the eyes of a man of justice or honour, could not be duly appreciated by the sordid soul of the president ; and thus were destroyed all his hopes of the inheritance; for * upon this answer the president rejected both the man and his suit !' " It is impossible for any man of rectitude to read this account without abhorrence and contempt of the profligate president, and ad- miration of the magnanimous sufferer. The former, lost to every sense of honour and jus- tice, imposes as a task on the kilter, for the attainment of his inheritance, the perpetration of murder-»-and because he will not comply with the infamous terms, plunders hito of his patrimony. The latter, with the soul of a Ro- man, scorns the temptation and the tempter, and dooms himself to honourable poverty rather than pollute himself with the commis- sion of such a crime." It should be borne in mind that Carey's statements and quotations are transcribed from the " Pacata Hibernia," a work issued by Sir George Carew himself ! Devastation greatly reduced O'Neill's strength. His adversaries derived their sup*- plies from England ; his resources were de- stroyed when his own fields were wasted. Still he had bravely continued the war during two campaigns, relying on the promised aid of the Spaniards, and stimulated by his senti- ments respecting religion, which exhorted him to perseverance. He was besides well aware that the late submissions to the government were generally hollow and insincere, espe- cially as no provision had yet been made for the removal of the grievances >yhich caused the insurrection. Grievous exactions were made from the proprietors of land. Juries were packed in the most open and shameful manner. Innocent persons were executed sometimes without the formality of a trial, or, when that was granted, by the verdict of a tribunal whose forms were a cruel mockery. The penal laws against recusants were en- forced, and English settlers drove the natives from their cultivated land without the pre- tence of a claim. The knowledge of these circumstances induced O'Neill to persevere, although he knew that his changes of final 31 success were diminishing every hour wiA fearful rapidity. At length, on the 23d of September, 1601, portions of the succours from Spain were landed at Kinsale, under Don Juan d'Aquila. The English had had plenty of time to prepare for this expedition. It had been delayed too long. Its preparation was made so openly that one would suppose observation had been courted. It was miserable in amount ; and its leader was apparently incompetent. Don Juan d'Aquila, to whom Philip had intrusted a small fleet and tWo thousand men, had the almost inconceivable folly to land in the south of Ireland, while Tyrone, to whose assistance he had come, was shut up in the extrem6 north. Scarcely had he landed, when he personally insulted O'SulliVan Beare, the first toparch who offered him assistance ; and thus at once disgusted the southern septs. To add to his confusion, Carew and Montjoy, liaving collected a powerful army, invested Kirtsale, and pushed the siege with vigour from the 17th of October to the 9th of Janu- ary. O'Neill was not a little perplexed by the awkward situation of the Spaniards. A march through an exhausted country, in the depth of a severe winter, and with forces already disheartened by calamity, was an en* tefprise full of danger. On the other hand, it Was clear that Don Juan, unless speedily relieved, would be forced to surrender. The Spaniard was already disheartened ; and, while he answered the sununbns of Montjoy with ridiculous gasconade, he sent the most urgent and angry letters to O'Neill and O'Don- nel, soliciting their aid. The march of the Irish army sufliciently proves the ability of the leaders, and the zejd of their followers. Notwithstanding the diffi^ culties of the country, they advanced with their baggage and artillery at the rate of forty miles a day ; and, by their extraordinary ce- lerity, baffled the lord-president, who naarched to intercept them. On the 3d of December, shortly kfler O'Neill arrived at Kinsale, a second Spanish afmameht reached the bay of Baltimore, aiid were enthusiastically received by the heigh* bouring septs. Several that had hithefl6 pfc- 942 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1601. served their allegiance now took up arms, and O'Neill was thus enabled to blockade the lord-lieutenant in his camp. Montjoy's army was now placed in a most perilous situation ; they were at once besiegers and besieged ; their supplies from the country were cut off ; and the sea, which the British fleet under Levison kept open to them, was still a pre- carious ground of confidence. In fact, nothing was necessary for the complete ruin of an army on which the fate of a kingdom de- pended, but that Tyrone should remain qui- etly in the position he had selected. O'Neill knew his advantages well, and could not be tempted, by all the arts of the British leader, to quit his intrenchments ; but the presump- tuous Spaniard was eager to exhibit his valour in a pitched battle. Montjoy, having discov- ered by his spies the feelings of Don Juan, made use of the most ingenious artifices to increase his supposed security. He sent pretended deserters into the town, who de- scribed the English army as reduced to a shocking state of disorganization ; and as- serted that the soldiers were so worn down with fatigue and famine as to be incapable of an effective resistance. Don Juan wrote the most pressing letters to O'Neill, urging the feasibility of crushing the English at once, and promising to aid him by a sally from the town. O'Neill continued to refuse ; but the chiefs by whom he was supported joined in the solicitations of the Spaniard, and an un- willing assent was at length wrung from the gallant feelings of the cautious chief. The new plan proposed was that the Eng- lish camp should be attacked by a night sur- prise. Montjoy's numerous spies revealed the whole affair to him, and he made his preparations accordingly. The moment that O'Neill saw the English lines, he knew that he was betrayed. He instantly determined to change his plan of action ; but the requi- site orders were misunderstood by a portion of the troops, and his lines were thus broken. The Earl of Clanricarde, and Wingfield, marshal of the horse, precipitated their caval- ry through this fatal gap, and the fate of the battle was decided. O'Neill made several desperate efforts to retrieve the fortune of the day ; but he was badly seconded by the other leaders, and forced at length to fly. O'Don- nel, who commanded the rear, appears to have fled without striking a blow. The carnage was dreadful. No quarter was given, except to a few of the Spaniards ; and the Irish lords who were made prisoners were hanged the morning after the action. O'Neill wished to persuade his followers to resume their former station, or to try the chances of a second bat- tle ; but their eagerness was now efiectually broken, and they almost unanimously resolved to return home without consulting the reputa- tion of their gallant leader, or their own safety for the future. Don Juan now offered to capitulate, and terms of surrender were proposed. He raised numberless scruples on trifling points of eti- quette, but neglected matters of greater im- portance. Montjoy, whose interest it was to terminate the war as speedily as possible, made some sacrifices to Castilian pride, and obtained quiet possession of nearly all the castles garrisoned by the Spaniards. \ The possession of Kinsale was of the first importance to the Catholic cause in Ireland. The garrison under Don Juan amounted to two thousand five hundred men, well provi- ded with ammunition and provisions, and supported by the garrisons of Baltimore, Castle Haven, and Bear Haven ; so that from the state of the English, he might have held out till the arrival of succours from Spain, which would also have given time to O'Neill and the other Irish princes to assemble in the spring. The surrender, therefore, of Kinsale and its dependencies, by shutting out all for- eign aid, would necessarily injure the cause they wished to defend. O'Sullivan Beare, apprehensive of these consequences, took possession of the castle of Dunboy, which belonged to him, but which he had given up as a garrison for thie Spanieurds on their arrival in the country. Being determined, therefore, that this fortress should not be surrendered to the enemy, he contrived to introduce Thomas Fitz-Maurice, Lord of Lixnaw, Domnal Mac- Carty, Captain Richard Tjrrrell, and William Burke, with some troops, into the castle by night, and took possession of the gates, with- A. D. 1603.] SECOND DIVISION. 343 out committing any positive act of hostility towards the Spaniards. He immediately des- patched Dermod O'Driscol to the King of Spain, entreating of his majesty to be con- vinced that his motives were honourable in the taking of Dunboy ; and complained vehe- mently in his letter of the capitulation which Don Juan had entered into with the English, representing it as wretched, execrable, and inhuman. Oil the 16th of March, 1602, Don Juan d'Aquila sailed for Spain, in accordance with the stipulations granted by the English deputy. On arriving at Corunna, he found himself charged with injudicious conduct while in Ireland, and was ordered by the king not to leave his own house. His feelings as a sol- dier were hurt, and he shortly afterwards died of grief and vexation. In June, the deputy made another attempt in Ulster. He built a bridge over the Black- water, and a new fort which he called Charle- mont. Sir Richard Morrison's regiment was ordered to take Dungannon, but the inhabit- ants concluded to burn the place, and thus sacrificed the beautiful castle of Tyrone. O'Neill now withdrew to Castle Roe, on the river Bann. The English laid the whole country waste as far as Inniskillen; they made themselves masters of Magherlowny isle, where O'Neill had a magazine. Dock- wra, who commanded a garrison at Ony, re- ceived orders to harass O'Neill in Dungeven, in Araghty Cahan ; while Chichester, who led the troops from the garrison of Carrick- fergus, brought the regiment of Morrison to occupy Toome, and the deputy himself guard- ed the road to Killetro. But in spite of these plans, and the great superiority of the enemy, O'Neill, with six hundred foot and sixty horse, marched from Castle Roe, and reached Lough Eame unmolested. Being incapable of re- sisting the enemy openly, he remained on the defensive ; for which purpose he constructed an impregnable position, called Gleannchon- kein, near Lough Earne, where he intrenched himself in such a manner as left him nothing to fear. The deputy hearing of this, con- tented himself with ravaging the surrounding country, and with breaking, at Talloghoge, the stone which was used as the inauguration seat of O'Neill. The lord-deputy, satisfied with his exploits in the north, repaired to Newry on the 11th September, whence he set out for Dublin, leaving Ulster to the care of Dockwra, Dan- vers, and Chichester. In November he un- dertook an expedition to Connaught, to quell the disturbances that agitated that province. Sir Oliver Lambert had already expelled the Burkes, with Mac-William, their chief, from the county of Mayo. The deputy next granted protection to O'Connor Sligoe, Rory O'Don- nel, the O'Flahertys, Mac-Dermots, O'Connor Roe, and others. The only chieftains who now remained steadfastly attached to the cause of Tyrone, were O'Rourke, Maguire, and Captain Tyrrell. The deputy also had the fort of Galway completed, and gave orders to send three different bodies of troops in pursuit of O'Rourke. He then returned to Dublin, whence he despatched succour to Chichester, to enable him to oppose Brian Mac-Art, who had entered Killulta at the head of five hundred men. Chichester exe- cuted his commission with such cruelty that a famine was the consequence. Daniel O'SuUivan, Prince of Beare, still retained possession of Dunboy. The chiefs pledged to support him were Daniel Mac- Carty, son of the Earl of Clancar ; Daniel, son of O'Sullivan More ; Cornelius and Der- mod O'Driscol ; Dermod O'Sullivan ; Der- mod, Donagh, and Florence Mac-Carty, of the Mac-Carty Riagh ; Mac-Sweeny ; Don- agh O'Driscol, and his brothers. Also O'Con- nor Kerry, Mac-Maurice, Baron of Lixnaw, the Knight of Kerry, the Knight of Gljmn, John Fitz-Gerald, brother of the earl, James Butler, brother to the Baron of Cahir, Wil- liam Burke, captains Richard Mac-Geoghe- gan and Richard T3rrell. The former cap- tain was appointed to command the fortress of Dunboy, the latter to lead tlie army of ob- servation. The name of this Richard Mac-Geoghegan has a prominent place among the gallant as- sociates of the Irish chieftains in their last struggles for independence. A man of noble sentiments and approved valour — a descend- 944 HISTORY QF IRELAND. [A D. 1608. ant of the ancient and illustrious house of Moycashel — he was well chosen by O'Sulli* van for taking the command at D^xnboy. His little garrison was composed of a hundred and foity well-chosen volunteers. Dunboy having resisted the attacks of Thomond, (the traitorous O'Brien,) Captain Flower, and others, President Carew now determined to attack the place himself, with five thousand veteran soldiers, and a battery of five large pieces of artillery. The first three attacks under Carew were failures, and were made with a shocking loss of life on the part of the English soldiery, during the sum- mer of 16.02. Carew's perseverance planned a fourth attack, and Mac-Geoghegan's fidelity was as enduring as his bravery, for lis was determined not to outlive his possession of the castle. We find no incidents in ancient or modem history that exceed these last efforts of the Irish chieftains, as may be seen ex- pressed in the bravery and devotion of the unfortunate Mac-Geoghegaji upou this occa- sion. On Carew's fourth attack, the English ar- tillery continued to play upon the castle from five in the morning until nine, when a turret of thjB castle, in which there was a falconet that greatly annoyed the English battery, was seen to fall. However, the firing was yet maintained against one of \h& fronts of the castle till the afternoon, when the breach being effected, and the plan of assault fixed upon, the detachment which was to begin the attack advanced. The Catholics disputed the en- trance by the breach for a long time, but were at length forced to yield to the overwhelming numbers of the English, who planted their standards on one of the turrets. Roused by this sight, the besieged renewed their exer- tions, and fought with desperation until night, sometimes in the vaults of the castle, some- times in the great hall, the cellars, and on the stairs, so that blood flowed in every quarter. Several of the besieged fell during the attack, among whom was Mac-Geoghegan, their commander, having received a mortal wound. Possession of the castle being still refused, the English returned to the assault on the following day, and expressing a desire to spare the further effusion of blood, terms were proposed to the besieged. The few belonging to the garrison who escaped the preceding day having lost tlieir chief, and being unequal to defend the castle, accepted the proposed conditions of having their lives spared. Richard Mac-Geoghegan, however, would not hsten to any terms. Seeing the English enter in crowds, he rose up, while struggling with death, and procuring a lighted match, made an effort to fire a barrel of pow- der which was standing near him ; his inten- tion being to blow up both himself and the enemy, rather than surrender. He was pre- vented, however, by a Captain Power, in whose arms he was stabbed by the exaspera- ted besiegers. The fall of Dunboy did not prevent the Prince of Beare from continuing to act a brave and noble part for his country. Der- mod O'Driscol having returned from Spain, Comehus, son of O'Driscol More, was sent in his stead to solicit speedy assistance. In the mean time the prince and Captain Tyrrell marched with a thousand men into Muskerry, and made themselves masters of Carraig-na- Chori, Duin Dearaire, and Macrumpe, where they placed a garrison ; after which he pre- vailed upon O'Donoghoe of the GHnne to join in the confederacy, O'SuUivan then made incursions into the district of Cork, and re- turned laden with booty. The new Spanish army, intended for the expedition to Ireland, amounted to fourteen thousand men. They had assembled at Corunna, and were ready to sail, when in- telligence was received of the fall of Dunboy ; on which the Spanish court sent orders to the Count de Caracena, Governor of Co- runna, to countermand for the present the sailing of the troops. The Queen of Eng- land had her emissaries in Spain, who in- formed her of whatever occurred : she there- fore ordered her fleets that were cruising on the coasts of Spain to be revictualled, and to continue to watch the niotions of the Span- iards till the end of September ; she also sent two thousand more troops to Ireland, to reinforce l^e president's army in Munster. But the war- in Munster was now virtually- A. p. 1603.] SECOND DIVISION. S45 Qver. The principal Irish lords that escaped t]ie sword fled to Spain, where their descend- ants may yet be found. Q'SuUivan Beare, however, refused to leave ; and, ct^lecting the remnant of the southern insurgents, maintained a predatory warfare under cover of the western bogs and moimtains. This almost hopeless contest was attended by a horrible waste of hfe, for both parties inva- riably murdered their prisoners. O'Sullivaa was finally reduced to such straits by the vigour of Carew that he resolved to force his way into Ulster, and unite his shattered troops with those of Tyrone. Carew sent a strong body of dragoons to harass the fugi- tives ; but, maddened by despair, they turned on their pursuers, and boldly gave them bat- tle. The Irish suffered severely in the con- test ; but not a single Englishman escaped. In the north, however, the war of desolation was still maintained ; and O'Neill saw, every day, his bravest followers perishing by the slow and painful death of famine. His hopes from Spain were almost gone ; his al- lies were either exiles, or had pvurchased precarious safety by submission ; and his proud heart was humbled by witnessing ca- lamities which he could not avert, and mis- ery he was unable to relieve. Nevertheless, he kept up his troops, and continued to act on the defensive. Such was the state of affairs when news arrived that the dissolution of Elizabeth'is life was approaching. The deputy was se- riously alarmed, for he was well acquainted with the critical nature of English politics at that time. The enormities which Eliza- beth had sanctioned in Ireland weired heavily on her conscience. She therefore, endeavoured to make some reparation. Or- ders were issued to restore Sir Finin O'Dri*. col to his estate in Csurbery, and tcf make peace- with O'Neill on easy terms. As O'Driscol did not happen to be particularly formidable, the Irish privy-council first eva- ded, and then openly disobeyed the royal command; but the name of O'Neill was still dreaded, and terms of peace were, anty ranged with him. Montjoy also proposed an act for the paci- fication of O'Donnel, which was granted on the 26th of February, 1603. In this patent* the queen offers to O'Donnel, and a great many noWemen, pj-oprietors of estates which were held under that jMrince, a general am- nesty and forgiveness. After the different branches of the Donnels, the chief noblemen named in the act are, — the O'Boyles, tlie O'Cahans, the O'Kellys, the O'Galtowes, the O'Crijaanes, the O'Carwels, the Mac-Nenys, the O'Kennedys, the O'Mulrenins, the CRo- wartys, the O'Tiemans, the O'Creanes, the O'Dwyers, the O'Kierans, the O'Moyleganes, the O'Ruddys, the Mac-Awardes, the O^Ehin- neganes, the O'Meallanys, the O'Murrys, the O'Doghartys, the O'Miaghans, the O'Clerys, the Mac-Glaghlins, the O'Sheridans, the O'CassidyTSv the O'Cashedians, and several others. On the 24th of March, 1603, the life and reign of Elizabeth were ended. The gov- ernment of Ireland by this " sturdy virgin** has been but little discussed in the works of historical writers, who appear to have be- stowed their principal attention upon the English and continental issues of her policy. Having for a long time been well convinced of this literary fact, we were not surprised at the frequent temptations to depart from the narrative of Irish affairs. According to all the usual associations of early reading, the historical student becomes imperceptibly cap>- tivated by the showy Leicester, the philo- sophic and thought-moving Bacon, the grave Burleigh, the impulsive and generous Essey, the Ariosto-eclipsing Spenser, the vulgar and crafty Walsingham, the accomplished Syd- neys, and the ubiquitous and death-defying Raleigh. But our task has been the reverse of this description of intellectual excitement not, indeed, from any lack of poetical and romantic incident, or even of political import- ance^ in our subject ; but from the caution required and acquired after observing its overv^^elming superabundance of those social perversions and legal horrors which enlist the feelings or arouse the judgment of a reflective * This document is written in Latin, with. Gothic char> acters, and Mac-Geogfaegan has transcribed from it S«« his Hist ; chap. 50. 346 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1603. reader. Occasional paragraphs, which may seem to have been constructed with the com- mon-place freedom of unimpassioned lan- guage, are occupied with relating some hor- rible butchery or wilful perversion of justice ; and this style is not adopted without good reasons, for we have also observed that the recital of these and similar circumstances, by some Irish writers, has been frequently at- tended with an expostulatoiy and explosive warmth (very natural, and not merely excu- sable but highly praiseworthy) which only aided in unfortunately confirming the pre- existing influences of a power-corrupted liter- ature to hide or darken the claims of Ireland whenever there is a chance for them to appear in the light of truth. The fervid eloquence and never-dying words of Saint Paul himself would be pearls thrown away before the benighted being who could, without powerful emotion, trace the misfortunes of the Irish people during this reign, as they are shown in the ruin of Gar- ret Fitz-Gerald, Earl of Desmond ; the sub- sequent devastation of Munster ; the scram- bles of the land-thieves ; the brutal and cow- ardly barbarities in the treatment and disposal of defenceless women and helpless children ; the similar proceedings in the other provinces of Ireland ; the noble resistance of the gallant and talented O'Neill ; the eventually futile assistance from Spain ; the wicked perversion or destruction of every created blessing in Ireland ; and the whole military and mental tyranny of Elizabeth's power, only relaxing in its grasp when she exj)ired in the melan- choly misery of a murderess. That such wretched misgovemment would be passively endured in any civilized country is scarcely probable. The subsequent his- tory of Ireland shows that her brave chiefs and noble people have never ceased their efforts to shake off this tyrannical abuse of governmental power, which, however, is to this day exercised for their injury, because the real merits of the case have been so long hid- den from the majority of the English people by mterested and wilful misrepresentation. We cannot review the reign of Elizabeth without feeling certain that so much wicked- ness must have a political termination to its moral trials ; and that when the true princi- ples of civil and religious liberty are more properly appreciated, Ireland will, as a long- lost sister, be affectionately restored to her proper station : we therefore faithfully con- fide in the hope that, with Religion on her right and Liberty on her left, these sisterly influences may speedily receive the willing homage and cordial admiration of the wise and good throughout all lands. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXIV. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " The subversion of the ancient religion, and establishment of the Reformation in her states, formed the most remarkable feature in the reign of Elizabeth. The character of this princess will be more or less affected by the impression which that event produces in different minds. The unbelieving, no doubt, look upon the supposed reformation in reli- gion as a matter of indifference, because they do not particularly reverence any creed ; the reformers give to the event a pre-eminent place among the virtues of Elizabeth ; while others, after weighing well the nature and circumstances of the enterprise, tell us, that the memory of this queen will be forever (from that occurrence alone) covered with infamy. " It is not the part of our history to decide this controversy, nor to give an opinion whether religion required to be reformed, or whether the Reformation were a meritorious act. The character of Elizabeth is the mat- ter now before us ; according to that, there- fore, our opinion must be shaped. The means which she made use of to effect the Reformation should be weighed with those of honour, conscience, and other qualities which render us pleasing before God and man." — Mac-Geoghegan. "Philosophy resembles those corrosive powders which, after the proud flesh, next attack the whole, piercing the bones to the very marrow. • * • Philosophers begin A. D. 1603.] SECOND DIVISION. t47 with attacking error, which they refute : they next attack truth ; they forget where they set out from ; they know not where to stop." — Bayle. "If we do not endeavour to elevate our thoughts above that which is merely human, we shall find (even in the largest assemblies of the Church) nothing but material objects, which will most probably shock and offend us, besides increasing our natural incredulity ; we shall never discern much beyond human weaknesses, passions, prejudices, political views, factions, and cabals. But we ought therefore so much the more to admire the wisdom and almighty power of God when we discover that he sometimes accomplishes his designs by means which would seem nat- urally to operate for their destruction. It is on those occasions that the Holy Spirit shows itself Master of the heart of man. He makes even such things as appear faulty in individ- ual pastors conducive to the accomplishment of his promises to mankind ; and, by a provi- dence continually attentive, watches the mo- ments of decision, and makes the general result conformable to his will. It is thus God acts in all and by all. Both the civil and ecclesiastical powers can only be held under subjection to his eternal laws. Every thing accomplishes his designs, either freely or by necessity. It is not the personal talents nor the holiness of our governors which make our obedience a divine virtue, but it is the inward submission of the human mind to the order of Almighty God. ***** " This life is but a dark night, during which we are unable to reason fully upon the mys- tical properties and nature and essence of the divine Being, or even upon the impenetrable designs of his providence. In a very short time, the material veil will be taken , away. God has no need to justify his conduct : it will be justified. We shall see that his wis- dom, justice, and goodness, are always con- cordant and inseparable. At present, per- haps, it is our pride or our impatience which make^ us unwilling to wait for this unravel- ling. Instead of using such a degree of light as may have been granted to us as a guide for leading us out of our darkness, we lose sight of it in a labyrinth of disputes, er- rors, chimerical systems, and particular sects, which not only disturb the present peace of human society, but indispose us for sharing our future existence with those angehc intel- ligences who have no understanding or will of their own, but are enlightened by one univer- sal Reason, and are all moved and animated by the same sovereign love." — Fenelon. " The later of the English settlers in Ire- land had embraced the novel doctrines of Luther. The natives and the old English colonists adhered to the original faith. This portion of the people, therefore, persecuted and stigmatized, sunk into ignorance ; and, hunted down as outlaws, (finding no protec- tion but with their chiefs, and no instruction but from their clergy,) naturally attached themselves to both with a savage fidelity. Elizabeth took advantage of every circimi- stance to attain her objects. The Reforma- tion was not only proclaimed but enforced in Ireland with unexampled rigour. A few adopted, most rejected, but none compre- hended it. Elizabeth having lighted the fire- brand at both ends, tossed it among the peo- ple. The sects fought around it, and Eliza- beth's oflicers gave out ' Reform' as the watchword of the combatants, and the pretext for extermination." — J. Baerington. "Robert Naughton, an English writer, gives in his 'Regalia Fragmenta,^ a true pic- ture of Elizabeth, and ascribes her last afflic- tions to the ill-success of her arms in Ireland. This Englishman was created Sir Robert Naughton, secretary of state, and master of the court of wardens, under James the First. He lived contemporarily with her reign, and was deeply conversant in political secrets." Mac-Geoghegan. "The war in Ireland, which may be styled the distemper of the reign of Elizabeth, hav- ing continued to the end of her life, proved such an expenditure, as affected and disor- ganized the health and constitution of the princess, for, in her last days, she became sorrowful, melancholy, and depressed. Her arms, which had been accustomed to con- quer, meeting with opposition firom the Irish, and the success of the war for so long a time tMB HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 160S. becoming not only doubtful but unfortunate, afflicted hex to distraction. On her accession to the crown of England, she encouraged, for the purpose of causing a diversion in her own favour, the rebellion of the states of Holland against the king of Spain, who, by way of reprisal, favoured and encouraged the Irish to oppose Elizabeth. "It may be imagined that England was at the time equal to undertake and maintain by her resources the war against the Irish. If we take a close view of the state of things at the period, and the number of troops in Ire- land, as also the defeat at Black Water, and the expenditure attending the attempts of the earl of Essex, the reduction of Kinsale un- der General Mountjoy, and of a short time subsequently, we will discover, that in horse and foot the troops amounted to twenty thou- sand men ; independently of the naval arma- ments connected with them. The queen was obhged to keep up a constant and pow- erful fleet, to watch the coasts of Spain and blockade its harbours, in order to prevent the succours which were intended for Ireland from being forwarded. The expenses there- fore attending the wars of Elizabeth against the Irish, amounted at least to three hundred thousand pounds sterling a year, which was not half her expenditure in other quarters ; an expense which could not be longer sup- ported without the aid of the public. The frequent letters of the queen, and the constant requests to General Mountjoy to disband the forces as speedily as possible, furnish an irre- fragable proof to what an extremity this prin- cess saw herself reduced." — R. Naughton. "Irishmen of the present day! read the admission of this English secretary of state, and learn from it that England put forth her whole power against Ireland during this fif- teen years' war, and failed in subduing the vaUant men of that generation. Ireland has broken the heart of many a British king, and queen, and minister, and deputy. The last deputy, De Grey, has just returned (July, 1844) from his futile though outrageous ad- ministration of government in Ireland ; and Sir Robert Peel feels and admits Ireland to be his sole difficulty. Quepn Victoria has no other trouble on earth but Ireland ; and thus we are, at the end of two hundred and forty years from Elizabeth's attempts, as uncon- quered as she found us after four hundred years of previous wars with her ancestors." MOONEY. " It should be kept in mind that during the period of four hundred years and upwards, the usual mode of governing both English and Irish within the jurisdiction of the An- glican Government, was by Martial Law ; which was treated as if it really formed part of the Common Law of Ireland." — O'Con- NELL. " In all the Parliament-rolls which are ex- tant from the fortieth year of Edward the Third, when the statutes of Kilkenny were enacted, till the reign of king Henry the Eighth, we find the degenerate and disobedi- ent English called rebels, but the Irish which were not in the king's peace, are called ene- mies." • • • • " All these statutes speak of English rebels, and Irish enemies, as if the Irish had never been in the condition of subjects, but always out of the protection of the law, and were in- deed in worse case than aliens of any foreign realm that was in amity with the crown of England. For by divers heavy penal laws, the English were forbidden to marry, to foster, to make gossips with the Irish, or to have any trade or commerce in their markets or fairs : nay, there was a law made, no longer since than the twenty-eighth year of Henry the Eighth, that the English should not marry with any person of Irish blood, though he had gotten a charter of denization, unless he had done both homage and fealty to the king in the Chancery, and were also bound by re- cognizance with sureties, to continue a loyal subject. Whereby it is manifest that such as had the government of Ireland, under the crown of England, did intend to make a per* petual separation and enmity between the English and the Irish, pretending, no doubt) that the Enghsh should in the end root out the Irish ; which the English not being able to do, caused a perpetual war between the nations, which continued four hundred and odd years." ••♦•♦• A. D. 1603.] SECOND DIVISION 249 " In a word, if the English would neither in peace govern them by the law, nor could in war root them out by the sword, must they not needs be pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their sides, till the world's end, and so the conquest never be brought to perfection." — Davies. "The history of Ireland's unhappy con- nection with England exhibits, from first to last, a detail of the most persevering, galling, grinding, insulting, and systematic oppression to be found anywhere, except among the Helots of Sparta." — J. K. Paulding. " There is but little respite from exaspera- ting oppression and unmerited cruelty. The eye wanders over a dreary scene of desola- tion without a single point on which it can rest. The heart of the philanthropist sinks under a hopeless despondency ; and passively yields to tlie unchristian and impious reflection, that the poor people of Ireland are a devoted race, whom Providence has abandoned to the malignant ingenuity of an insatiable enemy." J. Lawless. " I now close the bloodstained and heart- rending sketches of the history of the oppress- ed Irish for the first four hundred years of English domination in their country; and trust there is not a man of common candour who will not allow that it is a continued tis- sue of scenes of rapine, fraud, imposture, sub- ornation, perjury, forgery, desolation, murder, and massacre, hardly relieved by a single oasis occasionally of a few years of quasi peace." — M. Carey. " The reigns of Henry the Eighth and Ed- ward the Sixth passed away. Queen Mary ascended the throne. Catholicity was re- stored to power in Ireland without difficulty — without any kind of struggle. How did the Catholics — the Irish Catholics — conduct themselves towards the Protestants, who had been persecuting them up to the last moment ? How did they — the Catholics — conduct them- selves ? I will take the answer from a book, published several years ago by Mr. William Pamell — a Protestant gentleman of high sta- tion — the brother of [Sir Henry] a Cabinet minister." — O'Connell. " How ought those perverse and superficial 32 men to blush who have said that the Irish Roman Catholics must be bigots and rebels from the very nature of their religion, and who have advanced this falsehood in the very teeth of fact, contrary to the most distinct evidence of history ! " The Irish Roman Catholics bigots ? The Irish Roman Catholics are the only sect that ever resumed power without exercising ven- geance !" — W. Parnell's "Historical Apol- " But it was in the reign of Elizabeth that the persecution of the Catlrolics raged with the greatest fury ; as the policy of her officers in creating their familiar instruments of fam- ine and pestilence extended her dominion, religious persecution extended with it." — O'Connell. " Elizabeth proceeded systematically in her projects. She first ordered the perform- ance of the Catholic worship to be forcibly prohibited in Ireland. She ordered the rack to be employed, and directed her officers to * torture the suspected Irish.' She ordered free quarters on the peasantry to gratify her soldiers, and rouse the natives to premature insurrections. Her executioners were ordered to butcher tliem without mercy. Religion was abolished by martial law, and divine worship prohibited under pain of death." — J. Barrington. " Religious persecution is one of the great- est stains attached to human nature. It is in hostility with the most clear and explicit doc- trines of Jesus Christ ; and its absurdity is about equal to its wickedness ; as it supposes, what never was, and never can be, that men can change their belief at will, as they can change their dress." — M. Carey. " In this reign, among many other Roman Catholic priests and bishops, there were put to death for the exercise of their function in Ireland, Gladby O'Boyle, abbot of Boyle of the diocese of Elphin, and Owen O'Mulke- ren, abbot of the monastery of the Holy Trinity in that diocese, hanged and quartered by Lord Grey in 1580 ; John Stephens, priest, for that he said mass to Teague M'Hugh, was hanged and quartered by the Lord Burroughs in 1597 ; Thady O'Boyle, 350 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1603. guardian of the monastery of Donegal, was slain by the English in his own monastery ; six friars were slain in the monastery of Moy- nihigan ; John O'Calyhor and Bryan O'Tre- vor, of the order of St. Bernard, were slain in their own monastery, de Santa Maria, in Ulster ; as also Fehmy O'Hara, a lay brother; so was Eneas Penny, parish priest of Killagh, slain at the altar in his parish church there ; Cahall M'Goran, Rory O'Donnellan, Peter O'Quillan, Patrick O'Kenna, George Power, vicar-general of the diocese of Ossory, An- drew Stretch of Limerick, Bryan O'Muiri- hirtagh, vicar-general of the diocese of Clon- fert, Dorohow O'Molony of Thomond, John Kelly of Louth, Stephen Patrick of Annaly, John Pillis, friar, Rory M'Henlea, Tirrilagh M'Inisky, a lay brother. All those that come after Eneas Penny, together with Walter Far- nan, priest, died in the Castle of Dublin, either through hard usage and restraint, or the vio- lence of torture." — Curry. " Queen Elizabeth caused, by the authority of parliament, some volumes of penal laws to be published against those who refused to submit to the Reformation. Under these laws no one was secure in his life or free- dom ; it was in the power of any profligate to accuse his neighbour before a judge, when the informer was certain of being attended to, and the innocent party oppressed. To these were added other laws equally barbarous and inhuman : to refuse to acknowledge Eliza- beth's ecclesiastical supremacy, to take holy orders in a foreign country, to afford an asy- lum to the clergy, to be reconciled to the old religion, or to be present at such reconcilia- tion of another, were all deemed high treason ; while, at the same time, every method was resorted to to bring the unhappy Catholics within the range of this sentence. The pris- ons were continually crowded with supposed culprits, many of whom finally suffered upon the scaffold." — Mac-Geoghegan, " Her father, Henry, the Nero of British history, had assumed, as a pastime, the trade of a theologist ; and, changing his religion as often as he decapitated his consorts, at length settled his veering faith by declaring himself a reformist, with the most unqualified intol- erance. Theological disputes, after this im- portant auxiliary to the Reformation, alto- gether divested the minds of men of the attributes of common reason ; and the blackest enormities were considered as the most holy virtues, if they correspcftided with the fanati- cism of deluded imaginations." — J. Bar- RINGTON. "Long before Dissent assumed its name, a name which Christians of old, even the most free and most presumptuous, would have pronounced as self-condemnation, its spirit was working in the Church. It made men slight antiquity, fight against the au- thority of the civil power, trifle with positive institutions, trust to themselves, to their own arm and their own understanding. It pro- fessed to explain every thing. It allowed of no mysteries. It thought more of rousing men's feelings and governing their minds, than of simply enunciating truth committed to their keeping by God. • * * • They also were for realities. They hated * shows,' * cant,' ' formulas,' * speciosities,' * quacks,' * incarnate falsehoods.' They made no dis- tinction between things which God had de- signed for good (and man only had rendered useless) and things which God himself would reprobate and destroy. Animation was sus- pended ; they mistook it for death, and killed the patient because he had fainted. • • * • A church, with its rites and ceremonies, is the outward form of an inward religious faith. So fLxed prayers are forms of devotion — cere- monies of society are forms of natural benev- olence — conventional habits of language are forms of internal thought. For man is made of soul and body, of the spiritual and the material, of the invisible and the visible ; and the two cannot be separated without ultimate destruction to both." — London Quar. Rev. ; September, 1840. "It is hardly necessary to attempt to de- scribe the sufferings that the Catholics had to endure during this murderous reign. No tongue, no pen is adequate to the task. To hear mass, to harbour a priest, to admit the supremacy of the pope, to deny this horrid virago's spiritual supremacy, and many other j things, which an honourable Catholic could A. D. 1608.] SECOND DIVISION. 251 scarcely avoid, consigned him to the scaffold and to the bowel-ripping knife. But, the most cruel of her acts, even more cruel than her butcheries, because of far more extensive effect, and far more productive of suffering in the end, were the penal laws inflicting fines for recusancy, that is to say, for not going to her new-fangled Protestant church. And, was there ever t3rranny equal to this ? Not only were men to be punished for not con- fessing that the new religion was the true one ; not only for continuing to practise the religion in which they and their fathers and children had been bom and bred ; but also punished for not actually going to the new assemblages, and there performing what they must, if they were sincere, necessarily deem an act of open apostacy and blasphemy ! Never, in the whole world, was there heard of before tyranny equal to this." — Cobbett. " The most important part, however, of the present inquiry is that which regards the slate of religion and morality during the mid- dle ages. You, sir, with most modern wri- ters, represent these as sunk into superstition and vice, and you argue as if they were ex- tinct, and no longer to be found upon the earth, until they were revived by the agency of such reformers as were Luther, Calvin, Henry the Eighth, Cranmer, the Duke of Somerset, and Queen Elizabeth ! The very idea is revolting to persons conversant with the history of the ages in question. ♦ • • • " I grant, however, there was an increasing spirit of irreligion and immorality among dif- ferent nations, and in none more so than our own during a considerable time previous to the Reformation. But the question, sir, is, whether this spirit contributed to produce that event, as a cause which produces its effect, or merely as an occasion, namely, by exciting men of piety and morality to coun- teract it ? In order to decide this question, we cannot make use of a better criterion than that which is laid down in the gospel, namely, to judge the tree by its fruits. If, then, the authors and abettors of the Reformation were found to be the persons most distinguished in each country for their piety and purity of life, or if even a visible amendment in their religious and moral conduct wks the conse- quence of their embracing it ; in a word, if the bulk of the people who went over to this cause were proved to be thereby more ad- dicted to prayer and alms-deeds, more chaste, more temperate, more meek and patient, more submissive to their lawful superiors, and more amenable to the laws of the respective states under which they lived, than they had been while they were Catholics, this will form a strong presumption of their being influenced by motives of religion and genuine refonna- tion in the choice they made, and that this work was truly the work of God. But, if it appear that the Reformation was, in every place where it prevailed, attended with pre- cisely the opposite consequences, I shall leave you, sir, to draw the conclusion." — J. MiLNEB, to J. StURGES. "After Desmond's death, and the entire suppression of his rebellion, unheard of cru- elties were committed on the provincials of Munster (his supposed former adherents) by the English commanders. Great companies of these provincials, men, women, and chil- dren, were often forced into castles and other houses, which were then set on fire. And if any of them attempted to escape from the flames, they were shot or stabbed by the sol- diers who guarded them. It was a diversion to these monsters of men to take up infants on the point of their spears, and whirl them about in their agony ; apologizing for their cruelty by saying, that * if they suffered them to live to grow up, they would become popish rebels.' Many of their women were found hanging on trees, with their children at their breasts, strangled with the mother's hair." — P. Lombard. " The successes of the English in Munster were very rapid, in consequence of the divi- sions that prevailed in that province. A divided kingdom must fall. Some of their chiefs had already embraced the reformed religion through interest and an ambition to please Elizabeth ; the rest wished to remain attached to the Catholic church. Among the latter, however, were some political tempori- zers who would run no risk, and whose prin- ciple was to accommodate themselves to the 952 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1603. times. The English government omitted nothing to excite disunion : they strove to reduce the Irish to the most abject wretched- ness, by destroying their flocks, and the crops necessary for their support ; and also by drawing out of Ireland all its gold and silver, and sending from England in lieu of it a new <;opper coin which would not pass in any other country, and which soon lost its value there." — Mac-Geoghegan. , " The officers of the Irish government were eager to enrich themselves by new confisca- tions, and threw every obstacle in the way of an equitable adjustment. The Earl of Ty- rone's judicious question, in fact, showed that a reconcilement was scarcely possible. * Though,' said O'Neill, * I might safely make peace with men of honour, like Norris and Russell, what security have I for the charac- ter and conduct of tlieir successors V " The little progress made by Norris in sub- duing the Irish, created equal disappointment and displeasure in England. The statesmen of Elizabeth's court made no allowances for the difficulties of a country where a defensible military position may be found at every mile ; where morasses and forests, and rocks and mountains, baffled the valour and discipline of the invaders." — Taylor. " The Leinster rebels, by driving the roy- alists into their fortified towns, and living long without molestation, had cultivated their lands, and established an unusual regularity and plenty in their districts. But now they were exposed to the most rueful havoc from the Queen's forces. The soldiers, encouraged by the example of their officers, everywhere cut down the standing corn with their swords, and devised every means to deprive the wretched inhabitants of all the necessaries of life ! Famine was judged the speediest and most effectual means of reducing them ; and therefore the Deputy was secretly not dis- pleased with the devastations made even in the well-affected quarters by the improvident fury of the rebels. " The like melancholy expedient was prac- tised in the northern provinces. The Gov- ernor of Carrickfergus, Sir Arthur Chiches- ter, issued from his quarters, and for twenty miles round, reduced the country to a desert. Sir Samuel Bagnal, the Governor of Newry, proceeded with the same severity, and laid waste all the adjacent lands. All the Eng- lish garrisons were daily employed in pillag- ing and wasting ; while Tyrone, with his dispirited party, shrunk gradually within nar- rower bounds. They were effectually pre- vented from sowing and cultivating their lands." — Leland. " The famished, harassed people, in the midst of blood and flame, naturally became alive to every feeling and susceptible to every argument which could show the way to even a prospect of alleviation. Their chiefs and their clergy were their only instructors, who, in the wild, strong, persuasive language of their country, impressed in glowing figures on the shivering multitude, the excesses of their misery, fired their irritable minds by a distant prospect of deliverance, and harrowed up all the feelings of hatred towards their oppressors which torture and famine had im- planted in their bosoms." — J. Barrington. " The ferocity of soldiers hardened by a life of slaughter, and infuriated against their enemies on the field of battle, will admit of some degree of palliation. But what pallia- tion can be offered for those who sit down calmly and frame projects of extermination by famine, and its concomitant the plague ? Their guilt is of infinitely deeper dye." — M. Carey. " The system of war pursued by Montjoy and Carew was that which had been found so efficacious in destroying the Earl of Des- mond. Bribes were offered to the inferior chiefs for desertion. Rivals were encouraged to assail the claims of those tanists who still adhered to O'Neill. The houses were de- stroyed, the cornfields consumed, fire and famine were once more brought to the aid of slaughter. Carew was more merciless in establishing this cruel system than Montjoy. He was naturally cruel and rapacious, a deliberate encourager of treachery, and not ashamed to avow and defend perfidy and as- sassination. When any of the insurgent lead< ers, broken by calamity, sued for permission to return to his allegiance, Carew granted A. D. 160S.] SECOND DIVISION, 2S$ pardon only on the condition that the offender should prove his new zeal for the royal ser- vice by murdering a friend or relative ; and this detestable practice he vindicates in his writings as wise and sound policy." — Tay- lor. " A remarkable feature attending some of these transactions, which is of very rare oc- currence in history, is, that many of the gov- ernors, deputies, and other officers vested with authority in Ireland, were so lost to every sense of shame, that in various instan- ces, they or their confidential friends or sec- retaries were the heralds of their own infamy, which they bequeathed to posterity with as little concern as if they were recording some glorious acts of heroism." — M. Carey. " It was thought no ill policy to make the Irish draw blood upon one another, whereby their private quarrels might advance the pub- lic service." — Pacata Hibernia. " Sir — Your last letters I haue received, and am exceeding glad to see your constant resolution of returne to subjection, and to leaue the rebellious courses, wherein you haue long persevered : you may rest assured that promises shall bee kept ; and you shall no sooner bring Dermond O'Connor to me aliue or dead, and banish his bownoghs out of the countrie, but that you shall haue your demand satisfied, which I thanke God, I am both able and willing to performe ; beleeue me, you haue no better way to recover your desperate estate, than by this good service which you haue proffered ; and therefore I cannot but commend your judgement, in choosing the same to redeeme your former faults. And I doe the rather beleeue the performance of it, by your late action touch- ing Loghguire, wherein your brother and yourselfe haue well merited ; and as I prom- ised, you shall finde mee so just as no crea- ture living shall ever know, that either of you did assent to the surrender of it ; all your let- ters I haue received, as also the joynt letter, from your brother and your selfe ; I pray loose no time, for delayes in great actions are subject to many dangers. Now that the queenes armie is in the field, you may worke your determination with most securitie, being ready to releeue you upon a dayes warning ; so praying God to assist you in this meritori- ous enterprize, I doe leaue you to his protec> tion, this twentie nineth of May 1600." — Carew's Pretended Letter to James Fitz- Thomas. " This letter was sent to Dermond O'Con- nor, which when time should seme, hee might shew as intercepted by him ; and therefore what he did, was imposed upon him by ne- cessitie, except he would suffer himselfe, vrittingly and willingly to be betraied. • • • " Then Dermond O'Connor layed hold upon James Fitz-Thomas and said, My lord, you are in hand ; In hand, (answered he,) for whom or for what cause ? I haue taken you for O'Neale, saith he ; and I purpose to de- taine you, untill I bee certified of his pleasure ; for yourselfe haue combined with the English, and promised to the president to deliver me, either aliue or dead into his hands ; and for proofe thereof behold, (saith he,) letters which were intercepted, and brought to mee, (under the president's hand,) to confirme the same ; and there withall produced them." — Pacata Hibernia. " Carew descended to still more dishon- ourable practices. One Nugent, a servant of Sir Thomas Norris, had deserted to the rebels, and by the alacrity of his services he acquired their confidence. In a repenting mood he submitted to the President, [Carew,] and to purchase his pardon, promised to de- stroy either the titular earl [of Desmond] or his brother John [Fitz-Thomas.] As a plot was already laid against the former, and as his death could only serve to raise up new competitors for his title, the bravo was di- rected to proceed against John. He seized his opportunity, and attempted to despatch him ; but as his pistol was just levelled, he was seized, condemned to die, and at his exe- cution confessed his design : declaring that many others had sworn to the Lord President to effect what he intended." — Lelakd. "Nugent in his examination ireely con- fessed his whole intent, which was, (as hee then said,) to haue despatched John Fitz- Thomas, and immediately to haue poasted unto the Sugan Earle, to carry the first news S54 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1608. thereof, intending to call him aside, in secret manner to relate him the particulars of his brother's murther, and then to execute as much upon him also : adding, moreover, that although they take away his life, (which he would not intreat them to spare,) yet was their own safetie never the more assured : for there were many others, which himself per- fectly knew to haue solemnly swome unto the president to effect as much as he intended. This confession being sealed with his death, did strike such a fearfuU terrour into the two brethren, that James Fitz-Thomas himselfe afterwards unto the president acknowledged, they never durst lodge together in one place, or even serve at the heads of their troopes, for feare to be shot by some of their own men." — Pacata Hibernia. " A circumstantial account of these most sanguinary insurrections was afterwards pub- lished under the immediate authority of the queen. Though the Pacata Hibernia, as a history, cannot be an impartial one, yet there is a species of horrid candour runs through the pages of that work which gives it alto- gether strong clains to a partial authenticity." J. Barrington. " Detestably base as was the conduct of * good Queen Bess' in the act of murdering her unfortunate cousin, her subsequent hy- pocrisy was still more detestable. She af- fected the deepest sorrow for the act that had been committed, pretended that it had been done against her wish, and had the su- perlative injustice and baseness to imprison her secretary, Davison, for having despatched the warrant for the execution, though she, observe, had signed that warrant, and though, as Whitaker has fully proved, she had reviled Davison for not having despatched it, after she had, in vain, used all the means in her power to induce him to employ assassins to do the deed. She had, by a series of per- fidies and cruelties wholly without a parallel, brought her hapless victim to the block, in that very country to which she had invited her to seek safety ; she had, in the last sad and awful moments of that victim, had the barbarity to refuse her the consolations of a divine of her own communion ; she had pur- sued her with hatred and malice that remained unglutted even when she saw her prostrate under the common hangman, and when she saw the blood gushing from her severed neck ; unsated with the destruction of her body, she, Satan-like, had sought the everlasting de- struction of her soul : and yet, the deed being done, she had the more than Satan-like hy- pocrisy to affect to weep for the untimely end of her * dear cousin ;' and, which was still more diabolical, to make use of her despotic power to crush her humane secretary, under pretence that he had been the cause of the sad catastrophe ! All expressions of detesta- tion and horror fall short of our feelings, and our consolation is, that we are to see her own end ten thousand times more to be dreaded than that of her victim." — Cobbett. " If from Mary's dying scene we turn to that of EHzabeth, where all was sullen and melancholy, deep remorse and fixed despon- dency, we shall have no difficulty in determin- ing, without further proof, which of these ri- val queens laboured under the real guilt of murder. * • • • Collier, speaking of Elizabeth's death, says, * Without pronoun- cing on the cause, it is certain her last scene was dark and disconsolate.' One of her cour- tiers, Robert Gary, Earl of Monmouth, in the memoirs of his own life, cited by Whitaker, gives some particulars of this scene. He says that he found the queen, in her last sick- ness, * seated upon cushions,' where she per- sisted in remaining on the ground * four days and nights at least ;' that he ' used the best words he could to persuade her from this melancholy, but that it was too deeply rooted in her heart to be removed ;' that in her dis- course with him * she fetched not so few as forty or fifty great sighs,' whereas he had * never known her fetch a sigh before, except when the Queen of Scots was beheaded ;* that * she refused all sustenance, or to go to bed, and that she grew worse and worse be- cause she would be so, * * * * * * and refused all remedies.' Camden adds that she called herself a 'miserable forlorn woman,' and exclaimed, * they have put a yoke about my neck ; I have none to trust in ; my con- dition is strangely changed.' The account A. D. 1603.] SECOND DIVISION, 855 of Parsons (in his 'Discussion of Barlow's Answer') which he received from some of EUzabeth's prime courtiers, agrees in the main with those of the authors above quoted in the principal circumstances which they re- late. Nevertheless, he adds the following sin- gular particulars, namely, that the queen told two ladies of the court that as she lay in her bed, at the beginning of her illness, she thought * she saw her own body lean, fearful, and in a li^t fee ;' which circumstance will account for her obstinate refusal to be put any more to bed ; (indeed she said on one occa- sion, that if her attendants knew what she had seen the last time she was in bed they would not ask her to go thither any more ;) that * she cholerickly rated the prelates who came to her, bidding them be packing ;' that 'she seemed to place more confidence in charms and spells than in prayer to God ;' that * she wore a piece of gold in her ruff, by means of which an old woman in Wales was said to have lived to the age of one hundred years ;' that the card called ' the queen of hearts was found nailed to the bottom of her chair,' etc." — J. Milner. " We leave it for the impartial reader to determine whether an advantageous opinion of her general merits can be entertained, or whether the means which she made use of for the attainment of her designs were con- formable to honourable and upright principles. She ended her career in despair ; and God, as if in accordance with human justice, al- lowed her who had caused so much sorrow to others, to die without any real friend to console her last moments." — Mac-Geoghe- GAN. " The wars in Ireland cost Queen Eliza- beth £3,400,000 in ten years, independently of the enormous sacrifice of the lives of her English and Irish subjects. Whereas, had Ireland received the benefit of the English laws, and been allowed to avail herself of her natural advantages, she might at that time have yielded a revenue of probably from fifty to one hundred and fifty thousand pounds annually to the crown of England." — M. Carey. "England, in the reign of Ehzabeth, or when, in addition to her other successes nearer home, she triumphed so signally over the power of Spain by sea and by land, and, more especially, over the so-called * invincible' armada, had, according to Hume, a revenue * much short of £500,000 a-year.' " — J. C. O'Callaghan. " The imperfect subjugation of Ireland cost Elizabeth more than three millions sterling, and an incalculable number of her bravest soldiers. The unfortunate country was re- duced to a desert ; and at least one-halp of THE population PERISHED by famine or the sword. The submission purchased at this tremendous cost could not be sincere or per- manent ; and the system to which Elizabeth trusted for security manifestly increased the perils of her government. To extirpate the ancient nobility, and to divide their estates among the minions of the English and Irish courts, was avowedly the object of several successive administrations ; and in pursuit of that object, the common principles of jus- tice and humanity were flagrantly outraged. The undertakers were, in general, unprinci- pled adventurers, who showed no gratitude to the crown, and no mercy to the country ; they were faithless subjects and cruel mas- ters. The great body of the peasantry hated them as intruders, and despised them as up- starts ; nor was their conduct such as to di- minish either feeling. Situated as Ireland was, the ancient aristocracy might easily have been made the bond of union between the people and the sovereign. Time would have broken up overgrown estates, and the ordi- nary progress of events ameliorated the feu- dad system ; but when the nobles were sacri- ficed to a faction, all the links of society vi'ere broken, and government deprived of the nat- ural means of introducing improvements. An additional danger resulted firom the numbers of the Irish nobility who, when driven into exile, fled to the Continent, and obtained em- ployment in the armies of France and Spain. They never resigned the hope of returning to their country, and recovering in a new struggle the estates of which they had been plundered." — Taylor. "Through all this long persecution the 356 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 160S. conduct of England wore a visor of hypocrisy. It was not the conversion of the Irish it de- sired, but their spoliation, division, and sub- jection. If united in religion, they might unite for their worldly interest, and a means of weakening them by dissension would be lost. The English mission never had the merit of even being honestly fanatical ; it was cold-blooded and crafty. Its conduct was not feebly palliated by the mistaken sincerity of blind zeal, which time might soften and phi- losophy assuage. It had the more terrestrial motives of insatiable rapacity, the appetite for plunder, and the desire of battening on the green pastures of Ireland. This is the eat- ing canker which neither time nor reason ever cures, and which is now as devouring as from the beginning." — W. J. Mac-Neven. " Though the Irish people had been dimin- ished BY NEARLY A MOIETY, and though the entire of Ulster, and a great proportion of the other provinces, were confiscated to her ma- jesty, Elizabeth had not sated the voracity of her rancour. The chiefs had been reduced to beggary, the clergy had been executed, the people slaughtered, their towns destroyed, their castles razed ; yet still she felt that Ire- land was not extinguished. Though under the weight of such an enormous pressure, the chiefs still breathed, but it was the breath of vengeance. The clergy were recruited from inveterate sources ; and even the very names of * England' and ' Reformation' were ren- dered detestable by the savage cruelties of Elizabeth's reformers. " Similar efforts of that determined and indefatigable princess to crush the Irish peo- ple were renewed, resisted, and persevered in during her long reign. Ireland appeared to Elizabeth as a country of Hydras ; every liead she severed produced a number of new enemies. She slaughtered and she burned, but she could not exterminate ; and, at length, she expired, leaving Ireland to her successor, more depopulated, impoverished, desolated, ignorant, and feeble, but in principle more inveterate, and not any more subdued than on the day in which she received its sceptre." J. Barrinoton. " The praises which panegjrists have be- stowed upon Elizabeth, with respect to her pretended wisdom in government, and which have heretofore been implicitly believed by foreigners, are well known to us. It is true that the length of her reign was favourable to great undertakings. She participated large- ly in the formation of the republic of Holland, and was persevering in her efforts to succour the Huguenots in France ; but the civil war which she fomented in Scotland, and the murder of the queen of that country, tarnish- ed the glory of her reign. She gained many advantages over the Spaniards in the war which she carried on against them ; this, however, was a war of plunder, by which a few individuals were enriched, but from which England reaped no soUd advantages. The war in Ireland cost her, for some years, half of her revenues, without her witnessing the Irish people reduced to obedience." — Mac-Geoghegan. "The distinction in great measure ceased between the English and Irish races, or the English by birth and those by blood, and RELIGION was substituted for the rallying word of plunder and massacre. Thus when the Lords of the Pale were to be stripped of their estates, they were driven by the lords- justices into a confederation with the native chiefs, but which jealousies and dissensions among themselves rendered abortive, and they too had to drink the bitter cup even to the dregs." — W. Sampson. "It is the historical fate of patriotism when exerted in advance of general intelli- gence to attract the vengeance of alarmed power, while it receives only the timid assent of hesitating friends. Persecuted on one side, unsustained on the other, the monumen- tal fame of genius alone survives, and like the splendid ruins in the Palmyrene desert, gains a solemn sublimity from the surround- ing desolation. "Must prudence, then, hold patriotism back until all are duly prepared for the exercise of their rights ? until they learn without a preceptor to remedy their wrongs, and to use their strength with advantage, im- aided by the counsel or guidance of a friend ? Tyranny would never blench at redress so k. D. 1603.] SECOND DIVISION 957 long deferred, which no man -could hope to see in his own day. For all good works there must be found fortitude to begin, and the messenger of truth has to preach the way of salvation though martyrdom were in its train. It was not to remain forever unem- ployed that the defensive feelingwhich surges against oppression was planted by Provi- dence in the human heart. We are instru- ments in its hands for purposes we do not see ; but this much we know, that when it permitted the tyrant it ordained the patriot, and that the antagonist powers which pre- serve the health and symmetry of our physi- cal frame are repeated in our intellectual na- ture, and given to repress the growth of moral evil. Whether we fall on serene or stormy days imports every thing to our individual happiness ; but even in our suf- ferings we may be establishing the rights of our country." — ^W. J. Mac-Neven. "It seems as an ordinance of Almighty Providence that man's regeneration, hke his first birth and entrance into life, should be through pangs, and throes, and toil, and suf- fering : for history tells us of no nation that ever yet redeemed itself from long and heavy bondage, but through the sufferings of devo- ted victims. Some boldly perish in the first assault ; others who follow pass over them to success, and enter in the breach, and share in the rejoicings of the hard-won vic- tory. But the brave who led and fell will be cherished in memory by every honest patriot whose heart is capable of expanding beyond the envious and narrow sphere of self. And when some future day of trial comes — when all is to be won or to be lost — voices which the rude executioner had silenced may, when under better auspices invoked, arise from out the tomb, and marshalling together the living and the dead, rally all friends of free- dom to her glorious standard. If that day should come when civil and religious strifes shall cease, and all that is good shall follow as it must, happy the time-worn patriot who shall see that consummation to which his very being was devoted : then may he raise his grateful eyes and voice to heaven, and lay him down in peace to take his rest." — W. Sampson. 33 CHAPTER XXV. Accession of James the First — Administration of Chichester — Guy Fawkes and grunpowder ; imi- teted in Ireland — Flight of O'Neill and O'Donnel — Campaign of'Sir Cahir O'Dogherty — Seizure of six counties in Ulster — Lessons in the art of con- ferring civilization with an immediate profit — Creation of boroughs and baronetage — Shameful treatment of conscientious jurors — Appointment of the " Commission for the Discovery of Defect- ive Titles" — Designs upon Connauglit — Character of James — Authorities illustrating the acts and spirit of his reign. The extended details in the four preceding chapters, with their accompanying authorities, were considered requisite to render the stu- dent familiar with Irish events during the reign of Elizabeth. These, well established in the memory, will easily explain much of the subsequent narrative, and supersede the necessity of so much chronological detail, leaving us more at liberty to improve the general view. An appendix is yet required- to each chapter throughout the remainder of the second division ; after which, the reader will fiind the subject much simplified, and the narrative more comprehensive and flowing. James the First of England was the sixth James of Scotland, and inherited the throne of England as descendant of Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry the Seventh. James was son of Mary Stuart, beheaded under Eliza- beth : Mary's father, James the Fifth, was son of James the Fourth, King of Scotland, and Margaret of England above mentioned. The father of James the Sixth was Lord Damley, son of the Earl of Lenox, who was descended from Robert Stuart, a successor of David Bruce, King of Scotland, about the middle of the fourteenth century. The hereditary rights of all the British kings, descended either from the Saxons, Danes, or Normans, were united in the per- son of James. The ancient Irish revered the Milesian blood which ran in his veins, and looked upon him as a prince descended from themselves ; they knew, likewise, that Ed- ward Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, from whom James was descended, had been chosen in the fourteenth century, by their ancestors, to be their sovereign ; it was well known, too, that Edward had been actually crowned King of Ireland. These 358 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1604. circumstances had much more eflfect upon their minds than any right James derived from his English predecessors, who had never been completely acknowledged by the ancient Irish, as is proved by the unanimous evidence of all the varieties of authorities. The modern Irish of course submitted to the full weight of the English claims in James's title to rule over them. Montjoy made some amends for the cruelty exercised under Elizabeth by publishing a proclama- tion of general oblivion and indemnity for all offences committed prior to James's acces- sion : and, subsequently, British " protection" was offered to the whole of the Irish peasantry. Montjoy, having appointed Sir George Carew his deputy, returned to England, accompanied by Hugh O'Neill and Roderic O'Donnel. The king received both the chieftains very graciously. He confirmed O'Neill in his title of Tyrone and all his honours and estates. He revived, in favour of O'Donnel, the dor- mant title of Tyrconnel. The two Irish lords were, however, well aware of the slight im- portance attached to the royal favour in the practical administration of the Irish govern- ment. ' The new lord-lieutenant. Sir Arthur Chi- chester, laboured strenuously to accomplish the great work of introducing the system of English law which his predecessor had be- gun. The customs of tanistry and gavelkind were declared illegal ; the tenures of land modelled after the English form ; the division of the island into counties completed ; and the circuits of the judges designated. Un- fortunately, the good effects of these beneficial measures were more than counterbalanced by the revival of the penal code, which Sir Arthur Chichester administered with a vigour beyond the law. The act of Elizabeth inflicted a pecuniary fine on recusants, but Chichester actually added deprivation of office and im- prisonment. The Catholics of the Pale hum- bly remonstrated against these illegal hard- ships. Chichester, unable to confute their arguments, sent the remonstrants to prison as if they had broken some law. In England, James found himself much embarrassed by the indiscreet pledges he had given to both the Catholic and the Protestant interests during a correspondence which he had kept up with Secretary Cecil before his accession. In 1604, at a conference held in the palace at Hampton Court, for the ostensi- ble purpose of "settling" rehgious differences, James performed the part of principal moun- tebank in the ring of theological disputation. On the Puritans applying to have the act re- pealed which Elizabeth had passed to prohibit their meetings, (commonly called " prophesy- ings,") James replied, " If what you aim at is Scottish presbytery, as I think it is, I tell you that it agrees as well with monarchy as the devil with God. There Jack, and Tom, and Will, and Dick, shall meet and censure me and my council. Therefore I reiterate my former speech ; the king s'avisera. Stay, I pray you, for seven years before you de- mand again, and then, if I be grown pursy and fat, I may, perchance, hearken to you, for that sort of government would keep me in breath and give me work enough !" This language left the Puritans without much hope from James. The Catholics were also warm- ly excited by what they considered a treacher- ous departure from his promises before he left Scotland. The existence of such feelings among the people rendered the occurrence or manufac- ture of plots easily available to a man like Cecil, who had just been promoted to the title of Earl of Salisbury expressly as a re- ward for his meanness and mischief-making management. Accordingly, the early part of James's reign is signalized in English history by several " plots," the two most prominent of which are commonly known as the " Ara- bella Stuart conspiracy," and " Gunpowder Treason." The Irish privy-council felt, or pretended, great alarm when they received the news of the danger to which the king had been exposed in London. With much jnore reason the Catholic lords were filled with consternation ; for the crime was unhesita- tingly ascribed to all the professors of their religion. In order that the English fashions might be followed in Ireland, a letter was " picked up" in the council chamber at Dublin, darkly A. D. 1608.] SECOND DIVISION. 359 hinting that there was a plot formed by the Irish CathoUc lords against the state. No names were mentioned, no particulars given ; and yet the local government at once fixed upon the earls of Tyrone and T)n:connel as the agents of this pretended conspiracy. Both these lords were certainly among the discon- tented. They knew that they were viewed with jealousy and hostility by the officers of state ; and they were conscious that they had frequently, in convivial conversation, uttered sentiments which might easily be distorted into proofs of disaffection . They had learned, by bitter experience, in a former reign, that the Irish government was not very scrupulous in the use of means for increasing confisca- tions ; and as they were wholly unprepared for resistance, they fled to the continent, pre- ferring religious freedom to worldly posses- sions. This movement of the unfortunate noble- men was exactly what their adversaries de- sired, and gave a colour to the arbitrary pro- ceedings instituted against them. James had always maintained that the Irish resistance to the English power was a justifiable political position, and, before his accession, had many times assisted them. Now, his sentiments were quite changed. He could see nothing but treason in every public act of the Irish people. The flight of Tyrone and Tyrcon- nel was construed as rebellion, and they were immediately proclaimed rebels ; and not only their individual estates, but six whole coun- ties in the province of Ulster, were confis- cated for the benefit of the crown, without examination or trial. These counties were divided between several English and Scottish Protestants, under such regulations as were obviously intended to produce ruin both to the Irish people and their religion. James af- fected great liberality while bestowing among his favourites the lands which had belong- ed, during many centuries, to the O'Neills, O'Donnels, Maguires, Mac-Mahons, O'Reil- lys, O'Doghartys, O'Cahans, O'Hanlons, Mac-Canns, Mac-Sweenys, O'Boyles, Mac- Bradys, Mac-Cafirys, O'Flannegans, O'Hag- hertys, and several other ancient nobles of were inflicted, and the other penalties that were enacted against Catholics, it was spe- cifically inserted in the patents, that no por- tion of these lands should be sold, transferred, or farmed, except to and by Protestants ex- clusively. Such laws and such conduct would certainly operate like a curse upon any religion. When the news arrived that Tyrone and Tyrconnel were in France, the English am- bassador at that court was instructed to de- mand of Henry the Fourth that these fugi- tives should be sent back to the king his master. The French king, however, mag- nanimously replied, that it was beneath the dignity of a monarch to arrest strangers who seek to save themselves under such circum- stances. Upon this the earls took their departure for Flanders, where they were received with distinction by Albert and Eliz- abeth, who governed the Low-Countries. Thence they proceeded to Rome, where the King of Spain provided for their support by pensions proportioned to their rank. As James was as tenacious of his title of head of the church as either of his two illus- trious predecessors, the treatment or rather neglect of the Catholics was carried to an ex- asperating degree. Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, another northern chieftain, being a mere youth of twenty years of age, rashly took up arms against the Dublin government, notwithstand- ing the fate of Tyrone and Tyrconnel. Being the Chief of Inishowen, he probably conjec- tured that his treatment •would be similar, even if he remained passive. He raised what forces he was able in 1608, and attacked by night the city of Deny, which he took, and put the garrison, together with the com- mander, George Palet, to the sword, after setting the Catholics at hberty. He then marched against Culmor, which was a strong castle built on the borders of Lough Foyle. Of this he also became master, and foimd in it twelve pieces of cannon. He put a garri- son into it, and gave the command to Phehm Mac-Davet ; after which he ravaged the lands of the English, over whom he gained several battles, and spread terror through the whole Ulster. Besides the pecuniary fines that i, province. 260 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1609. O'Dogherty kept up the war for about five million of acres. The king, without paying months ; his object was to create a diversion, i any regard to the rights of the actual occu- and occupy the English till the arrival of sue- , pants, determined to settle in these districts cours which were expected from some of the , colonies from England and Scotland, and to continental princes. In the mean time, Win- , drive the inoffensive residents into the woods kel, an English field-marshal, appeared with four thousand men before Culmor, to retake and mountains. To achieve this iniquitous scheme, a most unwarrantable construction it ; Mac-Davet, seeing his own inferiority in ! was given to the Enghsh law of forfeiture, numbers, and being without any hope of aid from O'Dogherty, set fire to the castle. Mac-Davet then sailed with his troops on board two transport vessels, which he loaded which had never contemplated the punish- ment or removal of tenants for the miscon- duct of the lord of the manor. Nevertheless, these proceedings have been eulogized by with corn and other provisions, for Deny, j: some historians as not only showing great He also carried off some of the cannon, and threw the remainder of the stores into the sea. When Winkel found the castle of Cul- mor demolished, he marched against the castle of Beart, with the intention of besieg- ing that also. Mary Preston, the wife of O'Dogherty, and daughter of Viscount Gor- manston, was in the place. A monk who had the temporary command of it surrender- ed the castle on condition of the garrison be- ing spared, and suffered to retire : but the English, regardless of these capitulations, put every man to the sword, except those who had the means of purchasing their lib- erty. The wife of O'Dogherty was sent to her brother tlie viscount, who belonged to the Dubhn faction. The taking of this place was of importance to Winkel ; it served him for a retreat, from which he made incursions upon the districts of Inishowen, spreading desolation everywhere as he passed. As soon as practicable, O'Dogherty gathered all his forces together, and, at the head of fifteen hundred young men, he harassed the English general for some time, and was mostly suc- cessful in skirmishes. But the unfortunate chief soon paid the penalty of his rashness, and his followers then dispersed themselves. His immense estates were added to the for- feitures of the two chieftains who were ab- sent, and subsequently bestowed upon Sir Arthur Chichester, the contriver of the mis- chief. The confiscations now made included the six counties of Tyrconnel, and are called Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Armagh, containing more than half a political wisdom, but that they were based on the principles of justice. The only foundation we can find for the flourishing eulogies ascribed by some writers to the " civilizing" projects of James, appears to consist in a mere idea or supposition that the Irish people were barbarians. This sup- position could only exist where there is almost total ignorance of the history of Ireland. Therefore, if ignorance is barbarism, then all those persons who do really imagine that the Irish, as a nation, were in a barbarous state at any time during the thousand years previous to James's accession, most indubitably prove themselves to be barbarians. This language may appear strong because the words are not usually employed in that direction, but the facts are the same. There is some ex- cuse for the mass of indifferent readers whose minds may have been led away and deceived by the false statements and infer- ences of Hume, but they should reflect that he has done more mischief under a great name than any other historian in the Enghsh language. Mac-Geoghegan has ably and completely refuted every application that can be made of Hume's hypothesis of the bar- barism of the Irish people. It only remains for us, in the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury, to add, that the days of Hume's glory are numbered, and that, in reference to Irish history, his falsehoods are too transparent to require more than a passing notice. That James should endeavour to make out a good case for himself need not cause any surprise. Thief-craft and king-craft are an- cient companions, and James's continual A. D. 1610.] SECOND DIVISION. 361 want of money kept him as " hard up" as a highwayman's horse. The intelhgent in- quirer will easily perceive the real merits and origin of this "plantation" business, after reading the following cogent reasoning of the learned and amiable Curry : — " The king himself was so apprehensive that this aflfair of the earls * might blemish' (as he expresses it, in a proclamation on that occasion) ' the reputation of that friendship which ought to be mutually observed between him and other princes, that he thought it not amiss to publish some such matter, by way of proclamation, as might better clear men's judgments concerning the same.' At the same time solemnly promising * that it should appear to the world as clear as the sun, by evident proof, that the only ground of these earls' departure, was the private knowledge and inward terror of their own guiltiness.' But, neither in that proclamation, nor in any other authentic instrument, nor in any manner whatever, did his majesty deign, ever after, to enlighten the world, even with the least glimpse of evident proof, that such was the only motive of these earls' departure. And I shall leave it to the decision of every candid reader, whether the non-performance of his majesty's solemn promise be not a better neg- ative proof of the nullity and fiction of this conspiracy of the earls, than the bare non- appearance of a memorial in their vindication can be deemed of its reality."* The indefatigable industry of Matthew Carey enabled him to examine all the best authorities on these "peaceable" transactions, and, although we consider Dr. Curry's argu- ment as quite conclusive, the annexed quota- tion from the " VindicicB Hibernicee" will help to explain the subsequent proceedings : — " However the question of the guilt or in- nocence of the earls may be determined, it does not affect the character of the proceed- ings of King James, after * their fugacy,' as it is quaintly termed by Sir Thomas Phillips. Those proceedings displayed such a flagitious spirit of depredation, such a total disregard of private right and the calls of humanity, such a wanton waste of human happiness, * Hiator. and Crit Rev. of the Civil Wars. and such base hypocrisy, in cloaking it with a regard for the civilization and the eternal happiness of the natives, as can scarcely be exceeded in the history of human injustice, and warrants the most unqualified reproba-' tion. " For, admitting the guilt of the earls to have been fully and completely established, even judicially, they and their accomplices alone ought to have suffered for it. It was a violation of every principle of honour and justice, to involve the innocent with the guilty, — to proscribe indiscriminately the en- tire population of six out of the thirty-two counties contained in the kingdom. This was the course pursued in the plantation of Ulster, of which such erroneous statements have been made in all the histories that em- brace the reign of James the First, with hardly an exception. " By the ' fugacy' of the earls, every man in the six counties was regarded as having at once, ipso facto, forfeited his lands, which became vested in the crown ! to be granted, at the pleasure of the monarch, to whomso- ever, and on whatsoever terms, he judged proper ! " There were three divisions made of the unholy spoils : — " First to ' English and Scots, who are to plant their proportions with English and Scot- tish tenants ;' " Secondly, to ' servitors in Ireland, who may take English or Irish tenants at their choice ;' " Thirdly, to * natives of those counties, who are to be freeholders.' "The largest and fairest portion of the lands was bestowed on the favoured few of the first class ; to the next were bestowed those of the second quality ; and the de- spoiled Irish were planted on those of in- ferior quality. " But a malignant feature of this transac- tion remains behind, — a feature unique in its character. The wretched Irish, victims of a vile scheme of depredation, deprived of their paternal homes, and exiled to the most sterile spots, were barbarously cut off from all chance of ever regaining their possessions ; as the S 362 HISTORY OF IRELAND. f A. D. 1610. undertakers and servitors were bound, under penalty, never to sell to the * mere Irish,' nor to Roman Catholics of any nation : for the dis- posal to persons who did not take the oath of supremacy, and ' conform themselves in re- ligion according to his majesty's laws,' was rigorously prohibited and punished." The next quotation, also from Carey, shows that still worse wickedness " remains behind." Leland, who is one of the greatest eulogists of James, affirms that the Dublin faction destroyed every degree of good that might possibly have sprung from the original plan of the "plantation." There is no evidence that James ever fretted much about it, nor that he even inquired after the welfare of the people whom he so unceremoniously " civil- ized." How much credit is due him or his agents for the intentions of kindness may therefore be easily seen in this extract, which embodies the testimony of both Catholic and Protestant champions : — " The reader is shocked with this detail. He wishes it drawn to a close. He sup- poses he has learned all its odious features, and that it is impossible to add a shade to its deformity. But he is quite mistaken : one of the vilest remains to be stated. The wretch- ed natives, thus plundered, thus defrauded of their patrimonial inheritance, were still further plundered, and defrauded of a large portion of the shabby ' equivalent,' as it was called. In some cases, they did not receive above a half or a third, and in some no part whatever, of what was intended for them by the wretch- ed monarch by wliom the spoliation had been perpetrated. " It is deeply to be regi-etted, and reflects everlasting disgrace on the parties concerned, that the views of James, limited as they were in point of justice to the oppressed Irish, were in a great measure rendered nugatory, and defeated ; and though, as Leland observes, * some, indeed, were allowed to enjoy a small pittance' only of the lands reserved for them by this monarch, he continues to relate that, * others were totally ejected.' And again, * The resentments of the sufferers were in some cases exasperated, by finding their lands transferred to hungry adventurers, who had no services to plead, and sometimes to those who had been rebels and traitors !' " After a careful perusal of the foregoing view of the lawless and predatory means by which James possessed himself of so fair a portion of Ireland, and the atrocious injustice whereby the settlement was regulated, what must be the astonishment, how great the in- dignation, of the candid and upright, to read the deceptions and encomiastic manner in which the affair is blazoned forth by all the historians who have treated on it ! Had James civilized a nation of fierce barbarians, without offering the least violence to their persons, the least injustice to their property — had he framed for them a code of laws wor- thy of the united wisdom of Moses, Lycur- gus, Solon, Minos, Numa Pompilius, and Alfred — had he settled them on lands of his own, and bestowed abundant means of culti- vation, he would not be entitled to higher encomiums than are lavished on acts which, so far as the rights of property are concerned, have far more of the character of Blackbeard the Pirate than of Alfred or WiUiam Penn, and which deserve the severest strains of in- dignant reprobation !" The next thing for James to attend to, in order that he might assert his superiority over common, thieves, was to have this extensive transfer of property secured by legislative enactment ; and for that purpose it was " re- solved" to summon a parliament, for the first time after an interval of twenty-seven years. There was every reason to dread that the government would encounter a vigorous op- position if the members of the lower house were fairly elected ; for the illegal violence of Chichester, his rigorous exclusion of re- cusants from office, and his determination to continue the penalties for refusing to attend the legalized form of worship, had excited universal alarm among the lords of the Pale as well as the native Irish. To provide against this danger James " created" forty boroughs at once, expressly for the Irish market. In the majority of cases, it would have been difficult to discover the town or village which was thus suddenly incorporated. Even those places which had something more A. D. 1613.] SECOND DIVISION than nominal existence received charters full of blunders and inconsistencies, which left the result of the elections to the discretion, honesty, and mercy of the returning officers, who were of course appointed by the govern- ment. The order of baronetage was also instituted by James ; and this title became singularly connected with the plantation of Ulster. The number of baronets was limited to two hun- dred ; and each who received the dignity was forced to pay to the crown a sum sufficient to support thirty men for the space of three years, in order to defend the new settlement. Of course the money was never applied to this purpose, but was wasted in the riotous extravagance of the royal household. While the government was engaged in making these preparations and precautions, the recusants or Irish country party had been equally active, and before the assembling of the new parliament in 1613, made a public entry into Dublin, with numerous trains of attendants and retainers. The upper house consisted of sixteen barons, five viscounts, four earls, and twenty-five spiritual peers. As the new prelates were unanimous in sup- porting the government, and were sustained by a majority of the temporal peers, the in- fluence of the crown in the upper house was irresistible. Parties were more inconveni- ently balanced in the house of commons, and both eagerly embraced the first opportunity of trying their strength in the election of a speaker. The friends of the court proposed the attorney-general. Sir John Davies ; and the country party nominated Sir John Ever- ard, a lawyer of a respectable family, and equally eminent for his ability and integrity. After a long time had been wasted in violent altercation, the government party pressed for an immediate division. It was agreed that the ayes, or supporters of Davies, should go out, and the noes remain. The votes were, for Sir John Davies 127, for Sir John Ever- ard97. The election was not considered decided by this vote, for a scene had been enacted just previously which shows the nature of the opposing influences, and the conscious- ness of the government party that they were in an actual minority. Our American readers will smile and be edified. No sooner had the ayes withdrawn, than the recusants saw the extent of the govern- ment influence, and rashly voted themselves the house of commons by acclamation, unan- imously calling on Sir John Everard to take the chair. When the government party re- turned they were quite surprised and indig- nant at being foiled with one of their own weapons. They attempted to pull Everard from the chair, but failing in this effort, they placed Davies in his lap. This only added to the confusion. A disgraceful tumult fol- lowed, which at last terminated in the retire- ment of the recusants, who protested against the entire constitution and proceedings of the parliament, as being informal and illegal from tlie beginning. It was in the parliament of 1613 that the famous and often-praised " act for the king's majestie's most gracious, general, and free pardon" was passed. It happens, however, to be encumbered with fifty-one exceptions, as follows : — Preamble. — " The king's majestic, most graciously considering the good will and faithful hearts of his most loving subjects, which as at all times, so at this present espe- cially, they having with most dutiful affection showed themselves towards his highness ; and understanding that the same his loving subjects have many and sundry wayes, by the laws and statute of this realm, fallen into the danger of diverse great penalties and for- feytures, is, of his princely and merciful dis- position, most graciously inclined, by his liberal and free pardon, to discharge some part of those great paynes, forfeytures and penalties wherewith his said subjects stand now burdened and charged ; trusting they will be thereby the rather moved and induced, from henceforth, more carefully to observe his highness's laws and statutes, and to con- tinue in their loyal and due obedience to his majestic ; and therefore his majestic is well pleased and contented, that it be enacted by the authority of this present parliament, in manner and form following, (that is to sav,) S64 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1613. that all and every the said subjects, as well spiritual as temporal of this his highness's realm of Ireland, the heyres, successors, ex- ecutors, and administrators of them, and every of them, and all and singular bodies corporate, cities, shires, boroughs, hundreds, baronies, townes, villages, hamlets, and tylhings, and every of them, and the successor and succes- sors of every of them, shall be, by the au- thority of this present parliament, acquitted, pardoned, and released, and discharged against the king's majestic, his heyres and successors, and every of them, of all manner of treasons, felonies, offences, contempts, trespasses, en- tries, wrongs, deceipts, misdemeanours, for- feytures, penalties, and summs of mony, paynes of death, paynes corporal and pecu- niarie, and generally of all other things, causes, quarrels, suites, judgements and exe- cutions, in this present act hereafter not ex- cepted nor foreprized. 1 . " Excepted and alwayes foreprized out of this general and free pardon, all and all manner of high treasons, and other offences committed or done by any person or persons against the king's majestic, and all conspira- cies and confederacies, trayterously had, com- mitted, or done, by any person or persons, against the king's majestie's royal person ; and all manner of levying warre and all re- bellions and insurrections whatsoever had, made, or committed, or done at any time sithence the beginning of his majesty's raigne. 2- " And also excepted all and every man- ner of treasons committed or done, by any person or persons in the parts beyond the seas, or in any other place out of the king's dominions, sithence the beginning of his ma- j jestie's raigne ; and also all suites, punish- ' ments, executions, paynes of death, forfeit- ' ures, and penalties, for, or by reason or occasion of any of the treasons and offences before rehearsed. ! 3. " And also excepted out of this pardon, j all offences of forging and false counterfeyting I the king's majestic his great or privy scale, i or sign manual, or privy signet, or any of the monies current within this realm ; and also all offences of unlawful diminishing of any the said monies, by any wayes or means whatso- ever, contrary to the laws and statutes of this realm at any time sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne : and also all misprisions and concealments of any the high treasons aforesaid : and also all abetting, aiding, com- forting, or procuring of the same offences, or any of the said treasons committed or done sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne. 4. " And also excepted out of this pardon, all manner of voluntary murders, petit trea- sons, and wilful! poisonings, done or com- mitted by any person or persons sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne, and all and every the accessaries to the said offences, or any of them, before the said offences com- mitted. 5. " And also excepted and foreprized out of this general pardon all and every offence of piracy, and robbery done upon the seas, sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne. 6. " And also excepted out of this pardon all burglaries committed or done in any dwell- ing house or houses, and all accessaries to any the said burglaries, before the said bur- glaries committed, within one year before the beginning of this present session of parha- ment. 7. " And also excepted all robberies done upon, or to any man's or woman's person in the highway, or elsewhere, and all and singu- lar accessaries of, or to any such robberies before the said robbery, committed within one year before the first day of this present session of parliament. 8. " And also excepted the felonious steal- ing of any horse, gelding, garron, or mare, and all accessaries thereunto, before the same felony committed, and all judgments and exe- cutions of and for tlie same, within one year next before the beginning of this present ses- sion of parliament. 9. " And also, all wilfull burnings of any dwelling house or houses, o^ any bam or barns, wherein any corn was, committed or done at any time sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne. 10. " And also excepted all rapes and car- nal ravishments of women, and also ravish- ments and wilfull taking away or marrying any maidc, widowc, or damosc], against her A. D. 1613.] SECOND DIVISION. 285 will, or without the assent or agreement of her parents, or such as then had her in cus- todie, committed or done within one year before the beginning of this present session of parliament. And also all offences of ayding, comforting, procuring or abetting of any such ravishment, wilfull taking away or marrying, had, committed, or done. 11. " And also excepted out of this pardon all persons now attainted or outlawed, of or for any treason, petit treason, murder, wilfull poysonings, burglary, or robbery, and all exe- cutions of and for the same. 12. " And also excepted all offences of invocations, conjurations, witchcraft, sorecer- ies, inchantments and charms, and all offences of procuring, abetting, or comforting of the same, and all persons now attainted and con- victed of any of the said offences, at any time sithence the beginning of his majesty's raigne. 13. " And also excepted all and every manner or taking from the king's majestic, of any the goods or chattels, or the issues, rents, revenues or profits of any mannors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, which were of any traytor, murderer, felon, clerke or clerkes attainted, or fugitives, or of any of them. 14. "And also excepted all goods and chattels, in any wise forfeited to the king's majestic by reason of any treason, petit trea- son, murder, or felony heretofore committed or done. 15. " And also excepted all offences of or in making, writing, printing, or pubhshing, or in consenting to the making, veriting, print- ing or publishing, of any false, seditious, or slaunderous book or books, libell or libells, in any wise against the king's majestic, or the present government of this realme, in cases either ecclesiasticall or temporall, or against any person or persons whatsoever. 16. " And also excepted out of this pardon all intmsions, had or made, or done by any person or persons, in or upon any of the mannors, lands, tenements, or other heredita- ments of our said soveraigne lord the king ; and all wastes done, committed or suffered upon any such lands, tenements, or heredita- 34 ments, and the wrongful! taking of any the rents, issues, and profits of the said mannors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of our said sovereigne lord the king, at any time sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne. And also all suites, accounts and impetitions, of and for the same. 17. " And also excepted out of this pardon all alienations of any lands, tenements or hereditaments, without license, and all fines, issues and profits, that may or ought to grow or come to the king's majestic, by reason of any such alienations, without license, at any time sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne. 18. " And also excepted out of this pardon, all wastes committed or done, in any of the king's wards' lands, or in tlie wards' lands of any of the king's counties ; and also all and every fine or fines, for the single and double value of the marriage or marriages of all and every ward or wards, at any time heretofore grown to the king's majestic, sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne. 19. " And also excepted concealed wards, and the lands of such wards concealed, and all liveries and primer seisins and ousterle- mains, that ought to be had, done or sued for the same, sithence the beginning of his ma- jestie's raigne. 20. " And also excepted out of this general pardon all ravishments and wrongful! taking or withholding any the king's ward or wards, lands or rents, and profits of the same, at any time coming or growing to the king's hands, sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne ; and every thing that by reason of any such ward or wards' lands, and for default of suing or prosecuting, of any livery for any such Wcirds' lands ought to come or to be to the king's majestic, and which as yet is not dis- charged. 21. "And also excepted all fines that should or o\ight to grow to the king's ma- jestic, of any his widdows that have married without license, sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne. 22. "And also excepted and foreprized out of this pardon, all such persons as, the last day of this present session of Parliament, 366 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1613. be in prison, within the castle of Dublin, or in the prison of Marshal sie, or otherwise re- strained of liberty by express commandment of the lord deputy, or by the commandment or directions of any his majestie's privy council. 23. " And also excepted out of this pardon all and every such person and persons which at any time sithence the beginning of the king's majestie's raigne, have fled out of this realm of Ireland, or any other the king's do- minions, for any offence of high treason, petit treason, or misprision of treason. 24. " And also excepted all such persons as be gone or fled out of this realm, for any cause contrarie to the laws and statutes of this realm, without the king's majestie's li- cense. 25. " And also excepted all such persons as have obtained and had license to depart this realm, for a certain time, and now do abide out of this realm, without any lawful excuse, after the time of their licenses ex- pired. 26. " And also excepted out of this pardon all and every concealments or vn:ongfull de- tainments of any custom or subsidie due to the king's majestic, sithence the beginning of his majestie's raigne, and all corruptions and misdemeanours of any officer or minister of or concerning any custom or subsidie, and all accompts, impetitions, and suites to be had, made, or done for the same. 27. " And also excepted all and singular accompts of all and every collector and col- lectors of any subsidie, custom, imposition, composition or other thing ; and all accompts of every other person whatsoever that ought to be accomptant to the king's highness, and the heirs, executors, and administrators of every such person that ought to accompt for all thmgs touching only the same accompts ; and all and singular arrearages of accompts, and all untrue accompts, and all petitions, charges, and seisures, suits, demaunds, and executions which may or can be had, of or for any accompts or any arrearages of the same. 28. "And also excepted all titles and actions of quare impedit, and all homages. reliefe and reliefes, heriots, rents, services, rent charges, rent seeks, and the arrearages of the same, not done or paid to the king's highness. 29. " And also excepted all conditions and covenants, and all penalties, titles and forfey- tures of condition or conditions, covenant or covenants, accrued or grown to the king's majestic, by reason of the breach and not performing of any covenants or conditions. 30. "And also excepted all summs of money granted by the king's majestic, or any his noble progenitors ; and all concealments, fraudes and offences by which his majesty hath been deceived or not truly answered of or for the same. 31 . " And also excepted out of this pardon all debts which were or be due to our sover- aign lord the king, or to the most noble queen Elizabeth, of famous memorie, or to any per- son or persons for or to any of their uses, by any condemnation, recognizance, obligation or otherwise, other than such debts as are due upon any obligation or recognizance for- feyted before the first day of this present session of Parliament, for not appearance in any court or other place whatsoever ; or for not keeping of the peace, or not being of good behaviour, which debts growen and accrued upon these cases, by this free par- don be and shall be freely pardoned and dis- charged. 32. " And also excepted and foreprized out of this pardon all and singular penalties, for- feytures and summs of money, being due and accrued to our soveraign lord the king, by reason of any act, statute, or statutes : which forfeytures, penalties and summs of money be converted into the nature of debts, by any judgment, order or decree, or by the agree- ment of the offendour or offendours, sithence the beginning of the raigne of the late queen EUzabeth. 33. " And also excepted all forfeytures of leases and estates or interests of any leuids, tenements or hereditaments, holden of our soveraign lord the king's majestic by knight service, or in socage, in capite, or otherwise by knight service made in one or several as- surances or leases for any term or terms of A. D. 1613.] SECOND DIVISION. 267 years, whereupon the old and accustomed rent or more is not reserved. 34. " And also excepted, all first fruits at this present being due to be paid to his majes- tic, by force of any act or statute or otherwise. 35. " And also excepted all penalties and forfeytures whereof there is any verdict in any suit given or past for the king's majestic. 36. "And also excepted all forfeytures and other penalties and profits now due, ac- crued and growen, or which shall or may be due, accrued or growing to the king's ma- jestic, by reason of any offence, misdemean- our, contempt, or act or deed, suflfered, had, committed, or done, contrary to any act, statute or statutes, or contrary to the com- mon laws of this realm, and whereof or for the which any action, bill, plaint or informa- tion, at any time within eight years next before the last day of this present session of Parliament, hath been or shall be exhibited, commenced or sued in the courts of Castle Chamber, or in any of the king's majestie's courts at Dublin, and now is, or the said last day of this session of Parliament, shall be there depending, and remaining to be prose- cuted, or whereof the king's majestic, by his bill assigned, hath heretofore made any gift or assignment to any person or persons. 37. " And also excepted out of this general and free pardon all offences, contempts, dis- orders, covins, frauds, deceipts and misde- meanours whatsoever, heretofore committed or done by any person or persons, and where- of or for the which any suit by bill, plaint, or information, at any time within four years next before the last day of this present session of Parliament, is or shall be commenced or exhibited in the Court of Castle Chamber, and shall be there the same last day of this session of Parliament depending, or where- upon any sentence or decree is given or en- tered. 38. " And also excepted out of this pardon all offences of perjuries and subornation of witnesses, and offences of forging jind coun- terfeiting of any false deeds, escriptes or writings ; and all procuring and counselling of any such counterfeiting or forging to be had or made 39. " And also excepted out of this pardon all offences of incest, adultery, fornication and simony, and all such usury for which any interest hath been received or taken since the first day of this present session of Parha- ment : and all misdemeanours and disturban- ces committed or made in any church or chappel, in the time of common prayer, preaching or divine service there used, to the disturbance thereof; and all outlawries and prosecutions upon the same. 40. " And also excepted all offences where- by any person may be charged with the pen- alty and danger of premunire, and of the which offence or offences any person standeth already indicted, or otherwise lawfully con- demned or convicted. 41. "And also excepted all dilapidations for which any suit is, or, before the end of this session of Parliament, shall be, depend- ing. 42. " And also excepted all offences in taking away, imbeyselling, or purloyning any the king's majestie's goods, money, chattels, jewels, armour, munition, ordinance, or other habiliments of warre. 43. " And also excepted out of this pardon all manner of extortions whatsoever. 44. " And also excepted all covins, frauds, deceipts, and other disorders and misdemean- ours whatsoever, heretofore committed or done by any steward of his majestie's man- nours or courts, under sheriffs, or by any officer or minister in any of his highness's courts, in or by reason or colour of any of their offices or places, or any their deputys or clerkes : and all offences of ayding, com- forting, assisting or procuring of any under sheriffe or any such officer, minister, or clerke, in continuing, doing or executing any such extortion, exaction, covin, fraud, deceipt, dis- order or misdemeanour. 45. " And also excepted out of this pardon all issues, fines and amerciaments being totted, levied or received by any sheriffe, under sheriffe, bayliffe, minister or other officer, to or for the king's majestie's use or behoofe, before the last day of this present session of Parliament ; and all issues, fines and amer- ciaments afferred, taxed, estreated or entered 268 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1613. severally or particularly, touching or concern- ing any one person or more persons joyntly or severally, above the sum of six pounds. 46. " And also excepted all issues, fines and amerciaments afferred, taxed, set or en- tered severally or particularly in any court of record at Dublin, at any time silhence the feast of Saint Bartholomew last past ; and yet nevertheless, all other fines, as well finis pro licentia concordandi, as other set taxed, estreated or entered afore the said feast of Saint Bartholomew ; and also all issues and amerciaments as well real as others, within any liberties or without, being set, taxed, estreated or entered afore the said feast of Saint Bartholomew, and which severally or particularly extend to or under the summ of six pounds, and not above, whether they be estreated or not estreated, or whether they be turned into debt or not turned into debt, and not being totted, levied or recovered by any sherifFe, under sherifFe, minister or other officer, to or for the king's majestie's use or behoof, before the last day of this present session of Parlia- ment, shall be freely, clearly and plainly par- doned and discharged against the king's majes- tic, his heyres and successours for ever, by force of this present act of free pardon ; and yet nevertheless, all estreats of such fines, issues and amerciaments as be now pardoned by this act, and be already estreated forth of the court of exchequer, and be remaining in the hand of the sherifFe, under sherifFe and bay- lifFe for collecting of the same fines, issues and amerciaments, shall, upon the return of the same estreats, be orderly charged and delivered by scrowls into the office of the pipe in the court of exchequer, as heretofore has been accustomed, to the intent that there- upon order may be taken that his majestie may be truly answered in all such fines, issues and amercieiments not by this act par- doned, and which any sherifFe, under sherifFe, baylifFe, or other officer or minister hath re- ceived or ought to answer for by force or colour of any such estreat, processe or precept to him or them made for the levying thereof : and yet notwithstanding all and every sherifFe and sherifFes and other accomptants, upon his or their petition or petitions, to be made for the allowance of any such fines, issues and amerciaments as, by this act pardoned, shall have all and every such his and their petition allowed in his or their accompt and accompts, without paying any fee or reward to any offi- cer, clerk or other minister, for the making, entering or allowing of any such petition or petitions, any usage or custome to the con- trary notwithstanding. 47. " And also excepted out of this pardon all goods, chattels, debts, actions and suits already forfeited, or whereof any right or title is accrued and growen to the king's majestie by reason of any outlawry, and whereof the king's majestie, by his highness's letters pa- tent, hath, before the last day of this present session of Parliament, made any grant, cove- nant or proviso to any person or persons. 48. " And also excepted out of this pardon all such persons as be and remain still at- tainted or condemned, and not already par- doned, of or for any rebellion or levying of warre, of or for any conspiracy of any rebel- lion or levying of warre, within this realm, or in any other the king's dominions. 49. " And also excepted all false forging and counterfeiting of any untrue certificates. 50. " And also excepted all false forging and counterfeiting of any commission or com- missions to inquire of any lands, tenements or hereditaments : or return of any commis- sion or commissions obtained or gotten of any court or courts to inquire of any lands, tene- ments or other things whatsoever; and all and all manner of falsifying of any particular, or of any bill or bills signed by his majestie after the ingrossing thereof, and before the passing of the same unto the great seal. 51. "Provided also, and be it enacted by the authority of this present Parliament, that this act of general pardon shall not in any wise extend to any person outlawed upon any writ of capias ad satisfaciendum, until such time as the person so outlawed shall satisfie, or otherwise agree with the party at whose suit the same person was so outlawed or con- demned."* After reading this singular document, we may safely pronounce that the passage of » Irish Stat A. D. 1613.] SECOND DIVISION. 269 such an act by King James was a fatherly and princely action, with " fifty-one excep- tions," of course. We give it as a curious specimen of the legislation of those days, and for its frequent use of the word " all" in the exceptions. To properly understand the comprehensiveness of these exceptions, the state of the country at the commencement of the session should be explained. This will be easily perceived on perusing the following speech by Sir John Davies. It appears that the people of Ulster made one more legal effort to obtain justice by sending a present- ment to the crown, to the effect that " they had an estate of inheritance in their posses- sions, which their chiefs could not forfeit." Sir John had to plead against them, by virtue of his oflSce, and this is his own report : — " The inhabitants of this country do border upon the English Pale, where they have many acquaintances and alliances ; by means whereof they have learned to talk of a free- hold and of estates of inheritance, which the poor natives of Fermanagh and Tyrconnel could not speak of; although these men had no other nor better estate than they ; that is, only a scambling and transitory possession, at the pleasure of the chief of every sept. "When the proclamation was published touching their removal, (which was done in the public Sessions-House, the lord deputy and commissioners being present,) a lawyer of the Pale, retained by them, did endeavour to maintain that they had estates of inherit- ance in their possessions, which their chief lords could not forfeit ; and therefore, in their name, desired two things ; first, that they might be admitted to traverse the offices which had been found of those lands ; sec- ondly, that they might have the benefit of a proclamation made about five years since, whereby the persons, lands, and goods, of all his majesty's subjects, were taken into his royal protection. " To this the king's attorney, being com- manded by the lord deputy, made answer : That he was glad that this occasion was of- fered, of declaring and setting forth his ma- jesty's just title ; as well for his majesty's honour, (who, being the most just prince living, would not dispossess the meanest of his subjects wrongfully, to gain many such kingdoms,) as for the satisfaction of the na- tives themselves, and of all the world ; for his majesty's right, it shall appear, said he, that his majesty may and ought to dispose of these lands, in such manner as he hath done, and is about to do, in law, in conscience, and in honour. " In law ; whether the case be to be ruled by our law of England, which is in force, or by their own Brehon law, which is abolished, and adjudged no law, but a lewd custom. " It is our rule in our law, that the king is lord paramount of all the land in the king- dom, and that all his subjects hold their pos- sessions of him, mediate or immediate. " It is another rule of our law, that where the tenant's estate doth fail and determine, the lord, of whom the land is holden, may enter and dispose thereof at his pleasure. " Then those lands in the county of Cavan, which was O'Rilie's country, are all holden of the king ; and because the captainship or chiefrey of O'Rilie is abolished by act of Parliament, by stat. 2, of Elizabeth ; and also because two of the chief lords elected by the country have ,been lately slain in rebel- lion, (which is an attainder in law,) these lands are holden immediately of his majesty. " If then the king's majesty be immediate chief lord of these lands, let us see what estates the tenants or possessors have, by the rules of the common law of England. " Either they have an estate of inheritance or a lesser estate : a lesser estate they do not claim ; or if they did, they ought to show the creation thereof, which they carmot do. "If they have an estate of inheritance, their lands ought to descend to a certain heir; but neither their chiefiries nor their tenancies did ever descend to a certain heir ; therefore they have no estate of inheritance. "Their chiefries were ever carried in a course of tannistry to the eldest and strong- est of the sept, who held the same during life, if he were not ejected by a stronger. " This estate of the chieftain or tannist hath been lately adjudged no estate in law ; but only a transitory and scambling possession. 370 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1613. "Their inferior tenancies did run in another course, like the old gavelkind in Wales, where the bastards had their portions, as well as the legitimate ; which portion they held not in perpetuity ; but the chief of the sept did once in two or three years shuf- fle and change their possessions, by new par- titions and divisions ; which made their es- tates so uncertain, as that by opinion of all the judges in this kingdom, this pretended cus- tom of gavelkind is adjudged and declared void in law. "And as these men had no certain estates of inheritance, so did they never till now claim any such estate, nor conceive that their lawful heirs should inlierit the land which they possessed ; which is manifest by two arguments. "1. They never esteemed lawful matri- mony, to the end they might have lawful heirs. "2. They never did build any houses, nor plant orchards or gardens, nor take any care of their posterities. "If these men had no estates in law, either in their mean chiefries or in their infe- rior tenancies, it foUoweth that if his majesty, who is the undoubted lord paramount, do seize and dispose these lands, they can make no title against his majesty or his patentees, and consequently cannot be admitted to tra- verse any office of those lands ; for without showing a title, no man can be admitted to traverse an office. "Thus then it appears, that as well by the Irish custom as the law of England, his majesty may, at his pleasure, seize these lands, and dispose thereof. The only scru- ple which remains, consists in this point ; whether the king may, in conscience or hon- our, remove the ancient tenants, and bring in strangers among them. " Truly his majesty may not only take this course lavdully, but is boimd in conscience so to do. "For, being the undoubted rightful king of this realm, so as the people and land are committed by the Divine Majesty to his charge and government, his majesty is bound in conscience to use all lawful and just cour- ses to reduce his people from barbarism to civility ; the neglect whereof heretofore hath been laid as an imputation upon the crown of England. Now civility cannot possibly be planted among them but by this mixed plantation of civil men, which likewise could not be without removal and transplantation of some of the natives, and settling of their possessions in a course of common law ; for if themselves were suffered to possess the whole country, as their septs have done for many hundreds of years past, they would never, to the end of the world, build houses, make townships or villages, or manure or improve the land as it ought to be ; therefore it stands neither with Christian policy nor conscience, to suffer so good and fruitful a country to lie waste like a wilderness, when his majesty may lawfully dispose it to such persons as will make a civil plantation there- upon. "Again : his majesty may take this course in conscience ; because it tendeth to the good of the inhabitants many ways ; for half their land doth now lie waste : by reason whereof that which is inhabited is not im- proved to half the value ; but when the \m- dertakers are planted among them, (there being place and scope enough both for them and for the natives,) and that all the land shall be fully stocked and manured, five hundred acres will be of better value than five thousand are now. Besides, where be- fore their estates were altogether uncertain and transitory, so as their heirs did never inherit, they shall now have certain estates of inheritance, the portion allotted unto them, which they and their children after them shall enjoy with security. " Lastly, this transplantation of the natives is made by his majesty, rather like a father than like a lord or monarch. The Romans transplanted whole nations out of Germany into France ; the Spaniards lately removed all the Moors cut of Grenada into Barbary, without providing them any new seats there : when the English Pale was first planted, all the natives were clearly expelled, so as not one Irish family had so much as an acre of freehold in all the five counties of the Pale ; A. D. 1616.] SECOND DIVISION. S71 and now, within these four years past, the Graemes were removed from the borders of Scotland to this kingdom, and had not one foot of land allotted to them here ; but these natives of Cavan have competent portions of land assigned to them, many of them in the same barony where they dwelt before : and such as are removed, are planted in the same county ; so as his majesty doth in this imitate the skilful husbandman, who doth remove his fruit trees, not with a purpose to extirpate and destroy them, but that they may bring better and sweeter fruit after the transplantation ." As Daniel O'Connell is something of a lawyer as well as an historian, we have taken the benefit of his opinion on this case, and find it thus recorded : — " It is curious that the only title that James could have had to the six counties in Ulster, was the forfeiture arising from the attainder, for flight, of Tyrone and Tyrconnell. And yet his proclamation states that they had no title whatever to the possessions thus for- feited ! If they had no title, their attainder could never have transferred a title to the king. This was a blunder just suited to the capacity of such a Solomon as James the First. But he was not guilty of the practical blunder of taking his own proclamation to be true, and admitting in practice that the at- tainted O'Neill and O'Donnell had had no title to their lands. » ♦ ♦ • " There is a melancholy amusement in seeing the manner in which Davies gravely acquits the king's' conscience from the robbe- ry, by proving that the Irish were all the bet- ter for being robbed ! a mode of reasoning which he certainly would prefer to have prac- tically applied to any other person than to himself." As James had created fourteen peers for the purpose of canying on his plans in defi- ance of all probable opposition, the recusant lords in the upper house resolved to follow the example of the house of conunons. A convention of all who had withdrawn was formed, and a deputation chosen to present a remonstrance to the king. The lord-Heu ten- ant, on the other hand, sent over the Earl of Thomond, the chief-justice of the King's Bench, and the lord-treasurer, to defend the Dublin government. Both parties were heard before the king in council ; and James very profoundly decided in favour of his own ser- vants. He also edified the remonstrants with a lecture on the paternal kindness of his gov- ernment, in his own peculiar style of elo« quence ; and ended with threats of punish- ment for their tate hardihood, and cheap prom- ises of favour if they should make atonement by future submission and silence. The gloom of James's mind, which had been produced by the death of his son. Prince Henry, in the previous year, was now giving way to more kingly and agreeable contempla- tions. In addition to the " happy results" of his policy in Ireland, James occupied himself with many pleasing calculations on the mar- riage of his daughter, the Princess Ehzabeth, to Frederic, the elector-palatine, which also took place in 1613. This year appeared to be the turning point in the reign of James, for the expenses and extravagance which pre- vailed in his court soon rendered him reckless and desperate in the measures he adopted for recruiting his funds. The cost of entertain- ing his son-in-law far exceeded any sum he ever laid out for any warlike enterprise to increase the glory or renown of England. Besides his children, James had two pet favourites, Robert Carre, (Earl of Roches- ter,) and George Villiers, (Duke of Bucking- ham.) These people hung around his move- ments vnth. a tribe of guzzling relations ; and their vulgar debauchery and murderous crimes were continually aided by the presence of ladies who advocated the largest liberty in morals as well as rehgion. In 1616, James was so much in need of money that he undid what Elizabeth had made great exertions to secure. It appears that when Elizabeth aided the infant states of Holland against the power of Spain, she had the important towns of Flushing, the Brille, and Rammekins placed in her hands as pledges for the repayment of the money to England. Various payments had been made, reducing the debt to £600,000, which sum the Dutch were under agreement to pay to James at the rate of £40,000 per 272 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1618. annum. This annual sum would doubtless have been of vast service to the king — but £26,000 per annum were expended in main- taining his garrisons in the cautionary or mortgaged towns. Only £14,000 remained clear to England, and even that would cease in the event of new warfare between Holland and Spain. Considering these things, and being pressed on all sides for money to satisfy just demands and the incessant cravings of his favourites and the court, the king gladly agreed to surrender the cautionary towns on the immediate payment by the Dutch of jC250,000. The shrewd government of the .new republic of Holland produced the cash, and closed the business very quickly. During the popular excitement at the time of the marriage of James's daughter, in 1613, the Dublin government succeeded in obtain- ing the majorities they desired in the Irish parliament, and, towards the close of the ses- sion, the rival factions appear to have rivalled each other in their endeavours to please the king. Three years afterwards, as we have shown, James was compelled to make a most inglorious movement for the sake of some cash. In the same year, 1616, (all the in- genuity of the Dublin government in the manufacture of plots having been exhausted,) authority was given for the establishment of a " Commission for the Discovery of Defec- tive Titles," at the head of which was placed Sir William Parsons, a man who might be relied upon to execute any meanness which craft and crime could instigate. This engine of oppression was let loose among the Irish people, and its operations in Ireland form the staple of Irish history during the remainder of this reign, and a prominent portion of that of Charles the First. These operations can be explained by one illustrative case. We find one, admirably condensed and judiciously related by Taylor, as follows : — " Bryan and Turlogh Byrne were the right- ful owners of a tract in Leinster, called the Ranelaghs. Its vicinity to the capital made it a desirable plunder ; and accordingly Par- sons, Lord Esmond, and some others deter- mined that it should be forfeited. The Byrnes, however, had powerful interest in England, and obtained a patent grant of their lands from the king. Parsons and Esmond were not to be disappointed so easily. They flatly refused to pass thp royal grant; and deeming the destruction of the Byrnes neces- sary to their safety, they had them arrested on a charge of treason. The witnesses pro- vided to support the charge were Duffe, whom Turlogh Byrne, as a justice of the peace, had sent to prison for cow-stealing, Mac-Art and Mac-Griffin, two notorious thieves, and a farmer named Archer. This last long re- sisted the attempts to force him to become a perjured witness ; and his obstinacy was punished by the most horrible tortures. He was burned in the fleshy parts of the body with hot irons ; placed on a gridiron over a charcoal fire ; and, finally, flogged until na- ture could support him no longer, and he promised to swear any thing that the com- missioners pleased. Bills of indictment were presented to two successive grand-juries in the county of Carlow, and at once ignored, as the suborned witnesses were unworthy of credit, and contradicted themselves and each other. For this opposition to the will of gov- ernment, the jurors were summoned to the star-chamber in Dublin, and heavily fined. The witnesses Mac-Art and Mac-Griffin, be- ing no longer useful, were given up to the vengeance of the law. They were hanged for robbery at Kilkenny ; and with their dy- ing breath declared the innocence of the Byrnes. " The ingenuity of Parsons and his accom- plices was not yet exhausted. The Byrnes presented themselves before the court of King's Bench in Dublin, to answer any charge that might be brought against them. No prosecutor appeared, and yet the chief- justice refused to grant their discharge. During two years, repeated orders were transmitted from England, directing that the Byrnes should be freed from further process, and restored to their estates ; but the faction in the Castle evaded and disobeyed every mandate. At length, on learning that the Duke of Richmond (the generous patron of the persecuted Irishmen) was dead, it was determined by Parsons to complete the de- -•^•.«« ^ w ^ 'i>- •^^ !.«. .^ _ ''LiLSii-sjii^i^li ,„^-^ mif^mfmm..\\ nii|piPWPP'<*'Q^:9P> ' " I ^. Jik ■-»^5S»Sw*~~ A.D. 1680.] SECOND DIVISION. 27» struction of the victims. He had before been baffled by the integrity of a grand-jury ; on this occasion he took proper precautions to prevent a similar disappointment. The bills were sent before the grand-jurors of Wick- low, the majority of whom had obtained grants of the Byrne property, and all were intimately connected with the prosecutors. The evi- dence placed before this impartial body was the depositions of four criminals, who were pardoned on condition of giving evidence ; but even these wretches were not brought in person before the jury. Their depositions were taken in Irish by one of the prosecutors, and translated by one of his creatures. These suspicious documents, however, proved suf- ficient, and the bills were found. " To procure additional evidence, it was necessary to use expedients still more atro- cious. A number of persons were seized, and subjected to the mockery of trial by mar- tial law, though the regular courts were sitting. The most horrid tortures were inflicted on those who refused to accuse the Byrnes ; and some of the most obstinate were punished with death. But the firmness of the victims presented obstacles which were not overcome before some virtuous Englishmen represented the affair so strongly to the king that he was shamed into interference. He sent over com- missioners from England to investigate the entire affair. The Byrnes were brought be- fore them, and honourably acquitted. Their lives were thus saved ; but Parsons had pre- viously contrived to obtain a great portion of their estates by patent, and was permitted to keep them undisturbed. "This narrative, which has been rather softened in its horrible details, may appeeir to many too shocking to be believed ; but all the documents connected with it are still preserved in the library of the Dublin University, and it is circumstantially related by Carte, an his- torian remarkable for his hostility to the Irish." ~ The horrible proceedings of the previous reign had broken up all the usual means of social happiness and security. Deeds and documents relating to property were eitlier lost or destroyed ; contracts left unperformed ; 35 and every opportunity offered for evil passions to take advantage of unintentional negligence. This state of affairs made the introduction of a new class of informers, called " discover- ers," an easy and profitable speculation. As an evidence of the " fatherly spirit" which the admirers of James have so often paraded, without any further proof than his regard for his own family, we find the estab- lishment of another new tribunal of business- justice, called the " Court of Wards." The extensive operations of the " discoverers" we have mentioned appear to have rendered some such convenient court requisite to dis- pose of the rising generation " to the highest bidder." Carey has given the following truth- ful description : — " A very large portion of the exercise of the energies, the talents, and the industry of mankind, results from that holy regard to off"- spring which pervades all animated nature, not excepting the most ferocious tenants of the woods. It is among the most powerful of the impelling motives of man and beast ; and is wisely implanted by our Creator for the best purposes. Men of genuine parental feelings labour, with at least as much zeal, to secure independence and happiness for their offspring, as for their ovm proper advantage. But, as if nothing holy or sacred could es- cape the violence and virulence of the Irish administration, in its dire hostility to the Ro- man Catholics, an attempt was made to cut up by the roots this inherent and instinctive principle, by the establishment of the court, of wards, whereby the heirs of the Irish no- bility and gentry were, on the decease of their parents, placed under the care of some court-parasite, or person who bribed the ad- ministration, and thus purchased the guardian- ship. Lord Orrery remarks, that the objec- tions to the court of wards were, that ' no man would labour for a child, who, for aught he knows, may be sold like cattle in the mar- ket, even to those who will give most : for,' adds he, * such abuses have been too often committed by those who have enjoyed the bounties of the king.'* This statement from Lord Orrery, of the situation of the children * Orrery's State Letters. 874 HISTOKY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1620. of the Roman Catholics, who were * sold in the market' to the highest bidder, deserves the most marked attention ; and coming from the pen of a most rancorous enemy, establishes this point beyond controversy, and exhibits a species of oppression of which probably the world has beheld few examples. " Independent of the education of the heirs, the court of wards had a control over their marriage, of which they made a most iniqui- tous use; and frequently degraded and dishon- oured them, by selling them to persons wholly unsuitable in point of character and family. "In the Trim Remonstrance, [1642,] the Roman Catholics make the most severe com- plaints against the exactions, injustice, and oppression of this court, whereby ' the heirs of Cathohc noblemen and other Catholics were most cruelly and tyrannically dealt withal, destroyed in their estates, and bred in dissoluteness and ignorance.' " The ostensible object of this iniquitous and oppressive court was, to educate the heirs of the great Catholic families in the Protestant religion, and thus * prevent the growth of popery ;' and their efforts to accomplish this grand object, reconciled the zealots of that period to the infraction and ruin of the un- happy objects of their care. "In addition to the intrinsic injustice and oppression of this court, it was entirely ille- gal and unconstitutional — no law having ever been passed to sanction it — and it having been wholly unknown in Ireland, till the fourteenth year of the reign of James the First, when it was arbitrarily established by a mere act of state, that is, of the privy- council of Ireland. In England, it had been established by law, and under some restric- tions which mitigated its oppression. In Ireland it was under no control or restraint, and its operation was inexpressively vexa- tious and rapacious." Such outrageous iniquity, and such mon- strous violations of the ordinary feelings of human nature, seem to require that this statement should be well fortified with proof. Unfortunately it is too true ; the evidence is too plentiful. Bishop Burnet says, in the "History of His Own Times," that— "Another main part of the regal authority was the wards, which anciently the crown took into their own management. Our kings were, according to the first institution, the guardians of the wards. They bred them up in their courts, and disposed of them in marriage as they thought fit. Afterwards they compounded or forgave them ; or gave them some branches of the family, or to pro- vide the younger children. But they pro- ceeded in this very gently : and the chief care after the Reformation was to breed the wards Protestants. Still all were under a great dependence by this means. Much money was not raised this way : but families were often at mercy and were used according to their behaviour. King James granted these generally to his servants and favourites ; and they made the most of them ; so that what was before a dependence on the crown, and was moderately compounded for, became then a most exacting oppression, by which several families were ruined." Another Protestant writer. Carte, testifies that — "The wardship and marriage of the heir were likewise reserved to the crown. These lands and wardships were usually granted to favourites, and men of power and interest, who, though they gave security to the court of wards to take due care, as well of the ed- ucation and maintenance of the heir, as of the good condition of the estate, too often neglected both ; destroyed the woods, and committed horrible waste upon the lands ; brought up the heir in ignorance, and in a mean manner unworthy of his quality : and, selling his person to the best bidder, matched him unequally in point of birth and fortune, as well as disagreeably with regard to the character, qualities, and figure of the person that was picked out to be the companion of his life."* To save time and room we may mention that Carey's statements and quotations had been previously made use of by Plowden, an authority which, by his high legal attainments and conscientious impartiality, is beyond all serious doubt. When we come to the cele- * Life of James, Duke of Ormond. A. D. 1623.] SECOND DIVISION. 275 brated remonstrance at Trim, on St. Patrick's Day, 1642, we shall have more to say on this subject. In the mean time, the reader will please to watch the operation of this despotic act of the privy-council. In order to harmonize the action of the government, the ecclesiastical courts were so far " reformed" as to make them unite with the secular power in plundering the already oppressed people. Burnet tells us, in his " Life of Bishop Bedell," while describing the ecclesiastical courts, that — "They were often managed by a chan- cellor that bought his place, and so thought he had a right to all the profits he could make out of it, and their whole business seemed to be nothing but oppression and extortion ; the solemnest, the sacredest of all church cen- sures, (which was excommunication,) went about in so sordid and base a manner, that all regard to it, as it was a spiritual censure, was lost, and the effect it had in law made it be cried out upon as a most intolerable piece of tyranny. The officers of the court thought they had a sort of right to oppress the natives ; and that all was well got that was wrung from them." We are compelled to record that Ireland was thus governed by the abuse of liberty. All the instruments of political and religious freedom were brought to bear upon the un- fortunate inhabitants in such a manner as to extort all the profits of oppression. The reader would not thank us for hundreds of pages of particulars, when the arbitrary and selfish spirit of the whole reign of James the First is so indelibly proved by the subsequent events. In the latter end of this reign the "discoverers" began to turn their attention towards Connaught, (whither the inhabitants of Ulster had been driven shortly after James's accession,) and proposed that these unfor- tunate people should be "reformed" over again. Leland says — " Another device of these reformers affected the inhabitants of an entire province. The lords and gentlemen of Connaught, including the county of Clcure, on their composition made with Sir John Perrot in the reign of Elizabeth, had indeed surrendered their es- tates to the crown, but had generally neglected to enrol their surrenders and to take out their letters patent. This defect was supplied by King James, who in his thirteenth year issued a commission to receive surrenders of their estates ; which he reconveyed, by new pa- tents, to them and their heirs, to be holden of the crown by knight's service, as of the castle of Athlone. Their surrenders were made, their patents received the great seal, but, by neglect of the officers, neither was enrolled in chancery, although three thousand pounds had been disbursed for the enrolments. Advantage was now taken of this involuntary omission. Their titles were pronounced de- fective, and their lands adjudged to be still vested in the crown. The project recom- mended to the king, was nothing less than that of establishing an extensive plantation in the province of Connaught, similar to that of Ulster ; £uid in his rage of reformation it was most favourably received," It is no wonder that Dr. Leland never re- ceived any important promotion after the publication of his " History of Ireland." The learned gentleman continues, fourth book, eighth chapter — " In other districts, the planters had not only neglected to perform their covenants, but the commissioners appointed to distribute the lands, scandalously abused their trusts, cuid by fraud or violence deprived the natives of those possessions which the king had re- served for them. Some indeed were suffered to enjoy a small pittance of such reservation ; others were totally ejected. In the manu- scripts of Bishop Steame we find, that in the small county of Longford, twenty-five of one sept were all deprived of their estates without the least compensation, or any means of sub- sistence assigned to them. " The resentment of such sufferers was in some cases exasperated by finding their lands transferred to hungry adventurers, who had no services to plead, and sometimes to those who had been rebels and traitors. Neither the actors nor the objects of such grievances were confined to one rehgion. The most zealous in the service of government, and the most peaceful conformists, were involved in 27G HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1635. the ravages of avarice and rapine, without any distinction of principles or professions. The interested assiduity of the king's crea- tures in scrutinizing the titles to those lands which had not yet been found or acknowl- edged to belong to the crown, was, if possi- ble, still more detestable." Before we close our account of this reign of rapacity, perhaps these statements had better be proved by two witnesses. For this purpose we enlist the evidence of Taylor, also an Irishman, and also a fellow of " Trin. Coll. Dub." He says, in his elegant com- pendium of the *' History of the Civil Wars in Ireland," that — ** The rapacity of the discoverers, and the avarice of the monarch were still unsatisfied ; and a new scheme of confiscation was de- vised, which, if put into execution, would have forfeited the entire province of Con- naught. During the reign of Elizabeth, the lords and gentry of this province had surren- dered their lands to Sir John Perrot, and re- ceived them back as grants from the queen. Having neglected the enrolment of their pa- tents, they again surrendered them to James, and paid a sum of three thousand pounds to have them enrolled. The officers of the court of chancery, from negligence or some other more culpable motive, omitted this form ; and the king, at the close of his reign, prepared to take advantage of this clerical error, and seize on Connaught as he had on Ulster. The proprietors were filled with con- sternation at this alarming project, and im- mediately prepared to avert the blow. They knew that it would be useless to appeal to the king's justice, his honour, or his humanity; but they were aware that he was greedy and necessitous, and therefore tendered him a bribe of ten thousand pounds. While James hesitated between the temptation of this sum in hand and a larger in prospect, he was seized with mortal illness, and died, bequeath- ing to his son three kingdoms filled with in- ternal discord, and involved in external wars, from which neither honour nor profit could be derived." The reader of English history is already familiar with the evidence of James's talents for government. In relation to Irish affairs, Leland has contributed the following con- densed summary, showing that, in his reign, they consisted of — " Extortions and oppressions of the sol- diers in various excursions from their quar- ters, for levying the king's rents, or support- ing the civil power ; a rigorous and tyrannical execution of martial law in time of peace ; a dangerous and unconstitutional power as- sumed by the privy-council in deciding causes determinable by common law ; their severe treatment of witnesses and jurors in the cas- tle chamber, whose evidence or verdict had been displeasing to the state ; the grievous exactions of the established clergy for the occasional duties of their function ; and the severity of the ecclesiastical courts." We may therefore consider ourselves war- ranted in coming to the conclusion that James the Pirst of England was a very good king to Ireland, with " fifty-one exceptions." The spirit of his reign was grasping, tyrannical, and selfish, although carried on under the appearances of peace, tranquillity, and reli- gion. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXV. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " Elizabeth died, and her kingdom passed to one who was, in his own opinion, the great- est master of kingcraft that ever lived ; who was, in truth, one of those kings whom God seems to send for the express purpose of has-. tening revolutions. Of all the enemies of lib- erty whom England has produced, he was at once the most harmless and the most pro- voking. His office resembled that of the man who, in a Spanish bull-fight, goads the torpid savage to fury by shaking a red rag in the air, and now and then throwing a dart sharp enough to sting, but too small to injure. The policy of wise tyrants has always been to cover their violent acts with popular forms. James was always obtruding his despotic theories on his subjects without the slightest necessity. His foolish talk exasperated them A. D. 1625.] SECOND DIVISION. 277 infinitely more than forced loans or benevo- lences would have done. Yet, in practice, no king held his prerogatives less tenaciously. He neither gave v^ray gracefully to the advan- cing spirit of liberty, nor took vigorous meas- ures to stop it ; but retreated before it with ludicrous haste, blustering and insulting as he retreated. The English people had been governed for nearly a hundred and fifty years by princes who (whatever might have been their frailties or vices) had all possessed great force of character, and who, whether loved or hated, had always been feared. Now, at length, for the first time since the day when the sceptre of Henry the Fourth dropped from the hand of his lethargic grand- son, England had a king whom she despised, " The follies and vices of the man increas- ed the contempt which was produced by the feeble policy of the sovereign. The indeco- rous gallantries of the court, the habits of gross intoxication in which even the ladies indulged, were alone sufficient to disgust a people whose manners were beginning to be strongly tinctured with austerity. But these were trifles. Crimes of the most frightful kind had been discovered ; others were sus- pected. The strange story of the Gowries was not forgotten. The ignominious fond- ness of the king for his minions, the perjuries, the sorceries, the poisonings, which his chief favourites had planned within the walls of his palace ; the pardon which, in direct violation of his duty and of his word, he had granted to the mysterious threats of a murderer, made him an object of loathing to many of his subjects. * * * ♦ • " This was not all. The most ridiculous weaknesses seemed to meet in the wretched Solomon of Whitehall — pedantry, buffoonery, garrulity, low curiosity, the most contempti- ble cowardice. Nature and education had done their best to produce a finished speci- men of all that a king ought not to be." — MacauEay. " Darnley [aged nineteen when married to his cousin Mary] was one of the tallest and handsomest young men of the age ; he had a comely face and a pleasant countenance ; a most dextrous horseman, and exceedingly well skilled in all gentle exercises ; prompt and ready for all games and sports ; much given to the diversions of hawking and hunt- ing; to horse-racing and music, especially playing on the lute ; he could speak and write well, and was bountiful and hberal enough. To balance these good natural qualifications, he was much addicted to intemperance, to base and unmanly pleasures ; he was haughty and proud, and so very weak in mind as to be a prey to all that came near him ; he was inconstant, credulous and facile, unable to abide by any resolution; capable of being imposed upon by designing men ; and could conceal no secret, let it tend ever so much to his own welfare or detriment." — Keith. " When two parties marry very young, the eldest of their children generally inherit a less favourable development of the moral and in- tellectual organs than those produced in more mature age. The animal organs in the hu- man race are, in general, most vigorous in early life, and this energy appears to cause theiii to be most readily transmitted to oflf- spring." — A. Combe. " He who can convince the world of the importance of the maxims of hereditary de- scent, and induce mankind to conduct them- selves accordingly, will do more good to them, and contribute more to their improve- ment, than all other institutions and systems of education." — Spurzheim. " James the First, previous to his acces- sion to the throne of England, had held out in his correspondence with the Catholic princes, in order to propitiate them, that he would relax somewhat of the rigour of the penal code against the Irish Roman Catholics, who, shortly after his coronation, sent a deputation to London, to lay their grievances before him, and solicit some indulgence. Sir James Gough, one of the number, on his return to Dublin, announced that the mission had been successful ; * that the agents had been gra- ciously received by the king ; and that at his departure his majesty had commanded him to publish in all places of the realm, that he would not force their consciences, nor hinder them from keeping priests in their houses, so as they entertained none of those who main- 278 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1625. lain that the pope had power to depose or excommunicate his majesty.' * This,' says Carte, * being contrary to the king's solemn declaration in England, that he would never grant any toleration to the Roman Catholics, and entailing a curse on his posterity if they granted any, and contrary likewise to the in- structions and directions the state had received from the king, for ministering the oath of su- premacy to the lawyers and justices of the peace, and for putting the laws against recu- sants in execution, the deputy reproved him for publishing so apparent an untruth, and told him he did not believe him. But Gough continuing with arrogance to justify the mes- sage, the lord-deputy thought it necessary to exercise a wholesome and seasonable severity upon him.' Carte does not inform us what this * wholesome and seasonable severity' was — but we learn from Leland, that the * deputy committed Sir James Gough close prisoner to the castle of Dabhn.' " — M. Carey. " King James was at the utmost pains to gain the friendship of the Roman Catholic princes, as a necessary precaution to facili- tate his accession to the English throne. Lord Home, who was himself a papist, was intrusted with a secret commission to the pope. The archbishop of Glasgow was an active instrument with those of his own reli- gion. The pope expressed such favourable sentiments both of the king and of his right to the crown of England, that James thought liimself bound some years after to acknowl- edge the obligation in a public manner. Sir James Lindsey made great progress in gain- ing the Enghsh papists to acknowledge his majesty's title." — Robertson. " It is certain that the promise king James made to the Roman Catholics was registered, and amounted so high at least as a toleration of their religion." — Osborne, in Curry. " Towards the end of Arthur Chichester's government, (there being great need of money for support of the standing army in Ireland, and maintaining of 500 horse and 5000 foot ; much by extraordinary means having been otherwise disposed,) the Catholics of Ireland (glad of the occasion) seemed very forward to supply the state, in hopes of a connivance (if not a toleration) of their religion." — Bor- LASE. " The toleration they desired was no more than some respite from the oppressions and extortions of the ecclesiastical courts ; and to have all proceedings against them in those courts, for religion, suspended ; to be released from those exorbitant sums which they were obliged to pay for their christenings and mar- riages ; and particularly to have the extrava- gant surplice fees of the clergy, and the ex- traordinary warrants for levying them, abol- ished." — Curry. " It has been proved, beyond all contradic- tion, that the * Reformation,' as it is called, was * engendered in beastly lust, brought forth in hypocrisy and perfidy, and cherished and fed by rivers of innocent English and Irish blood.' There are persons who publish what they call * answers' to me ; but, these answers all blink the main subject : they dwell upon what their authors assert to be errors in the Catholic religion ; this they do, indeed, without attempting to show how that Protestant religion which has about forty different sects, each at open war with all the rest, can be free from error; but, do they deny, that this new religion began in beastly lust, hypocrisy, and perfidy ; and do they deny, that it was established by plunder, by tyranny, by axes, by gallowses, by gibbets, and by racks ? Do they face with a direct negative either of these important proposi- tions ? No : there are the facts before them ; there is the history ; and (which they cannot face with a negative) there are the acts of parliament, written in letters of blood, and some of these remaining in force, to trouble and torment the people and to endanger the state, even to the present day, [1824.] What do these * answerers' do then ? Do they boldly assert that beastly lust, hypocrisy, perfidy, that the practice of plunder, that the use of axes, gallowses, gibbets and racks, are good things, and outward signs of inward evangelical purity and grace ? No : they give no ' answer' at all upon these matters ; but continue to rail against the personal char- acter of priests and cardinals and popes, and against rites and ceremonies and articles of A. D. 1625.] SECOND DIVISION. 279 faith and rules of discipline, matters with which I have never meddled, and which have very little to do with my subject." — Cobbett. "We will not undertake to assert that there is no professorship of History in the United States ; but we are quite sure that in no seminary in Massachusetts has provision been made until very lately for instruction in this department. Something may have been done for history in general ; but we are not aware that any steps have yet been taken to correct the ill effects which have resulted from the want of proper direction to students in English history. We infer this from the fact, which is sometimes mentioned as an evidence of improvement, 'that where one student read Hume's History of England twenty years ago, ten read it now ;' that is to say, that ten times as much prejudice, false- hood, and sophistry is imbibed, to be eradi- cated in after life, as was imbibed twenty years ago. That a young man might not be worse employed than in reading Hume, we will not undertake to assert ; but that any instructor in our day should place his work in the hands of a youth, leaving him to sup- pose that it contained the truth, is to us matter of no little surprise. It is certain that in England, his authority as to any event sub- sequent to the accession of the Tudor dy- nasty, would be received with ridicule. His mis-statements are the more dangerous be- cause they are not the effect of passion or honest zeat; but cool, deliberate, and art- ful. The weapons he wields are sophistry and sarcasm. He does not assail openly, but with a plausible affectation of impartiality, he blasts a character by some sneering insin- uation at the close of a pretended encomium. This is the most dangerous of all modes of attack, because most captivating to the young and inexperienced reader. An instance may be cited in the character of Hampden ; whom he has not the effrontery openly to abuse, but insinuates that his high qualities were ob- scured by a morbid fanaticism, which would have evaporated in psalm-singing among the wilds of America, whither he was on the point of going ; and where, says Mr. Hume, ' he could only propose the advantage of puritani- cal prayers and sermons.' So says Mr. Hume ; but history tells us, that Mr. Hamp- den's ground of complaint was, not only that he was not allowed to pray after his own way, but that if he did not conform, in this respect, to the prescriptions of my Lords-Bishops, he was liable to punishment as a felon. To Mr. Hume it no doubt seemed a small matter ; being indifferent to both creeds, he thought it a mighty foolish thing to quarrel with genteel people about such a trifle. If the student wishes, however, to see both sid^s of the ques- tion, as between the church [of England] and the Puritans, let him look into Neal." — N. American Rev. ; July, 1829. " Hume, an author less esteemed at Ox- ford than in Paris, says in his History of Eng- land, that 'James the First considered his government of Ireland a masterpiece of poli- cy.' If we examine the subject closely, it will appear, on that head, that his vanity was unfounded." — Mac-Geoghegan. " What then shall repress our sympathies for the people of Ireland ? Shall consan- guinity to England ? We have found that the ties of kindred could not secure ourselves against oppression. Shall they prevent us from being just to those who suffer oppres- sion? " Shall we fear to give offence to England ? That country would need only such a mani- festation of American pusillanimity to encour- age the spirit of aggression that has survived her power to hold us in subjection. England is herself the foe of tyranny. It is from- her that we derived our passion for liberty and the impulsive spirit of social advancement. It is from her Hampdens that we learned the value of legislatures responsible to the peo- ple. She hates all oppression except that which she inflicts. She will respect and honour us the more, the more we show that the instinct of liberty has survived our separa- tion from the parent state." — W. H. Seward. " I have long felt the inconvenience result- ing from the ignorance of the English people generally of the history of Ireland. Why should they not be ignorant of that history ? The story itself is full of no other interest than a painful one, disgusting from its details 280 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1625. of barbarous infliction on the one hand, and partial and therefore driflless resistance on the other. To the Enghsh it seems enough to know, that one way or the other Ireland had become subject to England. It was easily taken for granted that the mode of sub- jugation was open war and honourable con- quest ; and finally that the Union was nothing more than the raising up of a vassal-people to a participation in the popular rights and political condition of the conquerors, brought about by identifying both nations. "We are come to a period in which it is most important to have these matters inquired into and understood." — O'Connell. " There is something cordial, open, and joyous in the native Irish character, which never fails to attract and seldom to attach, strangers who reside among that people. Even their errors become contagious by pro- tracted intercourse ; and the habits and pro- pensities of the host and of the domiciliated foreigner become quickly and almost imper- ceptibly assimilated. "This malady became almost epidemic among the colonists whom the policy of Eng- land had vainly sent over to improve the people. On all important occasions, the new race evinced a more than ordinary attachment to the place of their settlement, and vied with the Irish in an inveterate hostility to the dom- ination of their own compatriots ; and in the direct descendants of those British colonists England has since found many of the most ablejk distinguished, and persevering of her political opponents." — J. Barrington. "Protestantism had now, with some, be- come hereditary faith ; it had ceased to be an affair of personal or of pressing conviction. In many places, this revived Romanism had all the charm of novelty ; the weariness and distaste, felt by many for things established, now embarrassed and chilled Protestantism in its turn. In France, the vices and the virtues of men contributed simultaneously to the ad- vancement of the Romish cause. The reli- gious indifference, or worse, the undisguised atheism of some of the courtiers, which could not but be encouraged by the light-hearted gayety with which Henry (notwithstanding the solemn and laboured gravity with which the scene of his conversion was enacted) trEUisferred his allegiance from one faith to the other ; the careless profligacy of others, who were ready to come to terms with that religion which would lay on them the lightest yoke, and which they saw would stoop to al- most any compromise for the sake of making converts ; on the other hand, the exquisite Christian virtue of men like St. Francis de Sales ; the learning of the Benedictines ; the gentle and active beneficence of the several female monastic communities which began to act as Sisters of Charity, to attend the hospitals, to visit the sick, to relieve the dis- tressed, such were the influences at work through the whole kingdom. At the same time, if we are to judge from the interesting memoirs of Duplessis Momay, nothing could be more uncongenial to the national character, or less persuasive to the affections, than the austerity of the Calvinistic Protestantism, and its busy and officious interference with the minutest details of conduct, Madame de Mornay herself, a woman of a saintly dispo- sition, was excluded from the communion be- cause her hair-dresses sinned against some sanctimonious style of top-knots patronized by her preacher." — London Quar. Rev.; March, 1837. " All great religious movements have suc- ceeded through the intense personal qualities of their authors, or the overbearing influence of new ideas." — Ranke. " In the history of the Reformation, Luther is incomparably the greatest name. We see him, in the skilful composition of Robertson, the chief figure of a group of gownsmen, standing in contrast on the canvass with the crowned rivals of France and Austria, and their attendant warriors, but blended in the unity of that historic picture. This amazing influence on the revolutions of his own age, and on the opinions of mankind, seems to have produced, as is not unnatural, an exag- gerated notion of his intellectual greatness. It is admitted on all sides that, he wrote his own language with force and purity ; and he is reckoned one of its best models. * * • " But the clear and comprehensive line of A. D. 1625.] SECOND DIVISION. 281 argument which enhghtens the reader's un- derstanding, and resolves his difficulties, is always wanting. An unbounded dogmatism, resting on an absolute confidence in the in- fallibility, prekctically speaking, of his own judgment, pervades his writings ; no indul- gence is shown, no pause allowed, to the hesitating ; whatever stands in the way of his decisions, the fathers of the Church, the schoolmen and philosophers, the canons and councils, are swept away in a current of im- petuous declamation ; and as every thing con- tained in scripture, (according to Luther,) is easy to be understood, and can only be un- derstood in his sense, every deviation from his doctrine incurs the anathema of perdition. Jerome, he says, far from being rightly can- onized, must, but for some special grace, have been damned for his interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. That the Zuinglians, as well as the whole church of Rome, and the Anabaptists, were shut out by their tenets from salvation, is more than in- sinuated in numerous passages of Luther's writings. Yet he had passed himself through several chapgcs of opinion. In 1518, he re- jected auricular confession; in 1520, it was both useful and necessary ; not long after- wards, it was again laid aside. I have found it impossible to reconcile, or to understand, his tenets concerning faith and works ; and can only perceive, that if there be any reser- vation in favour of the latter, not merely sophistical, of which I am hardly well con- vinced, it consists in distinctions too subtle for the people to apprehend. These are not the oscillations of the balance in a calm un- derstanding, (conscious of the difficulty which so often attends the estimate of opposite pre- sumptions,) but alternate gusts of dogmatism, during which, for the time, he was as tena- cious of his judgment as if it had been uni- form ." H ALLAM . " It is in his moral courage, his inexhausti- ble activity, his indefatigable perseverance, not in his mental accomplishments, not in the profound and comprehensive philosophy which calmly investigates the depth of a subject, that we must recognise the great distinction of Luther. He wrote from his 36 passions — passions, in general, lofty and gen- erous — but still passions. Had he been a calm and severe thinker, a dispassionate and philosophical writer, he never would have occupied what we may presume to consider his designated place in the religious history of mankind. The man was greater than the author. In most cases we study with inter- est the biography of a distinguished writer for the light which it throws on the charac- ter and composition of his works ; — here the writings are chiefly read to illustrate the character of the author. Luther may be considered as an active and uncommonly powerful religious pamphleteer — opposing dogmatic innovation to the dogmatism of the established creed ; for it is dogmatism alone which moves or satisfies the mass of mankind. The indistinct and indefinite is always inef- fective. Where Luther hesitated and fluc- tuated, or took a middle ground, as in the sacramental question, there he was speedily supplanted by bolder and more decided as- senters." — London Quar. Rev. ; No. cxv. " The moment that the pressing danger from the common enemy was even suspended, the division of these two parties seemed in- evitable. As long as Luther lived, notwith- standing the wild opinions broached in his day, notwithstanding the religious phrensiesof the Anabaptists, still the respect, the awe, of his great name, the authority which he justly assumed as the original leader of the Ref- ormation, preserved some appearance at least of unity in the Protestant body. When he was removed, the first place fell of right to Melancthon ; but his mild influence was little adapted to compel the conflicting elements of Protestantism into order. The character, perhaps the opinions, of Melancthon might originally have led him to occupy the neutral ground by the side of Erasmus ; but he had more moral courage, and was less accessible, * (perhaps less exposed to the flatteries of the great,) and his honest indignation at the abuses and errors of the papal system had. committed him too far in the strife. But the rigorous Protestant party suspected Melanc- thon — not indeed, from one remarkable oc- currence, without just grounds — of an incli- S83 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1635. nation to compromise with the papacy ; they took deep offence at the classical studies which he introduced into the University of Wittenberg ; his unhallowed taste for profane literature, they asserted, made him dwell with the same veneration on Homer as St. Paul : one of his pupils, Strigel, was charged with an admiration of Pindar bordering on heathen idolatry. But we must not trespass on this extensive province, which is foreign to our present discussion. Suffice it to say, that, at this fatal time, when Romanism was concentrating all its energies for a decisive struggle ; when Europe was no longer gov- erned by the balanced powers of France and Spain ; but when the contest lay between the papal and the Protestant interests — the Prot- estant republic was in all parts rent by fierce and hostile factions. The questions of justi- fication and good works, and of the sacra- ment, were contested with an absorbing in- terest which at least withdrew some of the most powerful minds from the greater con- troversy with the papacy, and infused jeal- ousy and alienation into the temporal as well as the theological leaders in the revolt from the domination of Rome. University was at war with university ; the preachers expelled from the dominions of one of the Protestant Saxon houses not only found refuge — they were received with ardent welcome by the other. The doctrines of the wilder Anabap- tist sects, the scenes at Munster, could not but connect, in timid minds, the progress of Protestantism with that of social disorganiza- tion." — London Quar. Rev. ; No. cxvi. "It is right to draw men into the temple, but not to drag them by force." — Innocent X. *' The reign of James the First was distin- guished by crimes committed on the Irish people under the pretext of Protestantism. The entire of the province of Ulster was un- justly confiscated, the natives were executed on the scaffold or slaughtered with the sword, a miserable remnant were driven to the fast- nesses of remote mountains, or the wilds of almost inaccessible bogs. Their places were filled with Scottish adventurers, 'aliens in blood and in religion.' Devastation equal to that committed by King James in Ulster was never before seen in Christendom save in Ireland. In the Christian world there never was a people so cruelly treated as the Irish. " The jurisdiction of Parliament being now extended all over Ireland, King James created in one day forty close boroughs, giving the right to elect two members of Parliament in each of these boroughs to thirteen Protest- ants, and this, in order to deprive his Catho- lic subjects of their natural and just share of representation." — O'Connell. " James, before his accession to the throne of England, encouraged the Irish, and fur- nished them secretly with aid against Queen Elizabeth, either for the purpose of securing to himself (by reducing her power) the suc- cession to the crown of England, or to be re- venged for the cruelties that had been inflicted upon his mother, Mary Stuart. When seated upon the British throne, he viewed things from an altered position. The revolt of the Irish, which appeared to him in Scotland an act of heroic bravery, seemed to him now, when King of England, an act of aggression. The most solemn submission of the Irish, particularly of their leaders in Ulster, was not able to avert the power which was wielded to crush them. This prince, without any other trial or investigation than the testimony of a vile and obscure character named Lenane, confiscated to the use of the crown six coun- ties in Ulster, as has been observed, under a pretext of a conspiracy, evidently fabricated by his own ministers." — Mac-Geoghegan. " Strange it is that grave historians should quote their [O'Neill's and O'Donnell's] flight (an undeniable proof of their innocence) as an evidence of their guilt. Had any such conspiracy existed, O'Neill, who had before maintained a brave war against Elizabeth, would have been prepared with forces sufli- cient for his defence, and perhaps powerful enough to peril the security of the state. But he was totally destitute of soldiers, money, arms, or ammunition, for he had entertained no thoughts of war. In his case, innocence was weakness, and consequently ruin. It has been asked, * Why then did he not stand his trial ?' He might have answered, as an- other unfortunate Irish exile did in a similar A. D. 1625.] SECOND DIVISION. case, * What chance would a fat goose have before a jury of foxes V Those who have looked into those records of guilt and oppres- sion, the State Trials, and especially those of Ireland, will entertain no doubt of what the event would have been if he had appeared before the royal court. The charge for hiring witnesses was long in Ireland one of the ordi- nary expenses of the civil government." — Taylor. " The six counties sought to be forfeited, were nearly equal in extent to Yorkshire and Lancashire ; and were the richest and best cultivated part of Ireland. The guilt of trea- son, as we have seen, was to be proved upon the authority of an anonymous letter — found with no greater difficulty as to place and manner of discovery, than by picking it up from the floor of the council chamber in the Viceroy's residence ! And then, in order to efiectuate this gigantic robbery, whereby the inhabitants of six counties were to be despoiled of their all, and turned adrift houseless and penniless, — James, at one stroke of the pen, created fourteen peers, who were to partici- pate with other dignitaries in the plunder; and instituted no less than forty new boroughs, among the poorest villages and hamlets in Ireland. ' Close' boroughs they were, of course ; the constituency in each not exceed- ing in general twelve burgesses and a return- ing officer." O'CONNELL. " Twenty-seven years of rapine, massacre, and disorder had passed, since a parliament had been assembled in Ireland, when in 1612 Sir Arthur Chichester, the deputy of James, intimated his intention of summoning a par- liament on a wider basis, and influenced by a more extensive theory of representation than had been up to that period known in Ireland. No one of Irish blood had ever sat in parlia- ment until the end of Henry the Eighth's reign ; nor did the Irish Parliament even as- sume to represent the entire island until the reign -of James the First. There was some- thing constitutional and respectable in the name of Parliament, and their sanction to the designs of conquest or oppression was seldom withheld. The Recusant party, (as the Cath- olics were called,) however, having still a con- siderable power in the state, and being able to send a great proportion of their represen- tatives to parliament, the deputy, to counter- act their influence, created forty new bo- roughs, of inconsiderable towns, so poor as not to be able to pay the wages of their rep- resentatives ; they would in the strangeness of modem phraseology be termed ' potwol- lopping-boroughs.' " — T. Mac-Nevin. "November 19, 1613, it was resolved by the House of Commons, * That whereas some persons have been unduly elected, some be- ing judges, some for not being estated in their boroughs, some being outlawed, excommuni- cated, and lastly, for being returned for places whose charters were not valid ; it was resolved not to question them for the present, in order to prevent stopping public business ; but this resolution was not to be drawn into pre- cedent.' » # • • " On the 24th November, 1614, the order of the last session was renewed, verbatim, relative to postponing inquiries into the re- turns of members, &c., who were disqualified, as judges, as being outlawed, &c., or returned for places which had no charters." — Mount- MORREs, quoting from the Commons^ Journal. " The recusant lords and commons of the pale despatched letters to the king and the English council, urging the grievance of the new boroughs, incorporated with such shame- ful partiality, and represented by attorneys' clerks, and servants of the lord deputy, and the violence done to Everard, chosen speaker by a majority of undoubted representatives ; imploring to be heard by their agents, and renouncing the royal favour, should they fail in any point of proof." — Leland. " That it may be cause of great discontent- ment to your majesty's subjects in Ireland, that so great a number of those, who have no estates to oblige them to the defence of that kingdom, should give voices in parliament there to make laws." — Extract from the Pe- tition of the Irish Lords ; Pari. Hist., vol. viii., p. 251. " It was asserted by them, in support of their opposition, that the sheriffs had sent no writs to" several of the boroughs ; that from others, the returns would not be received; 284 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1625. that most of the patents and charters of the new boroughs were dated after the commissions for the writs were issued." — Crawford. " It seemed no auspicious incident to the Irish agents, that Talbot and Luttrel, for some late or present insolence of conduct, were committed prisoners, one to the Tower, the other to the Fleet." — Leland. " You complain of fourteen false returns. Are there not many more complained of in this parliament, yet they do not forsake the house for it ? * * * * But you complain of the new boroughs. * * * What is it to you, whether I make many or few boroughs ? My council may consider the fitness, if I re- quire it ; but what if I had made forty noble- men and four hundred boroughs ? The more the merrier, the fewer the better cheer." — Answer of King James to the Irish Remon- strants. See the whole speech in Plowden's Appendix, vol. i., p. 58. " In flagrant violation of the rights of the Irish parliament, James referred the final de- termination of it to the English privy-council. Their decision was, that several of the returns were illegal." — Crawford. " It was an age of project and adventure : men's minds were particularly possessed with a passion for new discoveries, and planting i of countries. They who were too poor, or too spiritless, to engage in more distant adven- tures, courted fortune in Ireland. * * * " They obtained commissions of Inquiry into defective titles, and grants of concealed lands and rents belonging to the Crown ; tiie great benefit of which was generally to accrue to the projector, while the king was contented with an inconsiderable proportion of the con- cealment, or a small advance of rent. Dis- coverers were everywhere busily employed in finding out flaws in men's titles to their estates. The old pipe-rolls were searched to find the original rents with which they had been charged ; the patent rolls in the Tower of London were ransacked for the ancient grants ; no means of industry or devices of craft were left untried, to force the possessors to accept of new grants at an advanced rent. In general, men were either conscious of de- fects in their titles, or alarmed at the trouble and expense of a contest with the crown ; or fearful of the issue of such a contest, at a time, and in a country where the prerogative was highly strained, and strenuously supported by the Judges. * * * » " There are not wanting proofs of the most iniquitous practices, or hardened cruelty, or vile perjury and scandalous subornation, em ployed to despoil the fair and unoffending pro- prietor of his inheritance." — Leland. " It is extraordinary that the Boeotian dul- ness of the Irish rendered them incapable of comprehending the cogency of Sir John Da- vies's reasoning : it was too elegant and re- fined for their uncultivated minds. The poor idiots could not conceive why they should be stripped of their estates, and expelled from house and home, because an anonymous and absurd letter had been dropped in the Privy Council Chamber." — M. Carey. *' The natives seemed not unsatisfied in reason, though they remained in their pas- sions discontented, being much grieved to leave their possessions to strangers, which they had so long after their manner enjoyed ; howbeit, my lord-deputy did so mix threats with entreaty, precibusque minas regaliter addit, as they promised to give way to the undertakers, if the sheriff, by warrant of the commissioners, did put them in possession." Davies. " He judiciously ' mixed threats with en- treaties, precibusque minas regaliter addit ;' that is, (in the true polite Tyburn style,) per- suasion on the tongue, and the pistol in hand. Whatever difficulty there might be in yield- ing to the one, was removed by the applica- tion of the other. No mode of conviction is so powerful. Make a low bow, with entrea- ties, and add, threats, properly supported, in case of refusal. He must have been a most stubborn disputant, who could resist the con- viction arising from the overwhelming argu- ments of the deputy, with an army at his command, the power of proclaiming martial law at pleasure, and the executioner ready to support his reasoning with a rope or an axe." M. Carey. " In the trial of criminal causes and men's lives, (which the law doth much favour,) the A. D. 1625.] SECOND DIVISION, 285 jurors were ordinarily threatened by his Ma- jesty's counsel at law, to be brought into the star-chamber, insomuch that it was great danger for any innocent man, if he was ac- cused upon malice or light ground of sus- picion ; becaTise the jurors, being terrified through fear of imprisonment, loss of ears, and of their goods, might condemn him. * * * " Most of the jurors did rather choose to endure the penalty or loss of issues, than to appear on juries, the course held with them was so strict and severe. * * * " The star-chamber is the proper court to punish jurors that will not find for the king upon good evidence. « * * "The justices of assize [1613] for the space of two or three years past, had bound over divers juries to the star-chamber, for their refusing to present recusants upon the testimony of the witnesses, that they come not to church according to the law. All which jurors have been punished in the star- chamber by fine and imprisonment. * * * " It is true that these jurors censured in the star-chamber had no counsel allowed them." — A. Chichester ; Desid. Curios. Hibern. " He would have been a hardy libeller in- deed, who at that period should have dared to assert that the Crown ever went to trial in any case without 'good evidence.' But mark ! there was no penalty or punishment for finding against the best and most conclu- sive evidence when tendered on behalf of the defendant. " It is a melancholy reflection, that the Crown prosecutor in Ireland can, whenever he pleases, pack his jury at the present day [Feb. 1, 1843] with as great a certainty of procuring a verdict on the * good evidence' of the Crown, as his predecessor in the reign of the First James could have done. There is indeed one amelioration in our days : the ears of the jurors can no longer be cut off." O'CONNELL. " It cannot be controverted that many acts of civil injustice were committed by Chiches- ter and other officers of James in Ireland, under colour of the Commission of Escheats and of Defective Titles, which can only be palliated by a comparison with the reign he succeeded to, and the times he lived in." — J. Barrington. " In time of peace the Irish are more fear- ful to offend the law than the English or any other nation whatsoever. * * ♦ *' Civility cannot possibly be planted among them but by this mixed plantation of civil men. * * • • " There is no people imder the sun that doth love equal and indiflferent justice better than the Irish — or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves, provided they may have the protection and benefit of the law, when upon just cause they do desire it." — Davies. " On a calm comparison of these state- ments, it is impossible not to feel pity for Sir John, if he was a man of honourable princi- ples, to be obliged by his office of attorney- general, to palliate or justify the wicked pro- ceedings of his rapacious monarch. It must have cost him a severe struggle. Nothing can more fully prove the extreme injustice of the procedure, than the miserable defence offered by a man of such splendid talents." — M. Carey. " The success of James in the spoliation of the property of the inhabitants of the six counties of Ulster, only whetted his appetite and that of his courtiers for more plunder. They turned their eyes upon the province of Connaught, and determined upon a similar scheme of robbery. They affi^cted a great zeal for reforming abuses in particular local- ities. They soon extended their views to entire provinces." — O'Connell. " During the long civil wars that had de- vastated the island in the preceding reigns, and especially the last, property had been in a state of constant fluctuation. Deeds were lost — documents destroyed — feudal services left unperformed — and rents to the crown unpaid. By taking advantage of these cir- cumstances the king obtained the forfeiture of another half million of acres. A class of informers, called discoverers, was regularly employed by the officers of the crown to search out defective titles. They were re- warded by grants of concealed lands belong- SS6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1625. ing to the crown ; and the king was interested in their support, by the hope of an advanced rent, or a heavy composition. The united avarice and prodigality of the king thus in- duced him to make his administration nothing better than a system of robbery ; but his oflScers in Ireland went far beyond their mas- ter in iniquity, and plundered with strict im- partiality the loyal and the suspected, the opponents of the government, and those who had been taken under the protection of the crown." — Taylor. " The power of England had scarcely left the limits of the Pale, and bloodily extended under the banners of Elizabeth over the whole island, when the restrictive policy which after- wards wrought such numerous evils, was adopted towards the productive industry of the people. From the earliest acquaintance of England with this country, there had ex- isted a certain degree of manufacturing skill among the natives. Even our first imported libeller, while he asserted that they possessed no manner of merchandise, nor practised me- chanical arts, informs us of articles among them, whose use implies a considerable de- gree of skill and ingenuity, namely, cloth dresses, fringes, linen shirts, steeled military weapons, musical instruments, and other works of art, which could not have been pro- duced by men described in the terms of wan- ton insult which the venomous ecclesiastic has chosen to adopt. It must indeed be con- fessed, that the details connected with the industrial employments of the ancient Irish are difficult, if not impossible to be obtained. The peaceful noises of industry are drowned in the wild clamours of war ; and the mind of tlie student of our afflicting history is di- verted from the pursuit of such information by the singular events recorded in its pages — the details of savage warfare against the Irish enemy, of furious vengeance on the foreign tyrant, of rigorous exclusion and of mean concession." — T. Mac-Nevin. " The extermination of nearly a million of the Irish, in the reign of Elizabeth, by sword and by famine, left the country an easy prey to James. The form of inquiry into titles of estates was gone into ; but juries which re- fused to find a title in the crown were impris- oned and fined." — Mooney. " Davies undertook to prove, that the plan- tation was absolutely for the good of the na- tives ; for that by this Agrarian hocus pocus, five hundred acres thenceforward would pro- duce more than five thousand had previously done. It followed of course, that the man who was plundered of four thousand five hundred acres out of five thousand, was ac- tually, according to this logic, if not a gainer, at least not a loser by the robbery » * • • " The adjustment of the rent, payable by the different descriptions of persons to whom these lands were allotted, affords a striking instance of gross partiality and injustice, and of a most wanton and reckless disregard of even the common forms of honesty. The undertakers, who had the choicest portions of the soil, were to pay to the crown a rent of six shillings and eight-pence, for every sixty acres ; the servitors, ten shillings ; but the natives, plundered of their paternal estates, and reduced from the enviable condition of independent freeholders to that of tenants, were to pay thirteen shillings and four-pence ! That is to say, the despoiled owners of the soil were to pay exactly double the rent for inferior lands, which the despoilers paid for the superior ! and, to add to the iniquity, the undertakers and servitors were to pay no rent till the third year, being rent-free for two years ; whereas the natives were to pay the second year, being rent-free only one year i * * * * * " When the monarch of three powerful kingdoms, who ought to be a pattern of hon- our, honesty, and justice, and, as Sir John Davies declared, to have scorned to * dispos- sess the meanest of his subjects wrongfully,' becomes a common depredator on their es- tates, and acts the part of a ravening wolf, instead of that of a vigilant shepherd, it is not wonderful that such portion of those subjects as form a privileged cast, should prey upon and devour the others. This has ever been, and ever will be, the result, in all analogous cases." — M. Carey. " The local government of Ireland, during the remainder of this disgraceful reign, was A. D. 1625.] SECOND DIVISION 287 in every respect consonant to the specimens already given. Martial law was proclaimed in times of peace ; refractory witnesses were tortured ; obstinate jurors fined and impris- oned ; the ecclesiastical courts became instru- ments of intolerable oppression ; the judges of the land were cruel, venal, and profligate. Peculation pervaded every office of the state ; the army mouldered away, for the command- ers were members of the privy-council, and voted themselves the pay for full companies, while the number of soldiers actually em- ployed scarcely exceeded one third of those entered on the returns; and such was the extent of public plunder, that the annual charge of the government exceeded by six- teen thousand pounds the annual revenue of the kingdom." — Taylor. " James himself was neither a Protestant nor a Catholic. He disliked the Puritans ; and, like all the Stuarts, was ever ready to sacrifice his friend to the fear of his enemy. At this time, the Puritan party had acquired an ascendency in the political affairs of Ire- land, and very many of the reformed clergy were inclined to their doctrines ; the most eminent of those was the celebrated historian. Usher, Archbishop of Armagh, who, by his management, contrived to have the whole doctrine of Calvin received as the public be- lief of the church of Ireland, and ratified by Chichester, the king's heutenant." — Mooney. "James was weak, mean, and pusillani- mous ; the strong feature of his character was insincerity." — Wade. "The reign of James was considered peace- ful, from his having been engaged in no war with his neighbours. His prodigality left him in a state of continual indigence. The court was always the scene of the intrigues of favourites, and of luxury, masquerading, balls, and other similar amusements, so that his love of pleasure, his efieminacy, and per- haps a want of courage, impressed him with that aversion for war, which he was desirous might be thought the result of his talents, prudence, and refined policy. Opinions vary as to this prince's character ; some load him with praise, others with abuse ; according to some, he was an accomplished, wise, and just king, the friend of his people, and compara- ble only to Solomon ; while others maintain that he was a monster of impiety and tyran- ny. The ideas of James respecting religion and government were extraordinary ; he thought his own power should be without bounds, and had adopted a systematic indif- ference in doctrine. He was neither a good Protestant nor a good Catholic, but looked upon any religion to be good which incul- cated implicit obedience to the sovereign. His principal object was the establishment of his arbitrary authority : he had scarcely ascended the throne of England when his acts proved the despotism that he intended to es- tablish, whereby he lost the confidence and good will of his new subjects ; and so tyran- nous was his reign, that his people detested while foreigners despised him." — Mac-Geo- GHEGAN. "James the First, of England, was the wisest fool in Europe." — Le Due de Suiur. CHAPTER XXVI. Accession of Charles the First — State of public af- fairs in England, Ireland, and Scotland — Falk- land's administration — Large meetings in Ireland — Bargaining for " royal graces" — Strafford's ad- ministration — Money paid by the Irish people for justice ; and judges bribed by the government for injustice — Tyrannical treatment of the Irish no- bility — More civilization, plantation, and suborna- tion of juries — Revolt of the Covenanters in Scot- land — Strafford's presence required in England by Charles — Ireland left in the hands of Parsons, Borlase, and a reformed reformation. * In the judicious treatment of the history of Ireland, much discretion is required for the purpose of condensing or expanding the narrative proportionately with the moral im- portance of the incidents related. We have thought proper to enlarge freely upon the invasion by Henry the Second, the reception of the Reformation, the inevitable slaughters by Elizabeth's policy, and the deliberate rob- beries perpetrated by order of James. The reader is now acquainted with the elements of our story and of our style ; and we trust that fewer words will maintain famiUarity while establishing mutual sympathy. At the period where we have now arrived, 388 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A, D. 1626. (the accession of Charles the First,) rehgious fanaticism was elected as one of the ruling powers of Europe. Having been crowned with infamy on the continent, and apishly learned to crack its whip in vulgar imitation of kingly sway, this upstart idol of the hu- man mind stalked over to Britain and Ireland, wielding the sceptre of religious and political tyranny throughout all its progress. The prince and the peasant, the monarch and the manufacturer, cither quietly bowed in sub- mission to, or else clamorously followed, its train of successful robbery and murder. The opinionated divisions of men in search of bet- ter things, (while trying to avoid tyranny,) enabled the newly-invented and impalpable tyrant to revel in its favourite crimes. In England and in Scotland, the Episcopalians and the Puritans were violently opposed ; in Ireland, the Protestant and Catholic interests were guided by the fiercest animosity. The Catholics received a bull from Pope Urban the Eighth, asserting and explaining that the oath of supremacy, having been lately made to exclude the head of the Catholic Church from the exercise of his spiritual authority, " wrested the sceptre of the Catholic Church from the hands of the Almighty." Notwith- standing the clearness of the explanation, and the recent requirements of the oath of supre- macy during the reign of Henry the Eighth, (which had been heretofore construed to have reference merely to the temporal power of the king,*) such were the facilities for disorder, and tne profits of corruption, that the bull and its explanations were perversely scouted for being tyrannically intolerant. This state of affairs increased the excitement and oppo- sition of the Catholics ; but, paradoxical as it may appear, their extreme loyalty to the king curbed their own turbulence while it enabled those who charged them with disloyalty to rob them with impunity. In November, 1626, the persons calling themselves the Protestant church, and assum- ing to publish Protestant sentiments, issued the following protest, bearing the name of James Usher, the Archbishop of Armagh, * See p. 123 of this work. Also Moore, an. 1541 to 1545. first on the list of signatures to the original document, transcribed for " Rushworth's Col- lection," from which we copy : — " The religion of the papists is supersti- tious and idolatrous ; their faith and doctrine erroneous and heretical ; their church, in re- spect to both, apostalical. To give them, therefore, a toleration, or to consent that they may freely exercise their religion, and profess their faith and doctrine, is a grievous sin, and that in two respects ; for — " First, it is to make ourselves accessary not only to their superstitious idolatries and heresies, and in a word to all the abomina- tions of popery, but also, (which is a conse- quent of the former,) to the perdition of the seduced people which perish in the deluge of the Catholic apostacy. " Secondly, to grant them a toleration in respect to any money to be given or contribu- tion to be made by them, is to set religion to sale, and with it the souls of the people, whom Christ hath redeemed with his blood. And as it is a great sin, so it is also a matter of most dangerous consequence, the consid- eration whereof we commit to the wise and judicious, beseeching the God of Truth to make them who are in authority, zealous of God's glory, and of the advancement of true religion ; zealous, resolute, and courageous against all popery, superstition, and idolatry." In political affairs, the condition of Ireland was still more perplexing. The Dublin fac- tion had squandered the revenue, neglected the defences, and exhausted the resources of llie nation. In Ulster, the original inhabit- ants, deprived of their lands, supported a miserable existence in mountains and remote districts, waiting patiently for a favourable time when the possessions of which they had been despoiled might be recovered. The unprincipled attempt of the late king to seize on all the lands in Connaught spread great alarm among all the old proprietors of Irish estates. There was no tenure sufficiently secure to resist the arts of the discoverers, especially when the officers of state and the judges of the realm had joined in their al- liance. In 1627, Charles found his affairs in a very A. D. 1628.] SECOND DIVISION. 280 unpromising state. He was not only at war with France and Spain, but deeply in debt, and thwarted in his movements by a parlia- ment which prided itself upon the knowledge of money-power. While in doubt how to proceed, he was much pleased with some news he received from Ireland. It appears that the Catholic recusants and the Protestants of rank, shocked by the hor- rible state of Ireland, held frequent meetings in Dublin to propose measures for the relief of the unfortunate people. They drew up a number of articles, something like a bill of rights, to which they humbly solicited the royal assent, and promised that, these being granted, they would raise a voluntary assess- ment of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds for the use of the crown. The prin- cipal articles in these Graces, as they are called, were provisions for the security of property, the due administration of justice, the prevention of military exactions, the free- dom of trade, the better regulation of the clergy, and the restraining of the enormous power of the ecclesiastical courts. They also suggested that the Scots who had been planted in Ulster, might be secured in their new possessions, and a general pardon granted to the native Irish for all previous offences. That the tyranny of the ecclesiastical courts was beginning to be felt by the church of England laity, as well as the Catholics, may be inferred from the language of the clause relating to its operations : — " That no extraordinary warrants of assist- ance, touching clandestine marriages, chris- tenings, or burials, or any contumacies pre- tended against ecclesiastical jurisdiction, are to be issued or executed by any chief gov- ernor : nor are the clergy to be permitted to keep any private prisons of their own for their own causes ; but delinquents in that kind are henceforth to be committed to the king's public jails, and by the king's officers." The Graces, so called, are, properly speak- ing, mere exemptions from the prevailing in- justice ; but which, however, the Irish people, for the sake of peace and security, were willing to pay for and receive as favours. Lingard thus describes them : — 37 " By these graces, in addition to the re moval of many minor grievances, it was pro- vided that the recusants should be allowed to practise in the courts of law, and to sue the livery of their lands out of the court of wards, on taking an oath of civil allegiance in lieu of the oath of supremacy ; that the under- takers in the several plantations should have time allowed them to fulfil the conditions of their leases ; that the claims of the crown should be confined to the last sixty years ; that the inhabitants of Connaught should be permitted to make a new enrolment of their estates ; and that a parliament should be holden to confirm these graces, and to estab- lish every man in the undisturbed possession of his lands." In Straflford's " State Letters" we find his report of his own speech at the opening of parliament in 1628, which he wound up as follows : — " Surely so great a meanness cannot enter your hearts, as once to suspect his majest)r's gracious regards of you and performance with you ; where you affie yourselves upon his grace." This was before the money had been paid. These supplies were moved for and unani- mously voted in a day or two, and astonished Strafford himself. In addition to the pay- ments which were regularly and fully paid in four instalments of £30,000 each, the Irish parhament remitted the payment of £150,000, already due from the king to the Dubhn treasury. These two circumstances have been strangely confounded by nearly all our predecessors, (except Carey,) but the evi- dence is quite clear that the sum actually paid by the Irish parliament for the Graces was £270,000. As this statement may excite surprise, even to those who are familiar with this portion of Irish history, we beg leave to refer for our authority to docu- ments in Rushworth's " Private Passages of State." Charles seemed impressed by the reason- ableness of the proposals made by his Irish subjects ; his heart was not radically bad, but he was weak and wavering. A clamour was raised by llie faction of the ascendency m 300 HISTORY OF IRELAND. fA. D. 1630. Ireland, and echoed by the Puritans in Eng- land, that these Graces were exclusively designed for the benefit of the Catholics ; Charles became alarmed, and in his pecu- niary fear, he yielded to the treacherous advice of Strafford. With detestable dupli- city he accepted the proffered money, secretly resolving that the promised Graces should never be granted. A technical informality in the writs for summoning parliament served as an excuse for delaying the Graces through- out the administration of Lord Falkland. When he departed, the sword was committed to two lords-justices, Loftus the chancellor, and Boyle, Earl of Cork. They were said to be disinclined to concession, and their un- willingness was made a pretence for further delay. At length, Strafford officiously volun- teered to endure the odium of refusing them altogether, and thus secured, as he thought, the friendship of the king to compensate him for the scorn of all honest men. That Charles deliberately approved of the refusal may be seen in the following letter to Strafford, who had not yet obtained his peerage title : — " Wentworth, — Before I answer any of your particular letters to me, I must tell you that your last public despatch has given me a great deal of contentment ; and especially for keeping off the envy [odium] of a neces- sary negative from me of those unreasonable graces that people expected from me." To retain the favour of the king, Strafford prepared to execute the project of a new plantation in Connaught, which James had planned. His proceedings in tins underta- king were characterized by more than ordi- nary vigour, and by more open violations of justice than had been expected. His own letters inform us of the preliminary arrange- ments which he deemed necessary before en- tering on a judicial investigation of the king's title to the estates in the west of Ireland. In Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, and Sligo, the jurors generally found a verdict for the crown. In Galway, however, the jurors, trusting that they would be supported by the influence of the Earl of Clanricarde, ven- tured to give a contrary verdict. The irri- tated lord-lieutenant immediately fined the sheriff a thousand pounds for returning an improper jury, and bound over the jurors to appear before the star-chamber. The compositions extorted from those who had neglected the conditions of their grants, were exorbitant in the extreme. Strafford compelled the O'Byrnes to pay seventeen thousand pounds to remedy a pretended de- fect of title, and levied no less than seventy thousand upon the London companies hold- ing lands in Ulster. His haughty treatment of the Irish nobility made him many enemies. One of the instances is thus described by Taylor : — " Sir Francis Annesley (afterwards crea- ted Lord Mountnorris) was one of the few adventurers, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, tliat amassed a fortune by honourable means. He was a pattern of integrity, and was particularly remarkable for the rare vir- tue of doing justice to the native Irish. He was the principal means of rescuing the O'Byrnes from the machinations of Parsons and Esmond, and had, on several occasions, come forward as the advocate of the innocent and the oppressed. His stern independence was displeasing to Strafford, who took every opportunity of mortifying him in the official situation which he held, that of vice-treasurer. Mountnorris suppressed his resentment ; but as he had cause to be offended, it was, of course, concluded that he cherished some secret hostility ; and he was closely watched by the spies of the government. " At a dinner given by the lord-chancellor, it was casually observed by one of the guests, that Strafford had been much provoked by a domestic, who had hurt his gouty foot while removing a stool. This domestic had for- merly been insulted by the chief governor ; in reference to which, Mountnorris observed that he had probably acted by design ; ' but,' added he, ' the gentleman has a brother who would not have taken such a revenge.' For this very innocent remark Mountnorris was arrested, and brought to trial before a court- martial, over which Strafford presided in per- son. The pretence for this species of trial was, that Mountnorris commanded a com- pany in the royal army, and that the words A. D. 1634.] SECOND DIVISION. S91 which he uttered were mutiny. The pro- ceedings of the court were brief and decided. Mountnorris was found guilty of ' impeaching the obeying his general,' and sentenced to miUtary execution. The infamy of this trans- action is not lessened by the sentence not having been put in force. The fact that a nobleman was subjected to a long and tedious imprisonment, to every indignity which the insolence of office could dictate, and to the mortification of an ignominious sentence, for an innocent remark made in the midst of con- viviality, cannot be extenuated because a tardy pardon was wrung from the reluctant shame of his bitter persecutors." As Strafford never paused for any obstacle in raising money for his royal master, the revenue of Ireland improved with amazing rapidity; and the exchequer, exhausted at his arrival, was full when he departed. The army, which had fallen into a shameful state of disorganization, was, by his exertions, made available for the support of the govern- ment and the defence of the country. The English house of commons, now con- taining many members of the Puritan party, took every opportunity of opposing Charles in his endeavours to establish episcopacy. They kept up a constant communication with the Presbyterians of Scotland. The move- ments of Charles were checked by the in- stitution of the "Covenant," which was maintciined by a compulsory subscription in Scotland. Archbishop Spottiswood, and several bishops, were therefore compelled to go to England for the preservation of their lives. The affairs of Scotland were managed by four " tables," at which their devotions and their politics appear to have been alter- nately considered. Charles sent the Mar- quis of Hamilton to dissolve their convention in a very authoritative manner ; but they con- tinued their deliberations with increased una- nimity, and appointed a lady-president, Mrs. Mitchelson, who maintained that when she spoke, the will of God was expressed by her voice. The rebellious state of Scotland compelled Charles to recall StmfFord from Ireland. Be- fore he departed, he obtained the vote of a large subsidy from the Irish parliament of 1634, which was declared to be an act of gratitude for the benefits that the country had received from the wise administration of the lord-lieutenant. In a few months after his departure, the vote for the subsidy was vir- tually rescinded, and Strafford was impeached by the very parliament that had lately loaded him with fulsome adulation. Wandesford, whom Strafford had left in Ireland as his deputy, died of a broken heart, in conse- quence of the vexations to which he was subjected by the conflicting state of parties and the exclusive claims of the sects. Of the nine years during which Strafford ruled Ireland, there are many and various opinions expressed by our authorities. The Puritans positively hated him for his success- ful endeavours to improve the character of the Episcopal church, by raising the qualifi- cations of the clergy. He exacted from the rectors and curates a stricter attention to their parochial duties than they had previously bestowed, and rewarded them by restoring to the church a large portion of ecclesiastical revenue, which had been slyly kept by the aristocracy. In enforcing the penal laws, Strafford showed so much moderation that he was accused by the Puritans of encour- aging the Catholics ; but this was in some degree counterbalanced (in their estimation) by his attack on the proprietors of Connaught. The scheme of a western plantation, which he had matured at the expense of so much guilt, was finally abandoned, on observing the general objections throughout Europe against such a monstrous scheme of iniquity. The Catholics founded their objections to Strafford upon his manifest treachery in re- fusing the Graces, for which they had faith- fully stipulated and religiously paid. From the example given by the king and by Straf- ford, the whole tribe of persecutors who dis- liked the Catholics were encouraged to inter- fere with them. This is seen in the proceed- ings of the year 1629, almost immediately after the vote of supplies in the parliament of 1628. We quote from Hammond L'Es- trange : — 1629. "In this year, the Roman clergy 993 HISTORY OF IRELAND. A. D. 1640. began to rant it, and to exercise their fancies called religion so publicly as if they had gained a toleration : for while the lords jus- tices were at Christ's Church in Dublin, on St. Stephen's Day, they were celebrating mass in Cook street ; which their lordships taking notice of, they sent the Archbishop of Dubhn, the mayor, sheriff, and recorder of the city, with a file of musketeers to appre- hend them ; which they did, taking away the crucifixes and paraments of the altar; the soldiers hewing down the image of St. Fran- cis. The priests and friars were delivered into the hands of the pursuivants, at whom the people threw stones and rescued them. The lords justices being informed of this, sent a guard and delivered them, and clapped eight popish aldermen by the heels, for not assist- ing their mayor. On this account, fifteen houses, [chapels,] by direction of the lords of the council in England, were seized to the king's use ; and the priests and friars were so persecuted, that two of them hanged them- selves in their own defence." Upon this same quotation Carey remarks — " L'Estrange is disposed to be witty on this subject. He states that * the priests and friars were so persecuted, that two of them hanged themselves, in their own defence.' This is truly a novel mode of * self-defence.' It is, however, far more probable, and almost certain, that some bloodtliirsty and fanatical ruflians, inspired by ' a holy abhorrence' of the * superstitious idolatries and abominations of popery,' and availing themselves of the infuriated spirit of the government, seized these unfortunate men privately, and hanged them up, without judge or jury." But the despotic conduct of Strafford at the summoning of the parliament of 1634 caused the most offence to the Catholics, be- cause they remembered so well the effects of the similar proceedings under Chichester and Davies in 1613. The punishment of ju- rors who did not find for the crown, and the ill-treatment of members of the privy-council who might not agree in opinion with the lord- lieutenant, were matters of comparative in- significance in those days ; but the packing of parliament deprived the plundered people of all the ordinaury means of constitutional redress. In Strafford's anxiety to keep out the Cath- olics from their share of representation, many members crept in who were either engaged with or favourable to the Puritans. These members subsequently harassed the Dublin government under Strafford's successors, who found themselves openly laughed at by men who secretly despised the royal power. The intense hatred of the Puritans in the English parliament, and the zealous revenge of the London companies whom Strafford had so wantonly offended while in power, now brought him to the scaffold. The king was beginning to encounter those troubles which ultimately brought him also to the block. Although he saw that the Puritans were his real enemies, yet, at this critical moment, he intrusted the government of Ireland to Par- sons and Borlase, two men completely at the disposal of the English parliament. We have already given the character of Parsons in his office of commissioner of forfeitures. It is only necessary to add that he professed the most rigid principles of Puritanism, and veiled his rapacity under the cloak of sanctity. His colleague. Sir John Borlase, was an un- educated soldier ; his understanding was un- alterably mean and contemptible ; and he had imbibed all the prejudices and all the ferocity which distinguished the violent factions of that unhappy period. Borlase was led by his wily colleague ; and both immediately joined in employing all their acquired power to op- pose the interests and thwart the wishes of their sovereign. The appointment of two such men was the worst act Charles could have done, both as regards himself and his Irish subjects. The vulgarity and insolence of the Puritans openly proclaimed that at the end of a year there should not remain one single living Catholic in all Ireland. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXVI. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " When Charles the First succeeded to the throne, the doctrines of Luther were yielding A. D. 1640.] SECOND DIVISION, 893 fast to new sects in England. The united standard of bigotry and of treason was now elevated by the Puritans far above the sphere of all former sectaries ; and the British Con- stitution (such as it was in those times) was, at once, demolished even to its foundation." J. Barrington. " The administration of the Earl of Straf- ford forms an important era in the history of Ireland. He came over at the moment of a crisis which was to determine whether the country was to enjoy peace and prosperity, or be subjected to a new course of discord and calamity. Through ignorance rather than design, he adopted a system which in- evitably led to the latter, and involved himself and his master in the general ruin. * * * " His history should be a warning to those statesmen who scruple not to use bad means for the accomplishment of a good purpose : they may, like him, be hurried away before their labour is accomplished ; and the evil means, falling into less pure and less able hands, may be directed to work incalculable mischief." — Taylor. " May I be allowed to add a few words here on the character and conduct of Charles the First, who performed so capital a part in the affairs of Ireland during this period ? That he did many things during the civil war, which his warmest friends cannot justify, has never been denied. But in extenuation of most of them, it may be justly observed, that in the extraordinary circumstances of that period, he was scarcely master of his con- duct, and was often imperiously forced to command and to sanction acts which he might not approve. But with respect to Ireland, during the whole of the administration of Strafford, he stood on totally different ground. No circumstances then pressed him. He was completely master of his conduct. His sic volo, sic jubeo, was supreme law. And his uniform support of Strafford in all his de- predations — in his flagitious and atrocious oppression of Mountnorris and Ely — and in the whole series of his misdeeds, imprints a stain on his memory which will descend to the latest posterity." — M. Carey. "The revival of obsolete claims of the crown, harassing of proprietors by fictions of law, dispossessing them by fraud and circum- vention, and all the various artifices of inter- ested agents and ministers, were naturally irritating; and the public discontents must have been farther inflamed by the insincerity of Charles, in evading the confirmation of his Graces ; the insolence of Strafford in openly refusing it; together with the nature and manner of his proceedings against the pro- prietors of Connaught." — Leland. " These 'graces' merely meant the removal of various grievances, some of them highly oppressive, under which the nation had long groaned. Not one of them, in strict parlance, could, with propriety, be styled ' a grace' or favour. They were all mere acts of justice. However, the Irish, as a premium for them, had pledged themselves to remit 150,000 pounds which they had loaned to the king, and to furnish three subsidies, each of 40,000 pounds, in the three succeeding years. This was as fair a contract as was ever made, and was religiously carried into effect." — M. Carey. " They were still exposed to vexatious in- quisitions into the titles of their estates, and were impatient to be freed from the appre- hensions of litigious suits. The popish party were not more solicitous for the interest of their religion, than to extricate themselves from the disadvantages and mortifications to which they were exposed by the penal stat- utes." — Leland. " Ireland had long been a prey to projectors and greedy courtiers, who procured grants of concealed lands ; and, by setting up the king's title, forced the right owners of them — to avoid the plague and expense of a litiga- tion — to compound with them on what terms they pleased. It was high time to put a stop to so scandalous a traffic, which reflected dis- honour upon the crown, ahenated the minds of the people from the government, and raised continual clamours and uneasiness in every part of the kingdom." — Carte. " A convocation of the Protestant clergy of Ireland, was held in Dublin during Straf- ford's administration, on the subject of fram- ing a liturgy for the church of that kingdom. M4 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1640. They met in two distinct bodies, the bishops in the upper house, and the remainder of the clergy in the lower. The members of the latter were inclined to puritanism, as were many of the upper, among the rest, the pri- mate. Usher. A committee was appointed in the lower house, to consider and report on the English canons. This committee had made considerable progress in the duty they had undertaken, and were about to suggest various alterations in the canons submitted to them, when the deputy was informed of the course which the affair had taken. He was very wroth, and sent for Dr. Andrews, the chaii'man of the committee, ordering him to bring the book of canons, with its marginal notes, and the report which he was to pre- sent that evening. When he saw it, he was in an extreme passion ; reproached the dean with great severity ; told him that it was an Ananias that had presided over their proceed- ings — directed him to leave the draught of the report with him, and commanded him, on his allegiance, not to proceed further in the business till he heard from him. Having examined the draught, he sent for the bish- ops ; reproved them severely ; and peremp- torily forbad them to admit of any discussion, and ordered that no question should be taken but on allowing the articles of the Church of England in toto, yea or nay. He desired the primate to frame a canon to this effect, and send it to him for examination. Disapprov- ing it, he drew up one after his own fancy, in which ' excommunication is denounced against all those who should affirm that the articles of the Church of England were such as they could not subscribe unto.' To this the primate objected, telling him that he was apprehensive it would not be ratified. This opinion was predicated on the well-known fact, that several of the members of both houses, particularly the lower, had concurred in the necessity of making alterations in the English canons. The deputy was inflexi- ble. His ' high behests' were supreme law ! They did not dare, except one individual, to gainsay his orders. The question was put as he directed, and was carried unani- mously in both houses, very much to the mortification of many of the members !" — M. Carey. " Strafford had heard that Ireland was tur- bulent and disaffected. He regarded it as a conquered country, whose inhabitants pos- sessed no civil rights but by the mercy of the crown. He therefore resolved to make the sternest despotism the principle of his gov- ernment, and to admit of no opposition to his imperious will. He avowed and defended these sentiments on his trial, when he was accused of endeavouring to make the king absolute in Ireland, preparatory to a similar attempt in England ; and there can be no doubt that he conceived himself fully justified in his opinions." — Taylor. " The family of Lord Strafford have done his lordship's memory a most irreparable in- jury, by the publication of his letters, which afford such a mass of evidence of his rapacity, rancour, utter disregard of the ties of honour and justice, inhumanity, hypocrisy, and Ma- chiavelism, as has rarely been bequeathed to posterity." — M. Carey. " His project was nothing less than to sub- vert the title to every estate in every part of Connaught; and to establish a new planta- tion through this whole province ; a project, which, when first proposed in the late reign, was received with horror and amazement, but which suited the undismayed and enterpri- sing genius of Lord Wentworth. For this he had opposed the confirmation of the royal graces, transmitted to Lord Faulkland, and taken to himself the odium of so flagrant a violation of the royal promise. The parlia- ment was at an end ; and the deputy at lei- sure to execute a scheme, which, as it was offensive and alarming, required a cautious and deliberate procedure. Old records of state, and the memorials of ancient monaste- ries, were ransacked, to ascertain the king's original title to Connaught. It was soon dis- covered, that in the grant of Henry the Third to Richard De Burgo, five cantreds were re- served to the crown, adjacent to the castle of Athlone ; that this grant included the whole remainder of the province ! which was now alleged to have been forfeited by Aedn O'Connor, the Irish provincial chieftain ; that m A. D. 1640.] SECOND DIVISION. S95 the lands and lordship of De Burgo descended lineally to Edward the Fourth ! and were con- firmed to the crown by a statute of Henry the Seventh. The ingenuity of court law- yers was employed to invalidate all patents granted to the possessors of these lands, from the reign of queen Elizabeth." — Le- LAND. " He took with him to each town where an inquisition was held five hundred horse- men, as ' good lookers-on.' He * treated' with such persons as might give furtherance in finding for the king. He inquired out ' fit' men to serve upon juries. He obtained a grant of four shillings in the pound out of the first year's rent of every estate vested in the crown by these inquisitions, to the lord chief- justice and the chief-baron." — Taylor's Ex- tracts from Strafford's Despatches. " Wentworth, at the head of the commis- sioners of plantation, proceeded to the west- ern province. The inhabitants of the county of Leitrim had already acknowledged the king's title to their lands, and submitted to a plantation. It was now deemed expedient to begin with those of Roscommon. The commission was opened in this county ; the evidence of the king's title produced, exam- ined, and submitted to a jury, formed of the principal inhabitants, purposely, (as the lord- deputy expressed it,) that ' they might answer the king a round fine in the castle-chamber, in case they should prevaricate.' They were told by Wentworth, that his majesty's inten- tion, in estabhshing his undoubted title, was to make them a rich and civil people ! that he purposed not to deprive them of their just possessions, but to invest them with a con- siderable part of his own ; that he needed not their interposition, to vindicate his right, which might be established by the usual course of law, upon an information of intru- sion ; but that he wished his people to share with him in the honour and profit of the glorious and excellent work he was now to execute ! — to his majesty it was indifferent, whether their verdict should acknowledge or deny his title." — Leland. " To manifest his majesty's justice and honour, I thought fit to let them know that it was his majesty's gracious pleasure, that any man's counsel should be fully and willingly heard, in defence of their respective rights ; being a favour never before afforded to any upon taking these kind of inquisitions." — Strafford. " The nobility and gentry of Galway hav- ing sent agents to London to plead their cause, Wentworth urged Charles to send them to Ireland as prisoners, that he might proceed against them in the castle-chamber and have them fined for daring to appeal to their king for justice and protection against the rapacity of his deputy. He moreover wreaked his vengeance on the lawyers who had discharged their duty in defending the causes of their clients. He tendered them the oath of supremacy, which was a recanta- tion of their religion, and silenced such of them as refused to take it." — M. Carey. " For those counsellors at law, who so la- boured against the king's title, we conceive it is fit, that such of them as we shall find reason so to proceed withal, be put to take the oath of supremacy, which if they refuse, that then they be silenced, and not admitted to practise as now they do ; it being unfit that they should take benefit by his majesty's graces, that take the boldness after such a manner to oppose his service." — Strafford's Despatch, Aug. 25, 1635. " It is manifest therefore, that the permis- sion to use counsel, must have been given in the expectation that such counsel would neg- lect their duty to their clients, and betray their own consciences, to please the lord- deputy. The counsel disappointed this un- holy expectation. • They were accordingly driven from the practice of their profession ; for they would not and could not take the oath of supremacy." — O'Connell. " The recusant lawyers, a powerful body of men, were angry that they could not take degrees in law, be made judges, or reguftirly admitted by any court to plead at the bar, without taking the oath of supremacy ; though they probably gained as much by their pri- vate advice and chamber practice, with less trouble to themselves, and less hazard to their reputation, as they could have done by 296 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1640. the displaying of their eloquence in public." Carte. " It will excite the horror of the reader to learn that Wentworth actually levied above jC40,000 sterling on the sheriffs and jurors — equal to nearly a million of dollars at the present valuation of money !" — M. Carey. " I told the jury, the first movers of his majesty to look into this his undoubted title were the princely desires he hath to eflfect them a civil and rich people ; which cannot by any so sure and ready means be attained as by a plantation, which therefore in his great wisdom he had r'^solved ; yet that it should be so done as not to take any thing from them which was justly theirs, but in truth to bestow among them a good part of that which was his own ; that I was commanded to as- certain them, that it was his majesty's gra- cious resolution to question no man's patent that had been granted formerly upon good con- siderations, and was of itself valid in the law ; his great seal was his public faith, and should be kept sacred in all things ; that the king came not to sue them to find for him, as needing any power of theirs to vindicate his own right ; for without them where his right is so plain, he could not in justice have been denied possession upon an information of in- trusion ; the court in an ordinary way of ex- chequer proceeding would, must have granted it upon the first motion of his attorney- general. • * • * * " With this I left them marvellous much satisfied ; for a few good words please them more than you can imagine." — Strafford. " They were fined four thousand pounds each, their estates were seized, and them- selves imprisoned till the fines were paid." — Carte. " The jurors of Galway were to remain in prison till each of them paid his fine of £4,000, and acknowledged his offence in coi*t upon his knees." — Leland. " The nefarious system of bribing the judges stands recorded by Wentworth him- self ! ! ! To interest the court, and insure its assistance in the depredation on the unfor- tunate Irish, he advised the monarch to be- stow on the lord chief-justice and the chief- baron four shillings in the pound out of the first year's rent raised out of the depredated estates ! ! ! Charles, worthy of such a profli- gate representative, bestowed, and the judges, worthy of such a monarch and such a deputy, received these wages of their prostitution !" M. Carey. "Your majesty was graciously pleased upon my humble advice to bestow four shil- lings in the pound upon your lord chief-justice and lord chief-baron in this kingdom, forth of the first yearly rent raised upon the com- mission of defective titles, which, upon ob- servation, I find to be the best given that ever was : For now they do intend it with a care and diligence such as it were their own. pri- vate. And most certain, the gaining to them- selves every four shillings once paid shall better your revenue for ever after at least five pounds !" — Strafford. " What a gross and barefaced demand, that the chief-justice who presided at the trial and the foreman of the jury should be richly re- warded ! that is, that their bribes should be abundantly paid. It is, perhaps, the most frank avowal of bribery upon record. What the amount of the bribe given to the chief- justice might have been is not publicly known. Judges are a discreet class, and can transact business privately. But it has been said that Dillon, the foreman of the jury, got for his share, lands to the value of ten thousand pounds a-year. He certainly got a large and valuable estate." — O'Connell. " The success attending the bribery of the judges in the case of the inquest into defec- tive titles, induced Wentworth to urge his royal master to bribe in the same mode the chief-baron and the barons of the exchequer, in cases of compositions with the recusants in the south." — M. Carey. " All the answer I can give is, that if ta- king of an half move that country to enter into open rebellion, the taking of a third or a fourth melhinks should hardly secure the crown of their allegiance ! Then be it grant- ed that they are thus unsound and rotten at the heart, wisdom adviseth so to weaken them, and line them thoroughly with English and Protestants as that they shall not (by the A. D. 1640.] SECOND DIVISION, 897 help of God) be able to disquiet any thing, if they would." — Strafford. " Every measure was pleasing and popu- lar, just in proportion, as it intended to harass and ruin a set of people, who were looked upon as enemies to God and man ; and in- deed as a race of bigoted savages, who were a disgrace to human nature itself." — Burke. " In the parliament held under Wentworth in 1634, the same vile practices were em- ployed which had secured a majority for the administration in 1613. Most of the boroughs, in defiance of the law of the land, were rep- resented by non-residents, chiefly officers of the government. The Roman Catholics made an ardent struggle against this outrageous grievance. But the overwhelming power and the despotism of the deputy rendered their efforts fruitless. They were forced to sub- mit." — M. Carey. " To render men patient under a depriva- tion of all the rights of human nature, every thing which could give them a knowledge or feeling of those rights was rationally forbid- den. To render humanity fit to be insulted, it was fit that it should be degraded." — Burke. " Charles was determined to support the deputy in all his measures, however arbitrary or unjust. The sentence against lord Mount- norris was so transcendently wicked, that it excited a great sensation in England, where it was almost universally reprobated — but the king's opinion in favour of it being announced, the clamour subsided. " The capital part of the sentence was not, nor probably intended to be carried into exe- cution — but Mountnorris was committed to prison on the 12th of December, 1635, and not finally released till March, 1637 — being, however, in the meanwhile, twice let out on bail in consequence of the deposition of his physician, that he was in danger of his life. Wentworth was determined not to release him without an acknowledgment of the jus- tice of the sentence, which Mountnorris re- fused to make." — M. Carey. " * My Lord, — I beseech your lordship, for the tender mercy of God, take off your heavy hand from my dear lord ; and for her sake 38 who is with God, be pleased not to make me and my poor infants miserable, as we must of necessity be, by the hurt you do to him. God knows, my lord, that I am a poor dis- tressed woman, and know not what to say, more than to beg upon my knees, with my homely prayers and tears, that it will please the Almighty to incline your lordship's heart to mildness towards him ; for if your lordship continue my lord in restraint, and lay dis- graces upon him, I have too much cause to fear that your lordship will bring a speedy end to his life and troubles, and make me and all mine forever miserable. Good my lord, pardon these woful lines of a disconsolate creature, and be pleased, for Christ Jesus' sake, to take this my humble suit into your favourable consideration, and to have mercy upon me and mine ; and God will, I hope, reward it into the bosom of you, and your sweet children by my kinswoman ; and for the memory of her, I beseech your lordship to compassionate the distressed condition of me, Your lordship's most humble and dis- consolate servant, Jane Mountnorris. This 13th of February, 1635-6.' " Endorsed, * A copy of the lady Mount- norris's letter to the earl of Strafford, when her husband was in prison, under the sentence of death by martial law ; and he was so hard- hearted as he gave her no relief.' " — Claren- don's State Papers. " Strafford's malice and vengeance were not satisfied with the sufferings thus inflicted on the victim of his hatred. He had him afterwards cited into the star-chamber court in England, for what offence I know not, nor am I able to state the result. But the well- known despotism of that court, and the all- powerful influence of Strafford, renders it highly probable that he was enormously fined. " It is scarcely possible to add a shade to the atrocity of this affair. But it is aggravated by the circumstances, that Mountnorris was probably between 60 and 70 years of age — that he had faithfully served the king and his father for forty years — that he had twelve children — and was completely ruined by the persecution. 998 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1640. " Lord Strafford avowed, after the trial was over, and lord Mountnorris was released, that his object had been to remove him from the country ! !" — M. Carey. " When the Scots, in 1639, took up arms to resist the wicked attempt of Charles the First to impose on them episcopacy, with the rites, ceremonies, and service of the church of England, the king was apprehensive that they might derive aid from their numerous countrymen in Ireland. To prevent this un- toward event, he wrote to Strafford to secure their fidelity by oath. The deputy, in com- pliance with this order, framed an oath not merely of allegiance, which they would have cheerfully taken, but a renunciation of the covenant. " The Scots were generally rigid Puritans. They almost universally reprobated the church of England nearly as much as that of Rome. A great majority of them had subscribed the covenant, whereby they re- nounced as equally sinful, * popery, prelacy, superstition,' &c. Most of them therefore could not take Strafford's oath without per- jury. The attempt to enforce it was attended with the most revolting cruelly and oppression. Twenty and thirty persons were frequently arrested under one warrant, and beaten and abused by the soldiers employed to transport them to the magistrates. Enormous fines and rigorous imprisonment were most unmerci- fully inflicted on the recusants. Every cruelty that could be perpetrated short of capital puu- ishment«^was tried to accomplish the object so much at heart with tlie king and his deputy. The success did not correspond with the vio- lence employed. Few took the oath. Thou- sands fled from their homes into Scotland, or lurked in the wild parts of Ireland." — M. Carey. " I dare appeal to those that know the country, whether in former times many men have not been committed and executed by the deputies' warrant, that were not thieves and rebels, but such as went up and down the country. If they could not give a good account of themselves, the provost-marshal, by direction of the deputies, using in such pases to hang them up. I dare say there are hundreds of examples in this kind." — Straf- ford's Speech on his Defence. " An important consideration must not be passed over here. The Scots laboured under scarcely any other grievance [in Scotland] than the contemplated innovation in their religion ; their persons and property were sacred. They resisted the despotic and wicked interference between them and their Maker. They were perfectly justified in the eyes of heaven and their fellow-men. It is not given by the living God to any of the sons of men to force the religious worship of their fellow-men ; and the attempt to change religious opinions by legal coercion, is as transcendenlly absurd, as would be the effort to 'change the hue of the dusky Ethiop.' Brutal force, as has been long since observed, may coerce men into apparent conformity ; but it never made a convert yet, — and never will : it is fated to produce only martyrs or hypocrites. "-^M. Carey. " The affairs of religion, which are no longer heard of in the tumult of our present contentions, made a principal ingredient* in the wars and politics of that time ; the en- thusiasm of religion threw a gloom over the politics ; and political interests poisoned and perverted the spirit of religion upon all sides. Tiie Protestant religion, in that violent strug- gle, infected, as the Popish had been before, by worldly interests and worldly passions, became a persecutor in its turn, sometimes of the new sects, which carried their own principles further than it was convenient to the original reformers ; and always of the body from whom they parted : and this per- secuting spirit arose, not only from the bit- terness of retaliation, but from the merciless policy of fear." — Burke. " The reason why I have dwelt in the notes upon the enormities committed in the admin- istration of what was called 'justice' in Ire- land, is, that by the most singular perversion of the facts of history, not only Temple, but Clarendon, and, after him, Hume, and a multitude of other calumniators of Ireland, have gravely stated the astounding falsehood that Ireland was * well governed' in the reigns of James the First and of Charles the First ! A. D. 1641.] SECOND DIVISION 299 " Well governed ! when the ecclesiastical courts hunted the Catholics like wild beasts, and crowded them, when caught, into loath- some prisons ! when the Court of Wards spoliated the properties of all Catholic minors, and perverted their religion ! when the High Commission Courts punished with more than Star-chamber severity, every supposed slight or insult to any person in power ; punished every resistance (however necessary and jus- tifiable) to the will or caprice of men in au- thority ! when the sheriffs were intimidated, and punished if the verdicts of the juries did not satisfy the ruling tyrants ! when the chief- justice and other judges were bribed by the highest authority in the land ; bribed with a stipulated proportion of the property in dis- pute, for procuring judgment against the un- happy possessors of that property ! when the jurors who obeyed the impulses of conscience were thrown to rot in prison ; were ruined by fines so enormous as to amount to a confis- cation of their property ; were pilloried — had their ears cut off — their tongues bored through ; were But I will not pursue this subject. What need I ?" — O'Connell. " Some time before the rebellion broke out, it was confidently reported that Sir John Clotworthy, who well knew the designs of the faction that governed the House of Com- mons in England, had declared there in a speech that the conversion of the papists in Ireland was only to be effected by the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other ; and Mr. Pym gave out that they would not leave a priest in Ireland. To the like effect Sir William Parsons, out of a strange weakness, or detestable policy, positively asserted before so many witnesses, at a public entertainment, that within a twelvemonth no Catholic should be seen in Ireland. He had sense enough to know the consequences that would naturally arise from such a declaration ; which (how- ever it might contribute to his own selfish views) he would hardly have ventured to make so openly and without disguise, if it had not been agreeable to the politics and measures of the English faction, whose party he espoused, and whose directions were the general rule of his conduct." — Carte. CHAPTER XXVII. Sjnnpathy with Scotland — Rebellious rising in the north — Parsons and Borlase exactly suited — Real state of Ireland, as seen by the remonstrance at Trim to the king's commissioners — Proceedings of the confederates — Positions of the king ; atti- tudes of the Dublin government ; policy of the parliamentarian party ; and spasmodic struggles at sincerity by the tiio — Disastrous disunion of the friends of Ireland — Success of the spoilers — Charles outdone in lying and intrigue — Civil semi-barbarism of the times. Although a civil war was raging in Eng- land, Scotland, and Ireland, and the British name was powerless in Europe, the ruin of Ireland seemed to be a settled object, which her enemies, however divided, always kept in view. . James's plantation in Ulster, and Strafford's proceedings in Connaught, deprived the na- tive Irish of all hope for either justice or mercy. They believed that a determination had been taken to strip them of all their prop- erty, by violence or chicanery ; and the conduct of the king and his ministers proved that they were not mistaken. In fact, the royalists and the parliamentarians in England distinctly avowed their fixed resolution to colonize Ireland with " good" subjects ; and opposed as they were in every thing else, Charles and his commons showed wondrous unanimity in devising plans for fresh confis- cations. The virulent declarations of the English parliament against " popery" alarmed the Irish Catholics ; and the execution, or rather murder, of several priests in London, for merely saying mass, showed that the persecution threatened by the Puritans would not long be confined to pecuniary penalties and disqualifications. The sin of tolerating "popery" was a favourite theme with the clergy of the,' established and the Scottish church. Tl?(e character of Parsons was an- other cause iof that hostility to the government which was generally prevalent among the Irish. The appointment of such a man to the office of lord-justice was felt to be a di- rect sanction of the principles on which he acted. There was every reason to expect that spoliation, and not protection, would be the chief object of an administration at the head of which was a wicked and unprincipled 800 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1641. adventurer, who had already shown his real character in the niin of the O'Byrnes. The ancient sympathy with the people of Scotland determined the Irish lords to avail themselves of the moral effect of their suc- cessful resistance. The attempt of the king to dictate a religion and an arbitrary govern- ment on his countrymen had been signally defeated. The rebellion (if so it must be termed) of the Scots, had been rewarded by the estabhshment of the religion of their choice, the security of constitutional freedom, and the general approbation of the English people. The feelings excited among the Irish peo- ple, by the ill-treatment with which they were now surrounded upon all sides, did not take the form of disloyalty, although they openly expressed their dissatisfaction by responding to the call of their leaders. Sir Phelim O'Neill unscrupulously drew many to his standard by pretending to possess a commis- sion from the king. These movements ex- actly suited the tastes and employments of Parsons and Borlase. They took great pleasure in issuing a proclamation, declaring that the " Irish papists" had formed a bloody conspiracy against the stale. The lords of the Pale became alarmed at the sweeping generality of the phrase " Irish papists :" they remonstrated, and the justices thought proper to publish a second proclamation, exonerating the Catholic lords of English descent. At the same time, they transmitted to the king, who was then in Scotland, and to the English Parliament, an account of the insurrection which had taken place. It is remarkable, that neither in their proclama- tions, nor in the despatches sent over to the king and parliament, do the lords-justices say one word about the horrible massacres which many authors have detailed; a clear proof that no such proceedings had taken place. The Earl of Leicester, however, in his address to the British house of commons, unhesita- tingly asserted that the object of the Irish was the general massacre of the Protestants ! Warner (Protestant) deems this assertion of the earl quite unaccountable. But it was manifestly intended to increase the hatred of the Catholics, which the parliament had al- ready found to be a cheap and formidable instrument for extending their influence in opposition to the power of the king. The leaders of the popular party in the Long Parliament are generally considered as great promoters of liberty in western Europe. Their names will be honoured by posterity for their noble resistance to arbitrary forms of government. Lord Chatham has remarked — " There was mixed with the public cause, in that struggle, ambition, sedition, and violence. But no man will persuade me, that it was not the cause of liberty on the one side, and of tyranny on the other." This is an authority to which both our inclination and our duty require that a high degree of pohtical rever- ence should be paid. It is therefore with deep regret that we find ourselves compelled to record the double duplicity with which the Long Parliament treated the Irish people. While they affected the most sincere sympa- thy for the Protestants in Ireland, and sent them the most magnificent promises of as- sistance, they kept the supplies which they had collected, and the army which they had assembled, to overawe their sovereign in England. It was the fashion to look upon the Irish with contempt. It was supposed that an Irish insurrection could be suppressed at any time by a vigorous effort. While, therefore, the English parliament promised speedy exertion, the leaders were determined to secure their designs in England first, and leave Ireland for a more convenient season. Their military operations were confined to sending over Sir Charles Coote, who, after a consultation with Parsons in Dublin, acted like a monster of cruelty, robbing and mur- dering indiscriminately the loyal and the disaffected, — a system which engendered a spirit of resistance peculiarly favourable for the designs of Parsons. The real merits of Parsons as a public officer were signally displayed about this time. It appears that both the king and the English parliament had ordered a proclama- tion to be issued in Ireland, offering pardon to all who would return to their allegiance. After a long delay, the lords-justices did in- A. D. 1641.] SECOND DIVISION. 301 deed issue such a proclamation ; but clogged with so many " exceptions" that it was wholly nugatory. It was limited to four counties, in two of which there had not been even the slightest symptom of revolt ; and in the others all persons were " excepted" who had shed blood in any action, who were imprisoned for spoil or robbery, or " who possessed freehold property." Finally, the time for receiving submissions was limited to ten days ; and it was declared that the amnesty would be in- valid unless a complete restitution of property was effected within that period, — a condition w^ell known to be impossible. The people now set their hopes on the Dublin meeting of parliament, which had been adjourned to November, 1641 ; but Parsons, dreading that this assembly would be disposed to offer terms of pacification, adjourned the meeting to the 24th of Febru- ary following. From October until the middle of Decem- ber the insurrection had been confined to Ulster, a small part of Leinster, and one county in Connaught. The Catholic lords of the Pale, preserving their ancient jealousy of the native Irish, persevered in their alle- giance, and offered their assistance to govern- ment. The lords-justices, deeming the aid of these Catholic lords necessary to their own security, had, in the first instance, sup- plied them with arms to defend themselves against the northern Irish ; but being now encouraged by promises of large armaments from England, they recalled the arms which they had granted, and issued a proclamation ordering those who had fled to Dublin for protection to quit the city within twenty-four hours under pain of death. On the 8th of December, 1641, it was re- solved, after solemn debate by both houses of parliament in England, " that they would not consent to the toleration of popery in Ire- land, or any of his majesty's dominions ;" a resolution which was virtually a declaration of a war of extermination against seven- eighths of the landed proprietors in Ireland, and almost the entire body of the people. As this History of Ireland has been pre- pared to please and instruct the general reader on the American side of the Atlantic, and as there is a growing sympathy for the honour of the Irish name in this country, we shall waive our own wishes, and submit a few re- marks upon the "Irish Massacre of 1641," as a partial insurrection of the goaded people of Ireland in that year is commonly termed. A full review of the evidence would not only be useless but tiresome ; we shall therefore proceed to sift the merits of it in as few wonls as possible. The history of a round rolling lie is not always without either instruction or amusement. In 1682, Nalson, an eminent Protestant author, in writing the " Introduction" to his " Collection of the Great Affairs of Slate," observes — " I am very sensible that in pursuing the historical account of the Irish rebellion, I shall have the management of a very difficult province ; there being a sort of people, who think there can be no hyperboles in aggrava- ting the blackness of the Irish rebellion, though at the same time they think every little reflection too hard and sharp that touches upon the English rebellion. And if a writer cannot divest himself not only of the humanity of a just and generous heathen but of the charity of a good Christian, he shall be pur- sued with the odious name of a favourer of popery." In 1814, John Lawless issued his " His- tory of Ireland," and he appears to have taken our view of the merits of the " Massacre," for that eloquent and perspicuous writer scarcely notices the statements of it except to simply contradict them. In 1819, Matthew Carey published his " VindicicB HibemiccB*^ mainly for the pur- pose of refuting the calumnies connected with " The Irish Massacre in 1641." This honest and energetic writer completely de- molished the whole framework of the impu- tation on the Irish people. His " forty-eight pounders," as he calls his quotations, were mostly drawn from Protestant authorities. Out of eleven hundred quotations there are not twenty from writers partial to the Irish ; and as we have diligently traced them all, we take great pleasure in certifying to the S09 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1642. faithfulness of the industrious and sincere Carey. Like a true Irishman by birth, he thus observes in his " Preface :" — " My heart swells with a glow of satisfac- tion and pride, that I can come before the critical world, with a defence of Ireland, resting on the names of Spenser, Davies, Coke, Temple, Borlase, Clarendon, Nalson, Carte, Warner, Leland, Baker, Orrery, Rush- worth, etc., nearly all of whom were open or concealed enemies of that country and its un- fortunate inhabitants." In 1830, Taylor, (a very judicious and philosophical writer, and beyond all question the ablest Protestant historian of Ireland,) prepared his " History of the Civil Wars in Ireland" for publication in " Constable's Mis- cellany," then being issued at Edinburgh. This excellent work of Taylor's, to which we are frequently indebted, in the construction of both narrative and appendix, contains the following summary disposal of the matter now under consideration : — "The 'Irish Massacre in 1641' has been a phrase so often repeated, even in books of education, that one can scarcely conceal his surprise when he learns that the tale is as apocryphal as the wildest fiction of romance. No mention is made of these extensive mur- ders in any of the proclamations issued by the lords-justices, even so late as the 23d of De- cember ; and truly the character of Parsons does not induce us to believe that he would have suppressed any thing likely to make his adversaries odious. The protestation of the Irish parliament is equally silent on the sub- ject ; nor does any state paper of the local government afford the slightest ground for the charge. Stories of massacre and horrid cruelty were indeed studiously circulated in England, because it was the interest of the patriot party in parliament to propagate such delusions. They increased the popular ha- tred of popery, and rendered the king's sus- pected attachment to that religion more gen- erally odious ; and they afforded a pretence for assembling an army on whose officers and soldiers the parliament could rely." In 1845, we find Mooney, a Catholic writer, taking and well maintaining the same ground. We are therefore warranted in our position that the subject is not worth more notice than to describe it as a lie which has served its purpose, although there are yet some few people who would like to hug it for a truth. Well has the venerable Bede observed — " The hard condition of the historian is, that if he speaks the truth he may provoke the anger of men ; but if he puts falsehoods into writing he will be unacceptable to God, who will distinguish in His judgments be- tween truth and adulation." To return to our narrative. The lords of the Pale were now compelled to arm in self- defence, but still acted with the caution of men who knew the difficulties they had to encounter. They appointed Lord Gormans- town to head them in a conference with Roger Moore and other native chiefs at the hill of Crofty. They asked the chieftain for what purpose he had taken arms ? Moore replied, " To maintain the royal prerogative, and make the subjects of Ireland as free as those of England." Lord Gormanstown, on the part of his associates, asked if Moore had any further design ? He solemnly answered in the negative. The lords of the Pale then promised to assist him with all their might, and, having agreed on a second meeting at the hill of Tara, sepeirated to raise their re- spective friends. The proceedings of the court of wards, and the instructions given to Sir Charles Cooke by Parsons not to spare " children of a hand high," alarmed the Irish people with the prospect of a war of extermination. As the king's commissioners were at Trim, the meeting of the Catholics held there on St. Patrick's Day, 1642, resulted in a remon- strance being handed to them, of which the following is the fourth item : — " The, illegal, arbitrary, and unlawful pro- ceedings of the said Sir William Parsons, and one of the said impeached judges, and their adherents and instruments in the court of wards, and the many wilfully erroneous decrees and judgments of that court, by which the heirs of Catholic noblemen and other Catholics were most cruelly and tyrannically dealt withal ; destroyed in their estates, and A. D. 1643.] SECOND DIVISION. 303 bred in dissoluteness and ignorance ; their parents' debts unsatisfied ; their younger brothers and sisters left wholly unprovided for ; the ancient appearing tenure of mesne lords unregarded ; estates valid in law, and made for valuable considerations, avoided against law; and the whole land filled up with the frequent swarms of escheators, feo- daries, pursuivants, and others, by authority of that court." Carte thus describes the remonstrance : — " They urged against the court of wards, that it was a new court never known in Ire- land till 14 Jac. ; that it had no warrant from any law or statute, whereas that of England was erected by act of parliament ; that the subject was extremely oppressed thereby, through the multitude of informations against all freeholders from the highest to the lowest, without any limitation of time ; the frequent courts of escheators and feodaries, the de- struction of the tenures of mesne lords by illegal finding of them to be in capite ; the sale of wards, the want of provision for the portions of younger children ; whereby they perished or took ill courses ; and the non- payment of debts ; that the wards were neg- lected ; and while the officers of the court raised vast fortunes to themselves, the king did not receive one shiUing advantage for twenty times the damage done his people ; that they did, not desire any diminution of his majesty's profit, but were willing that the per- sonal service should on all occasions be per- formed, and a course taken, as well for se- curing that service and the king's revenue, as for the preservation of heirs and orphans, and the satisfaction of creditors." Still hoping for peace, the confederates sent a very loyal and submissive address to the king. A manifesto, worded in the same spirit, was circulated and explained among the people. They also wrote a letter to the queen, (Henrietta of France,) soliciting her interference with his majesty, and despatched it, together with a copy of their address, by Sir John Reid, who held a situation in the royal household. The Earl of Thomond was averse to the cause of the confederates ; but his followers and relatives set his authority at defiance, and added the county of Clare to the patriotic association. In all these transactions, the lives and properties of the English Protest- ants were carefully protected by the Catholic nobility. The arrival of Owen Roe O'Neill, who had acquired a high character in continental war- fare, animated the hopes of the Irish. He was a leader whose noble qualities would have done honour to any cause ; a skilful and circumspect soldier, and a prudent states- man. On assuming the command, he de- nounced in the strongest terms, the excesses which his kinsman Sir Phelim had sanctioned, and declared, that if any cruelties were again perpetrated, he would quit the country. The confederates now determined to organ- ize a civil government ; and, in this important work the clergy, being already a constituted body, took the lead. A provincial synod was held at Armagh ; and, in May, 1642, a gen- eral assembly from all the provinces at Kil- kenny. It was mainly composed of the Anglo-Irish nobility, and conducted with all the forms and order of regular parliaments. Having first solemnly professed their unsha- ken allegiance to the king, they renounced the authority of the Irish government admin- istered in Dublin, " by a malignant party, to his highness's great disservice, and in com- pliance with their confederates, the malignant party in England." They declared that they would maintain the rights and immunities of their national church (the Roman Catholic) as established by Magna Charta. They erected provincial councils, but allowed an appeal from their decisions to " The Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics of Ire- land." This body, which was to exercise all the functions of the executive government, was to consist of twenty-four persons chosen by the general assembly. Nine members should be present to transact any business ; and a majority of two thirds was required to give validity to any act. The civil war in England being favourable to the parliamentarians, they sent over to en- gage the troops in Ireland for their interests. These attempts were directly encouraged by 304 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1644. Parsons, who admitted the parliamentary emissaries into the privy-council without waiting for the royal sanction. Orraond, on the other hand, strenuously laboured to keep the soldiers in their allegiance, and partially succeeded. A remonstrance, complaining of the manner in which the war had been con- ducted, was transmitted to England, notwith- standing all the resistance of Parsons. A cessation of arms was at length signed ; but Ormond opposed all proposals for a final ar- rangement. The confederates, grateful for the royal notice of their remonstrance, voted thirty thousand pounds to the king, one half in ready money, and the other half in provi- sions. If there had been any sincerity in the gov- erning powers, the war against the people and the confederates should have ceased ; for it is impossible to discover any reasonable pretext that the most zealous royalist could adduce for regarding the confederates any longer as enemies. They only asked for what they had paid for in 1628. A deputation from the Catholic confederates proceeded to lay their demands before the king ; and a com- mittee from the Protestants of Dublin was also sent over to stale their proposals for the pacification of the country. The articles pre- sented by the rival parties are full of evidence relating to the state of Ireland in those days. Charles neither accepted nor rejected the proposals of the confederates. He addressed them in kind and soothing terms ; patheti- cally lamented the difficulties of his situation; assured them that he felt a tender interest in their welfare ; and concluded with inconclu- sively throwing the burden of negotiation on the Marquis of Ormond. Ormond opposed all the terms required by the confederates, and they, knowing that they had been more moderate than prudence re- quired, refused to recede from a single claim. He tried in vain to persuade them of the ex- pediency of assisting the king as promptly as possible. They replied that they would not weaken themselves until the signature of a regular treaty had secured their future safety. During this delay, Rinunccini, Archbishop of Fermo, arrived in Ireland as legate from the pope. This last circumstance operated very unfavourably for the Catholics and for the people generally. Being apparently unac- quainted with the then existing influences in Irish affairs, his straightforward and strenuous opposition to the English party confused the well-adjusted and politic expedients of the confederates. Charles, seeing Ormond unwilling to close with the Irish lords, sent over Edward, Lord Herbert, son of the Marquis of Worcester, whom, for his warm attachment to the royal cause, the king had created Earl of Glamor- gan. He found the confederates inclined to insist on more favourable terms than they had previously demanded ; but he had influence enough to prevail upon them to make both a public and a private treaty ; the latter of which, Glamorgan declared, contained terms too favourable to the Catholics to be pub- lished at a time when the popular rage against them was so rampant in England. Rinunccini objected to the treaty with Glamorgan being kept secret. He said, that " if the publication of these articles would offend the Protestant royalists, there was reason to dread that the Catholic princes on the continent would be displeased by their concealment ;" and added, " that a secret treaty might easily be disowned by the king and his ministers whenever it was their con- venience to do so." The latter argument made a deep impression, especially on the minds of the old Irish, who had so often suf- fered by the violation of royal promises ; and an accidental circumstance soon proved that the legate's caution was not made without cor- rect and judicious observation since his arrival. A second Sir Charles Coote (for the for- mer had been killed in a skirmish during the first year of the war) had been sent by the parliament to aid Monroe in Ulster, and soon distinguished himself. He advanced into Connaught, took possession of Sligo, and ex- tended his depredations into the neighbouring counties. Sir James Dillon was sent with a body of eight hundred men to aid the titular Archbishop of Tuam in recovering this im- portant post. The assault had nearly suc- ceeded when Dillon's soldiers were alarmed A. D. 1646.] SECOND DIVISION. 305 by the report of another army advancing from the north. Coote sallied out, attacked the Irish army in its retreat, and put it to the rout. The baggage of the archbishop was taken, and in it was found a copy of the treaty that had been made with Glamorgan. The victorious general immediately trans- mitted the document to the English parlia- ment, by whom, of course, it was extensively circulated all over the three kingdoms. The parties to the private treaty were now in a very unenviable position. Something must be done. The king set the example. He led off the dance of duplicity by sending a letter to the Irish privy-council, ordering that Glamorgan should be detained a prison- er ; but at the same time he wrote privately to Ormond, " to suspend the execution of any sentence against him until the king was in- formed fully of all the proceedings." It has since been discovered that the king had ac- tually sent Ormond long before instructions to conclude a peace with the confederates, on terms nearly, if not fully, as favourable to the Catholics as those granted by Glamorgan. This is proved by four letters preserved in the Harleian MSS. at the British Museum, wherein, besides admitting the favourable terms for the Catholics, the state-cipher is used in reference to " my making good all instructions and promises to you and the nuncio." These letters were sent to Gla- morgan in Ireland ; the first, official, is dated Feb. 3, 1645-6 ; the second, by private hand, Feb, 28 ; the third and fourth, by private hand, severally dated on the 5th and 6th of April, 1646. During these proceedings, Owen O'Neill was busily training his forces, and making such preparations as would ensure his suc- cess. He contrived to bring Monroe to an engagement at Benburb ; and though the Scottish general had forces superior to the Irish in number and discipline, O'Neill gained the most brilliant and decisive victory that occurred during the whole war. Rinunccini now prevailed on Colonel Pres- ton and O'Neill to join him, and, with the two armies, laid siege to Dublin. Lord Digby, who was in Ireland on behalf of the king, and 39 was willing to make any sacrifice in his mas- ter's service, endeavoured to moderate the stubbornness of Ormond. Clanricarde made similar exertions with the nuncio ; but both were too obstinate to recede. Seeing how affairs were standing in Eng- land at the end of 1646, Ormond openly engaged in a negotiation with the parliament- arians, declaring that he had received orders from the kmg to submit to that party rather than the Irish. This, however, is a charge which the real character of Charles does not need to be true. The fact is, that Ormond saw the superior business talents of the men in the parliamentarian interest, and he was afraid of them. Money was the interpreter on this occasion. The terms for which he agreed to admit the parliamentary forces into Dublin were soon concluded ; but the Puri- tans, under the command of Colonel Jones, had no sooner obtained possession of Dublin, than they treated the marquis with the great- est contempt. Alarmed for his safety, he hastily embarked for England, but had scarce- ly arrived there when he learned that the par- hament had given orders for his arrest, and he escaped precipitately to France. The old ex^emy of Ireland, disunion among her friends, now showed itself in many cir- cumstances. O'Neill had long despised the confederates ; he was equally weary of the nuncio, whose presumption had given disgust to the moderate men in his own party. The court of Rome had signified its disap- i probation of his proceedings, and refused to ratify his promises. The Catholic armies, j too, had been generally unsuccessful. The ; nuncio now proposed that O'Neill should ad- vance to Kilkenny, disperse the council of the confederates, and assume the dictatorship of Ireland ; but O'Neill had no such ambi- I tion, and, besides, was always unwilling to j shed blood except on the field of batHe. He I advanced for the purpose of overawing the council ; but while on his march, an armis- I tice was concluded, and he was exposed to the attack of the armies both of Inchiquin and Preston, each of which was superior to his own. By an exertion of the most consum- mate generalship he extricated himself from 306 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1649. these difficulties, and retreated with httle loss to Ulster, while he was actually proclaimed a traitor by the confederates. Thus the real opportunities for redress to the long-suffering people of Ireland were fast disappearing before the creation of a new form of power in England, — a power com- posed of enthusiasm, vigour, and reckless- ness. The troubles of the king were such that he entreated Ormond to return to Ireland in September, 1648. The treatment Ormond had received from the parliament convinced him that nothing was* to be hoped from that party ; and he resolved to devote himself en- tirely to the king. But it was now too late : the confederates could no longer trust a man who had so grossly betrayed the confidence which they had formerly bestowed. Ormond, however, pushed on the negotiations with a vigour quite unlike his former tardiness ; and was stimulated tb greater speed by the press- ing letters whicn ne received from the king, then (Oct. 1648) a\state-prisoner in the Isle of Wight. At the time that a little straightforward candour might have saved the unhappy mon- arch from ruin, and Ireland from pillage, we find him guilty of the most deplorable dupli- city. A few days after his last letter to Or- mond (Oct. 28) he declared to the parliament- ary commissioners who remonstrated against Ormond's renewing his treaty with the Irish, " Since the first votes passed for the treaty [between the king and English parliament] in August, I have not transacted any affairs concerning Ireland, but with you, the com- missioners, in relation to the treaty itself." This is the king who;n SmoUet describes as " incapable of dissimulation." The treaty with the Irish embodied the greater part of Glamorgan's concessions, and provided for the summoning of a new parlia- ment ; until which time the power of the lord-lieutenant was to be shared by a council, to be called '* Commissioners of Trust," and elected by the confederates. On the 16th or 17th of January, 1649, this treaty was per- fected. On the 30th of the same month, it was rendered valueless by the " death" of the king, who was executed by order of the Eng- lish parliament. Thus were destroyed all the hopes of the Irish people for loyalty to the king and justice to themselves. Cox, who wrote in 1688, has given us a very indicative paragraph upon the death of Charles the First, which shows the despica- ble limits of the " comitas inter gentes'^ pre- vailing in the minds of historians in those times : — "I could wish to throw a veil over the 30th day of January, that frightful day on which the father of his country suffered mar- tyrdom. O, that I could say they were Irish- men who committed the abominable deed, and that it could be laid at the door of the papists ! but though they might have partici- pated indirectly in the crime, it is at least true that others were the actors, and we may say with the poet, — — ' Pudet hoc opprobria iiobis Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli.' " Upon this Mac-Geoghegan has well ob- served — " This, exclamation by Cox fully displays his disposition towards a people whose his- tory he attempts to write." The announcement of the signing of Gla- morgan's treaty, and of the death of the king, arrived in Ireland within a few days of each other. Immediately after the reception of this disastrous news, the unfortunate people were called upon to endure the most bitter and bloody persecution the world ever wit- nessed. These outrages were performed by men who professed to be the exclusive mes- sengers of peace and liberty. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXVII. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " We do not draw the moral lessons we might from history. On the contrary, with- out care, it may be used to vitiate our minds and to destroy our happiness. In history a great volume is unrolled for our instruction, drawing the materials of future wisdom from the past errors and infirmities of mankind. It may, in the perversion, serve for a maga- A. D. 1649.] SECOND DIVISION. 307 zine, furnishing offensive and defensive weapons for parties in church and state, and supplying the means of keeping aUve, or re- viving, dissensions and animosities, and add- ing fuel to civil fury." — ^Burke. " There is too much reason to think, that as the lords-justices really wished the rebellion to spread, and more gentlemen of estates to be involved in it, that the forfeitures might be the greater, and a general plantation be carried on by a new set of English Protest- ants all over the kingdom, to the ruin and expulsion of all the old English and natives that were Roman Catholics ; so, to promote what they wished, they gave out such a de- sign, and that in a short time there would not be a Roman Catholic left in the kingdom. It is no small confirmation of this notion, that the Earl of Ormond, in his letters of January 27th, and February 25th, 1641-2, to Sir W. St. Leger, imputes the general revolt of the nation, then far advanced, to the publishing of such a design : and when a person of his great modesty and temper, the most averse in his nature to speak his sentiments of what he could not but condemn in others, and who, when obliged to do so, does it always in the gentlest expressions, is drawn to express such an opinion, the case must be very notorious. I do not find that the copies of those letters are preserved ; but the original of Sir Wil- liam St. Leger's, in answer to them, suf- ficiently shows it to be his Lordship's opinion ; for after acknowledging the receipt of these two letters, he useth these words : * The un- due promulgation of that severe determination to extirpate the Irish and Papacy out of this kingdom, your Lordship rightly apprehends to be too unseasonably published.' " — Carte. " This St. Leger was himself one of the chief extirpators : and I pray the reader to observe that he does not at all condemn the system of massacring the Irish to the last man. The only thing that he finds fault with is the unseasonable publication of the purpose to do so." — O'CONNELL. " So far were the Irish leaders from aiming at establishing the independence of their country, that Sir Phelim O'Neill actually pretended that he was in arms for the king. and produced a forged commission as his authority. The character of the unhappy Charles is, unfortunately, too notorious for treachery and duplicity to render it wholly incredible that he would have countenanced the insurgents. But the dying declaration of O'Neill [Phelim] exonerates him in this in- stance, since that chieftain might have saved his life if he had consented to confirm this calumny against his sovereign." — Taylor. " It was certainly a miserable spectacle to see every day numbers of people executed by martial law, at the discretion, or rather caprice of Sir Charles Coote, a hot-headed and bloody man, and as such accounted even by the English Protestants. Yet, this was the man whom the lords-justices picked out to intrust with a commission of martial law to put to death rebels or traitors — that is, all such as he should deem to be so ; which he performed with delight and a wanton kind of cruelty. And yet all this while the justices sat in council, and the judges at the usual seasons sat in their respective courts, specta- tors of, and countenancing so extravagant a tribunal as Sir Charles Coote's, and so illegal an execution of justice." — Castlehaven. " The mode in which these precious gov- ernors [Parsons and Borlase] chose to con- duct the war, may be best learned from their instructions to the Earl of Ormond, the com- mander-in-chief of the royal army. He was directed, not only * to kill and destroy rebels, and their adherents and relievers ;' but also * to bum, waste, consume, and demoUsh all the places, towns, and houses where they had been relieved and harboured, with all the com and hay there ; and also to kill and destroy all the male inhabitants capable of bearing arms !' Nor were these sanguinary edicts disregarded. Dr. Borlase, who wrote a history of these transactions, professedly to vindicate the character of his near relative, the lord-justice, boasts that Sir W. Cole's regiment lulled two thousand five hundred rebels in several engagements; and adds, with horrid complacency, * there were starved and faniished, of the vulgar sort, whose goods were seized on by this regiment, seven thou- sand !' The massacres in Ulster, we have 308 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1649: shown by the report of the parhamentary commissioners, to have been grossly exagger- ated ; but, at all events, they were the acts of a mob, and w^ere not only discouraged, but punished by the Irish leaders. But what are we to say of this mandate, deliberately issued by the chief governors of a country, and obeyed by those who bore the honourable name of British officers ?" — Taylor. " The Marquis of Ormond had sent Cap- tain Anthony Willoughby with 150 men, which had formerly served in the fort of Galway, from thence to Bristol. The ship which carried them was taken by Captain Swanley, who was so inhuman as to throw seventy of the soldiers overboard, under the pretence that they were Irish ; though they had faithfully served his Majesty against the rebels during all the time of the war." — Carte. " Some may possibly be so absurd as to suppose that Captain Swanley was punished for these brutalities. He had barbarously assassinated faithful soldiers, serving their king and their country. He had basely as- sassinated them, for no other reason than that they were Irish. How did the representa- tives of the English people treat him ? Rec- ollect that these representatives were the chosen spirits of the age — the master minds of England — the advocates of Liberty — and the zealous promoters of (what they called) Religion." — O'Connell. " Captain Swanley was called into the [English] House of Commons, and had thanks given him for his good service ; and a chain of gold of two hundred pounds value ; and Captain Smith, his vice-admiral, had another chain of £100 value." — Commons' Journal, June, 1644. " The Earl of Warwick, and the officers under him at sea, had, as often as he met with any Irish frigates, or such freebooters as sailed under their commission, taken all the seamen who became prisoners to them of that nation, [Ireland,] and bound them back to back, and thrown them overboard into the sea, without distinction of their condition, if they were Irish. In this cruel manner very many poor men perished daily ; of which the King said nothing, because * * * his Ma- jesty could not complain of it without being concerned in the behalf, and in favour of the rebels of Ireland." — Clarendon. " The Lords and Commons assembled in the parliament of England do declare, that no quarter shall be given to any Irishman, or to any Papist born in Ireland, which shall be taken in hostility against the parliament, either upon sea, within this kingdom, or dominion of Wales : and therefore do order and ordain that the Lord-General, Lord- Admiral, and all other officers and commanders both by sea and land, shall except all Irishmen, and all Papists born in Ireland, out of all capitu- lations, agreements, and compositions here- after to be made with the enemy ; and shall, upon the taking of every such Irishman and Papist born in Ireland as aforesaid, forthwith put every such person to death." — Journals, Oct. 24, 1644. " Sir Richard Grenville was very much esteemed by the Earl of Leicester, and more by the parliament, for the signal acts of cruelty he did every day commit upon the Irish * * * * hanging old men who were bedrid, because they would not discover where their money was that he believed they had ; and old women, some of quality, after he had plundered them, and found less than he expected." — Clarendon. " We have detailed the transactions with Glamorgan at rather disproportionate length, not only on account of its intrinsic importance, but because of the scandalous manner in which it has been misrepresented by several historians. Clarendon omits the proceedings altogether; and his silence is a conclusive proof that he believed the king's conduct in- defensible. Hume, by a long and laboured argument, endeavours to prove that the entire blame rests on Glamorgan ; and declares that the king never could have designed to show such favour to the Catholics, Carte, who saw the original documents, by suppressing some and misrepresenting others, labours to show that the ascendency of the Protestant church in Ireland had been always made by Charles a primary article in all instructions concerning the peace. And Smollet declares A. D. 1649.] SECOND DIVISION. 309 that * the king was incapable of dissimula- tion.' " — Taylor. " Now, then, this Protestant church and Protestant king had to learn that * reforma- tions,' like comets, have tails. There was no longer the iron police of Old Bess, to watch and to crush all gainsayers. The Pu- ritans artfully connected political grievances, which were real and numerous, with religious principles and ceremonies ; and, having the main body of the people with them as to the former, while these were (in consequence of the endless change of creeds) become indifferent to the latter, they soon became (under the name of ' The Pcirliament') the sole rulers of the country ; they abolished the church and the house of lords, and finally brought, in 1649, during the progress of their * thorough godly reformation,' the unfortunate king himself to trial." — Cobbett. " The English commons house of parUa- ment renounced its allegiance, cashiered the lords, extinguished the episcopacy, and de- throned their king. The English rebels subdued him ; the Scots betrayed him : con- jointly, they beheaded him ; but Ireland up- held him. She combated his murderers ; and, as the reward of loyalty, she met the fate of rebels." — J. Barrington. "A scene of cruelty and barbarism, of which no other history furnishes a similar example, was now going forward in England. A king sold by his self-willed subjects of Scotland to their English brethren for a sum of money, dragged from prison to prison, and at length publicly executed upon a scaffold. Such was the scene, and such the tragical end of Charles the First." — Mac-Geoghegan. " There has been a long dispute whether Glamorgan did not exceed his instructions by agreeing to certain articles in the private treaty ; and some warm defenders of Charles assert that the earl certainly exceeded his instructions. The question is not really im- portant, because the principal additional con- cession could have been no disgrace to the king. It was simply that the Cathohcs should pay tithes to their own ecclesiastics, and the Protestants to the teachers of their own church, Protestant historians, however, de- scribe this article, and a statute of similar tendency in the reign of James, a cruel mock- ery, because that many ministers of the es- tablishment had notoriously no congregations. To which the Catholic writers reply by ask- ing. Why then should they be paid for their instruction ? And it has not been our good fortune to meet with a satisfactory answer to the question." — Taylor. " It is diflficult for the most wise and up- right government to correct the abuses of remote delegated power, productive of un- measured wealth, and protected by the bold- ness and strength of the same ill-got riches. These abuses, full of their own wild, native vigour, will grow and flourish under mere neglect. But where the supreme authority (not content with winking at the rapacity of its inferior instruments) is so shameless and corrupt as openly to give bounties and pre- miums for disobedience to its laws ; when it will not trust to the activity of avarice in the pursuit of its own gains ; when it secures public robbery by all the careful jealousy and attention with which it ought to protect prop- erty from such violence ; the commonwealth then is become totally perverted from its purposes : neither God nor man will long endure it ; nor will it long endure itself. In that case, there is an unnatural infection, a pestilential taint fermenting in the constitu- tion of society, which fever and convulsions of some kind or other must throw off; or in which the vital powers, worsted in an un- equal struggle, are pushed back upon them- selves, and, by a reversal of their whole functions, fester to gangrene, to death ; and instead of what was but just now the delight and boast of the creation, there will be cast out, in the face of the sun, a bloated, putrid, noisome carcass, full of stench and poison, an offence, a horror, a lesson to the world." Burke. CHAPTER XXVIII. Cromwell's invasion of Ireland — Specimen proceed- ings of two years of the government under him — Administration of Ireton and Ludlow — Additioa of a pestilential plague to the other troubles — State of Ireland at the close of the Puritan war — 310 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1649. Comparison of the English administration of Crom- well with those preceding and following — Digres- sion on the moral lessons and political benefits eventually resulting from the persecution of the Roman Catholics — The scene temporarily chang- ed to America — Real and perpetual nature of American political superiority — A character for Cromwell — Interesting authorities. The curse of divided councils still con- tinued in Ireland after the death of Charles, and the consequent evils became aggravated. The confederates hated and feared Owen Roe O'Neill, (the only leader who could have suitably met the able generals of the parliament,) and they therefore opposed all the efforts of Ormond to effect a reconciliation. With much better reason, they viewed with suspicion that royalist party, of which Inchi- quin was the head, knowing that its members were fully as averse to catholicity as the Pu- ritans, and were driven into their ranks merely by indignation at the judicial murder of the king. The Irish had been taught, by the mission of Glamorgan, that Charles was willing to grant them terms far more favourable than those offered by Ormond ; they consequently began to view the marquis as the secret ene- my of their cause, and suspected that he would labour to prevent them from enjoying the royal graces. Prince Rupert, who com- manded the royal fleet on the coast, encour- aged these opinions ; and from some motive, exerted himself strenuously to thwart Or- mond. Charles, having wasted his time until Ireland was lost irrecoverably, proceeded to Scotland, where he took the covenant. The prospects of the royalists in the early part of 1649 were rather encouraging. The parliamentarians retained possession only of Derry and Dublin, with some adjacent posts. Sir Charles Coote, the Governor of Derry, was ready to engage with whichever party had the fairest prospect of success ; and a great number of the officers and soldiers in Dublin were well disposed to join Ormond, their favourite leader. One brief but vigor- ous effort might have saved Ireland ; but the country was doomed. The capture of Dublin would have ensured the royalists the quiet possession of the king- dom. But the month of May had arrived before any active preparations were made to take the field. The subsidies promised by the council of the confederates at Kilkenny were not raised ; and the commissioners of trust showed no anxiety to provide for the army. Ormond remonstrated in vain against this neglect ; and it was late in June when, having borrowed some small sums on his personal credit, he mustered a respectable body of troops. Similar mortifications met Ormond from another quarter. Prince Rupert persisted in remaining with his fleet in one of the south- ern harbours. After a vain display of their troops before Dublin, which Ormond hoped would have produced an insurrection of the royalists in the city, it was determined to re- duce the garrisons of Drogheda and Dundalk, before besieging the capital ; and the conduct of this enterprise was intrusted to Lord In- chiquin. The garrison of Dublin was now reinforced by the parliamentary colonels Coote and Venables, with two thousand six hundred soldiers, and a large supply of provisions and ammunition. News also arrived that Crom- well, having assembled a powerful army, was preparing to sail over to Munster, where he hoped to be joined by several of the Puritans. It was well known to all the leaders, that the modern Protestants in Youghal, Kinsale, and Cork, were secretly inclined to favour the cause of the parliament ; for, with them, ha- tred of catholicity was a much more power- ful feeling than loyalty to their sovereign. On the receipt of this alarming intelligence it was resolved to send Lord Inchiquin, with eleven hundred horse, to secure the province of Munster. This resolution of the council was not wholly without reason. Inchiquin was regarded by the confederates with equal fear and hatred. His hands were red with the blood of their murdered brethren. His unrelenting enmity to the ancient religion was not disguised, even while he fought in their ranks. Ormond thought that the fanatics of Youghal might be kept in their loyalty, by being placed under a commander like them- selves : and if Cromwell were excluded from the garrisoned towns, he trusted that the A. D. 1649.] SECOND DIVISION. 311 difficulties of the country would force him to return home. The confederates still urged the capture of Dublin, and reduced several important posts in the neighbourhood. In a sally, made by the garrison upon Ormond's camp at Rathmines, a scene of indescribable confu- sion took place ; Inchiquin's old soldiers threw down their arms, refusing to fight against their puritanical brethren ; the great- er part of the Irish cavalry galloped from the field without striking a blow ; only two regi- ments could be formed, and they, after an inefficient charge, were broken. Then the infantry, surprised and badly officered, made no attempt to resist ; and the parliamenta- rians, to their own great astonishment, ob- tained a complete victory. About three thou- sand prisoners were taken, several of whom were murdered in cold blood, after laying down their arms. Many who had belonged to Inchiquin's army entered into the service of the parliament. In August, the marquis, wearied out by the delays and subterfuges of the confeder- ates, applied again to O'Neill, who was as anxious as himself to put an end to the de- structive dissensions between the Irish and the lords of the Pale. But news now arrived that Cromwell had landed in Dublin with a vast supply of all the munitions of war. It was at first intended that Ireton should have proceeded with a part of this force to Mun- ster ; but the wind being unfavourable, the whole fleet came into Dublin. Here Taylor has candidly perpetrated the following highly instructive remarks : — " Some account of the materials which composed the invading army is necessary for understanding the subsequent history of the island, and even its present political condition. " Cromwell, some time before his departure for Ireland, had begun to form those ambi- tious projects which he afterward carried into execution. It was easy to discover that the wild and visionary fanatics, who had been hitherto his most strenuous supporters, would be found his fiercest antagonists, when they discovered that their favourite schemes of government would not be realized. The levellers, as these fanatics were called, from their opposition to every rational form of gov- ernment, were intent on establishing a species of theocracy, which they denominated * the dominion of the Lord and his saints.' They believed themselves the chosen of heaven ; and not a few laid claim to supernatural powers. In some of the pamphlets .and ser- mons published at the period of their highest excitement, we find them seriously proposing to make the constitution of the Jews, previous to the election of Saul, the model after which the new government of England should be formed. Such schemes would now be re- ceived with laughter as general and as unex- tinguishable as that of Homer's gods ; but at the time of which we write, they were seri- ously adopted by men who in every other respect displayed consummate wisdom and ability. The expedition to Ireland afforded Cromwell an opportunity of removing these bands of gloomy enthusiasts ; and the troops destined for the invasion consisted of the most violent and fanatical part of the English army. When the battalions were assembled at Bristol, the object of the selection that had been made could no longer be concealed ; just indigna- tion filled the breasts of the toilworn soldiers, and they unanimously refused to embark. The influence of Cromwell was necessary to quell this dangerous mutiny ; he came sud- denly among them, and all their complaints were hushed to silence. At the same time their preachers laboured strenuously to work upon their spiritual pride. They were com- pared to the Israelites proceeding to extirpate the idolatrous inhabitants of Canaan ; and described as the chosen instruments by which Heaven was to overthrow the empire of Ba- bylon, and establish in its stead the kingdom of the New Jerusalem. Arguments address- ed to superstition or enthusiasm have rarely failed. The levellers embarked with an ar- dent zeal that contrasted strangely with their former reluctance ; though there were, at times, some misgivings that they were to be offered up as a holocaust, before the purifi- cation of Ireland from the abominations of popery could be completely effected. "The puritanical garrison of Dublin re- 312 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1649. ceived with joy men whose pious zeal far exceeded their own ; and, as enthusiasm is infectious, soon learned to imitate their ex- travagances. The most remarkable feature in the characters of these fanatics was a fu- rious hatred of popery — a religion which they only knew by name, but which they firmly believed to be an abomination in the sight of heaven ; which, if permitted to exist, would bring down vengeance on the land. Their pious rage was principally directed against the Cross, which they unhesitatingly stigma- tized as the ' mark of the beast ;' and with strange inconsistency, laboured to destroy every symbol of that from which alone they professed to expect salvation. Memorials of this extraordinary state of things may still be found in the descendants of these adventurers. The misapplication of Jewish history to the circumstances of Christian communities, and a perverted ingenuity in interpreting the Apocalypse, still characterize the successors of Cromwell's Puritans." In the first week of September, Cromwell, having stayed a little while in Dublin, deter- mined to besiege Drogheda, then called Tre- dah, and advanced against the place at the head of ten thousand men. The town was garrisoned by Sir A. Aston, with two thou- sand picked soldiers and a regiment of horse, besides the Irish volunteers. Cromwell sent a formal summons to the governor, which was promptly rejected, and the siege commenced. A practicable breach was effected, but the attempt at storming was twice repulsed with great slaughter. Cromwell rallied his men to a third effort, and then placed himself at their head. The defence was vigorous ; but Colonel Wall being killed at the head of his Irish regiment, the besieged threw down their arms on hearing the promise of quarter, and the parliamentarians then forced their way into the town. Though quarter had been promised, Cromwell refused to ratify the agreement, and ordered the garrison to be put to the sword. The inhuman massacre was continued during the five following days. Only thirty of the brave defenders of Drog- heda survived ; and these were sold as slaves in the West Indian plantations. This perfidious cruelty can only be ac- counted for by supposing that Cromwell in- tended to convince the English portions of the other garrisons that it was useless to resist him, and that treachery in his favour would be well rewarded. Whether it was his in- tention or not, such was the result ; and faithfulness in religion or loyalty for the king were certain death to either soldier or civil- ian, English or Irish. Treachery not only procured immediate promotion, but Irish land in proportion to rank. Perhaps this timely intimation is what Cromwell meant by a " marvellous great mercy." Ormond now hastened to conclude his treaty with O'Neill ; and that leader put his army in motion to join the royalists. He ordered the general who commanded his ad- vanced guard to avoid engagements, and to trust to the passes and the season, which would defeat Cromwell without trouble or risk. But, while the Ulster chief was advan- cing with his main body to the south, he was attacked by a defluxion of the knees, occa- sioned by a pair of poisoned boots purposely prepared for him. Notwithstanding his sick- ness, O'Neill would not allow the march of the army to be retarded, and was conveyed in a litter at the head of his men. The un- favourable motion aggravated the disease, and he died at Clough Outer Castle. With O'Neill perished the last hope of the Irish cause, for he alone would have been a suitable match for Cromwell. His death, at such a crisis, justifies the suspicion of poison. It was an event decisive of the fate of the kingdom. Cromwell had taken care to procure accu- rate information of the dissensions which dis- tracted the counsels of the confederates, and hastened to reap the advantages of their folly. Before leaving Dublin, he issued two procla- mations, which were of greater value in poli- cy than double the number of victories. One forbade his soldiers, under pain of death, to offer any injury to the peaceable inhabitants ; the other strictly enjoined that payment should be made for all provisions supplied by the peasants. No previous invader had thought fit to conciliate the peasantry by promising A. 1). 1649.] SECOND DIVISION. 313 justice and protection. From this time for- ward, the opinion began to gain ground that Cromwell was more favourably disposed to- wards the native Irish than the royalists under Ormond and Inchiquin, or the descendants of the original invaders who sat in the council of Kilkenny. As far as Cromwell was per- sonally concerned, this behef seems to have been partly warranted ; but even he was not sufl5ciently powerful to counteract the insa- tiable hatred of the Catholics which absorbed the popular mind in England. The Marquis of Ormond was now doomed to feel the evil effects of that want of confi- dence which his own insincerity had occa- sioned. In the beginning of October, Crom- well, with nine thousand men, sat down be- fore Wexford. The town was invested on both sides before the inhabitants could be persuaded to receive a royalist garrison. The horrors of Drogheda were renewed. Cromwell forbade his soldiers to give quar- ter — an inhumanity the more remarkable, as his own men had suffered but little loss. The governor and some others attempted to escape by swimming their horses over the Slaney. A few succeeded ; the rest, among whom was Sir E. Butler, were drowned. Ormond had calculated that such a siege would have delayed Cromwell's army for several weeks, and that in the mean time, he could procure reinforcements. The season of the year when the siege commenced, and the shortness of the opposition, show that Cromwell calculated on the treacherous co- operation of those partisans who had prece- ded his arrival in Ireland. These calcula- tions were successful. So alarmed were the commissioners of trust by the loss of Wexford, that they determined to abandon Kilkenny, and were with difficulty dissuaded from such a scandalous flight by Ormond. Soon after, several detachments from O'Neill's army joined the confederate forces ; but a great part of the main body dis- persed after the death of their geJlant leader, and never after re-assembled. Cromwell undertook the siege of Ross in person, and began to lay a bridge of boats over the Barrow, in order to effect a passage 40 into the county of Kilkenny ; but when the work was nearly completed, he suddenly changed his mind, and determined to besiege Waterford. The inhabitants of this city had been the most devoted partisans of the nuncio, and were consequently bitterly opposed to the lord-lieutenant and the council of Kil- kenny. Even the approach of Cromwell was insufficient to cure them of their absurd jeal- ousies ; for they obstinately refused to admit a garrison, and treated Lord Castlehaven, who had been appointed governor by Or- mond, with so much disrespect that he was compelled to quit the town. The lord-lieutenant concentrated his forces at Clonmel, and determined to raise the siege of Waterford, but could not prevail upon the commissioners of trust to provide provisions for the army. He marched therefore with only a part of the army to Waterford by night, and reached a hill within sight of Cromwell's camp early on the following morning. From thence he saw the parlia- mentary army in full retreat, and in such confusion, that an attack upon their rear must have been successful. But to effect this it was necessary that his troops should pass through the city ; and the corporation having with much obstinacy refused their permission, the opportunity was irretrievably lost. On raising the siege of Waterford, Crom- well found his forces in a very dangerous situation : they were in the midst of a hostile and difficult country, destitute of quarters during an inclement season, unable to ad- vance, and exposed to be attacked at great disadvantage if they attempted to retreat. But from all these difficulties he was at once relieved by a very convenient revolt of the Puritans in the southeast of Munster. Taking advantage of Inchiquin's absence. Lord Brog- hill proceeded towards the southern garrisons with a small detachment, and met no opposi- tion. Youghal, Kinsale, Bandon, and even Cork, opened their gates. Dungarvan was taken after a slight resistance ; and thus, at the moment of utmost need, Cromwell ob- tained excellent winter-quarters, and com- munication with England, This revolt increased the jealousy which 314 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1650. subsisted between the different parties in the Irish army. Kilkenny, from old associations, submitted to obey Ormond ; and Clonmel was prevailed upon to admit Hugh O'Neill with a body of Ulster men ; but Waterford continued to refuse obedience, and would not even permit soldiers to pass through the city. Ormond, unable to overcome their ob- stinacy, distributed his soldiers into winter- quarters, and never was able to assemble them again. The winter was spent by the parliament- arians in active preparations for the ensuing campaign, and by the Irish in idle disputa- tions. Lord Antrim failed in his efforts to displace the Marquis of Ormond and obtain from the king the chief government of Ireland, though his pretensions were supported by Prince Rupert. Charles, with more honour than he usually exhibited, declared that he would rather lose the kingdom than offer an insult to the Marquis of Ormond. However, these intrigues so weakened the authority of the lord-lieutenant, that he began to despair. He wrote to the king, stating the circum- stances of his situation, and entreating the royal permission to retire. . In January, 1650, Cromwell opened his second campaign by advancing against Kil- kenny, which Colonel Tickle had promised to betray into his hands. Before his arrival, however, the plot was discovered, and the traitor deservedly put to death. Having in- trusted the government of Leinster to Lord Casllehaven, Ormond proceeded into Con- naught, to consult with the Marquis of Clan- ricarde and the Catholic bishops. Castle- haven succeeded in taking Athy, which Cromwell had fortified as a depot, by storm, and sent the prisoners to the parliamentary camp, requesting that his men should be treated with like civility on a similar occa- sion. But Cromwell cared little about civil- ity ; for having taken Callan and Gowran a few days after, he ordered the officers to be shot. The greater part of the county of Tipperary, including the towns of Cashel and Fethard, with the castle of Cahir, yielded to Cromwell without opposition. Encouraged by these successes, Cromwell laid siege to Kilkenny, the garrison of which had been greatly weakened by the plague. Possessing Kilkenny, Cromwell marched against Clonmel, which was garrisoned by Hugh O'Neill, and fifteen hundred of the Ulster soldiery. His summons having been rejected with scorn, he opened his trenches early in April, and soon made a practicable breach. The first attempt to storm was defeated with so much slaughter, that the infantry refused to advance a second time, and Cromwell was forced to appeal to his cavalry. A second storming party was formed under the command of Colonel Culin. The second assault was so fierce, that the Irish were driven from the breach ; but O'Neill had by this time erected a new wall at the head of the street which the breach faced, and lined the adjacent houses with musketry. In these two assaults Cromwell lost more than two thousand of his best sol- diers. He would not venture on a third ; but changed the siege into a blockade, and determined to wait the slow effects of famine. O'Neill soon began to feel the want of am- munition and provision, of which his supply had been originally but scanty ; and sent the most pressing entreaties to Ormond for as- sistance. At Ormond's request, Lord Roche, who commanded in the western part of the county of Cork, being aided by the titular Bishop of Ross, soon raised a considerable force, so far as regards numbers ; but badly armed, and without discipline. Against these Cromwell detached Lord Broghill, with a select body of troops, who easily routed the raw levies. Roche and his forces escaped through the mountains and morasses ; but the bishop was taken prisoner. There was a fort near the field of battle, which Broghill was anxious to secure ; and he offered the prelate his life if he would prevail upon the garrison to sur- render; but threatened instant execution if he refused compliance. The bishop having pledged his word to return, went to the fort, and assembling the soldiers, earnestly con- jured them to be faithful to their king, their country, and their God ; — he then returned to Broghill, and was immediately hanged. A. D. 1650.] SECOND DIVISION, 315 O'Neill having defended Clonmel until his powder was exhausted, withdrew from the town during the night, without being dis- covered ; and Cromwell, not aware of the escape of the garrison, granted the inhabit- ants very favourable conditions. The ar- ticles were signed on the 18th of May ; and Cromwell immediately afterwards proceeded to Youghal, and embarked for England, in consequence of the arrival of Charles the Second in Scotland. The royal cause in Ireland soon became hopeless, and the factions were fast destroy- ing each other. Castlehaven, when on the point of gaining a decisive victory in Con- naught, saw his hopes frustrated by treachery. In the north, the Bishop of Clogher had the temerity to attack Sir Charles Coote, though superior in number, and very advantageously posted. He was easily defeated, his forces routed with great slaughter, and he himself taken prisoner. It need scarcely be added that he was hanged by the conquerors ; for the Cromwellians never spared an ecclesiastic. In Leinster, the principal castles had been surrendered, and the governors of the few remaining were about to make terms with the Puritans. Ormond now prepared to quit the kingdom, but was persuaded to continue for some time longer. The city of Limerick had now become the centre of the country still possessed by the Irish ; for on the eastern side of the kingdom, Waterford alone held out against the parlia- ment. Ormond was consequently anxious to make Limerick the seat of government, and to ensure its safety by a sufficient garrison. But the civic authorities and the citizens ab- solutely refused obedience to his commands, and even meditated to seize his person. In the midst of these tumults, Ireton approached so near as to cause some alarm ; and the citizens requested that Hugh O'Neill should be appointed their governor. The marquis desired to send him into Ulster, but the dan- ger threatening Limerick appeared so immi- nent, that he complied with the request of the citizens, and appointed O'Neill to the command. In the beginning of August, a synod was held at Jamestown, where, after long debates, the Catholic bishops resolved to send a depu- tation to Ormond, requiring " that he would speedily quit the kingdom, and leave his ma- jesty's authority in the hands of some person faithful to the king, and trusty to the nation, and such as the affections and confidence of the people would follow." They also signed " a declaration against the continuance of his majesty's authority in the lord-lieutenant," and " a solemn excommunication" against all who should adhere to him, by giving him any subsidy, contribution, or intelligence, or by obeying his commands. The summer was wasted in long and tedi- ous negotiations with the prelates ; and it seems probable that the declaration would have been withdrawn, but for the intelligence which was received from Scotland. Before landing in that country, Charles the Second had sworn to observe "the solemn league and covenant." But he no sooner arrived there than he found himself completely in the hands of the Presbyterian faction. He was compelled to publish a declaration, denoun- cing the peace which Ormond had concluded with the Irish, acknowledging the sinfulness of forming any compact with papists, and revoking all commissions granted by the lord- lieutenant. The bishops now declared, that as the king had placed Ireland out of his protection, they would return to their former act of association. Observing the royalists thus engaged. Ire- ton ranged over the entire kingdom at his pleasure. Waterford was surrendered by Preston, the governor ; Duncannon fell al- most without resistance ; and the castle of Carlow was captured after a brief struggle. Detachments from the English army partially blockaded Limerick, and seized the most im- portant strongholds in the country. Clanri- carde made an attempt to relieve Birr, but was defeated with great loss ; and this action terminated the campaign. Three-fourths of the kingdom were now in possession of the parliamentarians, to their own great astonish- ment. Ormond made one more rally for the king, and convoked a general assembly at Lough- 316 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1651. rea, in the middle of November. It was attended by the principal nobihty, gentry, and clergy, the majority of whom were averse to the late proceedings at Jamestown. But the influence of the prelates was too great to allow of a speedy decision. The marquis having waited for a counter declaration until December, at length embarked in a frigate for France. Before the vessel had quite left the shore, a deputation arrived from the as- sembly at Loughrea, bearing a declaration which, though not perfectly satisfactory, gave some hopes of improvement ; and Ormond, in consequence, transferred his power to the Marquis of Clanricarde, who was a Catholic nobleman, deservedly popular ; a devoted royalist, and a prudent statesman. But the bishops, having removed Ormond, began fur- ther to develope the scheme of an hierocracy, and proposed that the government should be administered without any reference to the royal authority. Having described the proceedings of the first two years of Cromwell's government of Ireland as amply as our limits will allow, we shall apply the sword of reduction to the remainder of his career. It might well be described in three words — self-sufiiciency, robbery, murder. But our object is to attain a truthful medium between the summary in- considerateness of the enemies of Ireland and tlie unavailing eloquence of her friends. Scotland now attracted the main attention of Cromwell ; and having sent a vast num- ber of the Irish inhabitants, especially young people, of both sexes, to the West Indies, as slaves, he left the entire government of Ire- land to Ireton, upon whom he had solemnly confided the duty of completely subduing the country, if the sword or treachery could ac- complish it. Ireton followed the instructions of Cromwell to the letter. With a well-sup- plied army of thirty thousand men, he ruled the country to suit himself. Wherever the rebels appeared, there he was sure to attack them. Phelim O'Neill was at length taken prisoner and hung. The only place of any importance that had not yet yielded to the Puritans, was Limerick. Against this town Ireton led his men with his usual rehance upon treachery. A fierce resistance was made, and when he at length took it by as- sault, he inflicted a brutal revenge. But here it was ordained that both his success and his cruelty should terminate. The crowded state of the place, the scarcity of provisions, and the masses of English soldiery, had gen- erated one of those fevers which are as infec- tious as the plague. Ireton had scarcely stilled the tumult inseparable from the taking of a defended town, when he was attacked by this fever ; and being already much weak- ened by fatigue and exposure, it speedily proved fatal. Ireton was succeeded by Ludlow. He drove the native Irish, almost without excep- tion, into Connaught. Clanricarde, who had succeeded O'Neill, made peace with parlia- ment, and was allowed to find a shelter in England, where he resided until his death. Under Ludlow and Henry Cromwell, Ireland gradually gained breathing time. In addition to the thousands of men and women sent into colonial slavery, forty thousand of the best fighting men had voluntarily joined the difiier- ent armies of Europe, being driven from their estates and employments. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, there were twenty thou- sand men under arms at the close of the Cromwellian administration. The twelve years of warfare with the English Puritans left Ireland just as unconquered as the fifteen years' war under Ehzabeth. The wants of the Irish were — money, ammunition, and wickedness. This is the way we are obliged to con- dense and purify history in order to arrive at its moral lessons. Fuller particulars may be obtained from the mountains of books fur- nished by the advocates of contending par- ties. The hopeful reader will naturally in- quire — Are there no ultimately beneficial re- sults to all this heroic fidelity and poignant suffering ? We are happy in being able to reply — Yes. We have shown that during the reigns of Ehzabeth, James, and Charles, some of the best blood in Ireland, endowed with the highest order of mind, sought refuge in the individual service of less persecuted lands. It appears that the persecution against A. D. 1652.] SECOND DIVISION. 317 the Roman Catholics not only failed in its object of extermination, but also that new converts grew up from the gory field of mar- tyrdom. Among these, George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, being converted to the Cath- olic faith in 1624, voluntarily resigned all his official trusts to King James, and retired into private life. But, the circumstances about to be related, being of the greatest importance in the history of America, it is proper that they should be described by one of the ablest pens her free and happy institutions have produced : — " Lord Baltimore then projected a colony at Newfoundland ; but after visiting his set- tlement twice, bestowing great expense and labour upon it, and once in person rescuing it from a French invasion, despairing of suc- cess, he abandoned his proprietary rights there, and procured a grant for Maryland. After he had visited and explored the coun- try, he died, while he was engaged in making the necessary preparatory arrangements for his undertaking, and before the charter had passed the forms of office ; so that there is scarcely any historical record of his share in the colonial administration of Maryland. But the little that tradition has preserved respect- ing him speaks, volumes in his praise. We know that he displayed the most perfect good faith in all his transactions with the natives, and that it was to him that Maryland was in- debted for such a liberal code of religious equality that the province soon became the refuge, not only of the Catholics who fled from Great Britain, but of the Puritans who were driven from Virginia, and of the Qua- kers exiled from New England. » * * " It was at a time when nowhere in the world could be found a country or state, or even a single city, where some dominant form of worship or belief did not crush down and trample upon all who opposed or doubted. Those who in one reign, or on one side of a river or channel, were heretics and martyrs, became at another time, or at a different place, in their turns, persecutors and oppressors. " It was, too, at a period when even the speculative idea of equal religious rights was nearly unknown. Now and then the faint and feeble voice of some obscure scholar or philosopher was raised for toleration — that weak and imperfect substitute for liberty of conscience — but it was raised, sometimes from the walls of a cloister, oftener from the depths of a dungeon, and rarely reached the ears and never touched the hearts of the mighty ones of the earth. Even on this western shore, what, at that period, was to be seen in the English colonies on each side of the infant colony of Maryland ? In New England, the Puritans, just escaped from the prison and the stocks and the scourge at home, had hardly taken breath before they set themselves to persecute and punish and banish the Quakers and the Baptists. These very Puritans of New England, whenever enterprise or commerce brought them to Vir- ginia, found themselves again heretics, and there felt the heavy arm of the established church. #«***♦ " The founder of Maryland, in thus rising above the errors of his own age, and probably sacrificing the early prejudices of his own education, had no higher view than that of establishing an humble colony on a distant shore, where a few of his countrymen might find rest and peace, and worship God after the manner of their fathers, or the conviction of their own minds. In this his prayers were heard and his wishes granted. But, mean- while, he was unconsciously becoming the instrument of a still nobler purpose. He was unwittingly laying the foundation of a state destined to become one of the earliest members of a great republic. He was pre- paring a race of republican Catholics for the toils and dangers of the struggle for independ- ence, and for the duties and privileges of self- government; a race jealous of their own rights and respectful to those of other men ; a race which was to give the church such men as the learned, pious, and liberal Arch- bishop Carroll — to the state such men as his illustrious relative, Charles Carroll of Car- rollton. He was laying the sacred comer- stone of that great edifice of civil and reli- gious equality which was destined gradually to take in the whole circuit of this land, — a land where every man's religion is protected 318 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1656. and no man's religion is preferred ; where, although piety does not rear her mitred head in courts and palaces, she finds her true and living throne in the hearts and consciences of men." This is the language of Gulian C. Ver- planck, a writer most eminently above all suspicion of any partialities, except for the political perfection of civil and religious free- dom in securing the happiness of mankind. Familiar as his mind is, not only with the history of Europe, but with every phase of European society, — and accustomed to the philosophical investigation suggested by ob- serving the whole circle of Shakespearian literature, — this candid and beautiful testi- mony from such an exalted source is conclu- sive evidence that the mournful troubles of Ireland have had and are having their moral lessons and benefits. The religious liber- ty OF the United States is the confirm- ation OF this truth. Writers and readers who have a faithful reliance upon divine goodness will always patiently examine those historical subjects wherein wrong desires and wrong doing ap- pear to flourish unchecked, for they know that good and happy results must infallibly follow in the government of divine wisdom, however the appearances of the time may de- ceive us. For these and other reasons, the language of inconsiderate or unscrupulous writers is especially unsuited to yield profita- ble reading ; and Taylor very properly ob- serves : — " The Cromwellian administration may fairly challenge a comparison with the best of those by which it was preceded, and with many of those that followed, so far as the supreme government was concerned ; but the local magistracies were of necessity intrusted to men wholly unfitted for responsible situa- tions. There are no materials for a History of Ireland under the protectorate. The Pu- ritans were not a literary people, and were too much occupied in securing their new estates to write. The few sketches given have been chiefly derived from contemporary pamphlets, from collections of old letters pre- served by a few families, and from tradition. It would have been easy to have drawn the picture in darker colours, and to have added traits of ferocious fanaticism, sometimes lu- dicrous and sometimes disgusting ; but the exposure of the follies of religious enthusi- asm may be easily confounded with attacks on religion itself — may offend the sincerely pious, and furnish new weapons of attack to the profane. We have therefore touched these subjects as lightly as possible. Per- haps, however, enough has been said to ena- ble the reader to form some idea of the Crom- wellian aristocracy, which, until very lately, under the title of the English party, or * the Protestant ascendency,' monopolized the gov- ernment of Ireland." Before dismissing this chapter, we suppose that, as Cromwell's character is composed of such very peculiar traits as to have pro- voked much discussion, we also are expected to notice it, although he and his glory (such as they are) properly belong to English his- tory. Ireland disowns him ; and curses his intrusive companionship. Some delay in the printing of this work, occasioned by a disastrous fire in the city of New York, led us to console ourselves with reflecting that we would now have the benefit of consulting Thomas Carlyle's " Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell." The book has arrived, and we must confess that, with our admiration of the genius of that generally pleasing author, it was the greatest literary disappointment we ever experienced. Sym- pathizing as we can readily do with any per- son who examines the " Rushworthian chaos" of the authorities upon this period ; and ac- knowledging that many of the writers are very insignificant as historians ; Carlyle, in our opinion, forfeits all claim to historic or authentic excellence when he issues his own book without any new fact or really deducive reasoning. It seems to us like a kaleido- scopic gathering of the prejudices of Annan- dale ; and, for all the real purposes of private study or political advancement, it is useless. There can be no objection whatever to those who think proper making an idol of Crom- well, and rendering unto him continual "hero- worship." But, when it is insisted upon that A. D. 1658.] SECOND DIVISION 319 we also should worship the same idol in the same manner, we distinctly refuse in as few words as possible. In combating misrepresentations, the best way is to attack the latest collection. We therefore decidedly affirm that Carlyle's book on Cromwell is unworthy of its author, and of the age in which he hves. In view of the facts, we cannot agree with its positive reck- lessness. Sincere historians should always be ready to part with preconceived opinions as soon as an error is detected ; but this last work of Carlyle's comes to us couched in a style so dogmatic and ruthless that he ap- pears to demand the surrender of our reason. In his ridiculous admiration for his hero, Car- lyle forgets that he is not even consistent with himself; for, while he expatiates with delight upon Cromwell's throat-cutting capa- bilities, he has not a word of favour for the " black ravening coil of sanguinary bluster- ing individuals," as he styles the Irish people with his epithet-moTigering facility of expres- sion. It is quite easy and costs nothing to abuse Ireland, but facts are the only safe materials in the compilation of history ; and we are quite willing to be called a " Dryas- dust" as long as our facts remain without material confutation. Some of the best writers and the most con- siderate historians have honestly differed in estimating the character of Cromwell, and the state of the times when he lived is a gen- eral palliation which ought always to be kept in view ; but Carlyle is not content with this state of the subject : he must have his hero perfect, heel inclusive. He actually requires us to believe that Cromwell was a lover of truth ! This claim is altogether too prepos- terous for the preservation of serious atten- tion in an historical work. Bravely illus- trated by woodcuts, engraved with cavalry swords, the notion might read very well in a comic almanac. The learned advocate has overdone the defence of his absent principal by excessive zeal, and we are reminded of the expressive lines of a favourite poet : — " Not too much. What solid sense Three such little words dispense !" It is clear that the language has run away with the writer, and his duty as an author has been forgotten. Here is a specimen of the kettle-drum style of a book which mainly owes its importance to the noisy verbiage with which it decorates all the prejudices against the Irish people since Cromwell's time : — " But certainly, at lowest, here is a set of Military Despatches of the most unexampled nature ! Most rough, unkempt ; shaggy as the Numidian lion. A style rugged as crags ; coarse, drossy : yet with a meaning in it, an energy, a depth ; pouring on like a fire-tor- rent ; perennial fire of it visible athwart all drosses and defacements ; not uninteresting to see ! This man has come into distracted Ireland with a God's Truth in the heart of him, though an unexpected one ; the first such man they have seen for a great while indeed. He carries Acts of Parliament, Laws of Earth and Heaven, in one hand ; drawn sword in the other. He addresses the be- wildered Irish populations, the black ravening coil of sanguinary blustering individuals at Tredah and elsewhere : ' Sanguinary bluster- ing individuals, whose word is grown worth- less as the barking of dogs ; whose very thought is false, representing no fact but the contrary of fact — behold, I am come to speak and to do the truth among you. Here are acts of Parliament, methods of regulation and veracity, emblems the nearest we poor Pu- ritans could make them of God's Law-Book, to which it is and shall be our perpetual effort to make them correspond nearer and nearer. Obey them, help us to perfect them, be peaceable and true under them, it shall be well with you. Refuse to obey them, I will not let you continue living ! As articulate speaking veracious orderly men, not as a blustering murderous kennel of dogs run rabid, shall you continue in this Earth. Choose !' — They chose to disbelieve him ; could not understand that he, more than the others, meant any truth or justice to them. They rejected his summons and terms at Tredah : he stormed the place ; and accord- ing to his promise, put every man of the Garrison to death. His own soldiers are forbidden to plunder, by paper Proclamation ; 330 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1659. and in ropes of authentic hemp they are hamged when they do it. To Wexford Gar- rison the hke terms as at Tredah ; and, fail- ing these, the Uke storm. Here is a man whose word represents a thing ! Not bluster this, and false jargon scattering itself to the winds ; what this man speaks out of him comes to pass as a fact ; speech with this man is accurately prophetic of deed. This is the first King's face poor Ireland ever saw ; the first Friend's face, little as it recognises him — poor Ireland !" The Irish people ought to be very much obliged to Mr. Carlyle, but undoubtedly they will continue to exercise the privilege of all mankind in selecting and recognising their own friends. The most assiduously hospita- ble man might naturally fall back upon eti- quette if required to receive a stranger who introduces himself, just at " pudding time," with a Bible in one hand and a drawn sword in the other. This kettle-drum trash on throat-cutting topics has had its day ; and we are astonished to discover the length of time that we have been warm admirers of Carlyle. We also begin to understand why it is that he could galvanize John Knox into a hero, and do nothing for the memory of Francis Xavier. But our duty requires more stern and pointed language. In the very extract just given there is an important " mistake," as historians say ; or " inaccuracy," as the re- viewers say ; while the world says what it will. Carlyle has represented the slaughter at Drogheda as the deliberate intention of Cromwell, "according to his promise." From the general tenor of that thousand-of- brick. paragraph we presume that the mean- ing of it is — we are to consider Cromwell as being such a conscientious hero that he was obliged to kill human beings for nearly a week after the garrison surrendered. If the clause of the sentence alluded to were tnie, it does not make as much as a button for a hero according to our estimation ; and, of course, this is only a matter of opinion. But, it is a matter of fact that the statement is in- correct. If, before the assault, Cromwell had registered a promise that he would put the garrison to death in any event, why was quarter proclaimed in the third attack of the assault, when the besiegers were led by Cromwell in person? Carlyle's preposter- ous statement, instead of making his hero appear like one having a conscientious re- gard for his word, condemns Cromwell and his wordy showman to the severe reprobation of all reasonable minds. Besides this grand and fatal mistake, we might mention others, of small importance as far as the manufacturing of heroes is con- cerned, but very essential when seeking a correct understanding of the historical part of the subject. Instead of the "individuals" before spoken of, the garrison of Drogheda was composed principally of English royalist troops, who knew the rules of war quite as well as their grim assailants. It is a well- attested fact, supported by a hundred collat- eral incidents, that treachery and political jealousy caused the fall of the other towns. As for Cromwell, he indeed " is a man whose word represents a thing ;" but what that thing is impartial readers will doubtless be able to judge without dictation. We had written thus far when we learned with great pleasure that one of the most dis- criminating critics of America* had already pronounced a general judgment on Carlyle's work which agreed with our view of this particular subject. It is indeed a brilliant and off-hand disquisition, expressed in gentle terms ; and, in connection with the book it reviews, looks like a carcanet of pearls hung around an old stove. Coming from the hands of a lady, we bespeak the most respectful attention to the following extracts : — " The method which he has chosen of letting the letters and speeches of Cromwell tell the story when possible, only himself doing what is needful to throw light where it is most wanted and fill up gaps, is an excel- lent one. Mr. Carlyle, indeed, is a most per- emptory showman, and with each slide of his magic lantern informs us not only of what is necessary to enable us to understand it, but how we must look at it, under peril of being ranked as Imbeciles, Canting Skeptics, dis- » S, M. Fuller. A. D. 1660.] SECOND DIVISION. 321 gusting Rose-yater Philanthropists, and the like. And aware of his power of tacking a nickname or ludicrous picture to any one who refuses to obey, we might perhaps feel ourselves, if in his neighbourhood, under such constraint and fear of deadly laughter, as to lose the benefit of having our eyes to form our judgment upon the same materials on which he formed his. " But the ocean separates us, and the showman has his own audience of despised victims or scarcely less despised pupils, and we need not fear to be handed down to pos- terity as * a little gentleman in a gray coat,' ' shrieking' unutterable * imbecilities,' or with the like damnatory affixes, when we profess that, having read the book, and read the let- ters and speeches thus far, we cannot submit to the showman's explanation of the lantern ; but must, more than ever, stick to the old ' Philistine' * Dilettant' ' Imbecile' and what- not view of the character of Cromwell. * * * " For ourselves, though aware of the mis- takes and errors in particulars that must oc- cur, we believe the summing up of a man's character in the verdict of his time is hkely to be correct. We believe that Cromwell was ' a curse' as much as a blessing in these acts of his. We believe him ruthless, ambi- tious, half a hypocrite, (few men have courage or want of soul to bear being wholly so,) and we think it is rather too bad to rave at us in our time for canting, and then hold up the Prince of Canters for our reverence in his * dimly seen nobleness.' Dimly, indeed, de- spite the rhetoric and satire of Mr. Carlyle I " In previous instances where Mr. Carlyle has acted out his predeterminations as to the study of a character, we have seen circum- stances favour him, at least sometimes. There were fine moments, fine lights upon the character that he would seize upon. But here the facts look just as they always have. He indeed ascertains that the Cromwell family were not mere brewers or plebeians, but * substantial gentry,' and that there is not the least ground for the common notion that Cromwell lived at any time a dissolute life. But with the exception of these emendations, Btill the history looks as of old. W^e see a 41 man of strong and wise mind, educated by the pressure of great occasions to stations of command ; we see him wearing the religious garb which was the custom of the times, and even preaching to himself as well as to others — for well can we imagine that his courage and his pride would have fallen without keep- ing up the illusion ; but we never see Heaven answering his invocations in any way that can interfere with the rise of his fortunes or the accomplishment of his plans. To our- selves the tone of these religious holdings- forth is sufficiently expressive ; they all ring hollow. Indeed, we cannot recover from our surprise at Mr. Carlyle's liking these letters ; his predetermination must have been strong indeed. Again, we see Cromwell ruling with the strong arm, and carrying the spirit of monarchy to an excess which no Stuart could surpass. Cromwell, indeed, is wise, and the king he had punished with death is foolish : Charles is faithless, and Cromwell crafty ; we see no other difference, Crom- well does not, in power, abide by the prin- ciples that led him to it ; and we can't help (so rose-water imbecile are we !) admiring those who do : one Lafayette, for instance — poor chevalier so despised by Mr. Carlyle — for abiding by his principles, though imprac- ticable, more than Louis Philippe, who laid them aside so far as necessary * to secure peace to the kingdom ;' and to us it looks black for one who kills kings to domineer more kingly than a king. • • • • " We stick to the received notions of Old Noll, with his great red nose, hard heart, long head, and crafty ambiguities. Nobody ever doubted his great abilities and force of will, neither doubt we that he was made an ' Instrument' just as he professeth. But as to looking on him through Mr. Carlyle's glasses — we shall not be sneered or stormed into it, unless he has other proof to offer than is shown yet. And we resent the violence he offers both to our prejudices and our per- ceptions. If he has become interested in Oliver or any other pet hyena, by studying his habits, is that any reason we should admit him to our Pantheon ? No ! our * imbecility* shall keep fast the door against any thing 333 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1660. short of proofs that in the Hyena a God is incarnated, Mr. Carlyle declares that he sees it, but we really cannot. The Hyena is surely not out of the kingdom of God, but as to being the finest emblem of what is di- vine — no ! no ! * * * * " We have passed over the hackneyed ground attended by a torcli-bearer who has given a new animation to the procession of events, and cast a ruddy glow on many a striking physiognomy. That any truth of high value has been brought to light, we do not perceive ; certainly nothing has been add- ed to our own sense of the greatness of the times, nor any new view presented that we can adopt as to the position and character of the agents." All honour to the fair owner of the pen so judiciously wielded in defence of truth and humanity ! The prejudices of the border- village are thus promptly rebuked by the liberality and judgment of a universally ob- servant and truly American mind. A man must be something more than a mere king- killer to deserve the approbation of constitu- tional republicans. In all our research among the authorities for this period of history, we continually ob- serve that those writers who have the least sympathy with Cromwell furnish the most reasonable estimates of his character. For ourselves, we must say that, having performed our duty faithfully and sincerely, it is a great relief to part with his company. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXVIII. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " Few leaders, in ancient or modem times, merit the epithet of hero better than Owen [Roe] O'Neill. He left rank, station, and command abroad, to assist his countrymen in their struggle for their rights and properties. He was successful in all his enterprises ; and he never sullied his laurels by treachery, cruelty, or inhumanity. His only error was that he did not treat the council of Kilkenny as Cromwell afterwards did the British parlia- ment, by dispersing at the point of the bay- onet an imbecile assembly, whose folly and stubbornness was manifestly accelerating the ruin of the country. But O'Neill was too nobly minded to effect even a good purpose by criminal means ; and his virtues served to injure the cause which he supported, since a reverence for good faith kept him from taking the only measures which would ensure its success ." T A Y LOR . " We are now to behold ' Reformation' the second, which its authors and executors called ' a thorough, godly Reformation ;' insisting that ' Reformation' the first was but a half- finished affair, and that * the church of Eng- land as by law established' was only a daugh- ter of 'the old * * * * * of Babylon.' This • Reformation' proceeded just like the former : its main object was plunder. * * * ♦ " The heroes of ' Reformation' the second were great Bible-readers, and almost every man became, at times, a preacher. The sol- diers were uncommonly gifted in this way, and they claimed a right to preach as one of the conditions upon which they bore arms against the king. Every one interpreted the Bible in his own way : they were all for the Bible without note or comment." — Cobbett. *' The monarchy and house of lords being overthrown in England, the government of Ireland became an object of dispute to all the parties. The Presbyterians were for con- ferring it on Waller, and the Independents were inclined towards Lambert ; but after some debating, they all finally agreed that OUver Cromwell was fittest for that important trust. He was accordingly nominated lieu- tenant. His departure for that country im- mediately followed, and accompanied by his son-in-law Ireton, he set out with a powerful army." — Mac-Geoghegan. " Cromwell acted on his arrival, as lord- lieutenant of Ireland, in the name of the par- hament of England. No parliament was called or suffered to be held in Ireland for thirty years after this ; the city of Dublin submitted, but the provinces prepared for re- sistance, in the name of ' Charles the Second,' son of the decapitated king. * * * * To I)ro- gheda Cromwell first marched." — Mooney. A. D. 1660.] SECOND DIVISION. " The assault was given, and his [Crom- well's] men twice repulsed ; but in the third attack, Colonel Wall being unhappily killed at the head of his regiment, his men were so dismayed thereby, as to listen, before they had any need, to the enemy offering them quarter; admitting them upon those terms, and thereby betraying themselves and their fellow-soldiers to the slaughter. All the of- ficers and soldiers of Cromwell's army prom- ised quarter to such as would lay down their arms, and performed it as long as any place held out ; which encouraged others to yield. But when they had once all in their power, and feared no hurt that could be done them, Cromwell, being told by Jones that he had now all the flower of the Irish anny in his hands, gave orders that no qucirter should be given ; so that his soldiers were forced, many of them against their will, to kill their prison- ers. The brave governor Sir A. Aston, Sir Edm. Vemey, the colonels Warren, Fleming, and Byrne, were killed in cold blood ; and indeed all the oflicers, except some few of least consideration, that escaped by miracle. The Marquis of Ormond, in his letters to the king and Lord Byron, says, ' that on this oc- casion Cromwell exceeded himself and any thing he had ever heard of, in breach of faith and bloody inhumanity ; and that the cruelties exercised there for five days after the town was taken, would make as many several pic- tures of inhumanity, as are to be found in the Book of Martyrs, or in the Relation of Am- boyna.' " — Carte. " Cromwell, with an infernal calmness and deliberation, resolved, by one efiectual exe- cution, to terrify the whole Irish party ; he issued his fatal orders that the garrison should be put to the sword. Some of his soldiers with reluctance butchered their prisoners ; the governor and all his gallant comrades, numbering three thousand men, were butch- ered I'll cold blood. A number of ecclesias- tics were found within the walls, and these seemed to be the more immediate objects of his vengeance : he ordered his soldiers to plunge their weapons into the helpless men's bodies. For five days, this butchery con- tinued ; thirty persons only, out of the whole garrison and citizens, remained unslaughtered, and these were transported as slaves to Bar- badoes." — Leland. " Aware that the royalists could assemble no army in the field, Cromwell marched to the siege of Drogheda. The defences of the place were contemptible ; but the garrison consisted of two thousand five hundred cho- sen men, and the governor. Sir Arthur Aston, had earned in the civil war the reputation of a brave and experienced oflicer. In two days a breach was made ; but Aston ordered trenches to be dug within the wall, and the assailants on their first attempt were quickly repulsed. In the second, more than a thou- sand men penetrated through the breach ; but they suffered severely for their temerity, and were driven back with considerable loss. Cromwell now placed himself at the head of the reserve, and led them to the assault, ani- mating them with his voice and example. In the heat of the conflict, it chanced that the officer who defended one of the trenches fell ; his men wavered : quarter was offered and accepted ; and the enemy, surmounting the breastwork, obtained possession of the bridge, entered the town, and successively overcame all opposition. The pledge which had been given was now violated ; and, as soon as re- sistance ceased, a general massacre was or- dered or tolerated by Cromwell. During five days the streets of Drogheda ran with blood ; revenge and fanaticism stimulated the passions of the soldiers : from the garrison they turned their swords against the inhabit- ants, and one thousand unresisting victims were immolated together within the walls of the great church, whither they had fled for protection ." — Ling a rd , " Before the Marquis of Ormond could draw his army together, Cromwell had be- sieged Tredah ; and though the garrison was so strong in point of number, and that num- ber of so choice men that they could wish for nothing more than that the enemy would attempt to take them by storm, the very next day after he came before the town, he gave a general assault and was beaten off with considerable loss. But after a day more, he assaulted it again in two places, with so much 324 HISTORY OF IRELAND. {A.. D. 1660. courage that he entered in both ; and though the governor and some of the chief officers retired in disorder into a fort where they hoped to have made conditions, a panic fear so possessed the soldiers that they threw down their arms upon a general offer of quar- ter : so that the enemy entered the works without resistance, and put every man, gov- ernor, officer, and soldier, to the sword, and the whole army being entered the town, they executed all manner of cruelty, and put every man that related to the garrison, and all the citizens who were Irish, man, woman and child, to the sword ; and there being three or four officers of name, and of good families, who had found some way, by the humanity of some soldiers of the enemy, to conceal themselves for four or five days, being after- wards discovered, they were butchered in cold blood." — Clarendon. " I wish that all honest hearts may give the glory of this to God alone, to whom in- deed the praise of this mercy belongs." — O. Cromwell; Sept. 17, 1649. " 1649— October 2d. This day the House received despatches from the Lord Lieuten- ant Cromwell, dated Dublin, September 17th, giving an account of the taking of Drogheda. For this important success of the parliament's forces in Ireland, the House appointed a thanksgiving-day to be held on the 1st of November ensuing throughout the nation. They likewise ordered that a Declaration should be prepared and sent into the several counties, signifying the grounds for setting apart that day of public thanksgiving. A letter of thanks was also voted to be sent to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; and to be communicated to the officers there ; in which notice was to be taken, that the House did approve of the execution done at Drogheda, as an act both of justice to them, and mercy to others who may be warned by it." — Pari. Hist.; vol. iii., p. 1334. " Some time afterwards, Cromwell gained possession of Wexford, by treachery ; where a carnage was perpetrated, as atrocious as that which had taken place at Drogheda. The perfidy and cruelly were exactly of the same character as the proceedings at the lat- ter place. Commissioners on the part of the citizens had made a treaty with Cromwell, whereby persons and property were to be secured, as well of the garrison, as the in- habitants. But in violation of the treaty, the whole, to the number of 2000, men, women, and children, were slaughtered." — M. Carey. " I now come to the master-demon ; he who steeped his hands in the blood of his sovereign, and came to Ireland reeking from that crime ; in order, by horrible cruelties committed on the Irish, to acquire popularity in England. And he did so acquire it, until it was sufficient to confer upon him regal power, and to enable him to place his hand upon that throne which he had not moral courage to occupy." — O'Connell. " As soon as Cromwell had ordered his batteries to play on a distant quarter of the town, on his summons being rejected, Staf- ford [the commander of the garrison] admit- ted his men into the castle, from whence issuing suddenly, and attacking the wall and gate adjoining, they were admitted, either through the treachery of the townsmen or the cowardice of the soldiers, or perhaps both ; and the slaughter was almost as great as at Drogheda." — Warner. " No distinction was made between the defenceless inhabitant and the armed soldier ; nor could the shrieks and prayers of 300 fe- males, who had gathered round the great cross, preserve them from the swords of those ruthless barbarians. By Cromwell himself the number of the slain is reduced to two, by some writers it has been swelled to five, thousand." — Lingard. " On Cromwell's hasty return to England, he left the army in Ireland under Ireton, who was his duplicate, in cruelty at least. " I cannot even touch one tenth of the hor- rible events of this cruel usurper's career. " One chief cause of the submission of Ire- land to Cromwell was the death of O'Neill, [Owen Roe,] and the treachery of Lord In- chiquin, who commanded, for the Irish con- federation, nearly all the strong posts of Mun- ster, and whose surrender of these posts, and accession to the enemy, was a severe blow to the cause of Ireland." — Moonev. A. D. 1660.] SECOND DIVISION. 325 "The disaffection in the southern towns was principally owing to the contrivances of Lord Broghill, the fifth son of the great Earl of Cork, who inherited all his father's abili- ties, but a very small share of his integrity and honourable principle. He was born at his father's seat, the college of Youghal, and educated in the strict principles of the Puri- tans — a colony of whom, from Bristol, had been planted in the town by his father." — Taylor. "Having brought together an army, he [Ircton] marched into the county of Tippera- ry, and hearing that many priests and gentry about Cashel had retired with their goods into the church, he stormed it, and being en- tered, put three thousand of them to the sword, taking the priests even from under the altar." — Lu dlo w . " Three thousand men, women, and chil- dren, of all ranks and ages, took refuge in the cathedral of Cashel, hoping the temple of the Living God would afford them a sanc- tuary from the butcheries that were laying the whole country desolate. The barbarian Ireton forced the gates of the church, and let loose his bloodhounds among them, who soon convinced them how vain was their re- liance on the temple or the altar of God. They were slaughtered, without discrimina- tion. Neither rank, dignity, nor character, saved the nobleman, the bishop, or the priest : nor decrepitude, nor his hoary head, the venerable sage bending down into the grave ; nor her charms, the virgin ; nor her virtues, the respectable matron ; nor its helplessness, the smiling infant. Butchery was the order of the day, — and all shared the common fate." M. Carey. " I have heard a relation of my own, who was captain in that service, relate, that no manner of compassion or discrimination was showed either to age or sex; but that the little children were promiscuously sufferers with the guilty; and that if any who had some grains of compassion reprehended the soldiers for this unchristian inhumanity, they would scoffingly reply, * Why ? Nits will be lice,' and so would dispatch them." — Nalson. " We see, from Broudin and Lingard, that Cromwell sent away one hundred thousand Irish to foreign countries ; they were princi- pally the flower of the Irish armies. Several thousand young girls and women were seized, and sent to the West Indian and Americau colonies, under pretence of making them English and Christians ! These unhappy exiles perished in hundreds and thousands ; many thousands were crowded beyond the Shannon into Connaught, to live as best they could, or to die from excessive numbers. The rest of Ireland was then coolly divided among the soldiers of Oliver, he reserving to himself the whole county Tipperary for a demesne." — Mooney. " I cannot close without some reflections on the conduct and character of Phelim O'Neill, whose history is involved in consid- erable uncertainty. He appears to be given up to unqualified censure, as having been guilty of excessive and unparalleled cruelties. The characteristic falsehood, which, as I have shown, strongly marks the Anglo-Hibernian histories of Ireland, should make us, unless disposed to be deceived, receive with extreme caution, whatever they assert that is not sup- ported by imimpeachable documents. And the evidence on which the accusation rests, is by no means conclusive. On the contra- ry, there is every reason to believe, that the severe censures of which he has been the object, are unfounded. That he put to death many of his prisoners in cold blood, appears highly probable. But it is not only equally probable, but almost certain, that it was in retaliation for the horrible cruelties perpe- trated on the Irish by the government forces, which, as I have fully proved by the testi- mony of Nalson, Carte, Warner, and Leland, slaughtered men, women, and even children, indiscriminately. The detestable orders of the lords-justices, to ' kill all the men able to bear arms, in the places where the rebels were harboured,' did but give oflScial sanction to a system then in full operation. This sys- tem was a full warrant and justification of the slaughter of prisoners, in retaliation, and to arrest the progress of that horrible warfare." M. Carey. " Let it not be supposed that I am igno- 326 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1660. rant that even Cromwell occasionally observed the faith of treaties ; or that he sometimes carried into effect that quarter for which men in arms had stipulated before surrender. It was his best policy on some occasions to do so ; and not to drive to utter despair all the armed Irish. But even these acts of justice were extremely rare. And some of them were liable to be impeached for base unfaith- fulness. His first perfidious slaughter at Drogheda, leaves any person attempting to become his advocate, by reason of his occa- sional performance of stipulation, in a situa- tion not the most enviable. The truth is, that a fiend so black with crime, so stained with blood, was never yet exhibited in any country lo compare with Cromwell and his gang of sanguinary biblical enthusiasts in Ireland." O'CONNELL. " The wrecks of Cromwell's desolation still appear scattered over every part of Ire- land ; blood that had escaped the massacres of Elizabeth was only reserved to flow under the sword of usurpation ; and Cromwell has the credit of having done his business more effectually than any of his predecessors. He cooped up the surviving Irish in a contracted district, confined the clergy to nearly one province, confiscated two thirds of the Irish territory, and stained his sanguinary career by indiscriminate massacres in every fortress that resisted him." — J. Barrington. "In the year 1652 the parliament com- missioners at Dublin published a proclama- tion, signed Charles Fleetwood, Edmund Ludlow, and John Jones ; wherein the act of the 27th of Elizabeth was made of force in Ireland, and ordered to be most strictly put in execution. By this act, * every Ro- mish priest, so found, was deemed guilty of rebellion, and sentenced to be hanged until he was half dead ; then to have his head taken off", and his body cut in quarters ; his bowels to be drawn out and burned ; and his head fixed upon a pole in some pubhc place.' ****** " The punishment of those who entertained a priest, was, by the same act, confiscation of their goods and chattels, and the ignomini- ous death of the gallows. This edict was renewed the same year, with the additional cruelty of making even the private exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, a capital crime. And again repeated in 1657, with the same penalty of confiscation and death to all those who, knowing where a priest was hid, did not make discovery to the govern- ment." — Curry. " Curry's * Review' is earnestly recom- mended to the attention of the learned world. It is a perfect model of the manner in which history, on all disputed points, ought to be written. So luminous is Curry's style, so cogent his reasoning, and so indisputable his authorities, that the most inveterate preju- dices must give way, on a candid perusal of the work." — M. Carey. " Of the strict execution of these barba- rous edicts, many shocking examples were daily seen among these unhappy people, in- somuch that, to use the words of a contem- porary writer and eye-witness, * Neither the Israelites were more cruelly persecuted by Pharaoh, nor the innocent infants by Herod, nor the Christians by Nero or any other of the Pagan t3nrants, than were the Roman Catholics of Ireland at that fatal juncture of these savage commissioners.' " — Morrison's "Mourning Song," etc.; Inspruck, 1659. " In every part of these transactions, there is something singular and striking. The confederated Catholics were in possession of power from the year 1643 to the year 1649. They were in possession of, and had the management of, nearly all Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and a few other places. In 1644 they were at the acme of their power. Their General Assembly met at Kilkenny, enacted laws, and carried on the government. This assembly was composed almost exclu- sively of Catholics ; the Executive were ex- clusively so. Yet they never were once accused of having made a single intolerant law ; or a single intolerant or bigoted regula- tion or ordinance ! They did not persecute one single Protestant ; nor are they accused of any such persecution. This indeed is matter of which the Catholics of Ireland may be justly proud. " I have already shown from extracts taken A. D. 1660.] SECOND DIVISION. 327 from Protestant writers, the admission that the confederated Catholics never persecuted a single Protestant." — O'Connell. " My aim was to work a division among the Romish clergy ; and I believe I had compassed it, to the great security of the government and Protestants, and against the opposition of the pope, and his creatures and nuncios, if I had not been removed from the government, and if direct contrary counsels and courses had not been taken and held by my successors." — Ormond. See Carte's Appendix. " Whoever reads this extorted confession with attention cannot fail to perceive that whatever may have been Ormond's pretences of attachment to Charles, his Machiavelian course was admirably calculated to promote the views and secure the ultimate success of that monarch's enemies in England, by de- priving him of the powerful aid he might have derived from the Irish had they not been embittered against each other by the duke's flagitious and too successful policy." M. Carey. " Limerick was obtained by the treachery of one or two within, and the garrison and citizens put to the sword. Galway and sev- eral other towns ultimately fell into the hands of the parliament. Lastly, Cromwell, having obtained several victories over the troops of Prince Charles in Scotland, and compelled him to fly, was enabled to send fresh forces to Ireland, which were poured in in such masses that they became inconvenient to each other." — Mooney. " When fasting and abstinence ceased to be regarded as virtues, Englishmen reverted to brutal extravagances in gluttony, of which history has recorded no parallel since the luxurious reign of the Caesars in ancient Rome. If there were no other proofs of this fact, the authenticated accounts of the feasts of those times, and of the bill of fare of Eliz- abeth's tables, would establish the fact be- yond doubt. The intemperance of the times, which followed the Reformation, led to the Sudor Anglicus' or ' sweating sickness,' in the reign of Edward the Sixth, to the epilep- sy, called ' falling sickness,' and afterwards to the plague of London ; for the reception of which, in these climes, the constitution was prepared by an effeminating debauchery, such as illiberal Christians are wont to as- cribe to the Turks." — Medicina Simplex. " The civil war, or rebellion, had raged for twelve years with a degree of violence never probably exceeded in the annals of human wickedness. The most infiyiate rage, re- sulting from religious bigotry, fanaticism, the spirit of persecution, and national hatred, had laid the nation waste. A senseless spirit of faction, among the Roman Catholics, carried to the utmost excess — engendered principally by the intermeddling and turbulent spirit of the nuncio, Rinunccini, a serious curse to the nation — but fostered and fomented, with the most Machiavelian views, by the duke of Or- mond — destroyed the energies of that body — prevented them from establishing the liberties of their country on a secure basis — and laid them and their posterity prostrate at the feet of tlie most remorseless and unprincipled aristocracy that ever cursed a nation." — M. Carey. " They were for the most part men of low origin, and mean education ; but enthusiasm gave them a stern dignity of character, which must command a certain share of respect. That the act which gave them the lands of the kingdom was an unparalleled public rob- bery, and the most atrocious instemce of un- principled spoliation recorded in any history, nobody can question." — Taylor. " The toleration of Cromwell's reign, im- perfect as it was, and comprehending neither the Catholic, the Unitarian, the Quaker, nor the Jew, was but one of the arts of political management by which he raised himself to power, and can scarcely be considered as indicating in him, or in his party at large, any settled and clearly-defined principle." — G. C. Verplanck. " The Cromwellians ruled their wretched serfs with a rod of iron : they looked upon them as an inferior species, a degraded caste, with whom they could not feel sympathy. The very name of Irish was with them and their descendants an expression of contempt, associated with ideas of intellectual and moral 328 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1660 degradation. The peasants were forbidden to leave their parishes without permission ; and strictly prohibited from assembling for religious worship, or on any other purpose. The Catholic clergy were ordered to quit the country, under pain of death ; and it was de- clared a capital offence to celebrate mass, or perform any of the ceremonies of Romish worship. Still there were a faithful few who lingered near their beloved congregations, and in spite of the fearful hazard, afforded their flocks the consolation of religion. They exercised their ministry in dens and caves ; in the wild fastnesses of the mountains, and in the deserted bogs. The Cromwellians learned that the abominations of popery were still continued in the land, and employed bloodhounds to track the haunts of these devoted men. During the latter part of the seventeenth, and the early part of the eigh- teenth century, priest-hunting was a favourite field-sport in Ireland." — Taylor. " It is one of the most curious facts in our early history, a fact less generally known than it ought to be, that the first colony of modern times which was founded on the broad principles of religious freedom, expli- citly recognising the rights of conscience and the liberty of tliought, was that of Maryland, a Roman Catholic colony, founded by a Ro- man Catholic legislator. Of the more minute and personal history and character of Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland, not very much, I believe, is known ; but we do know that he had served his country faithfully and honourably, in peace and in war, and that in establishing a colony for the relief of his fel- low Catholics, his first principle of legislation was Religious Liberty," — G, C. Verplanck. "The year 1632 gave rise to the colony of Maryland, being a part of what was then reckoned Virginia. Sir George Calvert, sec- retary of state, having in 1621 and 1622 obtained of King James a grant of part of Newfoundland, he some time after removed thither with his family, but he soon found it to be one of the worst countries in the world ; whereupon he returned back to England, and he being a conscientious Roman Catholic, ! was inclined to retire to some part of Virginia, there quietly to enjoy the free exercise of his religion, for which purpose he went thither himself in or about the year 1631 ; but being discouraged by the universal dislike which he perceived that the people of Virginia had to the very name of a papist, he left Virginia, and went further up the bay of Chesapeake ; and finding there a very large tract of land commodiously watered with many fine rivers, and not yet planted by any Christians, he returned for England, and represented to the king that the colony of Virginia had not as yet occupied any lands beyond Potomac river : whereupon he obtained a promise of the king's grant, but, dying before it was made out, his son Cecilius took it out in his own name, June 20th, 1632, the king himself naming it Maryland, in honour of the queen, Henrietta Maria," — Anderson ; Hist, of Commerce. See also W. Keith's Hist, of Virginia. " It is generally allowed that this charter, and the fundamental code of laws, including the provisions for the protection of religious liberty, were drawn up by the first Lord Baltimore ; and that his sons, (Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, and Leonard Calvert, who was the first governor,) merely executed the de- signs of their father," — G, C. Verplanck. " The charter of incorporation was one of the most ample which had been granted. It not only conveyed the lands in the fullest manner, but authorized a free assembly, with- out the least royal interference. Liberty of conscience was allowed to Christians of all denominations. Presents were made to the Indians to their satisfaction ; so that the country was at peace. These circumstances, together with the rigid principles of the Virginians and some of the other colonists, had influence to expedite the settlement. Remarkable it was, that under a Roman Catholic proprietary, Puritans were indulged that liberty of conscience which was denied them by their fellow Protestants. Emigrants flocked in such numbers into the colony that it soon became populous and flourishing," — Trumbull ; Gen. Hist, of the U. S. " There is no one — no matter how ignorant A. D. 1660.] SECOND DIVISION of other things, how little conversant with the events of the age, how unversed in the history of the great and the good — but at the sole enunciation of Carroll's name, understands the full meaning and import of all it contains : associates with it the most exalted attributes, the most genuine prerogatives, the most sub- lime relations — identifies with it every cir- cumstance that should unite in constituting the Christian, the patriot, and the philoso- pher. » * * "The sublime charter of our privileges and our hopes — the master-piece of diplo- matic composition, and statesman-like wis- dom — at the peril of peace, happiness, for- tune, hfe itself — was fearlessly signed by Charles Carroll. " This act proved him to be one of the purest patriots and most unshrinking men of the age. He was in the prime of life —he was surrounded with every comfort that the heart could wish for — he was immensely wealthy. He had nothing to gain — he had all to hazard. This act was the generous and lofty impulse of a soul that sought to make all men happy ; to raise his fellow Christians from the degradation in which they were kept ; to exonerate his fellow citizens from the grievous and odious taxes that were heaped upon them. He had no ambition to gratify — no interest to secure — no party spirit to indulge — no office to obtain — no wealth to amass. • * * * He was ready to contend with all the adversity of circumstances, to throw himself into the war, to breast the danger of the struggle, and submit to the ignominy of a failure — ignominy, did I say ? In any event, it would have been the ignominy of unsuccessful patriots, overtaken in their ca- reer of glory by the rod of their oppressors. Ignominy ! had his fate been that of what England would then have styled a traitor and a rebel — the ignominy of his grave would have been encircled with a blaze of light. It would have been ignominy like that of Emmet — the ignominy of a martyr to hberty and independence. He felt and acted upon the sentiment of Cowper — « 'Tifl liberty alone that givea the flower Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume ; 42 And we are weeds without it * * • •*•**•! could endure Chains nowhere patiently ; and chains at home, Where I am free by birthright, not at all.' " But, I leave this topic to the pens of statesmen. It is not my province, and cer- tainly not my wish to enter into all the cir- cumstances of the Revolution, unfold all the intricacies of that perilous but glorious event — to carry your attention through the mar- vellous labyrinth of its history — I am merely here to point to the date of our glory, and to place before you in faithful delineaments, one of the extraordinary agents, the last of sages, the * ultimus Romanorum^ who gave us our standing among the nations of the earth." — C. C. Pise ; Oration in honour of Chables Carroll. " The mission of America among the na- tions is indeed one of republicanism, of Ub- erty ; but it is nevertheless one of peace and good-will to men. It is for this reason that we invoke the censure of mankind against England. She knows its power, for she has often excited and directed it, and with au- spicious results, to her immortal honour be it acknowledged. She dare not and will not defy it. We know indeed her vast miUtary power. We know that the drum-beat of her armies begins with the morning, ' and keep- ing company with the hours, encircles the earth with one unbroken strain of the martial airs of England.' But we know also that the era of military despotism is passing away — that a greater and more beneficent power has arisen. The moral power of mankind waits not to be awakened by the sun — it halts not for the dilatory progress of the hours, hor does it die away as they pass on. It per- vades camps not only, but cabinets and courts and cities, and towns, villages, hamlets, and rural fields ; it defeats the designs of tyranny in their conception, and converts hostile ar- mies into embassies of benevolence and civil- ization." — W. H. Seward. " If Europe has hitherto [1818] been wil- fully blind to the value of our example and* the exploits of our sagacity, courage, inven- tion, and freedom, the blame must rest with her, and not with America. 330 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1660. " Is it nothing for the universal good of mankind to have carried into successful oper- ation a system of self-government, uniting personal liberty, freedom of opinion, and equality of rights, with national power and dignity ; such as had before existed only in the Utopian dreams of philosophers ? Is it nothing, in moral science, to have anticipated in sober reality numerous plans of reform in civil and criminal jurisprudence, which are, but now, received as plausible theories by the politicians and economists of Europe ? Is it nothing to have been able to call forth in every emergency, either in war or peace, a body of talents always equal to the difficulty ? Is it nothing to have, in less than half a cen- tury, exceedingly improved the sciences of political economy, of law, and of medicine, with all their auxiliary branches ; to have enriched human knowledge by the accumu- lation of a great mass of useful facts and observations ; and to have augmented the power and the comforts of civilized man by miracles of mechanical invention ? Is it no- thing to have given the world examples of disinterested patriotism, of political wisdom, of public virtue ; of learning, eloquence, and valour, never exerted save for some praise- worthy end ? It is sufficient to briefly sug- gest these considerations : every mind would anticipate me in filling up the details. " No — Land of Liberty ! thy children have no cause to blush for thee. What though the arts have reared but few monuments among us, and scarcely a trace of the Muse's footstep is found in the paths of our forests, or along the banks of our rivers ; yet our soil has been consecrated by the blood of heroes, and by great and holy deeds of peace. Its wide extent has become one vast temple and hallowed asylum, sanctified by the prayers AND blessings OF THE PERSECUTED OF EVERY SECT, AND THE WRETCHED OF ALL NATIONS. " Land of Refuge — Land of Benedictions ! Those prayers still arise, and they are still heard : — ' May peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces !' ' May there be no decay, no leading into captivity, and no complaining in thy streets !' ' May truth flourish out of the earth, and righteous- ness look down from heaven!'" — G. C. Verplanck, 1818. " The true lawgiver ought to have a heart full of sensibility. He ought to love and respect his kind, and to fear himself. It may be allowed to his temperament to catch his ultimate object with an intuitive glance ; but his movements towards it ought to be deliber- ate. Political arrangement, as it is a work for social ends, is to be only wrought by social means. There mind must conspire with mind. Time is required to produce that union of minds which alone can produce all the good we aim at. Our patience will achieve more than our force." — Burke. "If ever there appeared in any state a chief who was at the same time both tyrant and usurper, most certainly Oliver Cromwell was such." — Wicquefort Emb. " He was a tyrant." — Alg. Sydney. " He was a coward." — Ld. Holles. "With all his faults, although he was a coward at first," etc. etc. — Rog. Manley. " A bold, cunning, and ambitious man ; unjust, violent, and void of virtue." — Mem. of Brandenburg. " A subtle and refined hypocrite." — Bos- suet. " A dexterous villain ; a bloody usurper." Voltaire. " A fortunate fool." — Card. Mazarine. " His face wears natural bufi", and his skin may furnish him with a rusty coat of mail. You would think he had been christened in a lime-pit, and tanned alive, but that his coun- tenance still continues mangy. We cry out against superstition, and yet worship a piece of wainscot and idolize a blanched almond." Hudibras in Prose, 1682. " If I write against tyrants, what is that to kings, whom I am far from associating with tyrants ? as much as an honest man differs from a rogue, so much I contend that a king differs from a tyrant. Whence it is clear that a t)n:ant is so far from being a king, that he is always in direct opposition to a king ; and he who peruses the records of history will find that more kings have been subverted by ty- rants than by subjects. He, therefore, that A. D. 1660.] SECOND DIVISION. 331 would authorize the destruction of tyrants, does not authorize the destruction of kings, but of the most inveterate enemies of kings." Milton. *' Cromwell gorged himself with human blood. — He committed the most hideous slaughters ; deliberate, cold-blooded, perse- vering. He stained the annals of the Eng- lish people with guilt of a blacker dye than has stained any other nation on earth. "And — after all — for what? What did he gain by it ? Some four or five years of unsettled power ! And if his corpse were interred in a royal grave, it was so only to have his bones thence transferred to a gib- bet !" O'CONNELL. " With an absolute indifference to all that is praiseworthy or blameless, honest or dis- honest, he never considered virtue as virtue, crime as crime ; he regarded only the rela- tion which the one or the other might have to his elevation. This was his idol ; he sac- rificed to it his king, his country, and his re- ligion. Cromwell was an illustrious villain." Raynal. " From of old, I will confess, this theory of Cromwell's falsity has been incredible to me. Nay, I cannot believe the like, of any Great Man whatever. Multitudes of Great Men figure in History as false selfish men ; but if we will consider it, they are hut Jigures for us, unintelligible shadows : we do not see into them as men that could have existed at all. A superficial unbelieving generation only, with no eye but for the surfaces and semblances of things, could form such notions of Great Men. Can a great soul be possible without a conscience in it, the essence of all real souls, great or small ? — No, we cannot figure Cromwell as a Falsity and Fatuity ; the longer I study him and his career, I believe this the less. Why should we ? There is no evidence of it. Is it not strange that, after all the mountains of calumny this man has been subject to, after being represented as the very prince of liars, who never, or hardly ever, spoke truth, but always some cunning counterfeit of truth, there should not yet have been one falsehood brought clearly home to hini ? A prince of liars, and no lie spoken by him. Not one that I could yet get a sight of. It is hke Pococke asking Grotius, Where is your proof of Mahomet's Pigeon ? No proof ! — Let us leave these calumnious chi- meras, as chimeras ought to be left. They are not the portraits of the man ; they are distracted phantasms of him, the joint product of hatred and darkness." — T. Carlyle, May, 1840. " Mr. Carlyle reminds us of the man in a certain parish who had always looked up to one of its Squires as a secure and blameless idol, and one day in church when the minis- ter asked * all who felt in concern for their souls to rise,' looked to the idol and seeing him retain his seat, (asleep perchance !) sat still also. One of his friends asking him afterwards how he could refuse to answer such an appeal, he replied, * he thought it safest to stay with the Squire.' " Mr. Carlyle's Squires are all Heaven's Justices of Peace or War, (usually the lat- ter ;) they are beings of tiTie energy and genius ; and so far, as he describes them, ' genuine men.' But in doubtful cases, where the doubt is between them and principles, he will insist that the men must be in the right." S. M. Fuller, " There never was a mean and abject mind that did not admire an intrepid and dexterous villain." — Burke. CHAPTER XXIX. Restoration of Charles the Second — Court of claims in Dublin — Act of settlement — Quarrels orer the prey of iniquity — More plots — Administrations of Berkeley, Essex, and Ormond — Executions of the Archbishop of Armagh and the Earl of Strafford — Death of the king. In order to clearly understand the state of affairs in England, Ireland, and Scotljmd, at the removal of the Cromwells, it should be noticed that Ireland had fought three years longer than either of the others for the royal cause ; that Scotland was governed by the tact and firmness of General Monk ; and that the successes of the English navy against Holland, (the only power in Europe that dared to oppose Cromwell,) were principally 332 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1660. owing to the vigour of Admiral Blake, a good old sterling republican, who always fought for his country without caring for the " ins" or the " outs." General Monk was undoubtedly favoura- ble to the monarchy ; but, at the time, all the various parties were puzzled by his singular movement towards London. On his delivery of a letter from Charles to the parliament, " greasy caps" flew in the air, and everybody outside swore that all England wanted to re- store her greatness was for Charles the Sec- ond to take the throne. The state of Ireland was extraordinary and conflicting. The Catholics were the first to hail the crown as the emblem of government. They hoped now to recover the estates which they had lost by their fidelity to the monarch that had been just restored ; and those who had been declared innocent by Cromwell were foremost in demanding restoration of their property. The Puritans established a provisional gov- ernment in Dublin, and rigorously put in force the most severe ordinances which had been issued against the Catholics. They were not allowed to quit their places of resi- dence without special permission. All as- semblies of the gentry were strictly prohib- ited, and every effort made to prevent their electing agents to lay their just claims before the king. These arbitrary exertions were powerfully seconded by the English parlia- ment, anxious at once to retain its usurped authority over Ireland, and to preserve the support of a powerful body of adherents, in case of any future contest with the crown. By the time Charles arrived in London, ad- dresses were already prepared by both houses of parliament, representing the dangers to be dreaded from the violence of certain natives of Ireland ; and the king was obliged to issue a proclamation for apprehending " Irish reb- els," and for securing all adventurers and sol- diers in the possession of the lands they then held, until " parliamentary inquiry" was sat- isfied. Taylor gives the following excellent view of the position of Charles on " taking the chair :" — " The case of the Irish Catholics has been so studiously and atrociously misrepresented, that a brief statement of the leading particu- lars is necessary. The imputed massacre of the Protestants has always been the ex- cuse urged for the extensive spoliation to which they were subjected ; and yet a mo- ment's examination will suffice to show, that this massacre, whether real or fictitious, has nothing whatever to do with the question. The murders that have been so often men- tioned were all committed in the north by the people of Ulster, before any of the confeder- ate Catholics had taken up arms. The for- feited lands lay principally in Leinster and Munster ; and their proprietors not only had no share in the alleged atrocities, but de- nounced them in the severest terms. The war of the confederates was in no sense of the word a rebellion. The lords of the Pale took up arms to defend themselves, and the cause of their king and country, against the unprincipled Parsons, and his vile supporters. During the entire contest, they professed a zealous attachment to the royal cause, and were ready to support the king with their lives and properties. The war which had been protracted by the artifices of Ormond, prevented them from giving Charles such eflScient assistance in his contest with the parliament as they eagerly desired ; but after the peace, or rather truce, of 1646, they had sent him aids both of men and money. Two solemn treaties, in 1 646 and 1 648, had been concluded between them and their sovereign, by which they were promised security for their religion, liberty, and property. In con- sideration of these promises, they had boldly maintained their sovereign's right against Cromwell, as long as they possessed the means of resistance, and rejected the author- ity of the usurper, even after England and Scotland had acknowledged his sway. The loss of their estates was, in fact, the conse- quence of their desperate fidelity ; for they might easily have secured them by early submission to the English parliament. " It is doubtful whether Charles had the power of doing justice to these men : it is certain that he had not the inclination. Or- A. D. 1661.] SECOND DIVISION. 333 mond persuaded him that the Puritans had unconsciously done him a great service by establishing an English interest in Ireland, and accomplishing the favourite schemes of his father and grandfather, — an extensive plantation. He easily showed that the new proprietors would be more subservient than the rightful owners, as the existence of their property entirely depended on their support of the government ; and proved how much more valuable were subjects ready to purchase favour than those who possessed weighty claims on gratitude. None of the Stuarts were remarkable for preferring principles to policy ; and Charles was troubled with fewer scruples than any of them. He saw that to act justly was a work of difficulty and dan- ger, and one in which virtue should be its own reward ; but an iniquitous course he knew to be safe and profitable, and his choice was instantly decided." One of the first movements Charles per- formed was a compliment to the city of Dub- lin, which some readers will consider as be- ing made in a very appropriate form. He presented that city with a heavy gold collar, and bestowed a company of infantry to the command of Robert Deey, the mayor. Lord Broghill, (now created Earl of Orrery,) hav- ing been requested to devise a scheme for cheating all parties, and to allow the king leisure for enjoying the crown right royally, proposed that the forfeited lands not belong- ing to the Cromwellians should be formed into a common stock, from which the inno- cent or meritorious Irish might be compen- sated, or " reprised," as it was termed.^ Charles eagerly embraced a plan that prom- ised to relieve him from his embarrassment, and published his celebrated declaration for the settlement of Ireland. Of course a par- liament must be called in to arrange the bu- siness, and the kingly benefit of delay was thus secured to the lazy and careless mon- arch. In 1661, the principal subject that engaged the attention of the new parliament was the restoration of the established church, which, it was supposed, would encounter the most determined opposition. But Ormond, by whose advice the government was chiefly directed, formed a plan for overcoming the scruples of the Puritans. He brought on the question of the church establishment prior to the consideration of the settlement of estates : and the Puritans, more careful of new lands than old principles, cheerfully assented to the revival of prelacy and the liturgy, the destruction of which had been the boasted excuse for taking up arms against their sovereign. They also concurred in cen- suring their own old " solemn league and covenant," and in condemning their former oaths of association. Their next proceeding was a curious sample of modem "justice." They voted an address to the lords-justices that the open term should be adjourned and the courts of law shut up, in order to prevent the reversal of outlawries and the ejectment of adventurers or soldiers before their titles should be adjusted by statute. The house of lords refused, at first, to assent to such an outrageous violation of the constitution ; but they were finally persuaded to concur in the address ; and the lords-justices of course complied. In the house of commons, the members were resolved on the terms of the king's " de- claration for the settlement of Ireland," a document which had been worded so as to exclude almost all the Irish ; but the lords would by no means concur in such a deter- mination. They sympathized with the an- cient gentry of the land, and felt indignant at seeing their properties usurped by men whose vulgarity subjected them to additional annoy- ance and insult. At the head of those who determined to do something for the old pro- prietors stood the Earl of Kildare. The principal object to which the attention of this party was directed was the enlargement of the fund for reprisals. It was found that the commissioners had been guilty of the most scandalous practices in granting these ; that they had rejected the claims of those whom the king had nominated, and those who served under his ensigns abroad and shared the ca- lamities of his exile, under a pretence that there was no way of reprising the present possessors ; and that they had clandestinely 334 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. ICOI. granted the lands allotted for reprisals to their particular friends. The lords felt bound to insist on a clause for the revocation of these fraudulent titles. Another subject was broached which tend- ed to baffle the eager claims of the adven- turers. The English parliament having squandered the proceeds of the robbery of Irish lands in 1642, now acted on what is very appropriately called " the Doubling Or- dinance." This document declared that who- ever advanced one-fourth more than his origi- nal adventure should have the whole doubled on account, and receive lands as if the double sum had been actually paid ; and that, if the adventurer refused to advance this fourth, any other person, on paying it, should reap the same advantage on repaying the adventurer the sum he had originally advanced ! Sir John Clotworthy, (of good old " rebellion" memo- ry, and lately created Lord Massarene,) was a prime agent in procuring the enactment of this ordinance. He had, in 1642, purchased up the shares of several adventurers ; and he now zealously contended that the king was bound by the terms of the agreement. Kil- dare replied that this ordinance could not be considered of the same prime validity as an act of parliament ; that the money raised in obedience to it had been used to pay the English army then fighting against the king ; and that it was absurd to require the sacrifice of at least one hundred and fifty thousand acres, for which no consideration whatever had been received. In spite of Massarene's opposition, Kildare's clause, enacting that the adventurers should be treated with only in reference to the money advanced, and no more, was carried. The heads of the bill were at length finally determined. A copy was laid before the lords-justices, and by them transmitted to England : whither went also commissioners from both houses of par- liament, and accredited agents, to plead the claims of their respective principals. The English adventurers and the old par- liamentary soldiers, well knowing the eflSca- cy of money in the neighbourhood of West- minster Hall, collected among themselves very large sums to bribe the English privy- council ; and the Dublin house of commons secured the favour of the Duke of Ormond by voting him a present of thirty thousand pounds. The favour of the English people, now fully awakened to the importance of the prize, and more prejudiced than ever against the Irish Catholics and Protestants by the calumnies which, through the means of their numerous friends and relatives, the Crom- wellians zealously circulated throughout Eng- land, was also given to the adventurers. The Irish had neither money nor friends ; nor did they now atone for this deficiency by patience or prudence. Ormond, anxious to secure an interest with all parlies, advised them to as- sume an humble tone, to appeal to the king's mercy, and to win favour by promises of future submissive behaviour. The Irish, knowing the duke's insincerity, chose as their patron Richard Talbot, afterward Earl of Tyrconnel, who had been a companion of the king when in exile, and was a personal friend of the Duke of York, but who on this occasion greatly overrated his own influence and that of his patron. The Irish rested their claims upon right and justice. They contrasted their unshaken loyalty with the conduct of those who had brought their mon- arch to a scaffold ; and boldly claimed the fulfilment of the articles of peace that had been established with Glamorgan in 1648. This demand interfered with the new scheme of establishing an English interest in Ireland, of which Charles declared himself the patron; and the Irish rightly attributing this determi- nation to the Duke of Ormond, sent Talbot to remonstrate with him on the subject. Talbot, finding Ormond a consummate shuffler, challenged him. Ormond had no inclination to fight ; he therefore complained to the council. Talbot was committed to the Tower, and only released on making humble submission to the authorities. This operated badly for the Irish, but they still persevered, and thus displeased Charles, who looked upon every concession made to them as an act of free grace and favour ; and besides, offended the privy-council, many of whom were personally concerned in causing the death of the late king. A. D. 1663.] SECOND DIVISION. 335 On the general merits of Ormond's con- duct, down to the close of the " settlement," Taylor has made the following excellent re- marks : — " The conduct of the Duke of Ormond in these transactions has been the theme of un- measured praise, and equally unmeasured censure. Yet is there no point of fact at issue between his advocates and his oppo- nents. If for the sake of establishing a Prot- estant interest in Ireland, it was lawful, and even praiseworthy, to commit treachery, fraud, and universal robbery, then may we join in all the eulogiums that have been heaped upon him ; but if the best end cannot sanctify the worst means, if Mammon and Moloch be unworthy allies to the cause of pure rehgion, then must we condemn him as one who sacrificed upright principle to ques- tionable policy, and was guilty of atrocious evil to eflfect a doubtful good. The most in- structive commentary on his conduct is the simple fact, that before the civil war his estates only yielded him about £7000 per annum ; but after the final settlement, his annual income was upwards of £80,000 — more than ten times the fonner amount. He felt to the last hour of his life a lurking con- sciousness that the part he had acted would not bear a close examination ; and writhed under the attacks made on him in pamphlets by the men he had betrayed and undone." The " Act of Settlement" was no sooner announced than it was received with execra- tion by all the parties whose interests were involved by its operations. However, the court of claims commenced business at the king's inns of Dubhn. Those in possession of the secrets of the government had been making preparations for this event during more than a year previously. On the 10th of December, 1661, while the preliminary negotiations were pending in London, a pro- clamation was issued in Dublin, ordering the Irish who had been transported into Con- naught, to return there, and not to cross the Shannon, under pain of imprisonment, and such further proceedings against them as the lords-justices might think proper. The ob- ject of this was to prevent them from making arrangements to promote their applications. Their letters were opened, and every means adopted to prevent their escape. Ormond, though an enemy of the Irish Catholics, highly disapproved of the impolicy of condemning them unheard. He proposed the appointment of a board, to be composed of the lord-lieutenant and six of the privy- council, who should be empowered to nomi- nate such of the Irish with whose loyalty they were fully acquainted, so that they might partake of the same advantages as those who had passed the fiery ordeal of the commis- sioners. To this proposition no objection could be honestly made ; but it was wickedly rejected. The commissioners appointed to consider the qualifications of innocence were English- men ; they had been especially selected on account of their attachment to the cause of Protestant ascendency ; but they acted with more impartiality than the government either expected or desired. Rigorous as the quali- fications of innocence had been made, in the first month of trials thirty-eight were pro- nounced innocent, and only seven guilty ; in the second, seven were declared guilty, and fifty-three acquitted ; in the third, seventy- seven were found innocent, and only five condemned. This was a result which no- body had anticipated. Ormond, who had devised the whole scheme of the qualifica- tions and commissions, was confounded. The Cromwellian party, fearing that the plunder was about to be wrested from their hands, gladly determined to take up arms without warrant. A committee of the officers who had served in Cromwell's army met to organize the scheme of a general insurrection, and laid a plan for seizing the castle of Dub- lin. The house of commons was enraged at the probabihty of seeing justice done to the Catholics. They presented an address to the lord-lieutenant, requiring him to make the qualifications still more rigorous, and sug- gesting such alterations as would have in- volved the whole Irish party in one certain ruin. As usual, Ormond's answer was ambigu- ous. But he hung a few of the rebels, and 336 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1664. awed the Puritan faction in the Dubhn par- hament. In the mean time he turned his attention to increasing the rigour of the court of claims, and soon contrived a plan to make the act of settlement operate as originally in- tended. The time for the sitting of the com- missioners was limited by him to a certain number of days, during which only about one fourth of the claims could possibly be heard ; the court then closed, August 22, 1663, and was never opened afterwards. About three thousand of the most ancient and respectable Irish families were thus stripped of their property, without even the form of a trial, without enjoying a privilege not refused to the basest criminal, that of being heard in defence. Ormond and the king now had all parties, the robber and the robbed, completely at their mercy. Such was the state of uncer- tainty generally felt, that even the London companies offered to resign their lands to the king, and to account for the mesne profits, on condition of being repaid their principal, with compound interest at three per cent; the adventurers and soldiers offered to relax their pretensions, in order to obtain a positive settlement ; and the fund for reprisals was considerably augmented by the detection of innumerable frauds of which the commission- ers had been guilty. They had given dispro- portionate allotments to their own friends, used admeasurements scandalously false, and returned some of the best land in the kingdom as barren and worthless. By the correction of these wrongs, a new and considerable addition was made to the stock of reprisals ; and, under these favourable circumstances, orders were given to prepare the " Act of Explanation and Final Arrangement." Such was the general fear of the supreme selfishness of Charles, that the legislators who produced the " Final Arrangement" modestly admitted that more "final" arrangements might be made if their prey should be in- terfered with. The last clause stipulated that in case of doubts or defects arising or appearing in the act, the commissioners might within two years after their next sitting ac- quaint the lord-lieutenant and council there- with ; and that such order of amendment or explanation as they should make in writing within the said two years, and enrolled in chancery, should be as effectual as if it were part of the act. This parliament is remarka- ble for its modest estimate of the power of human judgment, even in relation to things that perish. One of the declarations of this famous " Final Arrangement" is either a joke or an insult, according as it may be viewed. It is to the effect that, after the commissioners for executing the said acts have adjudged any of the said lands so vested in, or forfeited to his majesty, to any person or persons who, by said acts, are entitled thereunto, and letters- patent should be thereon passed, " the rights, titles, and interests of all persons whatsoever, who had been adjudged innocent, as well such as were Protestants as papists, should be thereby concluded and barred for ever," other than such rights and titles as should be reserved in the letters-patent, and such rights as are the proper act of the party, to whom such letters-patent shall be granted, or of those under whom he claims as heir, executor or administrator, and other than such debts, leases or payments, whereunto the same are by the said act made liable, and so forth. Now, after all this grand flourish in imitation of impartial legislation, the reader will be astonished to observe that no Protest- ant was ever required to establish the qualifi- cations of " innocence." This practice of the courts also agreed with the declaration and instructions of the king himself. The probability of a joke being intended is much weakened on finding an express en- actment subsequently made ordaining that " when any doubt should arise upon the clauses of said act, it should be explained in favour of Protestants, who it was intended should remain secure and undisturbed."* Such are the facts, and as such they are given. The candid historian and the intelli- gent reader will always be on their guard against " the sophism of name." Sure we are that every conscientious Protestant would repudiate such conduct ; and Taylor thus « Iriab Stat. p. 38. A. D. 1666.] SECOND DIVISION;, 337 closes his own chapter on these proceed- ings : — " Such were the Acts of Settlement and .Explanation, whose importance was not over- rated by Sir Audley Mervyn, when he called them the * Magna Charta of Irish Protest- ants.' But what were they to the Catho- lics? What to the Irish nation? At least two-thirds of the land in the entire country changed masters. The new proprietors felt conscious that their claims were not founded in strict justice, and were tormented with a sense of insecurity ; they looked upon the native Irish as their natural enemies, and dreaded every hour some new attempt for the recovery of the forfeited estates. This dread of resumption existed within our own mem- ory ; and the probability that opening politi- cal power to the Catholics would lead to a claim for the restoration of property, was by no means a weak argument against the con- cession of Catholic emancipation. That these acts had no foundation in justice is evident. That they were inconsistent with sound policy is almost equally clear : they caused Ireland to retrograde in every thing that gives a nation value : they made her a drain on the wealth of England, when, from her natural resources, she might have become a source of additional wealth and security : they spread through the country a feeling that the English are the inveterate enemies of Ireland, which, though it never was per- fectly just, and has long since lost even the semblance of justice, is not yet totally eradi- cated. It is difficult to make atonement for national injuries deep and long continued. The evil extends over the entire surface of society : the good will only be felt, or at least appreciated, by a few individuals. * * * " There was a time when it would have been neither safe nor prudent to detail the facts recorded in this chapter ; but that time is now past forever. The Roman Catholics are now as much interested in supporting the Cromwellian settlement as the Protestants, The vicissitudes of property, especially with- in the last thirty years, have brought into their hands an immense share of the lands which their ancestors forfeited ; and time has 43 effaced the lineage of the ancient proprietors. There is no longer any prudential motive for concealing the truth ; and it has been there- fore told as amply as our limits would permit, and yet not without some feelings of reluc- tance ; for the writer, being himself descend- ed from CromweUian settlers, would gladly have given a more favourable account of their proceedings, if he could have done so with truth." These " proceedings" were of such a na- ture as to require the dazzling influence of money in Dublin. Charles, in 1665, accord- ingly honoured the corporation with conferring the title of " lord-mayor" upon its chief ma- gistrate, and granted to the city five hundred pounds a year perpetually, for the lord-mayor to support that dignity ; but the king with- drew the foot company previously allowed. Sir Daniel Bellingham was the first lord- mayor. The Catholics were much alarmed at the discovery of the peculiar relations between the established church and the government, and called a national synod to meet at DubUn in 1666. All the ordinary and constitutional means of petition or redress were the more unheeded in proportion as Charles and the bishops began to feel their own security. The foreign trade had been much injured by the war against Holland ; the plague among the people, and dissipation among the cour- tiers, caused a general derangement of busi- ness, and an extraordinary fall of rents. Here was a field for parhamentary " inquiry" and ingenuity ! It was finally " resolved" that the sole cause of English distress was the importation of lean cattle from Ireland ! This profound exposition was received with general applause. The English nation, with one accord, denounced Irish cattle as the cause of all their miseries. Petitions to pre- vent the introduction of the wicked animals were presented in great numbers to the king and parliament ; and at length a bill was in- troduced into the house of commons, (then sitting at Oxford,) for prohibiting perpetually the importation of Irish cattle, dead or alive, fat or lean, great or small, well-behaved or naughty. S38 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1672. England having prohibited all foreign trade with her provinces during the late war, Ire- land suifered yet more than she need have done with her own share of troubles. She had no con\merce, no manufactures ; cattle and wool were her only exports ; and the exclusion of the former from the only market open to the Irish threatened absolute ruin. Some of the wisest English statesmen, and especially Sir Heneage Finch, attempted to expose the delusion ; but their speeches only increased the national insanity. Lord Cas- tlehaven opposed the bill in the upper house ; and Sir "William Petty, (one of the few who acquired an estate in Ireland by honourable means,) made an able speech against it before a committee of the commons. By these ex- ertions, the report was delayed, and the ses- sion terminated by a prorogation. The great fire of London for a short time distracted public attention ; but the dispute about Irish cattle only derived more strength from the conflagration. When the news of the calam- ity reached Ireland, the Irish determined to raise a contribution for the relief of the suf- ferers ; and as they had neither silver nor gold, they generously sent them a present of cattle. This conduct was industriously rep- resented as an attempt to evade the late pro- hibition under the pretext of benevolence, and a political clamour was raised throughout both countries. The unjust treatment of the people of Hol- land by Charles exhausted the English ex- chequer, and allowed a powerful party to control the government of England. These worthies are known in English history as the " cabal," from the initials of the leaders, Chf- ford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale. The success of their intrigues depended upon the removal of Clarendon from the office of chancellor and Ormond from the government of Ireland. The king knew very well that English bulls and Irish cows would never injure a nation ; but the cabal were glad of any subject affording po- litical agitation. A bill, declaring in its pre- amble that the importation of Irish cattle was " a nuisance," passed the lower house with wondrous unanimity, and was sent up to the lords. Their lordships, instead of " a nui- sance," introduced the words "a detriment and mischief." On the commons refusing to concur in the amendment, angry conferences with ludicrous arguments ensued for some time. At length the king, fearing that if the resistance were protracted, the commons might refuse the supplies, requested his friends to give up any further opposition, and the bill, 'with the " nuisance" clause, was finally passed. In giving his assent, how- ever, Charles complained bitterly of the harsh treatment he had experienced ; and to com- pensate the Irish for this partial loss of their trade, he issued a proclamation, permitting them " to hold commercial intercourse with every country, whether at peace or war with his majesty." The opposition of the cabal was beneficial in one respect : it instigated Ormond to do some good in his position of power. He endeavoured to establish manufactures in Ireland ; and for this purpose invited over the most skilful artificers from Brabant and Flanders, whom he placed on his own estates at Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir, and at Cha- pelizod in the county of Dublin. He pro- cured an act of parliament for the encourage- ment of the linen-manufacture ; and success- fully laboured to improve the cultivation of flax. But he was stopped in this useful career by the intrigues of his enemies in England, aided by some Irish nobles who were jealous of his power. The ** cabal" were too powerful to be resisted. Arlington waited on Ormond, and informed him that his majesty had determined to remove him from the office of lord-lieutenant, which was given to Lord Robarts. The new chief governor was not permitted to rule long. He dissat- isfied every party ; and Lord Berkeley, of Stratton, was appointed his successor. The appointments of Lord Berkeley in 1670, and of Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, in 1672, were as good as any ever made for Ireland. They were too good for the times. Berkeley was guilty of allowing the Catholics to exercise divine worship in their own way ; and Essex actually wrote to the English council that he could compare the distribu- A. D. 1685.] SECOND DIVISION. tion of the lands to " nothing better than fling- ing the reward, upon the death of the deer, among a pack of hounds, where every one pulls and tears what he can for himself." Such honest governors were extremely in- convenient, and, in 1677, Ormond was rein- stated. This unexpected appointment gave rise to much speculation ; for Ormond had been long under a cloud, and was treated with mortifying coldness ever since his re- moval from office. But the king had no choice ; for Ormond was the only man alive who thoroughly understood the state of par- ties in Ireland. Whatever good intentions Ormond might have brought with him were now prostrated by the Titus Oates " plots" manufactured in England. Notwithstanding the detection of the many blunders made by the English plot- ters, arising from their ignorance of persons and localities in Ireland, they recommended Ormond to arrest all the nobility and gentry of Irish name, and to banish the Catholic inhabitants from every city and walled town. The lord-lieutenant clearly understood the meaning of these hints. They wished that the Irish should be again goaded into rebel- lion by severity, and thus at once afford a pretext for new confiscations, and confirm the plot, whose credit was greatly shaken by the continued tranquillity of Ireland. But James Butler, Duke of Ormond, with all his faults, was above practising the arts of the unprin- cipled Parsons, and, besides, was too proud a man to be the willing instrument of others' guilt. He persevered in a course of modera- tion ; and Ireland remained undisturbed even by the semblance of rebellion. The quiet state of Ireland rendered the Puritan party in England furious. Disap- pointed in their scheme of robbery, some Irish victim was required to appease their maddened vengeance. Oliver Plunket, the titular Archbishop of Armagh, was a shining mark, and he was therefore tried in England for treason alleged to have been committed in Ireland. In the first attempt, the grand- jury ignored the bill against Plunket; but the informers gained fresh accomplices, and succeeded better in a second attack. The accused was refused time to bring witnesses from Ireland ; and his defence was necessa- rily confined to pointing out the inconsisten- cies and improbabilities of the evidence against him. Innocence was but a frail de- fence. Plunket was found guilty, and exe- cuted, July 1, 1681. In his last moments he protested his innocence in the most solemn manner, disavowing all equivocation, and per- tinently adding, that if he were to acknowl- edge what had been laid to his charge, no human being acquainted with the circum- stances of Ireland could attach the least credit even to a dying confession. Ireland still remaining tranquil, the Eng- lish house of commons " resolved" that there was a plot in Ireland ; but no sensible proof coming to light, in 1681 the better feelings of the English people were awakened, and when the venerable Earl of Stafford, the last that fell a sacrifice to the Puritan delusions, de- clared on the scaffold his utter ignorance of any plot, the multitude responded with tears, " We believe you, my lord !" The members of the cabal were soon dispersed, and Charles dissolved the parliament. Spies and inform- ers being thus suddenly thrown out of em- ployment, Russell and Sydney perished on a scaffold by the very same arts which their party had used for the destruction of others. Shaftesbury, the great patron of " popish plots," died in misery and exile, unhonoured and unlamented. This state of affairs in England deprived the Irish Protestants of much of their usual importance in state business. They were no longer the compact and warlike body which had been able to dictate its own terms at the Restoration. In 1685, the fire of enthusiasm was extinct. Age had broken down the strength of the veterans ; or they had been removed, and their places filled by young men who had not been trained and hardened in the stern school of poverty. As the Crom- wellian influence decreased, the tyranny of the king was more prominent. Ormond was quite complaisant ; but he received a letter from Charles stating that " he found it abso- lutely necessary for his service to make many and very general changes in Ireland ; and that 340 HISTORY OP IRELAND. [A. D. 1685. for this purpose it was necessary to remove Ormond from the government, and transfer his power to the Earl of Rochester." The death of the king took place before this change was effected, and the sudden shock to political profligacy enabled Ireland to raise her own head while breathing the subdued aspirations of hope. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXIX. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " In the reign of Charles the Second, the Cromwellians found an alliance with the church necessary for their interests, and quickly laid aside their scruples, and their dread of episcopacy. As new generations arose, the alliance between the established church and the descendants of the Puritans became closer, and both joined in compelling the peasantry to pay for the support of the church. But the Cromwellians, though lib- eral enough with the tithes of the cultivators, were by no means inclined to pay any thing out of their own pockets ; and when the par- sons applied for the tithe of agistment, which fell exclusively on the gentry, they were sud- denly stopped by a vote of the Irish parlia- ment, which declared that such a demand was destructive of the Protestant interest ; and this vote had all the effect of an act of the legislature down to the time of the Union, when it was sanctioned by a positive law, and formed part of the bribe paid to the coun- try gentlemen for sanctioning that measure." Taylor. " During the reigns of Charles the First and Charles the Second, the legislation of the country was in fact vested in the privy-coun- cil : a negative was merely left to the parlia- ment, and the only mode even of suggesting legislation was by an address to the Lord- Lieutenant." — T. Mac-Nevin. " The common enemy being put down by the restoration of Charles, the church fell upon the Catholics with more fury than ever. This king, who came out of exile to mount the throne in 1 660, with still more prodigality tlian either his father or grandfather, had a great deal more sense than both put together, and, in spite of all his well-known profligacy, he was, on account of his popular manners, a favourite with his people ; but, he was strongly suspected to be a Catholic in his heart, and his more honest brother, James, his presumptive heir, was an openly declared Catholic. Hence the reign of Charles the Second was one continued series of ' plots,' sham or real ; and one unbroken scene of acts of injustice, fraud, and false swearing. These were plots ascribed to the Catholics, but in reality plots against them." — Cobbett. " The king himself soon after his restora- tion, in his speech to the parliament, on the 27th of July, 1660, expresses himself in these words : ' I hope I need say nothing of Ire- land, and that they alone shall not be without the benefit of my mercy ; they have shew'd much affection to me abroad, and you will have a care of my honour, and of what I have promised to them.' And again on the 30th of November following, in his declaration for the settlement of Ireland, he says : ' In the last place we did, and must always remember the great affection a considerable part of that nation express'd to us, during the time of our being beyond the seas, when with all cheer- fulness and obedience they receiv'd and sub- mitted to our orders, and betook themselves to that service, which we directed, as most convenient and behoofeful at that time to us, tho' attended with inconvenience enough to themselves. Which demeanour of theirs cannot but be thought very worthy of our protection, justice and favour.'" — Ireland's Case. " Charles, so far from wishing to despoil the Catholics of Ireland of their patrimonies, evinced from the beginning an inclination to do them justice ; but he suffered himself tc be deceived by those in whom he reposed confidence, and who, under the specious show of loyalty, always preferred their own interests to the glory of their prince." — Mac- Geoghegan. " It is remarkable that Charles, (the grace- less son of the decapitated monarch,) on his restoration, confirmed under his seal the con- fiscations against the Irish royalists^ and ac- A. D. 1685.] SECOND DIVISION. 341 tually regranted their estates and territories to the heirs and descendants of his father's murderers." — J. Barrington. " It is diflficult to discover the reasons that induced the king to prefer the enemies of the royal authority to those who had been the most zealous friends of himself and his family. The dread of a new civil war, from the ex- cited feelings of the English people, will scarcely account for the readiness with which he consented to the arrangement, though it certainly was a very influential motive ; and the scheme of establishing an English interest in Ireland, could have little charms for a monarch whose entire reign showed an utter disregard of the interests of the nations that were cursed by such a ruler. We do not possess any secret memoirs of the early part of this disgraceful reign ; and the private documents that have been collected are so filled with notorious falsehoods, that we can- not place confidence in a single statement that they contain. Indolence, and an anxiety to put an end to perplexing contests, was probably the principal cause of his precipitate decision." — Taylor. " To be neglected was enough ; but to see the enemy triumph in their spoils, was more than nature could support. There are in- stances of some who were admitted into the royal presence and favour without being to- tally free from the blood of the [late] king ; while they, who had lavished their own in his defence, were suffered to starve on the pavement. The estates of the Irish who had fought for the king and followed his fortunes in exile, were confirmed to drummers and sergeants who had conducted his father to the scaffold." — Remarks on Burnet. " In England, every rumour unfavourable to the Irish was received with peculiar avidity. Agents were sent from Ireland, who reported their conduct and designs with every offensive aggravation, so that before the landing of the king, the act of indemnity was so prepared as to exclude all those who had any hand in plotting or contriving, aiding or abetting the rebellion of Ireland, by which the whole Romish party were in effect excluded ; and when, by another clause, it was provided that the act should not extend to restore to any persons the estates disposed of by authority of any parliament or convention, it was with some difliculty that an exception was inserted * that of the marquis of Ormond, and other the Protestants of Ireland.' Some other pro- visoes were attempted, which must have ut- terly ruined all the old English families of this country ; but they were suspended, and afterwards defeated by the marquis." — Le- LAND. " Whereas by proclamation dated the 10th day of December, 1661, it was for the rea- sons in the said proclamation expressed, de- clared and published, that all persons who had been transplanted, and had departed from the province of Connaught, or county of Clare, since they were transplanted (except such as are particularly mentioned to be excepted in this said proclamation) should, by or before the last day of December last past, return back again to the same places to which they were respectively transplanted, and not to depart from thence, without special license in that behalf from the then lords- justices, or other his majesty's chief governor or governors of this kingdom for the time being ; and that if after the said last day of December, any of the said persons (except before excepted) should be found without license, as aforesaid, in any part of Uiis king- dom, other than in the said province of Con- naught, or county of Clare, that then, and in such case, any one or more of his majesty's justices of the peace of the county, where such person or persons shall be found as aforesaid, were, by the said proclamation, authorized and required to cause all and every such person or persons, to be apprehended and committed to the shire jail, there to remain until further express directions in that behalf from the said late lord-justices, or other his majesty's chief governor or governors of this kingdom for the time being." — Dublin Proclamation; Feb. 1663. "The severe laws and ordinances lately made against the Irish Roman Catholics in that kingdom were hereupon put in execution ; tliey were not allowed to go from one prov. ince to another to transact their business i 342 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 168*. abundance of them were imprisoned ; all their letters to and from Dublin intercepted ; and the gentry forbid to meet, and thereby de- prived of the means of agreeing upon agents to take care of their interest, and of an op- portunity to represent their grievances." — Carte. " With all these resources for plundering the Catholics, their rapacious enemies were not satisfied. They had recourse to bare- faced bribery and corruption. Lord Orrery and Lord Mountrath raised a sum from 20 to 30,000 pounds sterling, to be distributed in London, among those who could advance * the English interest.' Some part of this sum very probably found its way into the pockets of Charles the Second, whose ' itching palm,' at a subsequent period, did not disdain to receive bribes, and to become a standing pensioner of Louis XIV." — M. Carey. " London was from this time the scene of disputes upon this affair ; and thither agents were sent by the Irish to plead their cause ; which they did under great disadvantages. The earls of Orrery and Mountrath took.care to raise privately among the adventurers and soldiers between 20 and 30,000 pounds, to be disposed of properly, without any account, by way of recompense to such as should be serviceable to the English interest. The Irish had no such sums to command, few friends about the court, and no means of pro- curing any. The English nation had heard nothing of the rebellion but what gave them horror, and possessed them with the worst opinion of the whole Irish nation. Those of the council before whom they were to plead their cause, knew little of the conduct of particular persons who deserved favour, but were ready to involve everybody in the gen- eral guilt of the massacre, as well as the rebellion." — Carte. " I did forthwith give him [Sir James Shaen, the bribe agent] notice thereof, and at the same time chid him soundly, for his unadvisedness in distributing such large sums of money without your grace's express orders, or at least permission and knowledge ; which, if allowed by your grace, must bring the names of some persons of honour upon the stage, or, if disallowed, must fall heavily upon his purse." — Orrery, to Ormond. " Only this I do assure your lordship for truth, that I was so wary as to pay the money by other hands than my own, and in such a way that it cannot reflect upon any person, because I did give it as a present." — J. Shaen, to Orrery. "To apply some remedy to the striking grievance of a number of Irish claimants abandoned to ruin, merely for the want of the common justice of being heard, he [Ormond] had proposed that the lord-lieutenant and six of the privy-council of Ireland, should be empowered to nominate such other persons as innocents, of whose constant loyalty they had sufficient knowledge, and who should be thus entitled to the same advantages with those who were pronounced innocent by the court of claims. But this proposal was re- jected by the English council." — Leland. " Mr. Francis Betagh, of Moynally, whose ancestors, for seven or eight hundred years together, were in the possession of a con- siderable estate in the county of Meath, was but nine years of age in October, 1641 : yet he was sworn in the court of claims to have been then in actual rebellion, at the head of a foot company, plundering and stripping the Protestants, and that by two of the meanest scoundrels of the whole kingdom, hir'd for the purpose, whereof one was then and there prov'd not to have been three years old at the time of that insurrection, and the other no way qualified to be believ'd, when the gentry of the whole county declar'd and testified to the contrary. Nevertheless, upon the bare oaths of these fellows, the gentleman was adjudg'd nocent by the court ; and altho' the perjury was afterwards more fully detected, insomuch that Sir Richard Rainsford, chief commissioner or judge of that court, when the marchioness of Antrim expostulated the case with him, plainly acknowledg'd the in- justice of it, to herself, to the now earl of Limerick, and to other persons of quality ; yet no redress cou'd be had for the gentle- man, nor any remedy to be expected, while the enactment of the act of settlement was of force." — Ireland's Case. A. D. 1685.] SECOND DIVISION. 343 " To have enjoyed a man's estate in the Irish quarters, was enough to make a man dehnquent. 'Tis true, there is such a rule, and a very hard rule it seems to be. I re- member it was long debated at this board, before that rule was put into the law. But the reason which prevailed for the inserting of it was this. That the rebellion was almost twenty years before the passing of the act , and the Irish having murdered all the Eng- lish or driven them away, it was not possible to find a witness against some persons in a whole barony. And it being certain no man could live quietly among the Irish, who did not comply with them, the very enjoying an estate in those quarters was left in the act as a mark of delinquency." — Reply to the Re- monstrants, by Sir Heneage Finch, Attor- ney-General. See Carte's Appendix. " Anybody that considers the methods used in the time of Sir W. Parsons to get indict- ments found upon slight or no grounds, and without adhering to the usual methods of law, or the violence of the commissioners of claims in Oliver's time, or who has ever read the examinations and depositions here re- ferred to, which were generally given upon hearsay and contradicting one another, would think it very hard upon the Irish to have all those, without distinction or examination, ad- mitted as evidence, especially when by an act of state, after the restoration, they had been hindered from reversing their outlawries, and procuring redress in a legal way. Of the same nature was their next request, * that all the proclamations and acts of state, pub- lished by the lords-justices before the cessa- tion, and declaring any person a rebel and all orders of the house of commons since Oct. 23, 1641, for expelling any member, on ac- count of his adherence to the rebels, might be taken for good evidence.' " — Carte. " It was declared in the new bill, that the Protestants were, in the first place, and es- pecially, to be settled, and that any ambiguity was to be interpreted in the sense most fa- vourable to their interests. It was also pro- vided, that no Papist, who, by the qualifica- tions of the former act, had not been adjudged innocent, should at any future time be re- puted innocent, or entitled to claim any lands or settlements. Thus, every remaining hope of those numerous claimants whose causes had not been heard, was entirely cut off. They complained of perjury and subornation in the causes that had been tried before the commissioners of claims ; though such wick- ed practices were probably not confined to one party. But their great and striking grievance was, that more than three thousand persons were condemned, without the justice granted to the vilest criminals, that of a fair and equal trial. Of this number, though many, and probably the greater part, would have been declared nocent, yet several cases were undoubtedly pitiable ; and now, twenty only were to be restored by especial favour." Leland. " Lord Antrim's estate consisting of 1 07,61 1 acres, was allotted to [Sir John Clotworthy, afterwards] Lord Massareene, and a few other adventurers and soldiers, in considera- tion of their adventures and pay, which did not in all exceed the sum of £7000. Such excellent bargains had these people for their money." — Carte . " Upon the final execution of the acts of settlement and explanation, it appears by the Down survey, that 7,800,000 acres of land were set out by the court of claims, princi- pally, if not wholly, in exclusion of the old Irish proprietors." — Newenham. " I have shown, on the evidence of Lord Clarendon, that the * whole great kingdom [of Ireland] was taken from the just proprie- tors, and divided amongst those who had no other right to it, but that they had the power to keep it' — and from the Duke of Ormond, and there was ' no other reason given for taking away men's estates than that they were Irish Papists,' which, by the way, was one of the greatest possible crimes in tha* bigoted age." — M. Carey. " It is a strange instance of the vicissi- tudes of fortune, that the soldiers sent into Ireland as victims eventually obtained wealth and estates, while their brethren, retained in England by special favour, sunk after the Restoration into poverty and contempt. The levellers established their dominion over the 344 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1685. fairest parts of Ireland, and wrested from the descendants of the Anglo-Nornnans the broad lands which their ancestors had acquired under the Plantagenets. Few of the estates acquired by the followers of Strongbow and Henry the Second were preserved to their posterity ; but the great majority of the wealthy and noble families now in Ireland were founded by those veterans whom Crom- well led into the country." — Taylor. " The friends of the court of Charles the Second, and the advocates of lineal succes- sion, were, by the republican party, branded with the title of ' Tories,' which was the name of certain Irish robbers ; while the court party, in return, could find no other revenge than appropriating to the covenanters and republicans of that class, the name of the Scottish beverage of sour milk, whose virtue they consider so expressive of their dispositions, and which is called * Whig.' " — D'ISRAELI. " The Tories were the remains of the ar- mies that had been disbanded after the civil wars had terminated, joined by such of the peasantry as had been driven from their homes, when the lands of Ireland changed masters under the act of settlement. These banditti committed several outrages ; but none of such a character as to entitle them to the name of insurgents. They were in fact nothing more than common robbers." — Tay- lor. " The English cavaliers had less to com- plain of than the Irish royalists. Some of the principal of them received pensions, and the parliament distributed sixty thousand pounds among the rest, while the Irish were excluded from all favour or consideration." — Mac-Geoghegan. " It is impossible to discover the real au- thors of that iniquity and absurdity called ' tiie Popish Plot.' If, as there is reason to suppose, it was originally contrived by Shaftesbury and his party, we must not con- clude that they either expected or wished for the disgraceful scenes that followed. They could not have anticipated the monstrous credulity that swallowed the tales told by Gates, Bedloe, Dangerfield, and the other herd of informers, full of inconsistencies, im- probabilities, contradictions, and even physi- cal impossibilities. Every Englishman must wish that the pages recording these scenes of national injustice, insanity, and disgrace could be blotted forever from the history of his country ; but yet it is well that they should remain, to prove that bigotry, and its attendant, ferocious persecution, have not been monopolized by any single sect or de- nomination ; and that the excesses of * zeal without knowledge' belong not to any par- ticular creed, but are the consequences of ignorance and prejudice, worked upon by the unprincipled and the designing." — Taylor. " Power may make men hypocrites, but it cannot make converts of them." — Fenelon. " We are arrived at the Restoration — an event of the utmost utility to the English and Scottish royalists, who were justly restored to tiieir properties. An event, which consigned irrevocably and forever to British plunderers, and especially to the soldiers of Ireton and Cromwell, the properties of the Irish Catholic people, whose fathers had contended against the usurped powers to the last of their blood and their breath. " The Duke of York, afterwards James the Second, took to his own share of the plunder, about eighty thousand acres of lands belong- ing to Irish Catholics, whose cause of for- feiture was nothing more than that they had been the friends and supporters of his mur- dered father, and the enemies of his enemies. " Yet such was in the Irish nation the in- herent love of principle, — a principle of hon- ourable, but, in this instance, most mistaken loyalty — that when this royal plunderer was afterwards driven from the throne by his British subjects, he took refuge in Ireland, and the Irish Catholic nobility, gentry, and universal people, rallied round hun, and shed their blood for him with a courage and a constancy worthy of a better cause." — O'Con- NELL. « A. D. 1685.] SECOND DIVISION 345 CHAPTER XXX. Accession of James the Second — Liberty of con- science proclaimed — Inconsistency of the high church bishops — Troubles of the king — Protest- ant invitation to the Prince of Orange that h^ might seize the throne of his father-in-law — Landing of James at Kinsale — Movements of Hamilton and Antrim — Rally of the Protestants at Derry — Battle of the Boyne, between King James and the parliamentary king, William — Douglas abandons the siege of Athlone — Limer- ick successfully defended by beauty and bravery —Folly of St. Ruth, and final fall of Athlone — Battle of Aughrim— -Ginckle's unavailing siege of Limerick — James's final retirement from public life — ^Instructions from William to close the war — Treaty of Limerick. At the period we now approach, a " new dictionary" would be required to suitably ex- press the extraordinary variations in moral maxims and political results which took place. We behold a king reigning without common sense ; a father ruined by daughters without decency or affection ; a revolution without specific objects ; a reign ending without re- gard to chronology ; a kingdom assumed by a foreign prince without constitutional right ; royalists without a king, and " rebels" with- out disloyalty ; sieges without any end, and victories without any triumph ; men without principles, and women without fear. Before commencing our own endeavour to describe such contradictory elements, per- haps the perusal of a few paragraphs of Jo- nah Barrington's monarchical logic would be beneficial. Those here quoted give a very philosophical survey of the whole ground : — " The Puritans had got out of fashion, and the Stuarts had been restored to the British sceptre. Charles the Second, after a long and shameless reign, had by his death, ceased to disgrace the throne and stigmatize the na- tion ; and England swore allegiance to his brother James, as her legitimate monarch, so did Ireland. His English subjects soon be- came disgusted with his administration, and privately negotiated with a foreign prince to invade their country, and dethrone their king. Heedless of their obhgation, they renounced their allegiance, recanted their oaths ; and, without a trial, drove James from his palace, and then proclaimed his throne empty, as if vacated by an act of voluntary abdication. *' At the head of his foreign guards, Wil- 44 liam, unequivocally an usurper, marched into the metropolis of Great Britain, seized on the throne, and occupied the royal palaces. The unnatural desertion of Mary and of Anne to the prince who had dethroned their parent, exhibited to the world (whatever might have been the political errors of their father) the most disgusting example of filial ingratitude, and nearly of parricide. " Ireland had not as yet learned those deep political refinements, the adoption of which now gives constitutional sanction to the prin- ciple of revolution. That great precedent was to come from England herself. Ireland experienced not, or at least had not felt, James's attempts at despotism, which the English Commons had proclaimed to be a forfeiture of his sceptre. " The pretence of his voluntary abdication, on which England had proceeded to dethrone her king, had not extended its operation to Ireland, nor even been notified to that people. On the contrary, James, a monarch de jure and de facto, expelled from one portion of his empire, threw himself for protection upon the faith and the loyally of another ; and Ireland did not shrink from afibrding that protection. She defended her legitimate monarch against the usurpation of a foreigner ; and while a Dutch guard possessed themselves of the British capital, the Irish people remained firm and faithful to their king and fought against the invader. " In strict matter of fact, therefore, Eng- land became a nation of decided rebels, and Ireland remained a country of decided royal- ists. Historic records leave that point be- yond the power of refutation. " At the period of James's expulsion, even in England the right of popular resistance, and the deposition of a British monarch, by a simple vote of the Commons House of Parlia- ment, though exemplified by Cromwell, had no acknowledged place in the existing con- stitution of the British empire. It was then an unsanctioned principle of political polity ; and though, in theory, according with the original nature and essence of the social compact between the governor and the gov- erned, yet of the utmost difficulty in its con- 346 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1685; structions, and dangerous in its execution. Even now the quantity or quality of arbitrary acts and unconstitutional practices which may be deemed sufficient to put that revolutionary principle into operation, remains still unde- fined, and must, therefore, be a matter of conflicting opinions, and of most dangerous investigation ; but it is an open argument. " The representatives of the people in the Commons House of Parliament are incom- petent solely to enact the most unimportant local statute ; it is therefore not easy to de- signate the cause and crisis which may le- gally invest that one branch of the Legisla- ture with a dispensing power as to the others, or enable it to erect itself into an arbitrary tribunal, to decide by its sole authority, ques- tions of revolution.* *' As to James, this difficulty was exem- plified. The British Commons, and the Irish people, both subjects of the same king, en- tirely differed in their opinions as to what acts, regal or despotic, could be construed into voluntary abdication, a point of great im- portance as to subsequent events which took place in Ireland. " James was the hereditary king of both countries, jointly and severally. The third constitutional estate, only of one of them, (England,) had deposed him by their own * " Though the English Commons House of Parlia- ment had taken upon themselves to dethrone and decapi- tate Charles the First, on their own sole authority, it will scarcely be contended, that Bradshaw and Cromwell es- tablished any constitutional precedent for a similar pro- ceeding. Yet the proceedings of the Commons, in James's case, though more peaceable, were not more legal. " The vacancy of the English throne, and consequently the deposition of James, was strongly contested and nega- tived by the House of Peers of England. The questions and divisions of the House of Lords were as follows : — For the election of a new king, ... 51 Against the election of any kmg, . . 49 Majority, ... 2 " The next debate came more to the point — ' whether James had broken the original compact, and thereby made the throne vacant V " This was negatived by a majority of 2. " It therefore appears, that th6 Irish people and the English Peers were of the same way of thinking. Even after James had quitted Ireland in despair, the Irish did not relinquish his cause, which was finally terminated by the grallant defence and ultimate capitulation of Limerick for the whole of Ireland." — J. Barrinqton. simple vote : but Ireland had never been consulted upon that subject ; and the deposi- tion of the King of Ireland by the Commons of England could have no paramount author- ity in Ireland, or supersede the rights, and dispense with the loyalty, of the Irish Parlia- ment. The Irish people had held no trea- sonable intercourse with William ; they knew him not ; they only knew that he was a for- eigner, and not their legal prince ; that he was supported by a foreign power, and had succeeded by foreign mercenaries. But even if there was a doubt, they conceived that the most commendable conduct was that of pre- serving entire their allegiance to the king, to whom, in conjunction with England, they had sworn fealty. The British Peers had showed them an example, and on that prin- ciple they fought William as they had fought Cromwell : and again they bled, and again were ruined by their adherence to legitimate monarchy. Massacre and confiscation again desolated their entire country, and they were treated by William as rebels to a throne which they had never sanctioned, and to an usurping prince whom they had always re- sisted ; at length, the contest ended, and Ire- land finally submitted, not in the field, but by capitulation. " The triumph of William over the Irish Royalists at the Boyne and at Aughrim, and the deceptions capitulation of Limerick, final- ly established William on the throne of both nations. Their results introduced into the theory of the British Constitution, certain principles of a regenerating liberty, which have given it a solid and decided superiority over every other system of government as yet devised by the wisdom of mankind ; yet the advantages of that constitution which England has thus raised upon the loyalty, and completed upon the ruins of Ireland, never were participated in by the Irish people. " William, an able captain, a wise and pru- dent statesman, was yet a gloomy and dis- contented magistrate ; and had in his nature a portion of sulky despotic principle, which nothing but a consideration of the mode in which he had acquired the English crown could have restrained or counteracted. But A. D. 1685.] SECOND DIVISION; 347 as to Ireland, the case was diflferent. Wil- liam had been invited into England, and he felt that she was his mistress ; but he had fought for Ireland, and he considered her as his vassal, and he adapted his government to the relative situation in which he stood as to the two countries. " The massacre of Mac-John, his family and clan, in. the valley of Glencoe, perpe- trated by the especial order of William, un- der his sign manual, has, in point of barbarity, treachery and injustice, no parallel in the an- nals of Europe. Its details cannot be read without exciting horror ; and while it devel- ops the cold-blooded nature of William's character, it accounts for much of his con- duct towards the Irish royalists, whom he called rebels, but who owed him no allegi- ance ; so far as it bears upon the events of his reign in Ireland. "The result of William's usurpation, in the general establishment of constitutional liberty in England, and the principles of pop- ular revolution which his accession has sanc- tioned and confirmed, have rendered the memory of his reign glorious in that country. But little did he foresee his restraints and disappointments on the throne of England ; there he felt his arbitrary nature unexpectedly curbed and chained down by the principles of that same liberty which his own usurpa- tion had originated ; and mortified by the re- sistance he experienced in Great Britain, he lavished his redundant rancour on prostrate Ireland. But had William acted in Great Britain as he did in Ireland, he would have lost his throne, upon the very same princi- ples by which he acquired it, and have left his own short reign as an historic supplement to the deposition of his father-in-law." This long extract will prepare the reader's mind for our necessarily condensed narrative of such involved circumstances, almost all of which require volumes for particular ex- planation. The first in order of importance is the general liberty of conscience suggested by the address made from James to his par- liament on the 9lh of November, 1685. This announcement was so contrary to the state of pubUc opinion among Protestants, at that time, that Monsieur Rapin de Thoyras could scarcely restrain his one-sided indignation while relating the circumstance in his " His- tory of England," a work in which the least important facts are often viewed with the most unfortunate strabismus of prejudice, and vulgarly expressed in the blackest ink of bigotry. It is a very disagreeable task to undervalue the productions of other writers, and thus expose to the world those weakness- es from which not even " high and mighty" historians are exempt ; but, our duty compels us to specify this particular case as showing the perverted reasoning of Rapin, because his work (since translation) has been com- plimented by furnishing all similar minds with a stagnant pool of malignant mud, fed and festered from a fountain of falsehood. The grand " faults" of James the Second appear to have been — first, he was a Catho- hc ; second, he wished to confer religious liberty upon all his subjects ; third, he could not see that political parties in England were decidedly opposed to any thing of the sort, in a truly liberal sense ; fourth, he took ar- bitrary measures to enforce his praiseworthy intentions. On the 9th of November, 1685, the king alluded in his speech to the rebellion of Mon- mouth's party, proposed an increase of the army, and announced his intention of admit- ting Catholic gentlemen into the army. The following paragraph is the conclusion of the speech : — " Let no man take exception that there are some officers in the army not qualified, ac- cording to the late test, for their employments ; the gentlemen, I must tell you, are most of them well known to me, and having formerly served me on several occasions, (and always approved the loyalty of their principles by their practice,) I think them fit now to be employ- ed under me ; and will deal plainly with you, that after having had the benefit of their ser- vices in such time of need and danger, I will neither expose them to disgrace nor my- self to the want of them, if there should be another rebellion to make them necessary to me. I am afraid some men may be so wicked, to hope and expect that a difference may 348 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1686. happen between you and me upon this occa- sion. But when you consider what advan- tages have arisen to us in a few months by the good understanding we have hitherto had ; what wonderful effects it hath already pro- duced in the change of the whole scene of affairs abroad, so much more to the honour of the nation, and the figure it ought to make in the world ; and that nothing can hinder a further progress in this way, to all our satis- factions, but fears and jealousies among our- selves, I will not apprehend that such a mis- fortune can befal us as a division, or even a coldness, between me and you ; nor that any thing can shake you in your steadiness and loyalty to me, who, by God's blessing, will ever make you all returns of kindness and protection, with a resolution to venture even my own life in the defence of the true inter- ests of this kingdom." The man making use of this language could not have been very wicked : his good- ness was his crime in the eyes of both whig and tory ; or, as Rapin and E chard express it, "people's eyes began to be opened." Rapin goes on to observe — " But the affair of the popish officers was of such a nature that it no less concerned the tory than the whig party. It was easy to perceive the great danger of the Protestant religion, if the parliament, after having agreed to a standing army, should further consent to the king's employing as many papists as he pleased. The commons thought therefore, that on this occasion it was necessary to set some bounds to passive obedience, though till now this doctrine had been maintained ^vithout any restriction, because it was not imagined that the king would attack religion and the laws." " Thus far Mr. Rapin," as his profound continuator would say. When Rapin states that " it was easy to perceive the great dan- ger of the Protestant religion," we understand him perfectly, although there exists no verbal definition of what constitutes " the Protestant religion." Where Rapin says that " it was not imagined that the king would attack re- ligion and the laws," we plainly perceive a false conclusion, with an outrageous assump- tion, which may pass for what they are worth after this date. The reader will have already observed that the history of Ireland can scarcely be separ- ated from that of England in the reign of James the Second. Ormond was removed from his post of lord-lieutenant. He was succeeded by two lords-justices, Boyle, the primate and chancellor, and Forbes, Earl of Granard. This arrangement, designed to conciliate both classes of Protestants, the churchmen and the dissenters, gave dissatis- faction to both : the Puritans alleged that Boyle's Protestantism differed very little from " popery :" the churchmen asserted that Gra- nard was a favourer of the " sectaries," and a bitter enemy of the " estabhshment." The Cromwellians sent congratulations to the king on his having subdued a pretender to his throne. But James was not to be duped by these professions : he sent an order to the lords-justices to disarm the militia, which consisted chiefly of Protestants, under the pretence that the ramifications of Monmouth's conspiracy extended to Ireland. The sup- pression of this rebellion was one among the causes of James's ruin. The cruelties o£ the inhuman Jeffreys and the brutal Kirke alien- ated the affections of the people ; and the slavish adulation of the episcopal clergy had been exerted throughout the previous reign to teach passive obedience to the wishes of a king. James gratified the wishes of his own heart in releasing from prison several thousand Catholics, who were detained on fines for not attending Protestant worship ; he also dis- charged twelve hundred Quakers, who were imprisoned for a like offence. His clemency and justice were applauded by the three king- doms. He publicly professed his Catholic principles, and published a declaration, allow- ing liberty of conscience to all his subjects. He dispensed with all penal laws and tests. Even the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, on entering office, were abolished. The Catholics, Presbyterians, Quakers, and all other religionists, were thus made eligible to all offices in the state. Perfect freedom of conscience was proclaimed, and loyal ad- A. D. 1688.] SECOND DIVISION. 349 dresses were made in return by the real peo- ple of the nation. The Earl of Clarendon was for a short time acting as lord-lieutenant, but James soon appointed Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnel, to hold the office, as his popularity was very great, having had the command of the army, and being a Catholic. The Dublin parlia- ment was now composed two thirds of Catho- lic members, and one third Protestant ; and it is admitted this parliament passed a series of excellent laws for the promotion of trade and manufactures, without one law of a penal or persecuting character. The following are a few of its principal acts : — An act declaring that the parliament of England cannot bind Ireland ; and against allowing writs of error for removing suits out of the Irish courts to the courts of England. An act for indemnifying those Catholics who had been declared innocent by the court of claims. An act for taking off all political incapaci- ties from the natives of Ireland. An act for liberty of conscience, and re- pealing such acts and clauses in any act of parliament which are inconsistent with the same. An act for the encouragement of strangers to inhabit and plant in the kingdom of Ireland. An act for investing in his majesty the goods of absentees. An act for the advance and improvement of trade, and for the encouragement and in- crease of shipping and navigation. The reader will naturally suppose that such enactments as these would have been confirmed in England, where the people were contending (as is commonly pretended) for " liberty." The truth is, the English people were as little consulted as their Irish breth- ren ; and we have to record the fact that the Dublin enactments were all expunged from the statute books by order of the Enghsh privy-council. In 1688, still adhering to his resolution of proclaiming perfect freedom of conscience, James made a new declaration to that effect, which he commanded to be read for three successive Sundays among the congregations of every denomination. This gave a general satisfaction, in appearance, at least, except to the high-church party. The Archbishop of Canterbury, and six of his bishops, (although they had all taken the usual oath of the Eng- lish Protestant hierarchy, declaring the sove- reign to be, ex officio, their spiritual lord and master,) openly refused to read the document in their churches. They also sent a " peti- tion" to the king, the humility of which con- sisted in telling him that he possessed no power to grant such liberty. James rashly endeavoured to punish the bishops for " con- tempt," but the jury acquitted them of that charge. The king, found that the English " headship of the church" was a merely po- litical arrangement ; and the bishops found that it was time to leave off telling the people that kings could do no wrong. From this time forward the ruin of James the Second was determined on, at all hazards. While relating these important circum- stances in the history of the church of Eng- land, wherein that church not only opposed its power to the grand and glorious cause of religious freedom, but took a most bloody and wicked revenge on its princely advocate, we incur the risk of offending a large class of our fellow-citizens whose generally tolerant behaviour makes their favourable opinion de- sirable to all who have the honour of their acquaintance. This is not the time or the place to give way to personal sentiments or to private friendships : there has already been displayed too much of that weakness in his- torical works. Anxious, however, to avoid giving offence, we curtail our own remarks to substitute those of Taylor, an Episcopalian writer whose excellent abilities and admira- ble candour shine conspicuously among the dark intricacies of this portion of Irish history. He says — " Hitherto James had been supported in all his arbitrary acts by the powerful party, then named the high-church, and subse- quently called the tories. The murder of Sydney, the expulsion of Locke, even the savage cruelties of Jeffreys had met with more than their tacit approbation. They went so far as to disturb the dying moments 360 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1688. of the unfortunate Monmouth, by eager soH- citations, mingled with threats of divine ven- geance, in order to force from him an assent to the slavish doctrine of non-resistance. Unfortunately for himself, James gave credit to these professions of outrageous loyalty ; and found that, when the royal wishes ran counter to the interests or prejudices of these ultra-royalists, they weire far more dangerous opponents than those who made resistance a part of their creed. The church, as a politi- cal body, clearly misled the king. Accord- ing to the principles it inculcated, resistance to Nero or Domitian would have been just as wicked as rebellion against a Trajan or An- tonine. The university of Oxford, in solemn convocation, denounced as ' heretical and blasphemous' every principle on which any government short of despotism could be es- tablished. We cannot, therefore, accuse James of absolute folly in affording these learned doctors and prelates an opportunity of practising their own precepts ; though a monarch of more discernment might have foreseen that such extravagant doctrines could only be maintained when they coincided with the personal interest of their supporters. The attempt of James to disturb the peaceful re- pose of the universities in England and Ire- land was his most fatal error." On the 10th of June, 1688, the birth of a Prince of Wales encouraged the royal party and gratified the Catholics generally ; but it was an event that united all their enemies against them. At first, a vulgar outcry was raised that the child was only a supposititious prince ; but this *' warming-pan" idea merely served to amuse those male and female idlers who do the talking of a nation. The Irish Protestants, and the remains of the old puri- tanical factions in England and Scotland, had long before entered into secret and close cor- respondence with the Prince of Orange. The whig aristocracy wanted but an opportunity to renew their struggle for power. The re- membrance of the fatal termination of Mon- mouth's insurrection made them cautious ; and they felt convinced, that without the aid of the old cavaliers (or tories) and the sup- port of the church, their chances of success would be very doubtful. The junction of the whigs and tories was not easy to effect They detested each other's principles, and extended their animosity to persons ; but the union was at length eflfected by the joint hatred of the principles of toleration enter- tained by both, and " freedom" and " liberty" were the watchwords employed to deceive the people at large. Encouraged by Bishop Burnet, the Prince of Orange landed at the beautiful town of Torbay, in England, on the 5th of November, 1688, and kindly reminded the quiet inhabit- ants that it was the anniversary of " Gunpow- der Treason," and so forth. He had with him about seven hundred men, and finding but few persons willing to join his piratical standard, he practised his sailors in the use- ful art of weighing anchor with celerity. The prince, knowing that delays are danger- ous in kingly piracy, soon eumounced his in- tention of exposing the names of those who had invited him to come to England. This settled the business ; and when the fear of exposure arrived in London, many a courtly neck was agitated with emotions which caused a sensation leaving the owner in doubt wheth- er he felt a rope or an axe. In justice to the prince, it must be admitted that he had been kept in a sort of " Jemmy Twitcher" sus- pense for more than a week ; but his deter- mined announcement brought the leading whigs and tories completely under his con- trol. Lord Colchester deserted from King James's army, with a few men ; Lord Corn- by was the next ; and so, after the examples of two or three of this sort, hundreds, and then thousands, fiocked to his standard. Meantime the prince's main army arrived from Holland, amounting to fourteen thou- sand men. He then marched, with all his troops, towards London. The king met him, with thirty thousand men, near Salisbury ; but, instead of fighting, his principal officers joined the invaders. The king now fled to London, whence he subsequently retired to France. James was betrayed by his secre- tary, the Duke of Sunderland, who, the bet- ter to efiect his treachery, pretended to have become a Catholic, but gave the king's se- A. D. 1688.] SECOND DIVISION 351 crets to the Protestant confederation all the lime. Louis the Fourteenth offered to send James thirty thousand men; but this Sun- derland affected to consider would injure James in the estimation of the English peo- ple.* By the time the Prince of Orange en- tered London the misguided people had set fire to the Catholic churches. The distinc- tion between the interference of troops from Holland or troops from France was evidently better understood than the distinction between real freedom and false liberty. That James was perfectly sincere in his wish for freedom of conscience may be plainly seen in his arrangements where he was un- shackled by the selfish and intriguing councils of the English cabinet. The conduct of this unfortunate prince has been so studiously misrepresented by the learned slanderers who write in the English language, that considera- ble explanation is required by the student of Irish history during his reign. To the Ameri- can reader, in particular, there are many in- teresting circumstances in the reigns of James and his elder brother which English " re- spectable" literature generally contrives to avoid. It has been reserved for such a man as William Cobbett to tell the truth ; and although an argument might be easily raised about his "respectability," (according to modern English notions,) we have seen no denial of his statements. We therefore con- sider ourselves justified in quoting matter which, although published more than twenty years since, has not been refuted, and never can he. The old literary bull-dog, without caring whether he is to be considered " re- spectable" or otherwise, tells us — " But, now, if James be to be loaded with all those which have been called the had deeds of his brother's reign, we cannot, with common justice, refuse him the merit of the good deeds of that reign. This reign gave us, then, the Act of Haheas Corpus, which Blackstone calls * the Second Great Charter of English Liberty.' There are many other acts of this reign, tending to secure the liberties and all the rights of the people ; * Oldmizon. Sunderland's " Apology" is unworthy of belief. but, if there had been only this one act, ought not it alone to have satisfied the people that they had nothing to apprehend from a * po- pishly inclined' king on the throne ? Here these 'popish tyrants,' Cliarlcs and James, gave up, at one stroke of the pen, at a single writing of Charles's name, all })rerogatives enabling them, as their predecessors had been enabled, to put people into prison, and to keep them there in virtue of a mere warrant, or order, from a minister. And, was this a proof of that arbitrary disposition, of which we hear them incessantly accused ? We are always boasting about this famous Act of Haheas Corpus; but, never have we the gratitude to observe, that it came from those against whom Russell and Sydney conspired, and the last of whom was finally driven from his palace by the Dutch guards, in 1688. " Then, again, was this act ever suspended during the reigns of these * popish' kings ? Never ; not even for a single day. But, the moment the * glorious revolution' or Refor- mation the third came, the Dutch ' deliverer' was, by the Protestant * Convention,' whose grand business it was to get rid of ' arbitrary power ;' the moment that this * glorious' af- fair had taken place, that moment was the Dutch ' deliverer' authorized to put in prison, and to keep there, any Englishman that he or his ministers might suspect ! But, why talk of this ? We ourselves have seen this ' sec- ond Great Charter of English Liberty' sus- pended for seven years at a time." * • • ♦ Yet these are the changes which monarchi- cal and " respectable" ^vriters tell us mark the " advance" of liberty ! But James and Charles, with all their faults, took good care to secure the progress of liberty in reality. Hear Cobbett : — " There was another great thing, too, done in the reigns of these * popish' kings ; namely, the settling of the provinces (now states) of America. Virginia had been attempted to be settled under ' good Bess.' * * * * A little, and very little, was done, in the two succeeding reigns. It was not imtil that of Charles the Second that charters and patents were granted, that property became real, and that consequent population and prosperity 368 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1689. ' came. This was a great event; great in itself, and greater in its consequences, some of which consequences we have ahready felt, others we are now feeling, but others, and by far of greater moment, we have yet to feel. " All these fine colonies were made by this * popishly inchned' king and his really * popish' brother. Two of them, the Caroli- nas, take their name from the king himself ; another, and now the greatest of all. New York, from the king's brother, who was duke of the city of that name in Old England. These were the men who planted these the finest and happiest colonies that the sun ever lighted and warmed. They were planted by these * popish' people : from them, from their * mere motion,' as the law calls it, came those charters and patents, without which those countries might, to this hour, have been little better than a wilderness. From these 'po- pish' kings the colonies came. By whom were they lost ? • * * " But I must not omit to notice, and to request the reader to notice, that* of the above- mentioned colonies, the only ones that wholly abstained from religious persecution, the only ones that, from the first settling, proclaimed complete religious liberty, were those granted by patent to the Duke of York, (afterwards the Catholic James the Second ;) to Lord Baltimore, a Catholic nobleman ; and to Wil- liam Penn, who suffered long imprisonments for his adherence to this ' popish' king. We shall, by-and-by, find all the colonies cordially united in declaring the character of a Prot- estant king to be * marked by every act that may define a tyrant ;' but, this much we know, at any rate, that the colonies granted to and settled by Cathohcs, and by Penn, an adherent of James, were the only ones that had, from first to last, proclaimed and strictly adhered to complete freedom as to matters of religion ; and that, too, after the Protest- ants, at home, had, for more than a hundred years, been most cruelly and unremittingly persecuting the Catholics." All the "respectability" that ever wal- lowed in plunder cannot destroy these facts ; nor can it prevent the universal difiusion of those grand principles which the American people have magnanimously resolved to pro- tect with a national fiag. Under the blessing of Providence, the Lord of all mankind, the ancient maxim that " Protectio trahit sub- jectionem, et subjectio protectionem'* will speedily have a universal acceptation, and " liberty" will be something more than a mere clap-trap sentiment for heartless politi- cians to defraud and divide those whom they have heretofore plundered under the pretence of protection. The news of the success of the Prince of Orange having arrived in Ireland, some of the Puritan leaders formed a party of sol- diers under the command of Major Poor. Young Bellew, of Lowth, dispersed them in the name of King James. From this cir- cumstcince, the strong royalist feeling in Ire- land soon created a large force of men who declared loudly in favour of King James, requesting to be armed and led by field- officers. The winter of 1688 was employed in Eng- land with completing the negotiations of the Revolution. On the 12th of February, 1689, the Princess of Orange arrived in London, and on the next day the prince and princess were proclaimed as " William and Mary, King and Queen of England," the right of administration being vested in William alone. In the mean time, the Irish had not been idle, but their industry was of a different kind. They were old-fashioned enough to support a king who had only erred in trying to benefit his country in advance of the spirit of the age. Tyrconnel, never dreaming that such a mon- strous invasion of England would have been tolerated by the English people, had sent over, when William landed at Torbay, some of the best Irish regiments to the assistance of James ; but the treachery in the upper ranks made the English army worse than useless ; and the victories gained by the Scottish royalists, under the gallant Dundee, counted as nothing after the death of that able commander at Killicrankie. Tyrconnel was therefore compelled to make some new levies, which were eagerly filled by the re- mains of the old royalist corps scattered over A. D. 1690.] SECOND DIVISION. 353 Ireland. The Protestants became alarmed, and gave out that the Catholics intended a complete extermination of all Williamites, without waiting for the rules of war. This feeling prevailed more especially in the north, and when Tjnrconnel sent the Earl of Antrim with a regiment of Highlanders to take charge of Derry, several circumstances combined to excite the feelings of the people, and the en- trance of Tyrconnel's garrison was disputed. This local affair was readily magnified into a general question, and the bravery with which Derry was defended excited the emu- lation of other northern towns. When James landed at Kinsale on the 12th of March, he issued a proclamation to his Protestant subjects, advising them not to leave the country, and assuring them of the most impartial protection. Parliament was called to meet in Dublin, and on the 7th of May the king addressed them. The next day he issued another proclamation to all Protestants who would return to their usual residence. General Hamilton, whom James had left in command before Derry when he went to meet the parliament, made an hon- ourable arrangement with the besieged, but the king now refused his sanction, and the siege continued. The defence was exceed- ingly spirited, and succours arriving on the last day of July, the siege was raised. Ham- ilton was then ordered to oppose Schomberg, who, however, effected a landing with troops for King William between Carrickfergus and Belfast. James, the Duke of Tyrconnel, M. Rosen, and other general officers arrived afterwards, and a field battle was proposed, but, on the 10th of October, the troops took up winter quarters. The first movement of the spring of 1690 was made by the gallant Sarsfield, who joined the king at Drogheda and entreated him to attack Schomberg's army, but James's mind was undecided. On the 14lh of June, King William landed at Carrickfergus. The Wil- liamite force then in Ireland amounted to nearly forty-five thousand men ; of these thirty-six thousand were selected to attack James's army, now posted on the Boyne. James had twenty thousand men under his 45 conmiand, six thousand of whom were in French regiments which were not brought into the field of action. On the 1st of July, after a severe battle of fifteen hours, the Irish retreated towards Duleek, and the Williamite forces encamped on the battle-ground. Tjrr- connel and Sarsfield led off the Jamesite troops, and made preparations for defending Sligo, Athlone, Limerick, and Cork. William sent General Douglas, and eight thousand men, with orders to take Athlone. The town was well fortified and the garrison was under Colonel Grace, an Irish officer of great experience, who had defended Athlone twice previously. Douglas, after firing on the town for seven days, and losing between three and four hundred men, was ordered to join William before Limerick. When William's besieging army, number- ing twenty-five thousand men, approached Limerick, the French commander, Lauson, suddenly withdrew his forces and ammuni- tion to Galway. This movement has been ascribed to the disgust occasioned by James's indecision at the Boyne. A similar senti- ment appears to have discouraged the Irish regiments, for they repeatedly said, while retreating, " Change generals, and we will , fight the battle over again ;" but, at Limerick, the Irish considered that although James had disappointed their hopes as a commander, he was a fallen monarch who had thrown him- self upon their hospitality. This truly Irish and magnanimous idea, combined with the late success at Athlone, finally encouraged both people and garrison to make a deter- mined resistance. In these sentiments the women of Limerick also agreed, and they determined to share the dangers of the de- fence, although the preparations for the attack, (as respects artillery, ammunition, and other resources of destruction,) were the most ter- rific and complete that Europe had ever seen. It is true that a portion of the artillery was waylaid and destroyed by the gallant prompti- tude of Sarsfield, but William was neverthe- less able to commence the siege with forty pieces of cannon, and kept up an incessant firing for twenty-seven days. A breach thirty- six feet wide being effected, William placed 354 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1691. himself where he could encourage his troops, but was repulsed twice, with most disastrous losses, and his men were hotly pursued into the lines of their own camp. In describing these anomalous proceed- ings, whereby the resources of language are exhausted in finding names for the different parties, we know not how to Express our ad- miration of the gallant £ind beautiful defenders of Limerick. Even the poetical Mooney is at a loss, but he exclaims — " O illustrious women and men ! where is the hand to sound your praises ! Where are * Cormac's bards,' to give your deeds to im- mortal song ! But your bright deeds shall live in our hearts, and light the patriots of other ages to victory !" Mooney is correct. The defeat of Wil- liam at Limerick is one of those "bright deeds" which show to the future what the Irish people can do when engaged by, with, and for — themselves. Duty calls, and we obey. On the 5th of September, William, having removed his troops to Clonmel, returned to England, and sent out Marlborough, with additional forces, in an English fleet which arrived at Cork on the 21st. After taking Cork and Kinsale, this great captain affected to consider the Jamesites as " rebels," and treated them ac- cordingly. As soon as he could effect a junction with Ginckle and Douglas, he pro- posed and ordered a winter campaign ; this, although unexpected by the Irish, resulted unfavourably to the Williamite army. Many circumstances, however, combined to strengthen the Williamite interests ; and, in the spring of 1691, the accession of twelve thousand Protestant militia-men in the dif- ferent garrisons enabled William's generals to bring all their troops into the field, in case of need. Ginckle had several times during the winter urged upon William the necessity of treating with the Jamesites upon liberal terms. Orders were now sent from England to make a decided demonstration in the heart of Ireland, and to take Athlone, at all hazards. On the 18th of June, Ginckle proceeded to fulfil these haughty instructions. James's forces had been improved by an arrival in May of some small arms and powder from France, but there was not a single cannon sent by the French king ; the Duke of Tyr- connel was superseded by St. Ruth, a good soldier, but an unsuitable man. After three attacks, displaying consummate bravery on both sides, Ginckle called a coun- cil of war on the 30th of June. His orders from William had been peremptory, and the British officers were compelled to advise an- other attack. St. Ruth felt so elated at the astonishing eflforts made by his Irish troops, that he had retired to his camp, two miles from the town, and, like a veritable French- man, announced a grand ball to celebrate their success. About twelve hundred and fifty men only were left in charge of the town. When informed that Ginckle was preparing for a fourth attack, he scouted tlic idea ; but the sagacious Sarsfield assured him that William's orders had been positive, and that, under such circumstances, the English gen- erals would persevere as long as they had men to lead on. The cannonade under which GiiK:kle's storming party advanced soon explained the matter to St. Ruth, and he sent out two brigades of infantry whose only use was to cover the retreat of the rem- nant of the garrison, five hundred of whom were slain within the walls. O'Callaghan, in his " Green Book," has very properly observed — " Thus, not through native, but foreign misconduct, not through the fault of the Irish, but of their general, Athlone was at length taken, after a resistance that docs honour even to Irish valour."* * Writers like J. C. O'Callaghan eliould be cherished, not merely for their rarity, but for their positive useful- ness. The happy combination of wit and industry ia always beneficial in dispersing the clouds of calumny. Such writers not only serve their native country, but they improve the tone of Uterature, and increase the grand communion of thought between mind and mind, separ- ated by oceans of distance. To form some idea of the utility of O'Callaghan's la- bours, the reader is invited to compare his account of the campaigns of 1690 and 1691 with that of Rapin's con- tinuator. For instance, in respect to the final fall of i Athlone, read note (2) page 404, vol. iii. of the Ijondon edit. It may be plainly seen that the notes in Rapin are written by one of those men who are dctemiiucd only to tell the truth when convenient. A. D. 1691.] SECOND DIVISION 355 St. Ruth now retreated to the Hill of Kil- commoden, where he took positions for a field battle. Ginckle, having occupied about ten days in fortifying Athlone, advanced to dislodge the Jamcsites. St. Ruth endeav- oured to atone for his late carelessness, but had not sufficiently dispelled his unfortunate coldness towards Sarsfield to intrust him with the plan of operations which he intend- ed. On the 1 2th of July, the battle (or rather battles) of Aughrim took place. It was liter- ally a succession of battles, and as obstinate a field fight as history has ever recorded. Ginckle fought like a man in the ranks; General Mackay exerted all his Scottish bravery and coolness ; and the English gen- erals and their grenadiers maintained their usual obstinate perseverance. Ginckle had twenty-five thousand men, and as much ar- tillery as he wished. St. Ruth had only fifteen thousand men and nine clumsy field- pieces ; but, as the day advanced, the Wil- liamite forces were generally worsted. Ginc- kle now resolved to secure one of the only two passes (except a bog) from the field. This pass was commanded by the old castle of Aughrim, and when the Irish proceeded to defend that point, it was discovered that cannon shot instead of bullets had been sent to the officer in command. The Williamites pressed on vigorously ; St. Ruth was killed ; and Sarsfield was ignorant of his loss and his plans. The Jamesiles seeing the pass forced, then made their retreat also. The Irish consoled themselves with having Sarsfield for a leader, and Limerick, Galway, and Sligo were fortified by the Jamesites. Ginckle wrote to England representing the inhumanity of carrying on such a war with such a people. Sarsfield placed himself at the head of a splendid body of cavalry, com- posed of four thousand picked men ; and with this truly Irish and formidable force he com- pelled Ginckle to keep his troops within the fortified towns. But the enormous resources placed at Ginckle's disposal enabled him gradually to surround Limerick, and during August and September the WiUiamite ar- tillery played night and day upon the walls. Several attacks and sorties having been piade without any perceptible gain on eitlier side, the news which arrived, from England and from the continent, to the effect that James intended to make no further efforts for his crown, and that WiUiam was willing to grant the same religious and political privi- leges which the Irish expected to enjoy under James, — disposed the contending parties in Irelcmd to negotiate for terms of peace. Twenty-nine military and thirteen civil ar- ticles were drawn up and signed for the satis- faction of the contracting parlies. The sol- diers were allowed to choose the service of France or England, as they might wish. On the 5th of October, two days after the solemn Treaty of Limerick was signed, a large French force arrived in the Shannon ; but Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, was not the man to harbour revenge ; and, besides, the arrangements of the treaty were perfectly satisfactory to all classes. That the surrender of the garrison was not considered as derogatory to the Irish military character may be inferred from the twenty- fifth of the military articles, in which it is stipulated — " That it shall be lawful for the said gar- rison to march out all at once, or at different times, as they can be embarked, wiUi arms, baggage, drums beating, match lighted at both ends, bullet in mouth, colours flying, six brass guns, (such as the besieged may choose,) two mortar pieces, and one half the ammunition that is now in the magazines of the said place : and, for this purpose," etc. etc. The twelve civil articles guarantied to the Irish Catholics a free exercise of religion; the privilege of sitting in parliament, as en- joyed in the reign of Charles the Second ; freedom of trade, and the benefit of domestic legislation by the national parhament in Dub- lin ; the guarantee of their estates to all those Catholics who had taken up arms for King James the Second ; and a general amnesty and forgiveness of all offences on either side. Such was the Treaty of Limerick. Upon its liberal and beneficial intentions Mooney has tlms concisely expressed the remarks we had intended for this work : — 356 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1691. " And now, after a war of two hundred and fifty years between the Irish and Eng- lish, the principle for which the Irish first took the field was estabhshed, namely, re- hgious liberty. It had been wrung from Elizabeth, after a fifteen years' war; sub- verted again by James the P'irst, Cromwell, and the parliamentarians ; partly restored by Charles the Second ; fully established by James the Second ; subverted by King Wil- liam ; and now, after many a hard-fought field, again wrung from a reluctant enemy by the indomitable valour of the Irish heart." Our Protestant adviser, Taylor, also ex- presses similar views, but more especially with regard to the future operations of the treaty, as follows : — *' This celebrated treaty provided that all Roman Catholics should enjoy the exercise of their religion as in the reign of Charles tlie Second ; and promised that their majes- ties would endeavour to procure them further security in this particular when a parliament could be convened. It was engaged that all the inhabitants of Limerick, and all those in arms for King James in the several counties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, or Mayo, should enjoy their estates, and pursue their calHngs and professions freely, as in the reign of Charles the Second ; that the Catholic gentry should be allowed the use of arms, and should be required to take no oath but the oath of allegiance." Any reasonable reader, now perusing Irish history for the first time, would innocently suppose that Ireland was about to possess her proper share of political welfare ; but those acquainted with the subject are well ^ware of the perfidy which yet remains to be related. Alas ! what can restore or imi- tate the happy sunshine of innocence ! APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXX. VARIOUS AUTHORITIES. " I have given ample details of the miseries of Ireland, under James the First, Charles the First, and Charles the Second. Its ad- herence to James the Second filled up the measure of its miseries — overspread the land with havoc and slaughter — and produced an- other scene of rapine and confiscation of estates. James's abdication in England did not vacate his title to the crown of Ireland. The vote of the parliament of the latter island was necessary to extend the abdication there. No such vote was passed. And the Roman Catholics, the great body of the nation, fa- tally for themselves, determined to support him." — M. Carey. " One of the first acts passed by James's parliament was, ' An act for establishing lib- erty of conscience, and repealing such acts or clauses in any act of parliament, as are inconsistent with the same.' To this mea- sure the Irish Catholic may appeal as a full and satisfactory refutation of the charges of bigotry and intolerance ; and the Irish Prot- estant must blush to remember, that William's Protestant parliament, so far from imitating this noble example of enlightened liberality, took the earliest opportunity of establishing a system of penal laws." — Taylor. " But it was after James the Second was set aside that the penal code grew really hor- rible. And here it is of the greatest conse- quence to the cause of truth that we trace this code to its real authors ; namely, the clergy of the established church. This is evident enough throughout the whole of this church's history ; but, until the reign of James the Second, the sovereign was of the church religion ; so that the persecutions ap- peared to come from him, or her. But now, when the king was for softening the penal code ; when the king was for toleration ; now the world saw who were the real persecu- tors. * * • * " James the Second wished to put an end to the penal code ; he wished for general toleration; he issued a proclamation, sus- pending all penal laws relating to religion, and granting a general liberty of conscience to all his subjects. This was his offence. For this he and his family were set aside for ever ! No man can deny this. The clergy of the church [Anglican] set themselves against him. Six of the bishops presented to him an insolent petition against the exercise of this A. D. 1691.] SECOND DIVISION. 857 his prerogative, enjoyed and exercised by all his predecessors. They led the way in that opposition which produced the * glorious rev- olution,' and they were the most active and most bitter of all the foes of that unfortunate king, whose only real offence was his wish- ing to give liberty of conscience to all his subjects." COBBETT. " The Revolution was the work of the English aristocracy. The great body of the people had little or no share in producing it, and gained scarcely any advantages by the event." — Taylor. " All things being prepared for the expedi- tion to England, the Prince of Orange look leave of his states, and put to sea with a fa- vourable wind, about the end of October, 1 688. Fifty ships of war, followed by four hundred transport vessels, besides twenty frigates and some smaller craft, composed the main fleet ; from twelve to thirteen thou- sand troops, and arms for twenty thousand men, were on board. Admiral Herbert, an Englishman, commanded the van ; in the rear was Vice-Admiral Evertzen, and the prince was in the centre. All these vessels bore an English flag, with the arms of the Prince of Orange, around which were these words, * For religion and liberty,' and at bot- tom was the device of the house of Nassau, ' I will maintain.' A great number of Eng- lish noblemen were on board the fleet." — Mac-Geoghegan. " William was justly regarded as the head of the Protestant party in Europe ; the pay given by England and Holland was higher and more secure than that of other slates ; and both these causes supplied WiHiam with bodies of hardy veterans, familiar with war from their cradle. " Bravery, however, was the chief, almost the only valuable attribute possessed by these men. They were the outcasts of all society, familiar with every crime, abandoned to every excess. Vices for which language scarcely ventures to find a name, abominations that may not be described, and can scarcely be imagined, were constantly practised by these bands, which the long continental wars had called into existence." — Taylor. " Men are qualified for civil liberty, in ex- act proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites ; in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity ; in proportion as their sound- ness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption ; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." — Burke. " As for Protestantism in Germany, it is so degenerated here, that, except the name, little else of it now subsists. It has under- gone so many changes that if Luther, or Melancthon, were to rise again, they would not know the church which was the work of their industry." — Starke. " The defection or falling away from Chris- tianity is almost (if not quite) general ; you may see the pastor and the professor, from their pulpits casting doubts upon all the uni- versally received doctrines of religion, and shaking every principle of Christianity, while the people are looking on with increasing indifference." — Staffer. " In Germany, multitudes of Protestant theologians make it their especial business to drown the principal doctrines of Christianity in Deism." — Muller. " Indeed, such is now their incredulity and open unbelief, in relation to the divinity of Christ, that it would be more easy to find in their sermons the names of Socrates, or of Plato, than the anointing appellation of our Redeemer." — E mp a yte z . " Liberal opinions, that is, no fixed princi- ples whatsoever, are professed in every quar- ter ; and, in spite of the apparent tranquillity which reigns around, the day cannot be dis- tant in which there will be as little belief among us as there is now among the philoso- phers of Germany ; that is, none at all." — British' Critic. 358 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1691. " The abuse of liberty has rendered Chris- tian unity httle more than an empty name : the generahty of Christian professoru consider themselves at liberty, at all times, to choose their own persuasion, and to change their opinions as often as caprice may dictate." — Blackburne. " Hence it follows that Protestants cannot refuse to tolerate the Atheist without aban- doning their own leading principle. If they say that the latter makes a bad use of his reason, or, that he is not sincere, might not the same thing, with equal justice, be said of every class of opinion-believers ? The re- proach is certainly inconsistent in the mouths of sectarians, because it applies equally to all the followers of opinion ; what the Protest- ant says of the Atheist the Atheist has an equal right to say of the Protestant ; and who is the judge between them ? * Reason !' But the judgment of reason is the thing in dis- pute : therefore, to call in reason to decide the difference would only be solving the ques- tion by the question itself. It is a solemn and laughable mockery of common sense." — La Mennais. " If God could be more nearly approached by * searching' than by a devotional admira- tion, by knowledge than by feeling, there would be good grounds for this exclusive preference for reason ; but since He is to be worshipped both in spirit and in truth. His precious gift of the eye is not to be denied occasions for the exercise of its exquisite sense of beauty, nor the imagination His own foreshadowings, and its purifying and celes- tial creations. " Be pacified, then, be comforted, ye church-and-chapel-goers who reject every thing except what your reason approves ; for, what with your damp floors, your bare walls, your cold forms, and your still colder hearts, there is yet boundless room for refine- ment in your devotions before you will be chargeable with any * popery.' " — T. Dolby. " It is meritorious to insist on forms ; Re- ligion and all else naturally clothes itself in forms. Everywhere \\\e formed world is the only habitable one. The naked formlessness of Puritanism is not the thing I praise in the Puritans ; it is the thing I pity, — praising only the spirit which had rendered that in- evitable ! All substances clothe themselves in forms : but there are suitable true forms, and then there are untrue unsuitable." — T. Carlyle. '* The time is not very far distant when England will laugh at itself for sending to Holland, Hanover, Zell, or Brunswick, for men who, at the expense of a million a-year, understood neither her laws, her language, nor her interest, and whose capacities would scarcely have fitted them for the office of a parish constable. If government could be trusted to such hands, it must be some easy and simple thing indeed ; and materials fit for all the purposes may be found in every town and village in England." — T. Paine. " As the Roman senators, by slow and im- perceptible degrees, became masters of the people, yet still flattered them with a show of freedom, while themselves only were free, so is it possible for a body of men, while they stand up for privileges, to grow into an exuberance of power themselves, and the pubUc become actually dependent, while only a few of its individuals govern." — Gold- smith. " Hence that double-faced and no-hearted morality which expends three hundred pounds per prisoner in jail-building ; which expends eighty pounds per convict, annually, in send- ing out and maintaining sixty thousand trans- ports in New South Wales and Van Die- men's Land, rather than pay them justly for their labour, which would not cost half the money ; or bestow upon them the benefits of a gentleman-like example, or the simplest means of instruction and contentment at home, which would cost nothing at all. " It is that double-faced and no-hearted morality which affects to be dreadfully shock- ed at drunkenness while giving the highest legal sanctions to it ; saying, in effect — ' Let the besotted wretches poison themselves. Let religion be supposed to be a mere pre- tence. Let those refined and refining influ- ences which we are either too vulgar to teach or too corrupted to stud)', — let all such con- siderations perish. The excise looks up ; the A. D. 1601.1 SECOND DIVISION. 359 quarter's revenue, and corn, consols, and rents stand firm, — and all's well !' " — T. Dolby. " In reason, all government w^ithout the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery ; but, "in fact, * eleven men well armed will certainly subdue one single man in his shirt.' But, I have done : for those who have used power to cramp liberty have gone so far as to resent even the liberty of complaining ; although a man upon the rack was never known to be refused the hberty of roaring as loud as he thought fit." — Jona. Swift. " When, O when ! will justice be rendered to thy sons, O loved fatherland ? When, O when ! will mankind recognise the just title of the Irish to pre-eminence in the most glo- rious virtues ? — to morality of the purest order, domestic and public ? Temperance of the most extensive and practical utility ? Tenacious religious fidelity, beyond the ex- ample of all, or any, of the countries on the face of Christendom ?" — O'Connell. " As to the defeat of the Boyne, with which Voltaire connects such defamatory conse- quences to the Irish military character, that river (which is often no more than three or four feet deep in some parts) is quite forda- ble in summer, and consequently no such wonderful natural obstacle to the passage of a well-disciplined army as Voltaire would represent it to be."— J. C. O'Callaghan. " There is a great difference in the many contemporary narratives of this [the Boyne] engagement that have been published. It was long the fashion of the Cromwellians to depreciate the valour of the Irish ; arid they have not neglected it on this occasion. But the main facts of the battle are indisputable. William's army was numerically superior to his opponent's by several thousands ; the English had a still greater advantage in dis- cipline and experience ; and also in their artillery and equipments. Yet was the issue of the contest doubtful to the last moment of the day ; and at its close William had gained nothing but the ground on which it had been fought. Except Hamilton, the Enghsh took no prisoners ; and the Irish preserved all their artillery, baggage, and standards. The num- bers slain in the field of battle were nearly equal on both sides ; but the balance against the Irish was increased after the engagement by the marauders of William's camp, who murdered the peasantry that had come through curiosity to see the battle, the stragglers, and the wounded. In this safe but not very hon- ourable service the Enniskilleners were par- ticularly distinguished. The indisputable superiority of Hamilton's cavalry seems to have sorely annoyed those writers who hate to acknowledge any merits in Irishmen. • • • After the many proofs of Hibernian bravery exhibited during the late war, it now seems unnecessary to vindicate their character ; but as bigotry and party zeal have not unfre- quently revived these calumnies, it is the duty of an impartial historian to defend the character of the brave, more especially when they have been unfortunate." — Taylor. "Though aware of the paramount im- portance of destroying William's transports, James, on meeting (during his passage from Ireland) with the Marquis de Seignelay's frigates coming to destroy William's tmpro- tected shipping on the Irish coasts, actually made the French armament return, merely to escort himself buck to France ! — thus aban- doning Ireland to her invader, by depriving her of the most eflfectual succour she could have received." — J. C. O'Callaghan. " Drogheda surrendered immediately after the battle of the Bo\Tie, William having de- clared that he would give no quarter in case of resistance. It is scarcely credible that he seriously designed to repeat the barbarities of Cromwell ; but it is a stain on his charac- ter that he even threatened such an atrocity." Taylor. " When Drogheda surrendered to King William, after the defeat of the Boyne, the sick and wounded soldiers were, by the capit- ulations, to be taken care of, and to be sent with passes to their own army, as they re- covered ; but they were not only neglected, ! and might have starved, were it not for the charity of some of their own countrjmien, who sold their beds and clothes to relieve them, but they were also kept as prisoners after they recovered, contrary to the arti- 860 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1691. cles." — Lesley. See also Story, supra; adopted by Curry; confirmed by J. C. O'Callaghan. " Douglas [besieging Athlone] had no lon- ger any hopes of success. He retired with great precipitation, abandoning his heavy baggage, and quitting the high road for fear of a pursuit. The miseries endured by this unfortunate army in their retreat were dread- ful ; but they were exceeded by those of the unfortunate Protestants, who had no other alternative but to accompany their oppressors. " Douglas found William advancing to- wards Limerick, fully persuaded that he was marching to speedy and certain conquest. He had learned, by his spies, the bitter jeal- ousy that existed between the Irish and French, and that several of Louis's officers, already disgusted with the nature of their service, had returned home. The reports were true ; but William was no longer in a situation to avail himself of these circum- stances. By his commission of forfeitures, he had rendered justice to the Irish nearly impossible, and left them no choice between war and a tame submission to unprincipled spoliation ." — T ay lor . "King William was amazed at the bra- very and skill of Sarsfield, whom, as he said, he did not believe capable of such an able manoeuvre. William, though disturbed in his operations, prosecuted the siege with vigour. Playing with forty pieces of ord- nance, for twenty-seven days, on the walls, he at length effected a breach thirty-six feet wide. He now ordered an assault, which was made by six thousand men, supported by a reserve of eight thousand, all excited to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by the pres- ence and example of their king." — Mooney. " The grenadiers forced their way, and part of them actually entered the town ; but the Irish closed their ranks behind them, and effectually checked the progress of the rest. These brave men were nearly all destroyed. The citizens, in overwhelming crowds, fell upon them; and only a few, desperately wounded, succeeded in cutting a way back to their companions. The breach was again assailed, and again defended, with the same determined spirit. Crowds of women min- gled with the soldiers, and fought as bravely as the men." — Taylor. " The Irish then ventured upon the breach again, and from the walls and every place so pestered us upon the counterscarp, that after nigh three hours resisting bullets, stones, and broken bottles, (from the very women, who boldly stood in the breach, and were nearer to our men than to their own,) and whatever ways could be thought on to destroy us, otir ammunition being spent, it was judged safest to return to our trenches." — Story. " In this celebrated repulse of William at Limerick, two circumstances occurred that reflect a halo of the purest and noblest glory upon the name of Ireland in general, and of Limerick in particular. After driving the Enghsh from the breach, a portion of the Irish garrison entered the English camp in their turn, and, ' in the confusion,' (says Dal- rymple,) 'the Enghsh hospital having by accident taken fire, part of the victorious Irish stopped the pursuit, and rushing into the flames to quench them, saved the lives of their enemies at the hazard of their own !' " Dalrymple's authority is O'Halloran, and O'Halloran, both as an Irish historian and a native of Limerick, was sufficiently well-in- formed as a writer and as a native of that city to be an adequate voucher for the fact alluded to, since, in addition to his reading on the subject, he was born near enough to the period of the occurrence in question to learn I all about it from many old persons, yet living in his lime. See Ferrar's Hist, of Limerick. [O'Halloran's statement has been confirmed, and is now undeniable. — Am. Ed.] " The other circumstance is that of the memorable self-devotion of the women of Limerick, who, after the English had beaten the men from their post, drove them back to the combat, boldly stood in the breach, even nearer to the English soldiers than the men of the garrison, and for nearly three hours contributed to assail the enemy so vigor- ously with stones, bullets, and every attaina- ble missile, that to this splendid exertion of female heroism, unsurpassed in the brightest periods of classic antiquity, King Wilhdm's A. D. 1691.] SECOND DIVISION 361 own historian mainly attributes the triumph- ant expulsion of the besiegers from the city — • Foil'd by a woman's hand before a batter'd wall !' " These incidents, in which the two sexes displayed such a magnanimous rivalship that the virtues which were supposed to be more peculiarly distinctive of each were united in the conduct of both ; in which, when the men were repulsed by the enemy, it was only to have their places supplied by the bravery of the women, and, when the men, with the aid of that bravery, were routing the enemy, it was only to manifest towards the fallen foe all the tenderness and humanity of women, combined with the victorious intrepidity of men ; these incidents, I say, require no comment — they speak for themselves — ' The man that is not moved with what he reads, That takes not fire at such heroic deeds, — Unworthy of the blessings of the brave, Is base in kind, and born to be a slave !' ^ " So far, the campaign of 1690, in the pure- ly fighting part of it, was more in favour of the Irish than against them. William's suc- cess at the Boyne might be called rather a victory over James than his army, as they proved by their subsequent triumph over the conqueror in person at Limerick." — J. C. O'Callaghan. "On the 18th of June, [1691,] Ginckle appeared before Athlone, and advanced to- wards the town, driving in the Irish skirmish- ing parties which had been sent to annoy rather than interrupt his march. He opened a heavy fire from a battery of ten guns on the English town, and soon effected a prac- ticable breach. After a fierce resistance the place was taken by assault ; but the garrison retreated into the Irish town, and broke down the bridge behind them. * * * * An attempt was made to tuni the Irish position, by forcing a passage at Lanesborough ; but the pass was too well guarded to render success at all probable. Ginckle saw that his only hope was to force a passage by the bridge. * * * * The Irish received information of his designs, and were prepared for his reception. The attack had but just commenced when tlie grenades, throw n by the Irish, set fire to the English breastwork ; and before the flames 46 could be extinguished, all the works, galleries, and pontoons, which Ginckle had so labori- ously prepared, were burned to ashes. " Saint Ruth was intoxicated with success. He removed the brave defenders of Athlone, and supplied their place with inferior regi- ments. He issued invitations to all the gen- try in the neighbourhood, and gave them a splendid entertainment, followed by a ball, in his camp, as if there was no longer any reason to dread danger." — Taylor. " St. Ruth was convinced, when too late, by the thunder of the British cannon, that the [fourth] action had commenced, and then sent on two brigades of infantry, which were useful only in covering the retreat of the remnant of the Irish garrison, who were driven from the tewn, and were found con- tending the ground, inch by inch, with their pursuers. The English, seeing the re-en- forcements arrive, retired behind those walls from which they had dislodged the Irish ; and the latter, dispirited by the misconduct of their chief, and the loss of five hundred of their body, who were slain that morning, re- tired to the main body at the camp." — MOONEY. " King William's army, after being entirely masters of Athlone, killed in c61d blood one hundred men in the castle and little out-work on the river." — Lesley. " Ginckle was not much intoxicated by his victory at Aughrim. He felt that it was nothing better than a lucky escape ; and, from the spirit displayed by the enemy, feared that the termination of the war was still at a distance. Neither were the Irish so greatly dispirited as might have been expected. They felt that victory had been wrested from them by one of those chances which baffle ordi- nary calculation, and did not yet despair of success in another field." — Taylor. " Story, who, through Colonel Waller Burke, and several Irish officers and soldiers taken in the castle, must have known why the English horse were enabled to pass it at all, has preferred to suppress any mention of the cause, and has then expatiated on the wonderful success of those horse in makmg their way through so many natural difRcul- S63 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1601. lies, added to what he calls * show'rs of bul- lets,' where there were no bullets unless bullet-buttons, if I may be allowed a pun." J. C. O'Callaohan. " It must in justice be confessed that the Irish fought this sharp battle with great reso- lution ; which demonstrates that the many defeats before this time sustained by them cannot be imputed to a national cowardice, with which some, without reason, impeached them, but to a defect in military discipline, or to the want of skill and experience in their commanders. And now, had not St. Ruth been taken off, it would have been hard to say what the consequences of this day would have been." — Harris. " This admission, from an Irish Williamite, is every thing." — J. C. O'Callaghan. " Many obvious reasons justified William for putting an end to the war upon moderate terms. Many millions had already been ex^ pended in the reduction of Ireland. Near 100,000 men had been lost by sickness and the sword. The army, though victorious in the field, were exhausted with fatigue. Win- ter was approaching. The siege of Limer- ick must in all probability have been raised, — a second disappointment before that place would have been equal to a defeat. The spirits of the Irish would rise ; the French, encouraged by their success, would aid their allies with more effect." — Macpherson. " In the mean time, private messengers arrived from France to Sarsfield, intimating that King James's hopes of re-establishing his power in Ireland were declining ; whereupon Sarsfield, Sir Toby Butler, and others of the Irish leaders, thought it best to come to terms of peace with the English general, hearing that he had power and directions to grant them every advantage which they could rea- sonably hope for, if they had conquered for King James." — Mooney. ** Six weeks were spent before the place without any decisive effect. The garrison was well supplied with provisions. They were provided with all means of defence. The season was now far advanced, the rains had set in. The winter itself was near. Ginckle had received orders to fiiiisli the war upon any terms. *•**•• The English general offered conditions, which the Irish, had they even been victors, could scarce re- fuse with prudence." — Macpherson. *' William, as soon as the treaty had been signed, removed his foreign regiments from the country, but not before they had been guilty of several fresh excesses. A large sum of money was given them, as a compen- sation for the plunder which they resigned ; and they departed amid the joint execrations of Catholics and Protestants. In a few days, the tranquillity of the country was perfectly restored." — Taylor, *' The Irish had, in the year preceding the treaty, driven William the Third with defeat and disgrace from Limerick. In this Irish victory the women participated. It is no romance. In the great defeat of William, the women of Limerick fought and bled and conquered. On the third of October, 1691, the treaty of Limerick was signed. The Irish army, 30,000 strong — the Irish nobility and gentry, and people, capitulated with the army and Crown of Great Britain. They restored the allegiance of the Irish nation to that Crown. Never was there a more useful treaty to England than this was under the circumstances. It was a most deliberate and solemn treaty — deliberately confirmed by let- ters-patent from the Crown. It extinguished a sanguinary civil war. It restored the Irish nation to the dominion of England, and se- cured that dominion in perpetuity over one of the fairest portions of the globe. Such was the value given by the Irish people. " By that treaty, on the other hand, the Irish Catholic people stipulated for and obtained the pledge of * the faith and honour' of the English Crown, for the equal protection by law of their properties and their liberties with all other subjects — and in particular for the free and unfettered exercise of their religion." O'CONNELL. " The revolution of 1688 is generally and justly considered the brightest epoch of Brit- ish history ; but though the result was glori- ous, there are few of the circumstances by which it was attended, and still fewer of the actors in it, that do not merit the severest A. D. 1691.] SECOND DIVISION. 363 reprobation. * * * * But notwithstanding these drawbacks, Englishmen are justly proud of the Revolution. It freed them from the in- cubus of a race of sovereigns equally de- graded and mischievous. It afforded a bright example to other nations suffering under the pressure of tyranny." — Taylor. *' Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle. When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment we have no compass to govern us ; nor can we know distinctly to what port we steer. Europe, undoubtedly, taken in a mass, was in a flourishing condi- tion the day on which your Revolution was completed. How much of that prosperous state was owing to the spirit of our old man- ners and opinions is not easy to say ; but, as such causes cannot be indifferent in their operation, we must presume that, on the whole, their operation was beneficial. " We are but too apt to consider things in the state in which we find them, without sufficiently adverting to the causes by which they have been produced, and possibly may be upheld. Nothing is more certain than that our manners, our civilization, and all the good things which are connected with man- ners and with civilization, have, in this Eu* ropean world of ours, depended for ages upon two principles, and were indeed the res'ult of both combined ; I mean, the spirit of a gen- tleman, and the spirit of religion. The no- bility and the clergy, the one by profession, the other by patronage, kept learning in ex- istence, even in the midst of arms and con- fusions, and whilst governments were rather in their causes than formed. Learning paid back what it received to nobility and to priest- hood ; and paid it with usury, by enlarging their ideas, and by furnishing their minds. Happy, if they had all continued to know their indissoluble union, and their proper place ! Happy, if learning, not debauched by ambition, had been satisfied to continue the instructor, and not aspired to be the master ! " If, as I suspect, modern letters owe more than they are always willing to own to an- cient manners, so do other interests which we value full as much as they are worth. Even commerce, and trade, and manufac- tures, the gods of our economical politicians, are themselves, perhaps, but creatures, are themselves but effects, which, as first causes, we choose to worship. They certainly grew under the same shade in which learning flour- ished. They, too, may decay with their natural protecting principles. With you, for the present at least, they all threaten to dis- appear together. Where trade and manu- factures are wanting to a people, and the spirit of nobility and religion remains, senti- ment supphes, and not always ill supplies, their place ; but if commerce and the arts should be lost in an experiment to try how well a state may stand without these old, fundamental principles, what sort of a thing must be a nation of gross, stupid, ferocious, and, at the same time, poor and sordid bar- barians, destitute of religion, honour, or man- ly pride, possessing nothing at present, and hoping for nothing hereafter ? " I wish you may not be going fast, and by the shortest cut, to that horrible and dis- gustful situation. Already there appears a poverty of conception, a coarseness and vul- garity, in all the proceedings of the assembly and of all their instructors. Their liberty is not liberah Their science is presumptuous ignorance. Their humanity is savage and brutal." — Burke, addressing the English House of Commons. " The Rebellion was the issue of the crimes of the Reformation. It mav be the crime was expiated, but the effects of it still remained. The church [of England] was re- stored with the monarchy, but so enervated both in principle and power that it was com- pelled to lean for support upon the civil arm, instead of giving to that arm its proper strength and direction. It became weaker and weaker, and the state has felt the burden every day becoming heavier, and more ene- mies rising up, against which the church re- quired to be defended — and now, to save itself from trouble and to make peace, as it fancies, for itself, the state is willing to cast off the church ; and the church, if it stands at all, must stand by its own resources, while 3B4 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1691. the state will perish around it. This is the history of our evils on a large scale, but the same history is to be repeated in every di- vision of society and act of life ; it is the his- tory of every parish. * * * * " Hence our vices and faithlessness, our avarice and hard-heartedness, our neglect of the poor beneath us ; our secularized clergy, our political dissenters, our abuse of ec- clesiastical patronage ; our absorbing selfish- ness ; our foolish, vulgar exclusiveness, which has severed every class of society from those above and below it ; our disrespect to gover- nors ; our disobedience to parents ; our self- indulgence and vanity and extravagance, which have encumbered our states with debt. Hence our colonies turned into dunghills, on which, for our own convenience, we might empty all the sewers of the country, and raise up pandaemoniums in regions which (woD placed beneath our power that we might plant in them his faith and his church. Hence our morals degraded into utilitarianism — our philosophy become sensualism — our politics debased into economy — our science confined to matter— our reason misinterpreted into mean logic — and our piety stripped from truth, and made matter of empty form, or of emptier feeling. We have lost sight of the spiritual, and can see nothing but the ma- terial." — London Quar. Rev. ; Sept., 1840. "He that hath read with judgment of nations and commonwealths, of cities and camps, of peace and war, sea and land, will readily agree that the flourishing and decay- ing of all civil societies, all the moments and turnings of human occasions, are moved to and fro upon the axle of discipline. So that, whatever power or sway in mortal things weaker men have attributed to fortune, I durst, with some confidence, (the honour of divine Providence ever saved,) ascribe either to the vigour or the slackness of discipline. Nor is there any sociable perfection in this life, civil or sacred, that can be above disci- pline ; but she is that which, with her musi- cal chords, preserves and holds all the parts thereof together. And certainly discipline is not only the removal of disorder, but, if any visible shape can be given to divine things, the very visible shape and image of virtue, whereby she is not only seen in the regular gestures and motions of her heavenly paces as she walks, but also makes the harmony of her voice audible to mortal ears. Yea, the angels themselves, in whom no disorder is feared, (as the apostle that saw them in his rapture describes,) are distinguished and qua- ternioned into celestial princedoms and satra- pies, according as God himself has written his imperial decrees through the great prov- inces of heaven." — Milton. END of the second DIVISION. OBSERVATIOIS CONNECTING THE SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS. The struggles of the Irish people for self- preservation, and the efforts of their enemies to conquer them, are subjects which appear to require some resting-place out of the nar- rative, where reader and writer may meet for quiet reflection, unembarrassed by so many varied and conflicting incidents. These movements of the Irish people should not be confounded with the ordinary restlessness that is common to mankind in all countries. Influential men, who are learned, judicious and sensible, on almost all other subjects, are too apt to dismiss the peculiar claims of Ireland as being merely phases of tiic natural seeking after distinction. This mistake arose originally from misrepresenta- tion, is maintained by superficial observation, and leads to important errors. Besides, the general restlessness of human progress is a steadily pervading principle, and has given rise to the college maxim, that — " Better days are like Hebrew verbs ; they have no pres- ent tense : they are of the past or futiire only." Pascal tells us — " Man has a secret instinct that leads him to seek diversion and employment from with- out; which springs from the sense of his continual misery. And he has another se- cret instinct, remaining from the greatness of his original nature, which teaches him that happiness can only exist in repose. From these two contrary instincts there arises in him an obscure propensity, concealed in his soul, which prompts him to seek repose through agitation, and even to fancy that the contentment he does not enjoy will be found, if by struggling yet a little longer he can open a door to rest." But the agitation in Irish affairs is not con- fined to the advance of social progress ; for that may safely be left to itself among a gifted and magnanimous people. It is an endeav- our to recover political rights and religious privileges which have been endangered or impaired by remorseless robbery and its sub- sequently interested falsehoods. These false- hoods have been industriously circulated ever since the invention of printing ; and in quo- ting the remark of James Madison that " the Irish nation has been as much traduced by the pen of History as it has been scourged by the rod of Power," we do not intend to undervalue the productions of our predeces- sors, but hopefully to explain the many influ- ences that have become interested in causing Ireland to be misrepresented and vilified. Sylvester O'Halloran has ably exposed the monstrosities of ancient misrepresentation in the writings of Strabo, Sohnus, and Giraldus Cambrensis ; and the learned reader, who might have but little regard for Ireland, would, after only a slight examination, be astonished to observe so much of what a thoughtful American writer has well de- scribed as " the startling sympathy between by-gone fiction and new-fangled fanaticism." The errors unavoidably made in all ancient history are not of so much consequence in the estimation of candid minds as the wicked disposition we yet see to cherish untruths which have been refuted over and over again. Among the thousands of dinner-table histo- 3G6 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE rians who are quite willing to retail the stale falsehoods of Giraldus, how few are equally willing to mention his " Recantation !" Sir James Ware, writing in 1764, has condemn- ed this gross partiality with the spirit of a sincere searcher after truth : — " Many things concerning Ireknd could be noticed in this place as fabulous, which Cam- brcnsis hath heaped together in his Topogra- phy ; to analyze or descant upon each would require a whole tract. Caution should be particularly applied by the reader to his To- pography, which Giraldus himself confesses. I cannot but express my surprise, how men, now-a-days otherwise grave and learned, have obtruded on the world the fictions of Giraldus for truths." The only blame generally given to Ware shows a good fault for an historian, namely, that he did not write enough* Mac-Geoghe- gan says — " Sir James Ware has commenced his ' Antiquities of Ireland' with the reign of Laogare, and the apostleship of St. Patrick. The reason he gives for not beginning from an earlier epoch is, that most of the written evidence concerning the predecessors of that monarch was mixed and confused with known fables and anachronisms. Two points in this argument ought to be observed ; first, that, from the acknowledgment of the author, there were kings who preceded Laogare, and mon- uments which speak of them ; second, that these monuments were mixed with fabulous or uncertain matter. I have no doubt but that Ware's observation is just, for the same fault is common to all ancient histories. What would ever be known of antiquity, if all history be rejected which contains any thing that may be false, fabulous, or supposed ?" Much light has been accidentally thrown upon the ancient history of Ireland by the controversy as to the pagan or Christian origin of the "round towers" by Valiancy > Moore, Taafe, Petrie, O'Brien, and others. The results of such inquiries are invariably honourable to the Irish name and to Ireland's ancient glory. The theory that attributes a commercial as well as monumental use to the round towers, is, in our opinion, the most probable ; and the evidence is daily increas- ing to prove that the commercial relations of the navigators from the Mediterranean with Ireland were of such a nature as to require a similar use for the round towers as for the pyramids of the whole length of the Nile, which are now generally believed to have been used for the purposes of exhibiting or conveying intelligence in addition to their original objects of commemorating events and individuals. This theory is not only supported by the concomitant corroborations of truth and prob- ability, but is extended and confirmed by the evidence lately brought to light, showing that commercial information was not only required to go to and from the oriental climes where similar customs or inventions prevailed, but also to the more distant lands and varied na- tions of the western hemisphere ! The read- er who may be unacquainted with the an- cient portions of Irish history will smile in- credulously at this statement, and is, happily, in possession of perfect liberty so to do : we shall continue to take the liberty of searching for the truth. The great barrier that opposes a candid examination of this subject arises from the prevailing fashion of sitting down to read Irish history with some preconceived and fic- titious standard of national greatness, which, being based on wrong premises, necessarily leads to false conclusions. We will not in- sult those who may honour us with their attention by supposing that such is the state of their minds. We refer more particularly to what has been the case, since the inven- tion of printing, in a country where the abuse of Ireland and the falsification of her history were almost invariably rewarded with riches and political honours. As much of tliis mo- ney-poisoned hterature and its accompanying " respectabihly" of influence have been un- avoidably connected with the introduction and adoption of the English language, we merely wish to give the candid and intelligent in- quirer a hint for the profitable exercise of those reasoning powers and charitable feel- ings which ought to make nations great and praiseworthy, — recommend each to the kindly SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS 367 regard of all, — and defeat the designs of ty^ ranny, whether they attack us in the form of prejudice or in that of an armed conqueror. Those who really believe that all mankind are brothers will have already and frequently observed that — " Prejudice is the tyrant of the world." To explain more fully our meaning we might quote the remarks of Cobbett, who had continual occasion to remind the English people that workhouses, treadmills, stamp duties and poor-rates, " did not come down from heaven," and are not absolutely indis- pensable appendages to civilized society. On the same principle, we hope to be excused for reminding our readers that, for a nation to have all the elements and attributes of greatness, it is not absolutely necessary that fifty or sixty thousand people in one city should be dependent on parochial rehef ; that the poor ploughman should go to his work with less than half the proper food required to sustain his strength ; that little children should work all day in coal mines or cotton factories, and remain all niglit within sight and hearing of the most brutal wretchedness and promiscuous depravity ; that the most menial slave of corrupted riches should be better treated and protected than the actual producers of the original wealth ; that the people should be compelled to pay for the support of a religion which dares not rely upon any thing better than money and politi- cal power for its " establishment ;" that in every case wherever the voice of the people is elevated in behalf of mercy or to advance the common cause of humanity, the very power which the people are presumed to have created is turned against them, and the greedy wretch who signalizes himself by the greatest cruelty is the selected object for the highest rewards in the state ; that whenever there is no opportunity or excuse for the bay- onet, the powder-barrel, or the gallows, the man who dares to speak for the common good is assailed with packed juries, libel suits, and every engine of legalized tyranny which the interested slaves of insatiable ra- ])acity can invent in the various shapes of sneers and savage slander. The patient and considerate reader, being thus duly warned in relation to the false es- timates of national happiness and greatness, will find the study of early Irish history ex- tremely interesting, and would do well to peruse the work of Sylvester O'Halloran, which has been appropriately described by Mooney, as follows : — "Dr. Sylvester O'Halloran, a native of the county L«irnerick, in Ireland, a gentleman of ancient family, published by subscription, about the year 1786, the first part of what he designed to be a comprehensive History of Ireland. Being a profound Irish scholar, besides a thorough patriot and philanthropist, he infused into the work, as far as it went, all the dignity, eloquence, and research whicii characterize the writers of the most refined ages, ancient or modem. Unfortunately, he did not carry his history further than the twelfth century ; death shortened a life de- voted to the perpetuation of the history of his country, — a fate which, by some special des- tiny, prematurely overtook many other men engaged in the same laborious work ! His book is a splendid and truthful one, as far as it goes. He had had the advantage of the zealous and learned labours of the many erur dite men who wrote before him ; and it is creditable to the Irish character that, in a period just emerging from the gloom of the penal code, under whose terrible influence the intellect of Ireland was darkened, so powerful a man as O'Halloran just then made his appearance, who flung out on the world a brilliant reflection of the almost departed rays of Ireland's renown and glory. O'Hal- loran, full of acquired lore, apposite similes, and biographical anecdote, frequently sus- pends his narrative while he empties his full- charged mind upon the page. His digres- sions, for that reason, are, though always interesting, sometimes inconveniently long ; which effaces or disturbs the order of his- torical facts in the reader's mind. This, I think, is the only fault which can be al- leged against the work. It is otherwise a splendid production, sustained by authority, enlightened by reason, enriched by a won- drous gathering of facts, and adorned by a 368 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE beautiful style, whicli continues its elevated tone from the beginning to the end. These combined properties of O'Halloran's work jus- tified Pepper in denominating him the Irish LiVY." Poor Pepper ! Had he Uved, his country might have looked brighter, and her approv- ing smiles would have rewarded his patient industry. In view of that " fate, which, by some special destiny," certainly does seem to select and prefer those who are engaged in unravelling the thread of Irish history, we beg leave to express our own approbation of this just and highly honourable tribute to the work of our learned predecessor, O'Halloran. The " only fault" alluded to arises from the Irish temperament of its erudite author, who could scarcely restrain his astonishment as he surveyed the mountain of calumny which tlie riches obtained from Ireland had enabled her robbers to fabricate. As the history of Ireland is remarkably peculiar, so also the History of Ireland writ- ten to represent it must be adapted for the purpose. Whoever might undertake to de- scribe the history of Ireland's battles on the field of lime, mounted on the stilts of style or the hobbies of philosophy, would soon be left sprawling in a very disagreeable kind of mud, while nobody could possibly be benefit- ed by the attempt. The critic requiring such a style thereby confesses his entire ignorance of the merits of the whole subject. In this particular instance, the strictness of mere logic would be as inapplicable as the desul- tory ebullitions of feeling are unavailing. The History of Ireland, to be useful, never can be a mere class-book of Johnsonian periods ; nor can it be permitted to remain in the con- fusion of elementary crudity, such as biogra- phy, anecdote, and parliamentary debate. It should be an exalted and elaborated view of the national existence of Ireland's noble and magnanimous people, based upon a chrono- logical and analytical foundation in the wri- ter's mind. The style should be familiar and truthful, firm and considerate ; and the re- straints taught by scholarship need not al- ways prevail over the promptings of honest feeling. One of England's best writers on the true interests of society* has judiciously observed* — " Books that are learned enough to please only the learned will generally be found too learned to render much service to Humanity. For the truest history that shall ever be writ- ten, unless written in the author's own lan- guage ; unless the facts shall be linked into one another in his own way ; and unless he shall feel himself at liberty to say something here and there to the simple as well as to the wise, admitting, occasionally perhaps, a little light upon himself as well as upon his story ; such story, although true to mathematical demonstration, will be but a superficial pro- duction after all. Very few people would read it to the end, and those who did would no more believe it than if it had been dehv- ered from ' the chair' of political economy ; or, than the written address of a corporate body to a throne, and the throne's written tt * 4fc 4k answer. " With respect to style, it should be re- membered that an author's first duty is to fix attention to his subject and course of ac- tion ; for more readers have fallen asleep over the dull accuracy of Addison's ' Cato,' than have been offended by the amiable ab- surdities of Goldsmith's ' Good-natured Man.' Many, and perhaps the most interesting works too, upon wrongs and privations, have been written by those who never felt them ; or, if they felt them, may have wanted that faith in human nature, and its inexhaustible capa- bilities of amelioration, which, infused into language, can alone enter and permanently abide in a reader's memory and belief." From our own experience, we can affirm, that the ancient history of Ireland receives more light from works collaterally connected with the subject than from the ostensible histories. There are many of these works, standing in scattered disorder and almost un- noticed among tlie paths of literature, because it is not the fashion to speak of Ireland except with second-hand opinions. One of the best prizes of this kind which we have discovered is North Ludlow Beamish's ** Brief Account of the Discovery of America by the Nortli- * Thomas Dolby. SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS 369 men in the Tenth Century ; with Notices of the Early Settlements of the Irish in the Western Hemisphere," The attention of those who are willing to think for themselves is respectfully invited to ponder on the fol- lowing prefatory remarks by Beamish, in re- lation to the startling discoveries of the Ice- landic annals : — " The incidental allusions to the voyages and settlements of the Irish, which are con- tained in the minor narratives, are more likely to excite than satisfy inquiry. Much still remains to be unravelled in this interesting subject, and it is to be regretted that no com- petent hands have yet been applied to this neglected portion of Irish history. It has been too much the practice to decry as fabu- lous all statements claiming for the earlier inhabitants of Ireland a comparatively high degree of advancement and civilization. And, notwithstanding the many valuable publica- tions connected with the history and antiqui- ties of that country, which have from time to time come forth, and the more recent candid, learned, and eloquent production of Mr. Moore, there are not wanting, even among her sons, those who, with the anti-Irish feel- ing of the bigoted Cambrensis, would sink Ireland in the scale of national distinction, and deny her claims to that early eminence in religion, learning, and the arts, which un- questionable records so fully testify ; and yet a very little unprejudiced inquiry will be sufficient to satisfy the candid mind, that Erin had good claims to be called the school of THE WEST, and her sons — ' luclyta gens hominum, roilite, pace, fide.' " Thus much, at least, will the following pages clearly show, that sixty-five years pre- vious to the discovery of Iceland by the Northmen in the ninth century, Irish emi- grants had visited and inhabited that island. That about the year 725, Irish ecclesiastics had sought seclusion upon the Faroe Islands ; that in the tenth century, voyages between Iceland and Ireland were of ordinary occur- rence, and that in the eleventh century, a country west from Ireland and south of that part of the American continent which was discovered by the adventurous Northmen in 47 the preceding age, was known to them under the name of White-Man's Land, or Great Ireland." The whole of the book is very valuable, with comprehensive and excellently arranged information. Towards the end, Mr. Beamish thus pleads his argument that the ancient Irish had no small share in the successive discoveries of America, particularly that por- tion of it called by the name of Great Ire- land : — " From what cause could the name of Great Ireland have arisen, but from the fact of the country having been colonized by the Irish ? Coming from their own green island to a vast continent, possessing many of the fertile qualities of theif native soil, the ap- pellation would have been natural and ap- propriate ; and costume, colour, or peculiar habits, might readily have given rise to the country being denominated White-Man's Land, by the neighbouring Esquimaux. Nor does this conclusion involve any improbabili- ty. We have seen that the Irish visited and inhabited Iceland towards the close of the eighth century ; to have accomplished which they must have traversed a stormy ocean to the extent of about eight hundred miles. A hundred years before the time of Dicuil, namely, in the year 725, they had been found upon the Faroe Islands. In the tenth cen- tury, voyages between Ireland and Iceland were of ordinary occurrence. And in the beginning of the eleventh century, White- Man's Land, or Great Ireland, is mentioned not as a newly-discovered country, but as a land long known by name to the Northmen. Neither the Icelandic historians, nor naviga- tors, were in the least degree interested in originating or giving currency to any fable respecting an Irish settlement on the south- ern shores of North America, for they set up no claim to the discovery of that part of the western continent, their interest being limited to the coast north of Chesapeake Bay. The discoveries of Vinland, and Great Ireland, appear to have been totally independent of each other. The latter is only incidentally alluded to by the northern navigators. With the name they were familiar, but of the pc- 370 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE culiar locality of the country they were igno- rant ; nor was it till after the return of the Karlsefne [Thorfinn] from Vinland in 1011, and the information which he obtained from the Skroilings or Esquimaux, who were cap- tured during the voyage, that the Northmen became convinced that White-Man's Land, or Great Ireland, was a part of the same vast continent of which Helluland, Markland, and Vinland, formed portions." Luckily for the author from whom we have just quoted, his work was ably reviewed in the " Dublin Review," and the talented re- viewer unfolds an irresistible chain of evi- dence supporting the theory of successive dis- covery. If prejudice and calumny are some- limes strong enough to weaken the force* of truth, we are nevertheless often consoled by observing that nothing can injure its actual power. We therefore hail with pleasure all the indications of inquiry relating to the dis- covery of America, whatever may be the effects upon Irish history. There is much to learn on this important and interesting subject, and we are glad to perceive that public attention is now generally inclined to favour the investigation. To show that the arguments of O'Halloran and Beamish have considerable merit and foundation, it may be proper to mention that such men as Albert Gallatin, Joshua Toulmin Smith, William Henry Harrison, and Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood, (aided by the liberality and fore- sight of Martin Van Buren,) have given their attention to the same general subject. To the American mind it opens a grand field for antiquarian discovery : the object is useful, and the curiosity is laudable. Since the ex- cellent translations and publications of the " Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries," at Copenhagen, by M. Rafn, in 1837, this branch of study is much abbreviated, and has now become quite interesting.* We are confident, and again repeat, that whenever correct in- formation is obtained of the ancient and mighty nations of America, we shall find great * Soe also Waldeck's " Voyage Pittoreaque et Arche- ologique dans la Province d" Yucatan, Amerique Cen- trale." The reader of Freuch and English can master the whole range of the subject now. corroborative light thrown upon early Irish history. In fact, we are but just beginning to learn that which has been forgotten or hidden. Mr. Beamish says — " A further examination of the Icelandic annals may possibly throw more light on this interesting question, [the discovery of Great Ireland,] and tend to unravel the mystery in which the original inhabitants of America are involved. Lord Kingsborough's splendid pub- lication in 1829 first brought to the notice of the British public the striking similitude be- tween Mexican and Egyptian monuments. The ruins of Palenque, Guatemala, and Yu- catan, rivalling the pyramids of Egypt or the ruins of Palmyra, were only known to a few hunters till the end of the eighteenth century, and modern travellers are still engaged in bringing the hidden wonders of this and other regions of the vast American continent to the knowledge of the literary world." Beamish evidently intends to remind his readers that the successive discoveries of America form a subject which had only lately occupied the attention of English writers, and that he is anxious to excite' further inquiry. He, of course, is aware that the discovery of America by the Northmen was indirectly asserted by Ortelius, in 1570. Suhm and Schoning, Liadenbrog and Schroder, have only reiterated the statements of Torfaeus, published in 1703. Reinhold, Foster, and Make Brun have handed them down to these inquiring days ; and Dr. Johnson collaterally tells us that Ireland was " the school of the west »* The article in the "Dublin Review" to which we have alluded was written in 1841, and at the conclusion of the argument in favour of the doctrine of " successive discov- eries," the gifted writer has thus brilliantly expressed the following sublime thoughts : — "If, then, we have estabhshed our case relative to the ante-Columbusian discoverers of America, we come to regard Columbus himself in a new light. We may not admire him so much as an original discoverer, but as one who repeated and established the ac- credited discoveries of. his predecessors in a -• Letter to Dr. O'Conor, of Bealenagar, May 19, 1777. SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS. 371 most heroic and glorious style of experiment. Thus was the ancient Syrian and Pythago- rean system of astronomy revived, restored, and developed by Copernicus and Newton. Their immense merit consisted in the exam- ination, accumulation, and demonstration, of antique theories that had been well-nigh con- signed to oblivion. "And this, in our estimation, requires a loftier and wider range of intellectual science than original discovery itself. Original dis- covery, as it is called, is often the result of chance, accident, the spirit of contradiction, and even the rashness of desperation. Orig- inal discoveries are often struck out in an instant, to the astonishment of their inventors, who had no anticipation of them. Not so with the profound truth-searcher, who, know- ing that WHAT IS TRUE IS NOT NEW, and that WHAT IS NEW IS NOT TRUE, searches back through the recondite annals of our planets for the golden links of the sole philosophy. For this man, what perseverance is required, what subtlety, what fine perception of ana- logies, what a critical analysis of all the ele- ments which constitute probability ! " Such men, if not original discoverers, are discoverers of a still higher order. They lay hold of the neglected germ which original discovery had flung on the harsh rocks of incredulity, and develope it into an august and glorious system of demonstrated verity. They seize the little spark of Promethean fire which was just about to perish in the fogs of forgetfulness, and by it they rekindle the universe into a blaze of exulting hope." The historical compiler who is actuated by such sentiments can well afford to be pa- tient during the obtuse mirth of tliose cavil- ling objectors who sneer at every scheme of beneficence aiming beyond something to eat, drink, or wear. To those who never send a thought beyond one term of life, (and that one their own,) httle can be taught, and no- thing permanently useful need be expected, for they achieve nothing more instructive than illustrating the luck of a fool. One humble monk, or poor labouring man, or thoughtful mother, is worth more than a mil- lion of such self-worshipping animals for all the grand purposes and permanent interests of human existence. Those cavillers who may affect to wonder why it is that we con- tend so earnestly for the greatness of the Irish people, should pause and consider whether they themselves have a correct idea of na- tional greatness. On this subject there is a fine passage in " Wace's Chronicle," a poeti- cal romance (in old Prankish and corrupted Latin) of the Norman Conquest. Being in possession of a copy of the translation by Edgar Taylor, we make use of it on account of the quaintness of the original being so well preserved : — " Many a city hath once been, and many a noble state, whereof we should now have known nothing, if such things had not been written down, and read, and rehearsed by clerks. The fame of Thebes was great, and Babylon had once a mighty name ; Troy was also a great power, and Nineveh was a city broad and long : but whoso should now seek them, would scarce find their place. Nebuchadnezzar was a great king ; he made an image of gold sixty cubits high, and six cubits in breadth : but he who should now seek ever so carefully would not, I ween, find out where his bones were laid. Alex- ander was a mighty king ; he conquered twelve kingdoms in twelve years : but his conquests availed him little, for he was poi- soned, and died. Caesar, whose deeds were so many and bold, who conquered and pos- sessed more than any man before or since could do, was at last slain by treason, and fell in the capitol. Both these mighty men, the lords of so many lands, who had van- quished so many kings, after their deaths, held of all their conquests nought but their bodies' length : what availed them then, or how are they the better for all their rich booty and wide conquests ? All things hasten to decay ; all fall ; all perish, and come to an end. Man dielh, iron consumeili, wood de- cayeth : lowers crumble to dust ; strong walls fall down ; the rose witliereth away ; the war- horse waxeth feeble ; gay trappings grow old . all the works of man's hands perish." The grej^test nations have decayed, and will decay, in the revolutions of time ; but 372 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE the peculiar fate of Ireland is, that after hav- ing taken the most praiseworthy means to perpetuate her history by rewarding a privi- leged class of historians with the highest rank and honours that subjects could attain, this very liberality and consequent national great- ness have been the principal incentives of the rapacity employed to rob and calumniate her, and is even now the temptation for further defamation. It is for these reasons we re- peat our remark, that the main body of evi- dence on early Irish history is more likely to be fairly treated in works only incidentally mentioning Ireland. Besides, authors seek- ing for fame need not be blamed for avoiding the direct advocacy of the claims of Ireland. They could but be tolerated were they to dis- play their talents upon some ancient glorifi- cation that is much more doubtful, far less instructive, and of scarcely any use except in the scholastic elucidation of classic or lin- guistic affinities. All this wide field might be explored without giving offence to " the powers that be." The customs of the Moors, the commerce of the Phenicians and the Es- quimaux, the " native" policy of the Ishmael- ites, the manufactures of the Chinese, the military systems of the Carthaginians, the power of the Tartars, the politics of the Ethi- opians, the war-councils of the North Ameri- can Indians, the many-sided mysteries of the Hindoos, — all form subjects which (ranging from the mathematical to the mythological) generally allow the writers upon them some " safe" degree of reward in return. But with regard to the history of Ireland, there has been only one view of the narrative that might probably bring any worldly benefit to tlie writer. Whoever could not so far divest himself of candour and fairness as to produce a history that would confirm the " respecta- ble" prejudices already existing, was sure to fail of being what is commonly called suc- cessful. In uttering this deliberate opinion, we al- lude to what has been the case : the attention NOW given by the sympathy of the advocates of civil and religious liberty leads us to ex- pect better things. In this country of happy freedom, the English language will not only be purified elocutionally but politically and morally. It is now a simple question for the calm judgment of the American mind, glo- riously exempted as it is from the petty and almost parochial disputes of Europe, to solve and resolve whether the desire of men to live like brothers and make their own laws, is, in reality, such a very dreadful crime as ** re- spectable" English literature has chosen to represent. Considering the despotic influ- ence of the combined powers of church and state, and the significant treatment of those who have dared to tell the truth, or even a hopeful share of it, we ought not to expect too much from writers who may have done the best they could in the path of danger. The fate of Thomas Leland is indicative of the influence we have mentioned. He was led on and encouraged with the hope of a bishopric ; but his duty as a man and a Chris- tian compelled him to record many things which looked very " inconvenient" in print. Consequently, there is no reward for that man from the power that was conscious of being based upon robbery and secured by falsehood. William Sampson tells us — " In judging of a writer upon Irish history, regard should be had to the inherent difficul- ties of the subject ; and we find every author who pretends to impartiality preluding with some observations to that effect : and why ? because centuries of remorseless aggression and fierce retaliation had swelled the tide of conflicting passions and antipathies, and the still chafed and fretted waters of bitterness and strife had never, during that long period, been suffered to subside. And, as Doctor Leland observes, it is scarcely possible for a writer not to share in the passions and preju- dices of those around him ; for however can- did, dispassionate, and accurate, still he must have done dangerous violence to their feelings and prepossessions ; and that, even in this day, the historian must be armed against censure by an integrity which confines him to truth, and a literary courage which de- spises every charge but that of wilful or care- less misrepresentation. " Doctor Leland's example justifies the soundness of his observation. He was a SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS. 373 senior fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and a clergyman of the established church, by his learning and • talents entitled to distinction ; but he could never hope for preferment if he incurred the displeasure of those patrons to whom the honest truth could hardly be ac- ceptable ; and from his education and the principles he was bound to teach, his affec- tions and his judgment were very liable to bias. And accordingly we find him often stating facts with sufficient integrity, and yet, as it were, unconsciously concluding against the ordinary sense of right and wrong. Nev- ertheless, considering what Irish history was when he undertook to write it, the low de- gradation to which the fortune of war and in- ternal dissensions had reduced the majority of his countrymen, and the jealous monopoly of power inhumanly exercised, there is some praise as well as censure due to him ; and with such allowances, his history, the first regular and connected one that had appeared, may yet be read with some advantage. And it argues something in his favour that he never did attain to any such high preferment as Archbishop King and others did, for works far more undeserving." This is better language for our purpose than any we could expect to construct. The same brilliant writer has also left the follow- ing judicious opinion upon W. C. Taylor's noble effort to bring forward the truth and invite impartial inquiry : — " How far this well-penned and lucid sum- mary of Ireland's tragic story, which I have so freely commended, may please every class of readers, I cannot say. Some may think that it states too mildly what called for heavier and more indignant reprobation, and passes too lightly over details that should have ex- cited horror : that vengeance should have been invoked upon the head of the oppressor, and a brand imprinted upon the forehead of every wretch, ' whether concealed by a mitre or a coronet, who owed his greatness to his country's ruin :' that on the bloody escutch- eon of the titled traitor should have been em- blazoned his peculiar achievements, till his high-sounding titles became by-words of re- proach to future generations ; and that the voice of the murdered patriot should have been made to speak in accents of awful warn- ing from his tomb. But would that have been more wise, or more likely to accomplish the honest ends and objects of the author ? Al- lowing that some things have been softened, is there not enough disclosed ? And if this intelligent author had gone further, and de- claimed with impassioned indignation against the perpetrators of crime, might he not have been charged with the like fault as David Hume and other great and popular writers, who, for the swelling of their descriptions and display of their eloquence, have pos- sessed whole generations with rancorous an- tipathies attended with baleful effects as well to Great Britain as to Ireland. To this point a saying has been cited by that living poet, who often veils deep thoughts and strong con- ceptions under the graceful folds of light and airy drapery :* * If I had my hand full of truths, I would open but one finger at a time.' " Once more from the learned counsellor : — " Mr. Taylor avows himself a Protestant, and a Cromwellian descendant, whose wish is to conciliate, not to inflame. His objects are laudable, and he knows his ground and is master of his subject. He was publishing in Britain and for British readers, and he may have considered that too much light let in at once on those who have lain in dark- ness closes the eye that it offends ; and that it may sometimes better serve the ends of truth even to lower that truth by some de- grees to the standard of human credibility, than to insist too far upon what might stag- ger belief." On observing these corruptions of power and the consequent aberrations in the tone of literature, there can be no presumption in our pointing out the absorbing study required to overcome the many difficulties which op- pose the formation of a plain narrative of Irish history, especially as regards the time comprised in our second division, 1171 to 1691. * Sampson here alludes to Thomas Moore, in Iho " Fudge Family." Fontenello mako3 use of the same idea. 374 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE From the reign of Henry the Second to the close of that of Henry the Seventh, among all the stirring incidents that attract the attention of the student, none are more worthy of ob- servation than those which prove tlie steady advance of the influence of money as a na- tional power in the governments of Europe.* It is true that the forest laws and feudal ser- vices were abolished or mitigated ; but it is equally true that parliaments and plun- der were gradually corrupted and extended. Certain circumstances (which need not be enumerated here) having caused Henry the Eighth to take advantage of this corrupt in- fluence in English society, and Elizabeth and her Stuart successors findhig themselves irretrievably pledged by necessity to follow out the same policy, the actual liberties of the mass of the people became not only jeoparded, but positively diminished. This assertion, that in a period of five hundred and twenty years the liberties of England had retrograded, will be looked upon as absurd by those who unfortunately possess false notions of liberty as well as of national greatness. To save time and come to a correct understanding of the much-mistaken definitions of " liberty," let us again inquire, — What is political liberty ? This is our answer. Political liberty is a willing com- pact in human society, which guaranties more personal security and moral freedom than the variable and unrestrained liberty of separate individuals. The real possession of this political liberty makes the difference between the civilized man and the barba- rian. Keeping this distinction in view, can we say, with justice, that the liberties of Eng- land, Ireland, or even Europe, had advanced during the interval from 1171 to 1691? We cannot. Were the people of each succes- sive generation more (or less) consulted as to the " willing compact" of political liberty ? Read the answer in Henry the Eighth's des- potic dictation, not only concerning political privileges, but even invading the sacred rights * The reader will perhaps gain a clearer exposition of I this remark by referring back to page 109. It may re- j ward the time so granted. I of conscience. Read the answer in Eliza- beth's extension of the uses of money, by purchasing the custody of her unfortunate cousin Mary, for the purpose of gratifying and consummating a murderous hate. Read the answer in James's pecuniary piracies, his barefaced perversion of parliaments into princely tools, and his still further extension of money-power in the very formation of the parliaments so employed. Read the an- swer in Charles's greediness to sell " graces" which were no more than common justice, already due, by his coronation oath, to those who paid him the money ; and observe, that both he and his victims are cheated after all. Read the answer in Oliver Cromwell's only constant maxim, that " Every man in office had his price." Read the answer in the re- vived profligacy on the " restoration" of the former set of thieves during the reign of Charles the Second. Read the answer in James the Second's discoveiy (when too late) of the subtle influence which not only destroyed him, but caused his calculating daughters to desert their father's falling for- tunes. Read the answer in the grand united torrent of continental bigotry and royal ra- pacity which over-ran Ireland with a deluge of blood in the commencement of the reign of Mary and her fighting partner, sweet William, imported expressly for the occa- sion. To divert the attention of the English people from the double yoke of slavery being imposed upon them, it may now be seen that ten out of the thirteen years comprised in this reign were occupied in war, domestic or foreign. These despotic evils not only "crowned" all the previous encroachments upon liberty, under the guise of liberty, but they have been permitted (by the lack of unanimity among the English and Irish peo- ple) to perpetuate their poisonous blight down to the present time. In proof of this our " crowning" statement, here arc the words of Wade, a talented (Protestant and English) author, writing in 1838 : — " In furtherance of his [William's] ambi- tious aspirations, he was unscrupulous as to the means he employed. Parliament was bribed, the morals of the people corrupted, SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS. 375 and the pernicious principle introduced of borrowing on remote funds, by which was engendered a swarm of loan-contractors, speculators, and stock-jobbers, whose har- vest is gathered only in the midst of a na- tion's difficulties. It is to this monarch we owe the commencement of the practice of issuing exchequer-bills ; of raising money by lottery ; the excise and stamp duties ; which burdened posterity, and generated and sup- ported wars of despotism and folly." In relation to the parliaments of William and Mary, which helped in the infliction of this perpetuated money-worship, Smiles (also Protestant and English) has remarked : — " Such were the Protestant parliaments from the hands of which Ireland afterwards received its destinies, and such the constitu- tion to which the monopolists of the present day wish that we should revert ! Such men and such assemblies were much more fitting to entertain the petitions of coal-heavers for the exclusion of papists from their trade, or the infamous castration-clause in the bill for mending the laws against popery, or to burn Molyneux's book by the public hangman, — than to legislate for the rights and interests of a free nation." In the plain business language of these two quotations from England's most modem writers, our American readers will at once perceive the whole political merits of the case, from 1171 to 1691, and from 1691 to 1846. Our opponents may possibly urge that there is nothing new in the discovery that "money is the root of all evil." There would indeed be no novelty if this were the only object of our inquiries and disquisitions ; but we have a higher object in view than the mere repetition of a truism, however correct it may be, of itself. It would ill become a poor author to speak disdainfully of money, considered by itself. Dr. Johnson tells us that " no man likes mustard, per se ;" the ru- minating doctor is correct ; beef or other solid meat would inevitably be required by a sen- sible man. So also of money. No real freeman desires money, per se : liberty is always a requisite in making him happy. " Liberty ig like the air we breathe ; if we have it not — we die." It is our business in these pages to extract the moral lessons and political experience of the history contained in the chapters of narra- tive. To do this cfTectually we must dissect the springs of action which originated the movements there described. Another of the results of our observation is the detection of the fact that the bitter persecutions in Ireland have been mainly caused by a general and continual war against the liberties of mankind. It would be a sad task to prove this statement, for it is too true. Ireland has been a rallying- point for the shocks of opposing principles, and while some nations in Europe have easily changed again and again, Ireland has painfully bled again and again ; but her reward is in the conscious inflexibility of principle, the conscious integrity of nationality, and the conscious reliance upon hope or reward, ei- ther politically or religiously. Nothing has deceived so many nations as the affected superiority arising from innova- tions which flatter individuals with the as- sumption that increased wisdom comes with increased wealth. It would be very bene- ficial for nations possessing much money- power to pause and inquire whether ihey are really so much happier and so much wiser, as they imagine, than those which have pre- served one uniform allegiance to principles based on human wants and agreeing with divine wisdom. Yes, absurd as it may ap- pear in simply enunciating the truth, the great battles for the permanent principles of liberty have been (and are being) fought in places least known to the commercial " ears" of the modern Midas. All the grand truths and sacred principles truly worthy of the reverence of human and responsible beings have been intrusted to (and faithfully kept by) " the poor." The money-worshipper may scoff", but the god whom he adores can- not disprove our statement. It is not only incontrovertible, but we have an addition to make, which will be unpalatable only to ihe falsely rich and the falsely learned ; namely, that all knowledge of truth desirable for the permanent good of mankind has been pri' 376 OBSERVATIONS CONNECTING THE marily confided to (and maintained by) " the ignorant." This confession is not at all hu- miliating, for it is the height and sum of all learning to be able to make the observation. Men whose object is to plunder their neighbours and deceive the world, have need of cunning and worldly wisdom. The truth- seeker and the truth-finder have other thoughts. St. Augustine, speaking of the divinely-blessed labours of the early apostles, says — ** They have succeeded in bending to the yoke of faith the greatest geniuses, the most eloquent, subtle and learned men of the world ; ihey have made them not only followers but expounders of the doctrine of salvation and true piety."* Montesquieu, discussing the comparative merits of different forms of civil government, thus argues : — " Bayle, after having treated with contempt all religious worship, insults the Christian religion when he dares to assert that true Christians could never form a system of gov- ernment capable of duration. And why not ? Such a government would be composed of citizens with enlightened ideas of their duties, and zealous in their proper discharge. They would be sensitively alive to the rights of national defence ; in proportion as they con- sidered themselves bound to their religion, in the same proportion would be their allegiance to their countiy. The principles of Chris- tianity firmly established in the heart, would be infinitely more powerful than the false honour of monarchies, the merely human virtues of republics, or the servile fear of despotic states."t These noble sentiments from two such master-minds are worthy of especial atten- tion. Montesquieu, it will be observed, pre- sumes, as a matter of course, that the people of a country would be consulted in making '| laws for it. What shall be said of countries where hypocrisy and extorted wealth have introduced the "latest improvcrncnls" with such a monopolizing effect that the people proper are not only never consulted, but the » 137th Epist. to VoIuB, N. 16. t Spirit of LawH, book xxiv. man who dares to expose the evil is looked upon as a prodigy ! Thomas Dolby, in one of his excellent works, (which brilliantly con- tribute the most efficient aid in rendering political economy agreeable and instructive,) has well denounced the selfism of " property and respectability" in the government of England, a political system which is arro' gantly and ignorantly supposed to be wise in riches and rich in wisdom. At the conclusion of a powerful appeal for the employment of charitable discrimination in such matters, the magnanimous and patient author prophetically observes — " Having thus related * A Tale of Humani- ty,' so far as to give the wits of this educated and critical age a little employment of a somewhat unusual kind, — if it be only to put a writer into a more direct and orderly line of procedure on future occasions, — and hav- ing stopped very frequently by the way, sometimes, perhaps, from an over-anxious desire to amuse and to keep alive the atten- tion of * the reading public,' and sometimes to anticipate cavils and to obviate objections which always beset those who venture to meddle with ancient vices ; it is now time to inquire what ' property and respectability' intend to do next ? — what it is that the landed lords and gentlemen, the monopolists, and the moneyed aristocracy in general (who, all put together, are but one eighth part of the population of Great Britain and Ireland) in- tend to do to ward off the consequences of their own acts and proceedings towards the other seven eighths ? — because they cannot remain much longer in the position they now occupy by virtue of merely nominal capital, of taxing, shooting, and parliamentary prating. " For it is too mucii to expect that selfish- ness, like a gnomon upon a dial-plate on which are marked all the degrees, minutes and seconds, of shifting and obliquity, will for ever be suffered to describe the same dull and tedious round ; in the course of which not one momentary indication can it present without a fallacy and a peril at the point of it. " There will, one of these days, be discov- ered an active principle in the very simpli- SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS 377 city of sincerity, which will acquire a force from opposition and a polish from abuse ; carrying knowledge, in its simplest, most engaging, and most practical forms, into the most obscure regions of error ; and by which THE ENSLAVERS OF THE MIND AND THE DE- FRAUDERS OF THE BODY WILL BE BROUGHT, CONVICTED AND CONFESSED DELINQUENTS, TO THE BAR OF UNIVERSAL OPINION."* Yes ! and the brave upholders of the " sim- phcity of sincerity" will also be discovered. It will be seen that the Tuscan peasant, the Flemish farmer, the Spanish servant, the Jesuit explorer, the American pioneer, the Irish labourer, the Alpine vine-dresser, — the gallant followers of Tell and the O'Neills, — THESE have been the unobtrusive and faithful worshippers of liberty ; not according to the changeable and despotic dictates of some selfish cabal or kingly whipper-in, but stead- ily, silently, and surely, with all the devotion of a conscious and hereditary principle. These statements are not so very strange as may be supposed, for we should recollect that by the perversion of liberty mankind have always retrograded instead of advtmcing, however flattering the accompanying appear- ances might have been. Liberty is too glo- rious a blessing to be abused with impunity. Let us extend our argument to ancient times, and make a comparison which ought to shame the boasting preachers of pretended liberty. It is a comparison easily mad^ by those who are willing to abide the result. Plato has said that " Man cannot do good and live happily without bringing into sub- jection that power of the soul wherein evii resides, and setting free for action that which is the abode of the promptings of virtue." The evidence is abundant that " the fear of Ate," among the Athenians, was sufficient to teach the danger of possessing a proud and unchastened disposition. We read in Thu- cydides how Nicias, during the dangers of the Sicilian campaign, tells his troops that " his hope and comfort is to reflect that he had always dealt honestly with his neighbour, and been mindful of his God." Euripides * Floreston ; or, The New Lord of the Manor : A Tale of Humanity, etc. ; p. 390, London Edit, 1839. 48 says that '* The man who has his God for his friend has the most justifiable hope of pros- perity." Pliny holds that " It is godlike in man to show charity to man, and this is the road to eternal life." Compare these senti- ments of pagan philosophy with the Crom- wellian cant and corruption, as well as the ineffable hypocrisy of those prelatical plun- derers whom even Cromwell was too honest to tolerate. Yes ; compare ! Oh, compare ! In suggesting this comparison we are only making use of our freedom from the tram- mels of the narrative. The perusal of his- tory without observation and reflection would be useless. Besides, good old Jeremy Tay- lor says — " I consider that the wisest persons, and those who know how to value and to en- tertain the more noble faculties of their soul and their precious hours, take pleasure in reading the productions of those old wise spirits who preserved natural reason and re- ligion in the midst of heathen darkness, such as Homer, Euripides, Orpheus, Pindar, and Anacreon, iEschylus, and Menander, and all the Greek poets, Plutarch and Polybius, Xenophon, and all those other excellent per- sons of both faculties, [the Ionian and the Italian,] whose choicest dictates are collected by Stobaeus ; Plato and his scholars, Aristo- tle, and after him Porphyry, and all his other disciples, Pythagoras, and especially Hiero- cles, and all the old academics and stoics within the Roman school." And we more than ever agree with our discursive favourite on finding him express a hope that such read- ers " may be invited to love and consider the rare documents of Christianity, which cer- tainly are the great treasure-house of those excellent, moral, and perfective discourses which with much pains and pleasure we find thinly scattered in all the Greek and Roman poets, historians, and philosophers." Notwithstanding the limited bounds of this work, it may be seen that we have not shrunk from the proper discussion of the principal subjects connected with the history of Ire- land. We have grappled with political and moral considerations and topics which many writers who are continually and vaguely va- pouring about •* the wrongs of Ireland," and 378 OBSERVATIONS, ETC, 80 forth, generally contrive to avoid. There yet remains one more, however, which we would approach in all Christian reverence and caution. Without being drawn into any erratic argument, we shall fearlessly con- clude what we fearlessly began, — a "rea- sonable and discriminating History of Ire- land." The subject now particularly alluded to is — religion ; and although we are not to be deterred from its legitimate discussion, we do indeed shrink from assuming the respon- sibility of interfering with particular states of beUef. A reflective historian knows that the rights of conscience are too sacred to be trifled with, and all we shall now say is merely to explain our general motives and objects when treating of ecclesiastical history throughout the narrative chapters. True re- ligion involves principles which cannot be moulded or altered by mere opinion, and should not be hastily expressed in pretty sen- tences to excite the admiration of superficial searchers after intellectual excitement. With these views, we have been guided by the writings of Thomas a Kempis for our theolo- gy, and by those of Francis Bacon for our experimental philosophy, as the following ex- tract from the preface of the " Ncmum Orga- non Scientiarum" will best explain : — " Since, therefore, these matters are be- yond our control, we in the beginning of our work pour forth most humble and ardent prayers to God the Father, ******* that, mindful of the cares of man and of his pilgrimage through this life, in which we wear out some few and evil days, they would vouchsafe through our hands to endow the family of mankind with these new gifts ; and we moreover humbly pray that human know- ledge may not prejudice divine truth, and that no incredulity and darkness in regard to the divine mysteries may arise in our minds upon the disclosing of the rays of sense, and this greater kindhng of our natural light ; but rather that from a pure understanding, cleared of all fancies and vanity, yet no less submit- ted to, nay, wholly prostrate before the divine oracles, we may render unto faith the tribute due unto faith ; and lastly, that being freed from the poison of knowledge infused into it by the serpent, and with which the human soul is swollen and puffed up, — we may nei- ther be too profoundly nor immoderately puffed up, but may worship truth in charity." With such sentiments as these our obser- vations have been made, not only here but in the casual remarks dispersed among the nar- rative ; and, if errors should occur while ad- vocating the cause of truth, it is humbly hoped that the sincerity of intention will ultimately prevail in that awful period when the historian and those whom he had occasion to judge will together be infallibly judged and distinguished, not by the boastful triumphs of temporary success, but in the subdued aspirations of honest endeavour. PRELIMIIAEY DISCOURSE TO THE THIRD DIVISION. Supposing that we have now established a mutual famiUarity with the reader, our ob- servations, preUminary discourses, and so forth, are permitted to occupy a greater proportion of these pages than when we humbly commenced to follow Sylvester O'Halloran in tracing the history of Ireland from the earliest times. The increasing im- portance of the abundant evidence condensed for our narrative is an additional excuse for this prolixity of remark. The interval, however, between the Treaty of Limerick and the arming of the Volunteers, is one which has been described as the days when " Ireland had no history." The atro- cious violation of the Treaty of Limerick stunned the Irish nation. The outrageous enactments of the penal code, framed pur- posely to destroy or embarrass all the ties of affection and society, being placed in the hands of a grovelling and invidious magistra- cy, were circumstances which combined in taking advantage of the temporary torpor of their noble victim, and little more than moans and groans could be heard from Ireland until the grand contest of the American colonies against the political and ecclesiastical ohgar- chy, then ruling in England, taught the ne- cessity and the propriety of resuming ener- getic endeavours to repel that insolence which is composed of "hatred of 'popery,' igno- rance of Christianity, and total absence of moral principle." In England, the circumstances of the time were as different as possible from those in Ireland. The church " by law established" had established a suitable and splendid king " by law established," and these two influ- ences combined in deluding the people to suppose that political liberty was "by law established." The delusion was increased by the intoxicating but fictitious wealth fol- lowing the general adoption of paper securi- ties. Dr. Burnet, the king-maker, now became an imitation-money manufacturer. Money being cheap, every thing rose in price and fell in value ; yea, every thing, virtue inclusive. Children learned to ap- praise their parents in pounds, shillings, and pence. Painters, poets, musicians, vnriters and historians, were called in, not only from Grub street, but from all Eiirope. The con- descension of the upper classes was excru- ciating to behold, and the elevation of the lower would have astonished Jack Ketch — the only vicarial " immortal" now acknowl- edged by the " oldest inhabitant" in England, or deified and comprehended in the entire range of the modern British classics. This disgusting state of affairs has been slavishly styled " the Augustan age" of England. An impartial inquirer may now easily per- ceive that the apparent patronage of intel- lectual and mechanical excellence which dis" tinguished England in the eighteenth century was not merely for the indulgence of gener- ous sentiments and liberal feelings. The court gave the cue to the stage of pubhc Ufe in this matter, and the individual whose real independence prompted him to speak and act for himself was speedily hissed off by the " gods" and the " groundhngs," who could 380 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE not see that they thus did the dirty work of their real enemies, while ignorantly injuring their real friends. In the matter of history, which is more particularly connected with our present in- quiry, great attention was paid to keep pace with the " improvements" of the day. The most talented and plausible of the historians thus corrupted was David Hume. He was influenced to appear as if in opposition to the new dynasty of Bible-and-crown religion, but to please the extremes of parties with pre- tending kindness for the Stuart sovereigns ; taking good care, however, to accompany the kindness with an assertion that they were no worse than their predecessors, and that the English people had no true liberty until the revolution of 1688. The fact is, that the English court considered any amount of falsehood or infidelity preferable to the pos- sibility of the new-fashioned liberty experi- encing a relapse towards catholicity. When such monstrous popular delusions were invented in relation to the people of England, we need not wonder at the wilful misrepresentations of the affairs of the Irish people, and particularly of the '* rebellion" of 1641, persisted in by Hume, although Dr. Curry sent to him, at Paris, in 1764, a complete refutation of the whole scheme, showing its ecclesiastical and pohtical bear- ings. Dr. Curry's accompanying letter was expressed in the kindest and most respectful manner, but the answer of David Hume was shuffling and evasive. Hume knew very well that the admission of the truth would have a direct tendency to slop that bloodshed and rapacity which men like him are gener- ally so forward to identify with what they call " Christianity." These perversions of names and things cannot exist longer than other bubbles of error. Christianity is precisely what it al- ways was, and always will be. The false- hoods of Hume, and of the solemn humbugs who were glad to make a cat's-paw of him, must take their chance in the conflicts of opinion. In England, everybody reads Hume, but nobody can be found ignorant enough to depend upon him historically. Nearly twenty years ago the highest literary authority in the United States thus quietly and completely extinguished Hume as an historian : — " The English nation has been in nothing more unfortunate than in her historians. While she was advancing step by step in the attainment of freedom, it was hardly possible that history should keep pace with her. In times of excitement, we do not look for phi- losophical history from contemporary authors. The actors in those great events which for half a century agitated the nation could not be expected to be impartial narrators of them. That Clarendon should have leaned to one side, and Whitelock and Burnet to the other, is saying no more than that they were subject to the infirmities of humanity. Un- happily, however, passion and prejudice long survived the contest which produced them. The moment which seemed most favourable for the appearance of a British historian, after the house of Brunswick had become quietly established on the throne, was seized upon by Mr. Hume, who possessed almost every requisite for the undertaking but that without which all the rest are worthless — a fair and candid mind. At this time of day it is un- necessary to enlarge on the faults of Mr. Hume's History of England. Like all great evils, this one has at length wrought its own cure. His misrepresentations are now so glaring, that the very party he intended to aid has been obliged to turn against him in self-defence. In nothing is the progress of liberal opinions more clearly shown than in the fate of this historian. Notwithstanding the charms of his style, no Englishman of sense pretends now-a-days to justify or de- fend him."* This general condemnation of Hume has our cordial approbation, and previous inves- tigation of Irish history and of the Reforma- tion compel us to agree with the following cutting but good-humoured casligation of Hume's perversions in a particular instance. A charge against an historian's accuracy should always be accompanied with a speci- fication. Comparing Hume's account of the • N. Am. Review ; No. 64, July, 1829. See also No. 61, for October, 1828. TO THE THIRD DIVISION 381 reigns of Mary and of Elizabeth, the same high authority judiciously remarks : — " The first inquisition established in Eng- land was the Court of High Commission, which took its rise in an act of the first year of the reign of Elizabeth. A more odious and oppressive tribunal never existed in any country. The fury of Mary's resentment fell upon those who had distinguished them- selves in favour of the new religion. Her sister persecuted both Catholics and Prot- estants. She was a Catholic in ail points except the acknowledgment of the pope's su- premacy. She had mass in her private chapel, and ordered her bishops to expel all ministers who differed ever so little from the discipline of ' the church by law established.' The treatment of the Catholics was still more iniquitous than that of the Puritans. Cam- den and Hume, with other writers of the i same stamp, would have it believed that no one suflfered death for his religious sentiments under Elizabeth. What will be the indig- nation of the student when he learns that this is a miserable prevarication ! No one was put to death expressly for professing the Catholic religion ; but, by an act of parlia- ment, the professing of that religion under certain circumstances was declared to be * treason,' and for this species of treason many suffered ; some writers make them amount to two hundred. Now, that the good Prot- estants of those days should have thought it treason to be a Jesuit, as honest Dogberry in his zeal ruled it to be ' flat perjury' to call Prince John a villain, is one of those ex- travagances which party spirit is constantly committing. As to the man, who, two hun- dred years afterwards, under pretence of wri- ting an impartial history, leaves such a fact unexplained, it may certainly be said that his statements should be received with the utmost caution." We sincerely thank our venerable " North American" adviser for teaching us calmness on this occasion, for we are of opinion that Hume's writings deserve the severest con- demnation of historical detection and expo- sure. But, with all Hume's faults, it is no more than strict justice to observe that the really vindictive and systematic falsifiers of history are the " respectable," Bible-and- crown worshipping fraternity of solemnity- mongers ; the selfish, grovelling, and unscru- pulous upstarts, who drink port and write " history" with equal facility ; deluging the fair fields of literature with the stale and second-hand scandal which owes its origin to the base purposes of party and the prayerful piracy of ecclesiastical robbery. It is these worthies, generally possessing talents of a high order, and surrounded wilii all the appliances of learning and greatness, originally founded by those whom they have robbed ; — it is these men (having every op- portunity for knowing and acting better) who are the real persecutors of truth, because they are really interested in the success and duration of falsehood. These are the " re- spectable" wretches who are always willing to prostitute their talents for any thing over " three hundred pounds a-year," so that they may ride rough-shod over the more learned and more faithful of the humble curates ; always ready to write " history" which is as much like the truth as the royal arms are like the all-conquering symbol of universal redemption ; to send " spirited" articles to the reviews, and " rich" ones to the maga- zines ; to prate in the pulpit about " eccle- siastical tyranny" while taking (by laws of their own making and enforcing) the last shilling from the poor cottager or his still poorer widow ; to follow the expatriated la- bouring emigrant with incessant ridicule and prejudice wherever he may travel in search of true Uberty ; to crack worn-out college jokes on the honest labours of every sincere advocate for the cause of universal benevo- lence ; to encourage disparaging writers on the " domestic manners" of every nation which Bible-and-crown selfishness may not choose to understand ; to gull the Avorld with the idea that no revolution was ever justifia- ble except that of 1688; and to pretend "virtuous indignation" at the fictitious use of a national flag under any circumstances,-^ while all the world knows that the Prince of Orange's fleet arrived in England having the English national colours hoisted, without the 383 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE least warrant or authority from either the actual government or the real people. Nev- ertheless, the writers we speak of can come down from their pulpits, after preaching peace, and just as appropriately play the patriot with the pen obtained by plunder and piratical pretence, deliberately dealing out death and destruction (as much as English church-and-state power can) to those who dare to defy them at sea, and slandering with literary spleen all the faithful writers who calmly expose them on shore. The tyrannical trash that is forced upon the world as English literature has done much to spread prejudice and create divisions among the friends of freedom. But, happily, in the United States, the argumentative Smd practical spirit of the people cannot long be misled or deceived by merely literary talent : their accurate sense of justice soon recovers its correct balance. Peter Parley (S. G. Goodrich) gave the following Yankee " cau- tion" about six years since, being one among the many American writers who have boldly volunteered to stem the torrent of universal misrepresentation issued from the "univer- sity" presses and their assistants in England. Hear the voice of Peter, from the Athens of the west : — ** Let us by no means join in the popular outcry against foreigners coming to our coun- try and partaking of its privileges. They will come, whether we will or no ; and is it wise to meet them with inhospitality, and thus turn their hearts against us ? Let us rather receive them as friends, and give them welcome to our country. Let us, at least, extend the hand of encouragement and sym- pathy to the Irish. Their history, for cen- turies, is but a record of sorrow and oppres- sions. They have been made to feel, not only iiow cruel, but how universal are the miseries which follow a bad government; and, even when leaving their native soil, they are obliged to carry with them the bitter memory of their country's wrongs. A peo- ple of quick and ardent sympathies, of a poet- ical and romantic love of country, they are, in exile, ever looking back to the Emerald Isle with mingled sorrow and sickness of heart. How heavy is the burden which such bosoms must bear, as they wander over dis- tant lands in the bitter consciousness that their country is the desponding victim of oppression ! Shall not those who come to our shores afflicted with such sorrows, find in the friends and sharers of freedom both welcome and release ? Let us beware of adding to their wrongs. Let us remember that there is other tyranny than that of chains and fetters, — the invisible but cruel tyranny of oppression and prejudice. Let us beware how we exercise this towards the Irish ; for it is wicked in itself, and doubly mischievous in its tendency. It injures both its subject and its object, and brings no counterbalancing good. " Let us especially be guarded against two sources of prejudice, to which we are par- ticularly liable. In the fvLA place, in our personal experience, we are famihar with the most ignorant and unfortunate of the Irish nation. We see, in servile employments, those who have been exposed to all the de- basing influences that degrade mankind. Is it fair to draw from these a standard by which to judge of the whole people ? Let us rather ask ourselves, where is there another nation who have been so long trampled down by oppression ; who have been bom in poverty and nursed in adversity ; who have inherited little from the past but sorrow, and can be- queath nothing to the future but hope ; — where is there a people so wronged, that have yet preserved so many virtues ? How gallantly, indeed, do Irish wit, and cheerful- ness, and hospitality, and patriotism, ride on the wreck of individual hopes, and sparkle through the waves of adversity ! " Let us beware of prejudice from another source. We read English books, papers AND PAMPHLETS, PORTRAYING THE IrISH AS AN UNTAMEABLE RACE, ONLY TO BE RULED BY THE HARSH INFLICTIONS OF POWER. Let US, Americans, see that our minds are not driven from the moorings of justice by this sinister current in which they are placed. Influenced by such considerations as these, let us, by all fair means, bring about a good understanding between the Irish emigrants TO THE THIRD DIVISION. 383 and society. Let us deal gently with them, even with their errors. Thus we shall win their confidence. Thus they may be per- suaded to take counsel of the good and the wise, and not throw themselves into the arms of those who flatter their vices, and minister to their passions, only to use and abuse them. " Let this reasonable and just policy mark our conduct towards the grown-up Irish among us ; and, in regard to their children, let us, individually and collectively, use our best endeavours to bestow upon them the benefits of education. But let us remember, that even an attempt to educate the Irish will fail if it be not founded in a recognition of the elements of their national character — quick perception, a keen sense of justice, and ready resentment of wrong. If over these, preju- dice, suspicion and pride, have thrown their shadows, let us adapt the instruction we would offer to the light they can bear. In this way, a numerous people may be re- deemed from misery to happiness, and ren- dered a blessing to our country. Let us thus deal with those Irish who have left their na- tive home to find a dwelhng among us ; and, in regard to the millions that remain in * the green and weeping island,' let us hope for the speedy dawn of a brighter and better day. A youthful queen now sways the sceptre of Britain ; and what may not humanity hope from the generosity of youth and the heavenly charity of woman ?" This advice, given in the most persuasive modification of the imperative mood, and breathing the real sentiments of American patriotism, deserves especial attention, for the friends of liberty should always sympa- thize, whatever may be their country or creed : the abusers of power are intuitively united by the magic force of their peculiar interests. With sincere respect, however, for Mr. Good- rich's kind intentions, we beg leave to differ in the benevolent allusion to Queen Victoria with which he refers to the future. It is not possible for any individual to exceed our faith in the " heavenly charity of woman." His- tory tells us that the purest and most invinci- ble patriots were those whom Heaven had blessed with the companionship and cheering voice of noble-minded women. But as re- gards the pubhc conduct of the present Queen of England, we have no faith at all in any ** heavenly charity" from that quarter. In- deed, the expectation would be unreasonable and somewhat unfair in a personal sense, al- though complimentary as a general supposi- tion ; for her majesty, on taking the throne, has her social position defined with more strictness than that of any of her subjects ; with this additional difference, that they may ascend, while the sovereign can only descend, in case of social change. The horrible in- cubus of tyranny which domineers over the sovereign as well as the people of glorious Old England is equally terrifying and inju- rious to both. Historians, like poets, are privileged occu- piers and possessors of the bosom of beauty, while the chit-chat and nonsense of the day may be considered good enough for the com- ers and goers of the boudoir. But the les- sons of history, (English, for instance,) which generally contain something interesting to all hearts, convey a terrible and a dreadful im- portance of meaning to the amiable and ex- cellent creature of God now ruling on the throne of England. Such is the paradoxical nature of the tyranny we have endeavoured to explain in these pages, that no individual in the whole British dominions is better quali- fied to plead " Impotentia excusat legem" than the present highly gifted and accom- plished possessor of the title of " queen." This tyranny cannot be traced to any one person, or family, or class. It is a system founded upon the delusion and partial ex- tinction of conscience, effected originally by wholesale plunder and now perpetuated by wholesale slander. Those who are tempo- rarily benefited have reason to be anxious for putting forward royalty as the object of ven- geance in case of popular discontent. It need not be considered at all surprising, then, if the intense feelings of family preservation (which form the most admirable portion of the female character) should influence Queen Victoria to observe that of all the false social positions in Great Britain her own is the most dangerous. The study of history is some- 384 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE thing more weighty than intellectual diversion to a royal reader. If the Georges, — when popular and powerful, when the chancellor of the exchequer was not " cornered" by the year at a time, when the cabinet were not harassed by the daily and continual clamour of party presses, — if these world-knowing sovereigns did not dare to expose the mitred ruffians and brutal blockheads who really rule with safety and profit, — how can we expect a confiding and domesticated woman to voluntarily immolate life and love and loyalty on the altar of patriotism, especially while uncertain of success in the object ? We say " uncertain of success" because the English people are in a similarly equivo- cal position before the world. They are not only misplaced and misrepresented in their government, but they have to endure all the odium of that very evil. The robbers of the nation are aware that the time is coming when escape is impossible ; they are there- fore extremely anxious to prolong their own safety by instilling hatred and dislike among those whom they rob and deceive. Hence the national prejudices which " respectable" literature has devoted its talents to encourage. The actual truth is, all the time, that the same unseen power which steals an Irish- man's land according to legal form, also sends an Englishman's children supperless to bed according to the latest social improvements. In addition to this, the Englishman is un- consciously hated because his government is secretly feared for its ferocious rapacity. Surely the historian, endeavouring to un- ravel such complicated affairs and absorbing tyranny, may be allowed some indulgence of attention. It is not to be supposed that these discove- ries are original ; but they must be reiterated, because " vigilance is the price of liberty." Daniel O'Connell, the elected champion of his country, the great representative of mil- lions, the possessor of one of the most mighty intellects and most devotional hearts in Eu- rope, has, in an extremely loyal and respect- ful manner, explained them in a " Memoir" inscribed to the Queen of England. The fact that her majesty has made no public answer is a conclusive proof that Queen Vic- toria deserves sympathy rather than blame. " The O'Connell" is not a man to be treated with contempt, courteous or uncourteous ; and the proper answer to his " Memoir" will arrive in due course of events. At least the equal of her majesty in princely lineage, a member of the imperial parliament, the tacit sovereign of a gallant and loyally devoted nation, the acknowledged chief of one of the noblest professions which protect the rights of man, and speaking, not merely super sub- jectam materiam, but for himself as a gen- tleman and a patriot, — it is clear that silence towards such a champion cannot be construed into contempt. In the preface to his " Me- moir," dated at Dublin, he says — " What the sovereign and statesmen of England should understand is, that the Irish people feel and know, that there cannot hap- pen a more heavy misfortune to Ireland than the prosperity and power of Great Britain. When Britain is powerful, the anti-Irish fac- tion in this country are encouraged, fostered, promoted ; Irish rights are derided ; the grievances of Ireland are scoffed at ; we are compelled to receive stinted franchises or none ; limited privileges, or none ! — to sub- mit to a political inferiority, rendered doubly afflictive by the contrast with the advantages enjoyed by the people of England and the people of Scotland. The tory landlord class, exterminators and all, are prime favourites at the Castle, countenanced and sustained as the nucleus of that anti-Irish faction which would once again transplant the Catholics of Ireland to the remotest regions, if that faction had the power to do so ; and which actually drives those Cathohcs to transport themselves in multitudes to every country out of Ireland. " The worst result of British prosperity is, the protection it gives to the hard-hearted and bigoted class among the Irish landlords. " It is also of the utmost importance that the sovereign and statesmen of England should be apprized that the people of Ire- land know and feel that they have a deep and vital interest in the weakness and ad- versity of England. It was not for them- selves alone that the Americans gained the TO THE THIRD DIVISION 385 victory over Burgoyne at Saratoga. They conquered for Irish as well as for American freedom. Nor was it for France alone that Dumourier defeated the Austrian army at Gemappe, The Catholics of Ireland par-" licipated in the fruits of that victory. " At the present day it would be vain to attempt to conceal the satisfaction the people of Ireland feel at the fiscal embarrassments of England. They bitterly and cordially regret the sufferings and privations of the English and Scottish artisans and operatives. But they do not regret the weakness of the Eng- lish government, which results from fading commerce and failing manufacture. For the woes of each suffering individual they have warm compassion and lively sympathy. From the consequent weakness of the government party, they derive no other feelings than those of SATISFACTION and of HOPE," This singular state of affairs is evidently well understood by the writer of the preceding language. It is from a man who has devoted his life to the attainment of a national object, but who invariably regards the rights of all men with the magnanimous solicitude of a Washington. For this very reason, the " re- spectable" literature of his time is employed to forestall his influence by misrepresentation and abuse, circulated with all the foolish facility of national and social prejudices. As for the English people, it is time that they should declare their knowledge of the true interests of their country, and overhaul (" overhaul" is a very good word. Master Parson) the titled traitors who have made England's ruin desirable to both friends and enemies. At present, the power and preju- dice wielded by the Bible-burglars of the British government "follow the sun" with such romantic veracity that we suppose it will be necessary to support O'Connell's statements with an endorsement by an Ameri^ can citizen of undoubted patriotism. The rampant robbers of the rights of England, and of the provincial charters of her sister-king- doms and colonies, have represented O'Con- nell as an enemy of American institutions ; not, mind, from any regard towards the American people, (for history shows that the 49 church-and- state party in England form the only portion of that once free nation which can possibly have any objection to the glorious influence of American example,) but, because it is important for the safely of that party that they should prevent a good understand- ing between all those whom they have robbed, deceived or enslaved, politically or socially, at home or abroad. Experience shows that their harvest is made and secured during misdirected political revolutions and unavailing servile insurrections. The grand secret of American national superiority is, that the people are not merely free by political toleration, but slowly and surely and safely attaining freedom as an individually universal principle. During the performance of this sublime attempt to restore and confirm the rights of man, we need no dictation from any foreign government. The exuberant eloquence of our orators, and the agitations of our organized societies are tacitly and merrily excused, because the main ob- jects of patriotism and truth are always safe with the freedom of the press and liberty of discussion. So also we can excuse the "strong expressions" which an orator, en deavouring to protect Ireland from her bitter persecutors, might have occasion to use while contending against the bloated and unrelent- ing enemies of liberty. It is a sad mistake to assist in stabbing with slander the back of a patriot who is so engaged. The persons who misrepresent this won- derful country after a residence in it are those who should be blamed. The United States of America, composed of several independ- ently governed and legislated communities, extending over a vast surface of territorial possession, comprising several parallels of • latitude, with as much variety of production as the whole of Europe, and containing a population which geographical and commer- cial accidents have contributed to render an epitome of the natural history of man, — the enfranchised citizens of such a conglomerated repubUc can well afford to permit sectional discussion while they know that they are actually possessing the priceless jewel of constitutional liberty. It may suit the jealous 3S6 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE and disappointed imperiwn in imperio of England, whose last and only hope is in the continued prostitution of the English name, to urge the introduction and agitation of sub- jects creating discord ; but all such attempts must fail while the American people remain true to themselves and to the catholic spirit of their excellent constitution. Hence the " respectable" anxiety in England to magnify every presidential election into a revolution ; the solemn and senseless blockheads of the oligarchy being unwilling to believe that amid all the violence of political opposition, or sectional interests, the contending parties in America are always equally and unchangeably unanimous in patriotism. We wish we could make the same consoling observation upon Great Britain or Ireland. What nation in Europe, Asia or Africa, has ever successfully presumed to legislate between the universal principle of necessity and tiie particular evils of accidental degradation ? What commercial or manufacturing nation of Europe dares even to mention the subject of social servitude in its hojfie legislation ? Happy in truth and in fact is that glorious and truly civilized nation which strives to attain all that is good of ancient institutions and gradually to conquer the inoculated re- mains of whatever is bad ! With political freedom and religious liberty, social servitude and social elegance are subjects which local opinions will regulate while progressing to- wards correct principles. Where argumen- tative antagonism has full liberty, political and social truth must advance. Notwith- standing all the slander of Oxford and Cam- bridge, the fact cannot be denied that Amer- ica is — in the words of a British writer whose name is familiar in England — " America is the paradise of poor men." A more sub- lime or more justifiable compliment was never paid to any nation since the beginning of the world. Of course the legislative metropolis of the United States exhibits the sturdy technicality of the northern influence, and the patriarchal generosity of the southern ; the commercial and showy spirit of the eastern shores, and the consolidated stability of the agricultural resources of the great and mighty west. Some of our most amiable and sincere citi- zens may honestly and warmly differ in their views of future action ; but the day has never yet been seen when any portion of this hap- pily governed nation became so oppressed with cruel and intolerable evils as to derive " satisfaction" and " hope" from the " weak- ness" or " adversity" of any other portion. Such a day never can occur to a country in which the people govern. O'Connell's statement was to have an American endorser, but it is unfortunately so little required that we nearly forgot our promise. For the satisfaction of the incred- ulous, however, we beg leave to enhst the testimony of a tried and unflinching Ameri- can patriot — W. H. Seward. He says — " The Irish people allege that the sway of Elizabeth, recalled by Englishmen as one of triumph, repose and general happiness — of James — of Charles, whom loyal subjects call the Martyr — of Cromwell, variously re- garded as a deliverer and a regicide — of the Second James — of W^illiam and Mary, dis- tinguished as of * blessed and immortal mem- ory' — of Anne — of all the Georges — and even of the present youthful and virtuous queen, however benign towards other portions of the empire — has, in regard to Ireland, been marked with all the acts that define relentless tyranny. The people of that unhappy coun- try submit facts to justify these high accusa- tions before the * candid world.' " I dwell not now on the rapine of the ar- mies of Ehzabcth, distinguished by the re- fined inhumanity of destroying, year after year, the growing corn in the fields, so as to depopulate the country by starvation — nor of the outlawry of the whole people, so that Irish men and Irish women, described in the royal proclamations as ' Irish enemies,' might lawfully be murdered by whomsoever the unhappy fugitives might chance to meet by the wayside ; nor of the confiscation of a fourth of the island, and the expulsion of the inhabitants by the sword aud the terrors of the scaffold, under the First James ; nor of the perjured verdicts and bribery-procured judgments under Charles the First ; nor of TO THE THIRD DIVISION. 387 the fierce and barbarous civil war in which Ireland was punished by Cromwell with the i fundannentally the powers of their provincial j governments. The act of Union, abolishing deportation of eighty thousand persons for || the Irish parliament and conferring on the loyalty to the throne that England herself re- ;j legislature of the United Kingdom exclusive stored after a brief interregnum ; nor of the ! power to legislate for Ireland — what was this spoliations committed by the Second James j but taking away the charier of Ireland, alter- upon the faithful defenders of his imbecile it ing fundamentally its form of government, and dynasty in Ireland ; nor of the Treaty of |l abrogating the British constitution as to that Limerick, that guarantied to the Irish people j| part of the empire ? And what was granted the free and unfettered exercise of their reli- I to Ireland in lieu of the power of self-legis- gion, perfidiously violated by enactments i lation ? Representation in a legislature whose which forbade the Catholic to charge his land ;i sessions are confined to the metropolis of the with provisions for the support of his wife or :j conquering stale. And what representation ? of his daughters, or even to dispose of his 'I Eight millions of people represented in both land by last will and testament — which de- i| houses of parliament by one hundred and nied hini the guardianship and education of i thirty-seven members, while the remaining his children — which solicited the son to mer- ■; sixteen millions within the United Kingdom cenary and corrupt confession of the Prot- !| have one thousand and sixty-one representa- estant faith, by offering him the estate of his jj lives. The church of England, supported by living father ; which transferred to the first i the public treasury and by compulsory tithes, Protestant who might meet the retiring pur- ij and its hierarchy installed as an estate spirit- chaser, chattels, and even lands bought by a ual in the senate ; while the church of Ire- Catholic with his own treasure — which, for I land, (that is to say, the church of three- ihe consideration of one shilling, authorized j fourths of its inhabitants, coeval with the in- any Protestant to deprive a Catholic of any troduclion of Christianity,) is proscribed, op- estate acquired by devise or gift — which sup- pressed and despoiled. The aristocracy, or pressed schools by confiscating the estate of j landed interest of England, being represented the pupil, and banished the schoolmaster on pain of death ; which disabled the Catholic for all trusts, civil, military and ecclesiastic, even for voting for his own representatives ; in the house of lords by three hundred and eighty-eight peers, while the nobility of Ire- land, having equal claim to veneration, (if veneration be at all due to any aristocracy,) for bearing arms as a citizen soldier in de- < are represenl<^ by twenty-eight barons. The fence of his country, and for offering public : commoners, the merchants, farmers and arti- prayers and sacrifices. I speak not of these sans of England, Scotland and Wales, hav- enormous and atrocious wrongs, the incidents ing five hundred and fifty-three representa- and consequences of sectarian wars in an age tives, with the right of suffrage vested in one when ' Christianity' so far forgot the precepts j of every twenty-five persons, while the same of her divine Author, as to drive charity from I classes in Ireland are limited to representa- her side and surround herself with ministers ! tion by one hundred and five delegates, and suffrage is exercised by only one of four hun- dred of the people, " Where fundamental laws are so radically unequal and unjust, we Americans have no need to inquire after their operation. We at least know that there must be misrule, op- pression and suffering, where there are ine- quality and unrestrained power. And so it has happened in Ireland." This lucid statement was made at Albany in January, 1844, being within one year from OF DESOLATION. Tlicsc wrongs have lately ceased, though their impress is still left on the social condition of Ireland, and their memory is still written in the mutual preju- dices of the Celtic and Saxon races. I speak of Ireland as she is, and of her existing wrongs. " It is record(iifl among the grievances suf- fered by our forefathers, that the King of England had taken away their charters, abol- ished their most valuable lav^s, and altered 388 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE the publication of O'Connell's " Memoir." The " foul fiend" of party may, perhaps, as- cribe political motive to W. H. Seward. This insinuation shall be refuted on its own terms, as the following confirmation by an- other of America's noblest sons will prove. It is one of many voluntary offerings to the cause of freedom by Martin Van Bu- ren : — " Respect for the Irish character ; sympa- thy for the oppressions they have endured ; and admiration of the heroic, uncalculating and uncompromising devotion to popular rights which they have displayed, both at home and in every country that has adopted them, at all times and under all circumstan- ces — are feelings which I have cherished without interruption, through a public life already greatly protracted — which I have through a series of years embraced all proper occasions to express ; and which, as they have grown with my growth and strength- ened with my strength, will, I feel very con- fident, continue to my last day. * * • * " Nine millions of human beings, oppressed for centuries, and with every incentive to vio- lence that can influence the breast of man, ' conquering their own appetites and passions, practising temperance in their social habits, and preserving peace towards their rulers and among themselves,' in the midst of a mighty effort to redress their wrongs, pre- sents a moral spectacle of unsurpassed sub- limity. Instances of virtuous patriotism thus far so nobly sustained, are but seldom to be found in the history of -mankind, and cannot, in the nature of things, fail to command the respect, the sympathies, and the best wishes of all generous minds." It may be urged that these are only partial expressions, written by one " agitator" in fa- vour of another. What a convenient world this would be if the agitators would only be quiet ! But, here follows the testimony of a lord, a " real lord," enclosing a subscription of fifty pounds, to assist O'Connell in the agi- tation of Ireland and the world. Joseph Hume was temporarily the secretary of the association for which the money was intend- ed : — "June 26, 1836. " Sir, — It is with much pleasure that I re- ply to your circular of the 22d inst. by for- warding a subscription, very inadequate to my wishes, but which I trust will be consid- ered as a mark of respect and gratitude for the man from whose extraordinary talents, energies, and perseverance, we have received such signal advantages, having been, without any doubt, the principal means in the hands of Providence for rescuing us from the state of social and political degradation to which we have so long been reduced. I have the honour to be. Sir, Your most obedient ser- vant, Shrewsbury, " Waterford and Wexford. " To Joseph Hume, Esq., M. P." This may possibly be objected to on the ground of the religious belief of the Earl of Shrewsbury. The Talbots have heard such objections in their ancient reckoning, and can charitably excuse such mistaken cavils from the pretended professors of religious liberty. Here, however, is the evidence of a noble- man who is acknowledged as " a man of the people," writing to O'Connell himself: — " Association Corn Exchange, Dublin. " Sir, — I have just read in the Morning Chronicle your address to the people of Ire- land. It was what I fully expected, and I rejoice that I have not been disappointed. Believing that some such measure as that which you propose, can alone save Ireland from confusion, and possibly civil war, I en- close you a small contribution to the * rent of Ireland,' in aid of your proposed * General Association.' Permit me to add, that if you accomplish your object, as I hope and believe you will, you will, in my opinion, add to your claims to the admiration of your countrymen, and of the lovers of freedom, a claim to the eternal gratitude of all who love peace, and dread above all things, a civil and religious War. You are, of course, welcome to make what use you please of this letter ; but I con- fess I am anxious that, in Ireland, at least, it should be publicly known, that Englishmen (I believe I may safely say the great majority of the PEOPLE of England) sympathize with the Irish in their wrongs and sufferings, and TO THE THIRD DIVISION. 389 are desirous to assist them in every legal and peaceable mode of obtaining redress. I am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant, " Radnor. " Daniel O'Connell, Esq., M. P." As a last resort, perhaps some profound toad-eater may suggest that Queen Victoria has never seen the " Memoir" which O'Con- nell issued in 1843. We can assure the sagacious possessor of court secrets that much as he may think he knows, he cannot imagine the books which the royal family will read during a residence in London, not- withstanding bolts, bars, and etiquette. Be- sides, Mr. O'Connell became an historian, and historians have privileges which the lord- chamberlain may not hope for or expect. But we cannot here waste time with para- sites or objectors. Ireland is our subject; and governments, nations and principles, form the illustrations. Observing her history from Henry the Second to the present time, the questions arise, — What moral or political les- sons do we learn by it ? and. What political or moral agency does history authorize to be employed for the future ? Daniel O'Connell has incontrovertibly shown the anomalous position of Great Britain and Ireland under a government which is useless for all purposes but one. This being the case, if the prey were released from the wolf- ish plunderers, they would soon find their proper place in society. The English peo* pie will doubtless take care of themselves when they fully understand the subject ; the Irish have had plenty of schooling, and are noble scholars : we therefore feel assured that the men will arise who are fully equal to the emergency. Considering that the genius of Liberty now has a home and a flag, it is time for freemen to discontinue the fashion of com- plaining and petitioning to a government which is based upon robbery and perpetuated by the stiflings of conscience ; and we do solemnly believe that the lady-writers men- tioned in pages 5 and 6 of this work were correct, after all, in their estimation of pa- triotic services. O'Connell says — " Agitate — agitate — agitate !" not because he dishkes quiet, but because he must have observed that in all political and patriotic movements the three main principles may be described as action — action — action. Meetings have been held, patriotic senti- ments have been expressed, and magnani- mous resolves have been registered, in pro- vincial and national assemblages, on occasions when eyes of light and forms of beauty came to grace the scene. The hearts of all ordi- nary men will unconsciously own the enno- bling and charitable influence of woman's presence ; but the enemies of Ireland are those whose selfish and irreclaimable gross- ness is habitual, whose sole study is national plunder, and whom — in the words of a well- qualified judge — " no experience can teach and no instruction enlighten." Patience and patriotism must no longer evaporate in the ordinary methods of com- plaint. According to the mournful compre- hensiveness of William Sampson's lan- guage— " Enough of eloquence and passion has been bestowed upon the wrongs of Ire- land. Every string has been touched ; every strain has been sounded. The loftiest efforts of man's highest powers, and the prevailing strains of woman's eloquence — all has been exhausted, from the whispers and murmurs of subdued misery, to the loud-toned denun- ciations of honest and fearless indignation. Of these the world is full, and they may be repeated even to satiety, but cannot be en- hanced." Who can tell the pangs of patriotic anguish which thrilled the frame and throbbed the heart of the noble exile when writing the preceding lines, in the city of New York, ten or twelve years since ! Their substance was true then ; and now — what can we presume to add ? As human beings, we may mourn the mentally mangled misery of those who fall around us during the opposing conflicts with tyranny ; but, as civilized men, knowing our rights and daring to maintain them, we must act. There is therefore no impropriety at all in stating that the ladies (Queen Victoria included) look to us for action. .%0 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE The lime has now arrived for the people of Ireland to act with that independence which nationally and consciously belongs to them, [n advocating this opinion, as there is a possibilifij of otir feelings out-running our judgment, let us take the advice of a sober and well-tried champion of liberty and pro- priety — the " North American Review :" — " The wisest statesmen of the old world confess themselves at fault on this moment- ous subject. That ' something must be done with Ireland, or far Ireland' is now more than the common-place cant of a dominant party in the state, ready to heap some new infliction on the country, or of a hungry op- position, willing to turn her bitter sufferings to political account. To solve the perilous problem, and say what that ' something' is, we shall not, as we have already intimated, attempt. Neither can any English faction, tory, whig, or radical, now dare to do it. The great question has become a grand ex- periment, and it has fallen into proper hands at last. Ireland herself must work it out. Her yet unfulfilled destiny, as a portion of European civilization, is to be completed only on her own soil, by her own sons. England has never had the virtue, and never probably could have the wisdom, to accom- plish it. This incapacity is not, however, a lot pecuhar to England. No nation has ever yet done perfect justice to another. No spontaneous spring of magnanimity has ever thrown wide the portals to a conquered or imprisoned people. A section of a population may be joined with its victors, under a prom- ise of equal rights and a semblance of amal- gamation, as was often effected by ancient Rome. A class may be emancipated ; a part may be freed from local restraints : modern England furnishes examples. But no whole- sale manumission has ever taken place from nation to nation ; and England is probably the last of all to make such an original and glori- ous bound on the career of greatness. " In saying this, we do not mean to put a brand on the brow of a great people, or fix a stigma of tyranny on their character. We only specify, after all, a peculiarity of race, when we say that England has, as yet, most broadly developed the instinct of territorial ambition. It is no new position of ours ; and the Anglo-Saxon blood will everywhere rise up to admit it, with a glow of pride rather than a blush of shame. From the earliest of her wars with France down to the present time, England has been too narrow for the English. The possession of Gascony, wrenched from her after a fearful struggle ; the invasion of Ireland, where she has from the first kept firm hold ; the seizure of the American continent and islands, where she still has a footing, slippery it is true, but un- disputed ; the overrunning of India ; the ac- quisition of Gibraltar, of the Cape of (jrood Hope, Malta, the Ionian isles, and the colo- nization of Australia, are points enough on which to rest. We say notliing of expedi- tions now [1840] on foot for China, with views still in embryo, nor of imputed designs on California. The brief enumeration al- ready made sufficiently establishes, that the pride of colonial conquest is the absorbing ' appetite, which grows by what it feeds on,' in the English mind ; a passion without bounds ; the sustaining excitement of the most won- derful nation the world has ever seen. * * * " When did England ever concede any great boon, of herself, and in good time J Let her domestic history answer the question. Let American independence and Catholic emancipation stand forth in relief, as evidence all-sufficient. When necessity /orces a great measure from British power, it is always yielded greatly. There is no half-opening of the hitherto closed hand, no faltering, no fear of misrepresentation, no care for the opinion of others, no doubt of her own judg- ment. The peace of 1783, with the United States, the pacification of Europe, in 1814, the Catholic Relief Bill, in 1829, the Reform Bill, in 1830, are a few out of many splendid monuments of national power and of the largest political sagacity. Whenever other nations or her own subjects act, for their own interest, with courage and industry, England has always shown, in the long run, her appreciation of those two main qualities in her own character. Sympathy with them will obtain fully what justice or policy may TO THE THIRD DIVISION 391 fail to obtain at all. England, above all na- tions, knows how to yield with dignity and to give with grandeur. We are not blind to her faults ; but we glory in her virtues. And we are sure, that, if Ireland can put forward and sustain her just and rational claims, in a spirit worthy of British admiration and esteem, those claims will, sooner or later, force their concession from the magnanimous spirit which is enshrined in a tabernacle of pride and ambition. But, to expect that Great Britain will lop oif the right arm of her power, fling away the best weapon of her armoury, and lay herself open to the assaults of an envious world, is to expect a suicidal infatua- tion of which she has as yet shown no symp- toms. Ireland must, we think, soon open her eyes to this." Ireland Its opened her eyes, and with considerable effect, as our narrative shows, since 1840; and unless the government of Great Britain treats " the right arm of her power" with something like proper considera- tion, it certainly does appear inevitable that TWO DISTINCT FLAGS inust protcct cach island separately. This is the true " repeal" of evils which have become intolerable. This is the " repeal" which will enlist the sympa- thies of all nations, and even advance the cause of true liberty among the power-trodden and church-ridden people of England. From events which occur with such ra- pidity as to have beneficially changed the aspect of this subject since these observations were first prepared, we need not now bring forward the arguments with which we had intended to propose the annexation of Ire- land TO the American confederacy of INDEPENDENT STATES. The tOUC of tliC whoic work shows that this object was contemplated from the beginning ; and we are happy to observe that circumstances have since occur- red which protect us from the slavish impu- tation of rashness, or the yet more contempti- ble charge of failing to treat our noble sub- ject with becoming dignity. The glorious proposition is now pubUshed abroad in the minds of men, and may be safely left to itself. The men are now living who will attend to it. It is time to deliberately announce to the world that the brave and devoted Irish peo- ple, who have for centuries been accustomed to advance the colours of other nations through all dangers, and over acres of mangled limbs and quivering flesh, will in future use that bravery for themselves and a flag of their own adoption. This is no new or rash sen- timent. The last words of the gallant Sars- field, when dying in the service of France, express this determination. Taking in his hand some of the life-blood which was fast flowing from his heart, he made one desper- ate efibrt to turn his face towards the west, and exclaimed — " O, if this blood had been shed for Ireland !" There can be no rashness in such a sublime sentiment, uttered and confirmed with the " last libation that liberty draws" from the last gasp of a dying patriot. It is a sentiment which has also had the illustrious confirmation of the deliberate and conscientious Bishop of Ardagh, who wrote to Sir Robert Peel, in 1843, that " The myr- midons of England may follow us into our sanctuaries ; but we will prepare our people for the scaffold, and bequeath our wrongs to posterity !" The heart of every American citizen will readily sympathize with such glorious manifestations of the unconquerable spirit of liberty, for it is upon the pampas and prairies of America that the true " four- leaved shamrock" can be found ; and not only found, but exercising its magic sway over the hearts and minds of men with a universal benefit. It is time now for the gallant friends of freedom to bid a temporary farewell to " the melting thought, the kiss ambrosial, and the yielding smile," — and unanimously come forward to battle for the safety and security of those who naturally look to them for pro- tection. Have the plunderers of England and Ire- land ever calculated the effects resulting from the expatriation of virtuous industry and un- alterable faith ? When shall history describe the mighty reaction of American principles upon European governments, — a terrible re- action, terrible from its irresistible firmness and calmness, — a reaction carried on by men or the SONS of men who were formerly robbed 392 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE, ETC for their honesty and then expatriated for their poverty ? Let the proud slaves of Bel- shazzar and his father begin to study the handwriting on the wall. No sovereign, or dictator, or agitator, or cabinet minister, or army, or navy, or penal code can prevent the silent operation of this reaction upon the thoughts of the toiling mil- lions who pant for real freedom, and are dis- gusted with the legalized mockery of liberty which is yet hypocritically inflicted upon Ire- land, Scotland, and England. In any event, the agitation of the subjects of preliminary independence and confirmed protection must operate beneficially for Ire- land. They are subjects involved with the everlasting principles of justice, and never can be extinguished by any power on earth. Their effects will form important matter for succeeding historians. Who can tell how soon ? While searching the evidences of literature for this History of Ireland, we have presumed to avail ourselves of whatever was good or useful for our peculiar plan, without regard to the name, country, or creed of the author. It is much to be regretted that the opposition to tyranny should sometimes assume such an exclusive form as to cause many of the warm friends of Ireland to detract from the good name of those public individuals who may happen to have followed the fashion of their day in persecuting the Irish people. No possible good can ever arise from recrimina- ting prejudices. With all due sympathy for the excusable warmth in the very nature of resistance to oppression, we cannot help considering Spenser a fine poet, Raleigh a thorough man of business, and Bacon a pro- found philosopher. There are many reasons which might be cited for the course we have taken, if the time were arrived when the success and safety of the Irish people would accompany the announcement. We may remark, how- ever, that the firm belief of brighter days being near at hand should teach all classes to put away exclusiveness of every description ; and prepare our minds, not merely for the reception of a few facts and principles, but also for the discovery and entertainment of a glorious and genuine fraternity of action, — harmonized with religious liberty, secured with legislative independence, and properly protected with a power-defying star-spangled banner of peace. THE HISTORY OF IRELAND THIRD DIVISION. CHAPTER I. Reign of William and Mary — Church-and-state es- timation of the Treaty of Limerick — Immediate resumption and continual progress of the penal laws — Accession of Queen Anne — Legislative union of Scotland with England — Disputes be- tween the English ministry and the Dublin parlia- ments — Accession of George the First — Act of the 6th George the First — Ireland's darkest hour, and the lowest degradation of Christianity — Wood's conscientious copper — United rally of the people — Returning dawn of Irish liberty. The unfashionable harshness which our historical discoveries have compelled us to ^adopt, in relation to the supporters of church- and-state power in England, is no more than what has been positively required by a con- scientious performance .of duty. Look at them, as a party, (from the respectable regi- cides of the government to the roystering ragamuffins who presume to rule over the parish poor,) and observe the rancour and rapine which actuate their public movements. Is it possible to exaggerate the iniquity of their conduct ? We proceed. On the Sunday following the return of the lords-justices, Sir Charles Porter and Mr. Coningsby, who had been deputed (in con- junction with Baron de Ginckle) to sign the Treaty of Limerick on behalf of the British crown, they attended public worship in Christ- Church Cathedral ; and Dr. Dopping, Bishop of Meath, took occasion to occupy the first sermon after their return to Dublin with bitter denunciations of the treaty, finding great faults in its general spirit and particular pro- visions, and exerting all his abilities in a vig- orous argument to prove that Protestants were never bound to keep faith with ' pa- 50 pists.' King William, however, gave intima- tions to the clergy that the treaty must have no gross infraction, at least during his life- time. It was deemed advisable to silence the eagerness of the officious Dr. Dopping. On the following Sunday, Dr. Moreton, Bish- op of Kildare, preached in advocacy of the binding nature of all solemn contracts. Wil- liam was busy at Whitehall and on the con- tinent, and this explanation was important. Nineteen days after the Treaty of Limer- ick was signed, an English parliament was summoned which passed an act requiring that " all the members of the Irish legislature should take the oath of supremacy^ Of course, the Catholics had to submit ; but the law w^as not actually binding in Ireland until made part of the constitution of 1782. It serves to show the spirit of what is called "the English government." Honest Peter Plymley had good occasion to write — " I solemnly believe blue and red baboons to be more thought of in England than dis- senters. When a country-squire hears of an ape, his first feeling is to give it nuts and apples : when he hears of a dissenter, his immediate impulse is to commit it to the county-jail, to shave its head, to alter its customary food, and to have it privately whipped." Men who know that they deserve no re- spect are always anxious to be feared. The " Protestant ascendency" comes into histori- cal notice based upon this rancorous feeling. The Puritan and Episcopalian factions were united in condemning what they considered 394 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1695. the slowness of King William and his lord- lieutenant, Henry, Lord Sidney. They op- posed the decisions of the court of claims which assembled to determine the qualifica- tions of those who were to be restored to their property by the Treaty of Limerick. The court adjudged about one-fifth of the confiscated lands to the original proprietors, and several others were given back their estates by the special favour of the king. The largest forfeiture was that of the Earl of Clancarty ; and it was a doubtful point whether he was not included in the articles. Wilham was anxious to preserve this ancient family ; but Sir Richard Cox, who had long indulged a fancy for confiscated lands, pro- cured a declaration from the county of Cork grand-jury, stating that the restoration of the Earl of Clancarty would be " prejudicial to the Protestant interest;" meaning thereby, that it would be inconvenient to such of these gentry to part with the earl's estates which they had seized.* The difficulties created by the influence of such a state of affairs caused Sidney to be recalled in 1693. Henry, Lord Capel, was his successor, but not till 1695. His power was shared with two other lords-jus- tices, Sir Cecil Wyche and Mr. Duncomb, who innocently presumed to suppose that the Treaty of Limerick ought to be respected. Capel soon outwitted such inconvenient col- leagues ; and then, indeed, under his lieu- tenancy, the Catholics were outrageously punished for their honourable confidence in the efficacy of the treaty. Their sufferings were bitter — too horrible to be described in words. Capel's speech at the opening of the ses- sion of 1695 declared, that "the king was * Taylor here observes — "This precious argument was deemed sufficient ; and the extensive estates of this nobleman in Cork, Limerick and Kerrj*, were fraudu- lently sold by the commissioners at Chichester House. At a later period, George the Second made a similar effort in favour of the earl, but was defeated by the Irish house of commons ; and to shut out Clancarty's hopes for ever, they voted, that any lawj'er who pleaded in his behalf should "be deemed an enemy of his country!" This is only one specimen of Irish parliaments while nnder " British" influence ! Tlie sovereign and the peo- ple are both cheated with that influence. intent upon a firm settlement of Ireland upon a Protestant interest." The parliament now laid aside the constitutional jealousies dis- played by its predecessor, and eagerly em- barked in the scheme of establishing a Prot- estant interest. They appointed a committee to consider what penal laws were already in force against the Catholics. The most im^ portant were — 1. An act, subjecting all who upheld the jurisdiction of the see of Rome, to the pen- alties of a premunire ; and ordering the oath of supremacy to be a qualification for office of every kind, for holy orders, or for a degree in the university. 2. An act for the uniformity of common prayer, imposing a fine of a shilling on all who should absent themselves from places of worship of the established church on Sun- days. 3. An act, allowing the chancellor to name a guardian to the child of a Catholic. 4. An act to prevent Catholics from be- coming private tutors in families, without license from the ordinaries of their several parishes, and taking the oath of supremacy. • Capel and the Irish parliament were on such excellent terms of amity and similarity of purpose that the following additions were shortly enacted : — 1. An act to deprive Catholics of the means of educating their children at home or abroad, and to render them incapable of being guar- dians of their own or any other person's chil- dren. 2. An act to disarm the Catholics. 3. An act to banish all the Catholic priests and prelates. Having thus already violated the treaty, they very gravely brought in a bill " to con- firm the articles of Limerick." The very title of the bill contains evidence of its injus- tice. It is styled, " A bill for the confirma- tion of articles [not the articles] made at the surrender of Limerick." And the preamble shows, that the little word the was not acci- dentally omitted. It reads thus : — " That the said articles, or so much of them as may consist with the safety and welfare of your majesty's subjects in these kingdoms, may be confirmed," etc. The parts which ap- A. D. 11-03.] THIRD DIVISION, 395 peared to these legislators inconsistent with " the safety and welfare of his majesty's sub- jects," were — the first article, which provided for the security of the Catholics from all dis- turbances on account of their religion ; those parts of the second article which confirmed the Catholic gentry of Limerick, Clare, Cork, Kerry, and Mayo in the possession of their estates, and allowed all Catholics to exercise their trades and professions without obstruc- tion ; the fourth article, which extended the benefit of the peace to certain Irish officers then abroad ; the seventh article, which al- lowed the Catholic gentry to ride armed ; the ninth article, which provides that the oath of allegiance shall be the only oath required from Catholics ; and one or two others of minor importance. All of these are omitted in the bill for " The confirmation of articles made at the surrender of Limerick." In the house of lords the bill was strongly opposed by the more considerate of the no- bility and bishops ; and, when carried, a pro- test was recorded which was signed by thir- teen of the peers. The slavish exultation of the commons over the ruin of the Catholics seemed to have become rampant beyond all restraint or decency. Plunder passed the wink, and three more "additional" enactments were passed: — 1. An act to prevent Prot- estants from marrying with Catholics. 2. An act to prevent Catholics from being solicitors. 3. An act to prohibit Catholics being em- ployed as gamekeepers. Two circumstances occurred about this time which show the light in which the Irish parliament was viewed from England. The British parliament presented a joint address to the king, praying that he would discourage the woollen manufacture of Ireland. The royal reply is thus recorded : — " My Lords and Gentlemen, — I shall do all that in me lies to discourage the woollen manufacture of Ireland, and to encourage the linen manufacture there ; and to promote the trade of England. July 2, 1698." The other indicative circumstance is the behaviour of the English parliament when Mr. William Molyneux, member for the Dublin University, published a book assert- ing the independence of the Irish legislature. The English house of commons experienced a paroxysm of rage. They resolved unani- mously, "that the book pubhshed by Mr. Molyneux was of dangerous tendency to the crown and people of England, by denying the authority of the king and parliament of Eng- land to bind the kingdom and people of Ire- land, and the subordination and independence that Ireland had, and ought to have, upon England, as being united and annexed to the imperial crown of England." They also, in a body, presented an address to his majesty, beseeching him, " that the laws directing and restraining the Irish parliament should not be evaded ;" and finally obtained from the king a promise of compliance. They then ordered the dreadful book to be burned by the com- mon hangman. The Irish parliament took these two blows, one on each cheek, quite tamely. In their anxiety to rob the Catholics, they ruined their country and enslaved themselves. Thus were matters continued to the end of William's reign. On the 8th of March, 1702, Anne, Princess of Denmark, and daughter of James the Second, succeeded to the English throne. The successes of Marl- borough, the transfer of the Spanish mon- archy to the house of Bourbon, the useful friendship of Holland, and the great profu- sion (in appearance) of wealth, are the prin- cipal circumstances which combined to make England shine with splendour at this time. Religion and conscience were voted bores of the first magnitude, money became the national god, and men and nations were con- sidered purchasable commodities. In 1703, the first bill openly acknowledged as being " to prevent the growth of popery" was introduced. The following are among the most remarkable of its enactments :— The third clause provides, that if the son of an estated Catholic would conform to the established religion, the father shall be inca- pacitated from selling or mortgaging his es- tate, or disposing of any portion of it by will. The fourth clause prohibits a Catholic from being the guardian of his own child ; and orders, that if at any tim.e the child, though 396 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1708. ever so young, pretends to be a Protestant, it shall be taken from its father, and placed under the guardianship of the nearest Prot- estant relation. The sixth clause renders Catholics incapable of purchasing any man- ors, tenements, hereditaments, or any rents or profits arising out of the same, or of hold- ing any lease of lives, or other lease whatever, for any term exceeding thirty-one years. And with respect even to such limited leases, it further enacts, that if a Catholic should hold a farm producing a profit greater than one- third of the amount of the rent, his right to such should immediately cease, and pass over entirely to the first Protestant who should discover the rate of profit. The seventh clause prohibits Catholics from succeeding to the properties or estates of their Protest- ant relations. By the tenth clause, the es- tate of a Cathohc, not having a Protestant heir, is ordered to be gavelled, or divided in equal shares between all his children. The sixteenth and twenty-fourth clauses hnpose the oath of abjuration, and the sacramental test, as a qualification for office, and for vo- ting at elections. The twenty-third clause deprives the Catholics of Limerick and Gal- way of the protection secured to them by the articles of the treaty. The twenty-fifth clause ■vests in her majesty all advowsons possessed ty Catholics. L. Hyde, Earl of Rochester, had succeed- ed Lord Capel in 1701. In 1703, he was displaced for James Butler, Duke of Ormond, who promised to carry out firmly the law of 1703 ; and il is almost needless to inform the reader that he kept that promise. The whig party being uppermost in England, and Prot- estantism having become an element in cabi- net popularity, the new English ministry were negotiating with the Emperor of Ger- many for a general toleration of Protestant- ism in his dominions, and were very anxious that he might not retort that he treated his Protestants better than they did their Catho- lics. But the cry against "popery" which had so often been serviceable to the whigs, was not to be stopped or decreased so easily as it could be set going. When the law of 1703 came up for confirmation they were anxious to avoid it, and observing that the Irish parUament was mainly composed of dis senters, they added a clause requiring the sacramental test, supposing that it would cause an abandonment of the bill. The pre- vailing faction in the Irish parliament were, however, too greedy to be dainty; and, in the expressive phraseology of one of their own writers, " swallowed their scruples and the sacrament together." Such a monstrous law found many opponents among the more conscientious of the magistracy, and the peo- ple generally spurned the office of common informer. The Irish parliament deliberately persevered, as if in the performance of some praiseworthy object, and on St. Patrick's Day, 1705, they voted, " that all magistrates, and other persons whatsoever, who neglected or omitted to put the penal laws into due ex- ecution, were betrayers of the liberties of the kingdom." In June of the same year, they denounced such persons as " enemies to her majesty's government." And they also re- solved, " that the prosecuting and informing against papists was an honourable service to the government." The English parliament having manufactured money, the Irish par- liament appear to have imagined that they had an equal right to manufacture honour. The " modern improvements" of second- hand legislation and tlie blinding influence of money were now extended to Old Scot- land. The articles of union were signed July 20, 1706, and ratified January 16, 1707. This was a cash transaction. In 1708, on a report arising that the young Pretender was about to invade Scotland, the Dublin authorities immediately arrested forty- one of the Cathohc nobility and gentry as reb- els and traitors. The government rebuked this eagerness by ordering their release as soon as heard of in England, their entire in- nocence being well known. But the cry of " No popery !" is connected with passions not easily managed or restrain- ed. The Dubhn parliament very gravely voted that the pilgrimages of the sick and infirm to St. John's Well, in the county of Meath, "were inconsistent with the safety of the kingdom !" In 1709, during the fac- A. D. 1720.] THIRD DIVISION. 397 tious divisions of the English parliament and people, whig and tory, high church and low church, they passed another penal law against the Catholics. The first clause declares, that no Catholic shall be capable of holding an annuity for life. The third provides, that the child of a Catholic, on conforming, shall at once receive an annuity from his father ; and that the chancellor shall compel the father to discover, upon oath, the full value of his estate, real and personal, and thereupon make an order for the support of such conforming child or children, and for securing such a share of the property, after the father's death, as the court shall think fit. The fourteenth and fifteenth clauses secure jointures to Cath- olic wives who would conform. The six- teenth prohibits a Catholic from teaching, even as assistant to a Protestant master. The eighteenth gives a salary of £30 per annum to Roman Catholic priests who would conform. The twentieth provides rewards for the discovery of Roman Catholic clergy- men, valuing the betrayal of an archbishop or bishop at £50 ; a priest, not registered, £20 ; a schoolmaster or usher, £10. The twenty-first clause empowers two justices to summon before them any Catholic over eighteen years of age, and interrogate him when and where he last heard mass said, and the names of the persons present, and like- wise touching the residence of any Catholic priest or schoolmaster ; and if he refuse to give testimony, subjects him to a fine of £20, or imprisonment for twelve months. Before adjourning, several similar enact- ments were created which appear to have been considered trifling in those days ; one, however, deserves particular notice, as some of its infernal effects are yet to be seen in unhappy Ireland. It excludes Catholics from the office of sheriff", and from grand-juries, and enacts, that, in trials upon any statute for strengthening the Protestant interest, the plaintiff" might challenge a juror for being a Catholic, which challenge the judge was to allow. What must the American citizen think of this style of government ? The consolidation of the Episcopal influ- ence in England and the increasing " wealth" of the Puritan influence in Ireland occasion- ally led to diff"crences between the two par- liaments, under which each influence carried on its wholesale robbery of the Catholics. The most sanctimonious thieves and best regulated plunderers are liable to the acci- dents of clashing interests. The Irish lords passed a resolution denouncing those who appealed against their jurisdiction ; and the commons rejected a money-bill, because it had been altered by the English privy-council. Another case was the act of the English par- liament to prevent the " growth of schism," aimed principally against the Presbyterians, which was made to include Ireland ; for the ministry knew that such a bill would not pass the Irish house of commons, where the dis- senters had now a large majority. Thus the business of " government" was carried on until the death of Queen Anne, August 1, 1714. The Duke of Ormond was removed for Thomas Herbert, Earl of Pem- broke, in 1707 ; he was succeeded by Thomas Wharton, Earl of Wharton, in 1709; the Duke of Ormond was restored July 3, 1711 ; and Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury, became lord-lieutenant October 27, 1713. The sincerity with which the Catholics had observed the Treaty of Limerick, espe- cially as regards the oath of allegiance, made the accession of George the First a circum- stance of little interest in Ireland. Even the Scottish " rebellion", in 1715 was almost un- noticed. The attainder of the Duke of Or- mond for his adherence to the Pretender was no more than retributive justice to a man who displayed his attachment to a Catholic king by the very safe process of plundering a Catholic people. The submissive loyalty and devotion of the Catholics puzzled all their enemies. The Irish parliament, in 1720, gradually discov- ered that they had sold the trade and freedom of their country for the one privilege of plun- dering their Catholic fellow-countrymen. The Irish house of lords, however, having resisted the exclusive right of appeal claimed for the house of lords in England, the English par- liament thought fit to pass " an act for the better securing the dependency of Ireland 398 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1727. on the crown of Englandj" which reduced the Irish legislature to a mere idle mockery. It deprived the Irish house of lords of- their jurisdiction in cases of appeal ; and it declares that the British parliament " has full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the peo- ple of the kingdom of Ireland;" This is the substance of the renowned " act of the 6th George the First." It extinguished the rights of the Irish people until the glorious spirit of the Volunteers of 1782 exploded it in car- tridge-paper for, by, and with their parades and reviews. We now approach a subject on which, for a variety of reasons, the language of other persons is preferable. As an unobjectionable witness, we select that of Taylor : — " The penal laws were executed in the same sanguinary and intolerant spirit that had originally dictated iheir enactment. Priest- hunting became a fashionable amusement. Catholic chapels were forcibly shut up. The Catholic clergy sent into prison, and from thence hurried into exile. But one bill, which was passed by both of the Irish houses of parliament, is quite sufficient to show how violent and shameless was the Protestant bigotry of this disgraceful period. li actually contained a clause — how can it be mentioned without offence to delicacy? — a clause for subjecting every Catholic ecclesiastic who should come to Ireland to the penalty of cas- tration ! On presenting this bill to the lord- lieutenant, both houses added the remarkable request, * That he would recommend the same in the most effectual manner to his majesty ;' and his excellency promised Com- pliance. Sir Robert Walpole, being solicited by Cardinal Fleury, successfully exerted himself to prevent even an Irish statute-book from being sullied. by such disgusting bru^ tality ; and the bill was scouted by the Eng- lish privy-council. The lord-lieutenant, in closing the session, attempted to console the parliament for the loss of their favourite bill. He told them that ' it miscarried merely by not being brought into the house before the session was so far advanced.' " The scarcity of small specie which in- evitably follows the excessive introduction of paper money for general use was sensibly noticed in the copper coin of Ireland. Va- rious remedies were proposed, and at last a " parliamentary job" was authorized in 1722. A rich wretch, rampant with piety and prettily prepared pennies, was soon found to under- take the task of "relieving" the poor. The Irish people might have petitioned to this day without any relief; but when it was discovered that piety, pennies and philanthropy, were made all perfectly compatible in a very " re- spectable" manner, a patent was granted to one William Wood allowing him to speculate and adulterate to the amount of £108,000. This monstrous insult to the misfortunes of a whole people, united all classes in a resist- ance which was led on and maintained with all the ability and courage of Jonathan Swift. The result was that the administration had to yield, and the patent was revoked. This was the effect of national unity. It was the first dawn of a bright day of liberty, immc'- diately following Ireland's darkest hour. Notwithstanding the quiet state of Ireland previous to Swift's noble resistance of " Wood's half-pence," the disputes in the exchequers and parliaments were of such a serious nature as to require many changes of the lord-lieutenancy during the forming of the penal laws. Whenever we may have occasion to mention these laws in future chapters we hope our readers will recollect the meaning of them. The Duke of Shrews- bury was succeeded by Charles, Duke of Bolton, August f, 1717 ; then, Charles, Duke of Grafton, August 28, 1721 ; then, John, Lord Carteret, October 22, 1724. The reign of George the First ended June 11, 1727. The friends of liberty will share our pleas- ure and participate in the hopes with which we now record the fact that the people of Ireland were once united for their own in- terest. " Spirit of Swift !" we are grateful. CONFIRMATORY APPENDIX. 1691 TO 1727. " From a report presented to the English House of Commons, it appears that the for A. D. 1727.] THIRD DIVISION. 399 feitures made by the government of King William, stripped three thousand nine hun- dred and twenty-one persons of lands, amount- ing to more than one million and sixty thou- sand acres, valued, in that day, at three mil- lions three hundred and nineteen thousand nine hundred and forty-three pounds sterling — a prize well worthy the attention of the 'exclusively loyal,' as they termed them- selves, especially when, without any risk of their own, they could contend for it with the blood of foreigners and the wealth of Eng- land. » * # * " In fact, the oligarchy, formed in an evil hour, had the power of checking the govern- ment, and oppressing the people ; and it scrupled not to insult and ill-treat both," — Taylor. '* About seven years after the treaty was signed, King William, who had been all that time at war with France, concluded a peace at Ryswick, after which his army returned to England to receive their pay. There was then more than a million sterling due to them, and, to obtain the means, the king turned his eyes directly towards the estates of the Irish Catholics — those estates which had been guarantied to the owners by the treaty of the battle-field of Limerick. Parliament, the tool of every tyrant, instituted, to cover the robbery, a commission, the sort of instrument used by British kings for three hundred years, either to rob or delude the Irish ; an instru- ment used down to the very last session, e. g. * the land commission,' * the Catholic Chari- ties' commission,' of the year 1844, for the like purposes." — Mooney. " The Irish had engaged extensively in the import and export trade to the continent, par- ticularly in the linen yarn and twine trade ; and so great were the profits, and so flourish- ing the condition of the merchants, — who were principally Catholics, — that apprehen- sions were entertained that the estates of Protestants, by mortgage and otherwise, would soon revert to the hands of the Catho- ' lies. Lands rose by the influx of capital ; ' the peasantry acquired valuable interests ; a j sturdy yeomanry appeared ; the very cotter was less miserable. All this, a few years j after, was bartered for a shadow. The Irish Protestant sold Ireland for the maintenance of his monopoly in sectarian ascendency ; and the English Protestant trampled on the Catholic in order to maintain his national supremacy." — Ld. Taafe. ** The parliament of the Revolution is im- mortal from the perfidy with which it disre- garded and violated the articles of the Treaty of Limerick, and from having originated the extraordinary code under which the Catholics of Ireland were so long and so terribly op- pressed ; but its history presents no feature of interest. It made no struggle for its own fireedom ; it scandalously adopted the jealous legislation which sacrificed the woollen trade of Ireland. It made no struggle to disenthral itself of the parliamentary supremacy of Eng- land — this remained an unquestioned and de- grading fact. It was as contemptible a body as any that ever assumed the functions of legislation. Its two grand achievements were the persecution of the Catholics, and the de- struction of the trade of their country. In a vain attempt to usurp all the power of the state, the parliaments of William and of Anne accumulated on the devoted heads of the Catholics, a mass of penal legislation un- paralleled in the history of human oppression. But after having had their own will of the Catholics, being allowed to use freely the powers of legislation while engaged in the grateful work of torture ; they found out at last, that they were only permitted the privi- lege of persecution to serve the purposes of England. For the 6lh George the First gave the last blow to any legislative freedom which might have survived the restrictions of ages — and plainly demonstrated to the Protestant nation, how little they had to expect at the hands of the English parliaments, to which they had sold the trade and liberties of their country for the right to persecute and rob their * popish' fellow-countrymen." — T. Mac- Nevin. " No condescension was excessive which could purchase for the Protestants of Ireland the uncontrolled indulgence of their hatred. They did not hesitate to fall, like Samson, beneath the temple, provided the same ruin 400 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1727. might become fatal to their adversaries : nor, in the warmth of zeal against popery, did they recollect that the freedom and commerce, which, with so much solicitude, they rejected, might not perhaps appear equally unaccepta- ble to their children. After having hazarded the possession of every object that can make life precious, to avoid the probability of slavery, they shaped for themselves a bond- age which the most hardy tyrant could scarce- 1}'^ venture to propose ; and resigned, by an * awful interdict,' every intercourse with the rest of mankind, while, in the narrow com- pass which remained, they might wanton in the unconstrained enjoyment of revenge. Content to convert their country into one vast prison, if lliey could find within its bosom a dungeon slill more hideous for their unhappy captives." — Revieio, etc. " It would be a mere waste of words to reprobate this iniquitous law, [of 1703,] or rather this violation of all law human and divine. No Irish Protestant can peruse its enactments without a blush for the shame thus brought on his religion, when it was thus virtually declared that the reformed sys- tem sliould owe its strength and security, not to the purity of its principles, not to the excellence of its doctrines, but to robbery and oppression, to dissension between father and child, to stimulating one neighbour to seize the fruits of another's industry, to the desecra- tion of a solemn sacrament, by making it a test for office. How can we be surprised that the reformed religion is unpopular in Ireland, when, by this and similar laws, a Protestant legislature virtually declared that Protestantism could not be secure unless it entered into alliance with Belial, Mammon, and Moloch ?"— Taylor. " These laws were not the gi-owth of one reign, but were improved and refined upon in the reigns of William, Anne, and the first of the Georges. Sir Toby Butler, Mr. Cu- sack, Malone, and others, included in the treaty of Limerick, pleaded against those bills at the bar of both houses ; but after hearing their arguments, the houses coolly proceeded to pass them, replying that, if they Buffered any inconvenience by those laws, they had only to blame themselves for not conforming. Edmund Burke, speaking of those laws, says, * The most refined inge- nuity of man could not contrive any plan or machinery better calculated to degrade hu- manity than this terrible code ;' and Montes- quieu, the French lawgiver, says, * This hor- rible code was conceived by devils, written in human gore, and registered in hell.'" — MOONEY. *' There is hardly a code in the world, that does not afford some instances of unjust and immoral laws, enacted in moments of delu- sion or faction. But this is the only one universally and undeviatingly profligate and depraved, — of which every provision and paragraph violated some law of God or man, and the plainest dictates of eternal justice, — which legalized robbery, and punished with death acts of humanity — the tuition of youtli — the celebration of marriage, etc. etc. " The professed object of the hypocritical tyrants who framed this ' ferocious system,' as Burke appropriately styles it, was to res- cue the objects of its rapacity from the dark- ness of popish idolatry. But they might worship Jupiter Ammon, Juno, Venus, Mars, Bacchus, and Apollo, with the Romans ; the sun with the Gucbres ; or Apis, with the Egyptians ; they might even disbelieve in God altogether. Provided they forswore transubstantiation and the pope's authority, they became pure and immaculate ; their property and persons were secure ; and, un- der the fornis and ceremonies of the law of the land, they then acquired a right to rob and plunder the blind and idolatrous papists whom they had abandoned." — M. Carey. " This code prevented the accumulation of property, and punished industry as a crime. Was there ever such legislation in any other country, Christian or Pagan ? But that is not all, because the party who inflicted this horrible code, actually reproached the Irish people with wilful and squal id poueriy. " This code enforced ignorance by Statute Law, and punished the acquisition of knowl- edge as a felony. Is this credible ? — yet it is true. But that is not all ; for the party that thus persecuted learning, reproached A. D. 1731.] THIRD DIVISION. 401 and still reproach the Irish people with igno- * * * ranee. ■ " It is not possible for me to describe that code in adequate language — it almost sur- passed the eloquence of Burke to do so." — O'CONNELL. " It had a vicious perfection — it was a complete system — full of coherence and con- sistency ; well digested and well disposed in all its parts. It was a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, and as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and degrada- tion of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man. * * * " When those laws were not bloody, they were worse. They were slow, cruel, out- rageous in their nature, and only kept men alive to insult in their persons every one of the rights and feelings of humanity." — Burke. " King William left no heir, and he was succeeded by Anne, Princess of Denmark, daughter of James the Second. She was a princess full of bigotry and toryism. It was in her reign that the parliament of Scotland was united to the parliament of England, principally by the means of bribes or honours showered on a venal portion of the members. " Then followed George the First, son of the Princess Sophia. He was chosen, by the parliament of Britain, from one of the remote branches of the palatine family found in Germany. The lawful succession was passed over, and he was taken from the last of fifty generations from the palatinate of the Richards. " It was thus that the house of Hanover was brought in to govern England, swearing, agreeably to the oath of William the Third, that the religion of the state should be Prot- estant." — MooNEY. " Observe the policy of government, setting a price on the head of Jonathan Swift — and conferring its bounties on William Wood ! Molyneux's * Case of Ireland' was burned by the hands of the fit representative of English power, the hangman ; Swift had a price set on his head ; and at a later period Lucas, a man quite as zealous though not as able, was forced to fly his country ; and his writings 51 were prosecuted as libels for maintaining the freedom of the Irish constitution. The his- tory of a government, may be well read in its rewards and punishments. " The defeat of Wood was the first triumph of the virtue of the country, and the first les- son of union taught to a divided nation. It was learned — but slowly and not as yet per- fectly,"— T. Mac-Nevin. CHAPTER II. Accession of George the Second — Terror of the privileged tyrants at the union of the people by Swift — Progress of the penal laws — Census under the Duke of Dorset — Bishop Berkeley and Ameri- ca — Primate Stone and Ireland — Quarrels of the factions over the surplus revenue — Lucas as a writer — Patient submission of the people until better times for Ireland. When the temporary union of the Irish people, during the opposition to Wood's halfpence, was observed by the prelatical pilferers of Ireland, it struck terror into the traitorous hearts of the tyrants. The primate (Boulter) immediately and successfully pro- posed a bill prohibiting any and every Catho- lic from voting at any election, and thus, at one blow, disfranchised five-sixths of the population. As soon as possible, several additions were made to the existing state of the penal code. The Catholics were excluded from acting as barristers, six-clerks, solicitors, etc. Barris- ters or solicitors marrying Cathohcs were subjected to all the penalties and disqualifica- tions of Catholics. No convert can act as a justice of peace whose wife or children con- tinue Catholics. Persons robbed by priva- teers, during war with a Catholic prince, were to be reimbursed by grand-jury present- ment ; and the money be levied upon the goods and lands of the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland. Another law, which had been passed but not made use of, was now brought forward. It excludes all Catholics from voting at any vestry held for the purpose of levying or assessing money for rebuilding or repairing parish-churches. This law, we believe, is yet in force. On the 11th of September, 1731, Lionel, 403 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1745. Duke of Dorset, commenced his oflfice as lord-lieutenant. A strong opposition party existed in the Dublin house of commons, and the English ministry attempted to obtain a grant of the supplies for twenty-one years ; but the cou^ers were outvoted by a majority of one. Tne gentleman who gave the casting vote was Mr. C. Tottenham, of New Ross, who arrived so late that he hurried to the house in his travelling costume. This was considered a remarkable breach of etiquette ; and, in allusion to it, " Tottenham in boots !" became a popular toast in Ireland. The members of the opposition party were styled patriots, and their conflicts with the English ministerial influence enabled the oli- garchy hi Dublin to rob the church by means of the parliament, and to rob the people by means of the church. They also passed severe resolutions against all who should demand the tithe of agistment ; and thus threw the burden of supporting the Protest- ant ministers from the Protestant landholders on the Catholic peasants. As the penal code progressed, the Irish people gradually submitted to the attainment of excellence as peasants, leaving commerce and pohtics to their enemies. The census of Ireland, taken in 1731, is now worthy of notice as comparatively indicating the superi- ority of agricultural employments in remedy- ing political evils and preserving national dignity. The witty and sly O'Callaghan, after quoting the celebrated maxim of " the Wife of Bath," remarks, with a recuperative conclusion, that — " Generation in an individ- ual will ultimately work out regeneration in a political sense." The census of 1731, ordered by the Duke of Dorset, is thus re- corded : — Protestants Catholics. Connaught, . . . 21,604 221,780 Leinster, .... 203,087 447,916 Munster, . . . . 115,130 482,044 Ulster, 360,632 158,028 700,453 1,309,768 William, Duke of Devonshire, became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland September 7, 1737. This nobleman took pleasure in ex- pending his private fortune in works of pub- Uc utility, and all Ireland was benefited by his residence in Dublin. The penal laws, of course, were in the hands of those who would not let them be idle, but the passive and hopeful state of the Catholics left the country in a state of comparative quiet. It is, also our duty to state that throughout all our in- quiries we have seen overwhelming evidence of the general disposition of the Irish people to obey the law, and that even their opposi- tion is carried on with a merry frankness. Sir Jonah Barrington says — " An innate spirit of insubordination to the laws has been strongly charged upon the Irish peasantry ; but a people — to whom the punishment of crimes appears rather as a sacrifice to revenge than a measure of pre- vention — can never have the same deference to the law as those who are instructed in the principles of justice, and taught to recognise its equality. It has, however, been uniformly admitted by every impartial writer on the affairs of Ireland, that a spirit of strict justice has ever characterized the Irish peasant. * * * *' An attachment to and a respect for fe- males is another marked characteristic of the Irish peasant. The wife partakes of all her husband's vicissitudes ; she shares his labour and his miseries, with constancy and with affection. At all the sports and meetings of the Irish peasantry, the w^omen are always of the company : they have a great influence ; and, in his smoky cottage, the Irish peasant, surrounded by his family, seems to forget all his privations. The natural cheerfulness of his disposition banishes reflection ; and he experiences a simple happiness which even the highest ranks of society might justly envy." Not even the penal code could conquer such a brave and gallant, and faithful and affectionate people as that. The "rebellion of 1745," in Scotland, created some fears of an invasion of Ireland. The British government, judging, as usual, that a man who is kind cannot be firm, re- moved the Duke of Devonshire, and on the 31st of August, 1745, the Earl of Chester- field (who was a troublesome opponent of the home ministry) took command in Dub- A. D. 1748.] THIRD DIVISION. 403 lin. He did the best he could for all classes, and roughly handled the pretended plots charged against the Catholics. The oligar- chy, however, succeeded in passing two more monstrously cruel penal laws ; the first, an- nulling all marriages between Protestants and Catholics, or that were celebrated by Catho- lic priests ; the second, ordering that every Catholic priest who married two Protestants, or a Protestant and Catholic, should be hanged. Chesterfield was succeeded, September 13, 1747, by William, Earl of Harrington ; but the actual government was obliged to be in- trusted to one of those wolves who constrain us to use harsh language in these pages. Let Taylor speak for us : — " After the departure of Chesterfield, Stone (the primate) became the head of the Irish government. This profligate prelate scrupled not to employ the most detestable means to effect his political designs. His great object was to make government independent of the factious oligarchy that wielded the destinies of Ireland. To procure partisans in parlia- ment, he is said to have gratified the sensual desires of the young members with the most unlimited indulgence. His residence became in fact a tavern and a brothel. The oligar- chy, determined to preserve its power over the crown and the people, under the mask of patriotism, encountered him with great virulence. The injury done by such a pre- late to the cause of the Protestant religion requires no comment. It is however re- markable, that in none of the attacks made on him, do we find any allusion to the effects of his scandalous life on the religious feelings of the people." The clergy of the established church num- bered among them some of the best men of Ireland. They deeply felt the unavoidable disgrace of having such a leader. In accord- ance with the general plan and object of this work, we here introduce a subject which will show that Stone was not a fair sample of his own class, as respects morality ; and, also, how much good men may do if they rightly use the gifts of talent and station. To bal- ance such a vjnretch as Stone, the world has been honoured with the angelic presence of such a man as Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne. With regard to his American views, we here select the elegant language of Gulian C. Verplanck : — " Berkeley was equally distinguished for the depth and variety of his knowledge, the exuberance and gracefulness of his imagina- tion, the elegance of his conversation and manners, and the purity of his life. It wa« about the fortieth year of his age, that, wearied out by those fruitless speculations in which the most vigorous mind ' can find no end, in wandering mazes lost,' he conceived the pro- ject of founding a university in the island of Bermuda, on so liberal a scale as to afford the amplest means of diffusing scientific and religious instruction over the whole of the British possessions in America. Dr. Berke- ley, at that time, held the richest church pre- ferment in Ireland, and had the fairest pros- pects of advancement to the first literary and ecclesiastical dignities of that country, or even of England. All these, with a disinterested- ness which excited the astonishment and sneers of Swift and his literary friends, he proposed to resign for a bare maintenance as principal of the projected American Univer- sity. His personal character and influence, and the warmth of his benevolent eloquence, soon subdued or silenced open opposition. He obtained a charter from the crown, and the grant of a large sum of money, to be raised from the sale of certain lands in the island of St. Christopher's, which had been ceded by the Treaty of Utrecht to the British government, but had afterwards been totally forgotten or neglected, and of the real value of which he had with great industry acquired an accurate knowledge. " To describe Berkeley's confident antici- pations of the future glories of America, we must have recourse to his own words : — * The muse, disgusted at an age and clime Barren of every glorious theme, In distant lands now waits a better time. Producing subjects worthy fame. * In happy climes, where (from the genial sun And virgin earth such scenes ensue) The force of art by nature seems outdone. And fancied beauties by the true : 404 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1749. ' In happy climes, the seat of innocence, Where nature guides and virtue rules ; Where men shall not impose for truth and sense The pedantry of courts and schools : — * There shall be sung another golden age, The rise of empires and of arts, The good and great, inspiring epic rage, . The wisest heads and noblest hearts. ' Not such as Europe breeds in her decay ; Such as she bred when fresh and young. When heavenly flame did animate her clay, — By future poets shall be sung. ' Westward the course of empire takes its way ; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day, — Time's noblest offspring is the last.' *• I have quoted these fine hnes at length because I do not recollect to have seen or heard them referred to in this country. They were written fifty years before the declaration of independence ; and to the patriot who may now [1818] exult with undoubting hope, in the great and sure destinies of our nation, they may well seem to revive the old connec- tion between the prophetic character and that of the poet : — • For, in a Roman mouth, the graceful name Of poet and of prophet were the same.'* " Confiding in these glorious auguries, and animated by the pure ambition of contributing to hasten forward this ' rise of empires and of arts,' he sailed from England in 1728. He came first to Rhode Island, where he deter- mined to remain for a short time, for the purpose of purchasing lands on this continent as estates for the support of his college, as well as in order to gain a more intimate knowledge of the northern colonies. Here he soon became convinced that he had erred altogether in his choice of Bermuda ; and he applied for an alteration of his charter, em- powering him to select some place on the American continent for the site of the univer- sity, which would, probably, have been fixed in the city of New York, or in its vicinity. But in the succeeding year all his sanguine hopes were at once extinguished by an un- expected court-intrigue ; and a large sum, (£90,000 sterling, in all,) that had been paid into the treasury from the funds pointed out by Berkeley, and part of which had been * Cowper. solemnly appropriated to the projected insti- tution by a vote of parliament, was seized by Sir Robert Walpole to pay the marriage- portion of the princess-royal ; an additional proof, if proof were needed, of the truth of the old republican adage, that the very trap- pings of a monarchy are sufficient to support a moderate commonwealth. " The two years and a half of Berkeley's residence in Rhode Island had not been idly spent. It was there that he composed his * Minute Philosopher,' a work written on the model of the Philosophical Dialogues of his favourite, Plato, and, like them, to be admired for the graces which a rich imagination has carelessly and profusely scattered over its pages, as well as for novelty of thought and ingenuity of argument. The rural descrip- tions which frequently occur in it, are, it is said, exquisite pictures of some of those de- lightful landscapes which presented them- selves to his eye at the time he was writing. " His residence in this country gave a general stimulus to literary and scientific exertion. He became personally acquainted with all who had any literary taste or acquire- ment, especially among the clergy of differ- ent denominations, with several of whom he formed a close intimac}^ and continued to encotirage and patronize them by every means in his power during his whole life. He minutely examined into the state of the public institutions in the northern and middle colonies, and after his return to England, rendered them several important services by his J3en and his influence. Having observed the serious inconveniences underwhich Amer- ican students laboured from the want of books, and the defects in early classical education, shortly after his return he sent out to Yale College a large and choice collection of the best works in different branches of learning, which still forms the most valuable part of the public library of that respectable and use- ful institution. He accompanied this present with a deed of gift of his property in Rhode Island, directing it to be appropriated to the support of three scholarships, to be bestowed upon the best classical scholars of each year. This soon produced a happy effect, and the A. D. 1757.] THIRD DIVISION, 405 * Dean's Bounty,' as it is still called, has ma- terially contributed to keep up, and gradually to raise, the standard of learning in a college which has, for many years, educated a large portion of the scholars and professional men of this country. " Dr. Berkeley was also a liberal oenefac- tor to the library of Harvard College ; and the college [King's, now Columbia] of New York, on its first establishment some years after, was essentially indebted to him for assistance and support. •' Berkeley returned to Europe mortified and disappointed ; but as there was nothing selfish or peevish in his nature, the failure of this long-cherished and darling project could not abate the ardour of his philanthropy. " The rest of his history belongs more to Ireland than to America. Never had that ill-governed and injured country a purer or more devoted patriot. His * Querist,' his * Letters to the Roman Catholic Clergy,' and his other tracts on Irish politics, are full of practical good sense, unbounded charity, and the warmest affection for his country. " Such was the strong and general sense of the usefulness of these labours, that, in 1749, the body of the Irish Roman Catholic clergy, in a formal address to Dr. Berkeley, who was then Protestant Bishop of Cloyne, returned him ' their sincere and hearty thanks' for certain of these publications, assuring him that * they were determined to comply with his advice in all particulars :' they add, ' that every page contains a proof of the author's extensive charity ; his views are only towards the public good, and his manner of treating persons, in their circumstances, so very un- common, that it plainly shows the good man, the polite gentleman, and the true patriot.' " This was a panegyric as honourable to those who gave it as it was to him who re- ceived it. It presents an instance of pure and enlightened benevolence on the one side, and of liberal gratitude on the other, which, I fear, has few parallels in the ecclesiastical annals of Ireland. " Berkeley's was one of those rare minds which, by the alchemy of true genius, can transmute and ennoble all that they touch. In his queries proposed for the good of Ire- land he incidentally laid open many new and interesting views in the then uncultivated science of political economy ; and all his writings on ephemeral subjects are marked with that sure indication of an elevated mind, — the habit of referring objects of local or transitory interest to those broad grounds of general reason and conscience, without the frequent contemplation of which, says he, ' a man may indeed be a thriving earth-worm, but he will prove only a sorry patriot.' " Let the " respectable" and " thriving earth- worms" read the respect paid in after years and other nations to the memory of a good and useful man. Berkeley is something more than a bishop — he is almost a prophet. Millions on the continent of America shall re- echo the honourable approbation and splendid eloquence of Gulian C. Verplanck in their estimation of the views of Berkeley. The battles of the elements cannot prevent the communication and sympathy of thought between Europe and America, America and Europe. To return to Ireland. The Duke of Dor- set was reinstated September 19, 1751 ; re- moved May 5, 1755, by William, Marquis of Hartington ; who was succeeded by John, Duke of Bedford, September 25, 1757. Stone's outrageous conduct brought (in con- junction with an exposure of the political corruptions of the corporation of Dublin) the renowned Lucas forward as a writer. In October, 1749, the house of commons re- solved " that Charles Lucas was an enemy to his country," and presented an address to the viceroy, requesting " that Lucas should be prosecuted by the attorney-general, and a reward offered for his apprehension." Lucas, unable to resist such a storm, went into tem- porary exile. The writings of Lucas, he be- ing a Protestant and a man of excellent char- acter, created " a very pretty quarrel," which is best described by an Irish pen : — " The accession of George Stone to the primacy and to the virtual government of Ire- land, was felt for the time to be a great blow to the patriot party. Stone was an unscru- pulous ecclesiastic, devoted to the mainte- 406 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1760. nance of the English interest against the Irish people. He stooped to the most polluted means to procure adherents — some have gone so far as to say that he converted his private residence into a trap baited with all the temp- tations of sense, with wine and easy beauty to catch the light youth of the metropolis. His personal demeanour was full of haughty dignity ; his measures were arbitrary, and his power overweening. He was opposed in the exercise of the latter, by Henry Boyle, speaker of the house of commons : and their rivalries, though dignified on the part of Boyle with the name of patriotism, were no more than the struggles of two ambitious and pow- erful men for their own ends. Their per- sonal contests were most violent on a subject of some importance, which renewed the ar- dour of the nation, and shed lustre on the de- bates of the commons. The matter, though despatched summarily by an arbitrary act of the king, sunk deep in the hearts of a people, lately moved by the writings, the labours, and the sufferings of Lucas. It occurred in this way : — "In 1753, a surplus after the public ser- vice remained in the treasury. The com- mons proceeded to bring in the heads of a bill to apply it to the payment of the national debt. The Duke of Dorset told them that the king ' consented, and recommended them to apply it to the reduction of the debt.' Consent involved a principle, and the com- mons took fire at the word. They sent the bill to England, taking no notice of the royal consent. The bill was transmitted with the consent introduced — the patriots were not strong enough to resist the change — but next year they rejected the bill, which had the same unconstitutional word. The king by his letters-patent taking the money out of the treasury, cut the matter short. It was an act of simple despotism, and excited such rage among the people, that the Duke of Dorset, formerly a most popular viceroy, fled the country in abject fear. However, despotism without corruption was not considered as a fit exemplar of government — and the matter for the present terminated by a title and a pension conferred on the greatest patriot of the day ; Henry Boyle bore about the blush- ing honours of his public virtue, emblazoned on the coronet of the Earl of Shannon. The primate did not fare so well, he was removed from the privy-council. The rest of the pat- riots found comfortable retreats in various lucrative oflices, and the most substantial compliments were paid to those who were noisiest in their patriotism and fiercest in their opposition. " A better spirit appeared on another ques- tion in 1757. Some strong resolutions of a committee appointed to inspect the public accounts were reported to the house, which determined that they, accompanied by their speaker, should attend the lord-lieutenant and should desire his excellency to lay the reso- lutions before the king. He gave a quibbling answer, but a refusal — a division ensued on the question whether his reply was satisfac- tory ; and the government was beaten by a majority of twenty-one." This well-condensed and admirably told account is taken from T. Mac-Nevin's " His- tory of the Volunteers of 1782," and he very properly treats the quarrel and its conse- quences as steps of the grand restoration of liberty that is in store for Ireland. In the beginning of 1760 a small French force, which left Dunkirk two or three months previously, landed at Carrickfergus and took the town, notwithstanding a determined re- sistance by the inhabitants. The invaders soon had to leave. The loyalty of the Cath- olics caused an announcement from England that the penal laws were to be mitigated. The Irish Brigade were winning the respect of Europe in the service of France. With the exception of the Dublin faction and their mobs, the Irish people were confiding their hopes in the future. CONFIRMATORY APPENDIX. 1727 TO 1760. " It will be remembered by our readers that the flower of the Irish army entered the service of France, after the peace of Limer- ick. That gallant body of men, nineteen A. D. 1760.] THIRD DIVISION 407 thousand strong, soon rendered themselves famous- in continental history. In every great battle did they signalize themselves by their bravery, till the Irish Brigade became a veord of terror to its enemies. The French government highly valued the services of their gallant allies, and resolved to keep up the strength and efficiency of the force by syste- matic recruiting. A regular traffic was ac- cordingly commenced and carried on, from most of the seaports in the south of Ireland, — contractors for recruits undertaking to sup- ply a certain number of men, and providing vessels for their transport." — Smiles. "We pass into the reign of George the Second. It began in the year 1727. He was an illiterate person ; no better than an ordinary farmer or yeoman ; he was tasteless, of narrow and inveterate prejudices. His predilections for his German connections led him into wars with Spain and France. In these wars England was soundly beaten, and beaten, too, principally by Irishmen who had enlisted in the armies of those countries then opposed to her. Spain took one hundred and fifty English ships during that war, while England took but one hundred and twenty- five Spanish ships. One of the chief grounds of war with the Spaniards was the right which England then assumed of searching their ships, which claim she relinquished on making peace with Spain. At Fontenoy, the English were beaten by the French army, when and where they were driven from the field with a loss of ten to fifteen thousand men. Among thdse French forces that cov- ered themselves with such glory, was the Irish Brigade, commanded by Dillon. It was in reference to these disasters, and hear- ing that Irish Catholics swarmed in the ar- mies of France, that George the Second exclaimed, in reference to the penal laws, ' Cursed be such laws, that rob me of such subjects !' " — MooNEY. " Any descriptive detail that we could give of the sufferings of the Irish people, during this lamentable period, must fall far short of the reality. It would, indeed, be impossible for any pen, no matter how graphic or elo- quent, to depict the daily and hourly suffer- ings of a whole people, endured, without in- termission, from infancy to old age — from the cradle to the grave. We can readily appre- ciate the miseries and horrors of a period of destructive civil warfare. We see the blood, we hear the groans, we witness the deaths ; the circumstances make a deep impression upon our minds, and we imagine them to be the very worst that civilized society can suffer. " But there is a greater misery than this, though one that is calculated to make less impression on the mind of the general ob- server. It is a period of slow national tor- ture, by means of the law — of quiet oppres- sion and tyranny, inflicted by a bigoted ' as- cendency' — of insult, and cruelty, and wrong, heaped upon an entire nation by act of par- liament — of calamity and mischief infficled upon a crushed and plundered people, for the exclusive benefit of the smallest and least deserving class in the state. What must be the feelings of a nation, when they perceive law and religion alike converted into instru- ments of torture against them — when they see justice systematically per\'erted, and gov- ernment used as a mere instrument of coer- cion and plunder !" — Smiles. " In one of his letters. Primate Boulter states the number of priests at three thou- sand, a number which seems incredible, con- sidering the violence of the persecution against them. Many of them, indeed, had returned from exile, and displayed that invincible cour- age and persevering constancy which religion inspires. The spirit which invited them to the ministry lightened their chains and bolts, illuminated their dungeons, supported them in exile, and prompted them to return, under fictitious names, at the risk of their lives. These were mostly the sons of reduced gen- tlemen, had tasted of ease and affluence in their younger years, and were accustomed to refinement of manners and the graces of edu- cation ; they were now confined to the asso- ciation of poverty and ignorance, were ex- posed to the merciless pursuit of priest- catchers, and to the cold, and damps, and starvation, of bogs and caverns. When the rage of persecution abated, they issued from their hiding-places bareheaded, barefooted, 406 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1761. half naked, and half famished ; proceeded from cabin to cabin, instructing the ignorant, consoling the unfortunate, infusing the balm of religion into the wounds of the wretched. Against these men the iron hand of power was raised to crush them as the last of male- factors." O'CONOR. " After the Revolution, the Catholics had literally nothing but their virtue to support them. They were destitute of friends in every quarter. I have accordingly shown to what a degree they were the victims of wan- ton persecution, while the whigs and the tories contended, in pure spite to each other, whicii should afflict the ' papists' most." — J. MiLNER. " After this enumeration, will you, Illus- trious Lady, be pleased to recollect that every one of these enactments, that each and every of these laws, was a palpable and direct vio- lation of a solemn treaty to which the faith and honour of the British Crown was pledged, and the justice of the English nation une- quivocally engaged." — O'Connell. ** The appeals of the opposition to the na- tion awakened the attention of the people to political subjects, and called into the field an obscure individual, who quickly outstripped the tardy march of the aristocratic patriots. Charles Lucas, an apothecary, having become a member of the common council of the city of Dublin, commenced a vigorous attack on the usurpations of the board of aldermen. His views expanded as he went on ; and he published several tracts on the rights of the people, and the claims of Ireland to legisla- tive independence. The oligarchy became alarmed : they had struggled for their own power : but now there was reason to fear that the nation would reap the benefit of their exertions : they therefore joined the govern- ment to crush Lucas as a common enemy." Taylor. " When the dawn of political liberty begins to diffuse itself over a nation, great and gifted characters suddenly spring up from among the people ; animated by new subjects, their various talents and principles become de- veloped — they interweave themselves with the events of their country, become insepara- ble from its misfortunes, or identified with its prosperity." — J. Barrington. " It was important to have cleared the way to the king, but more important to have chas- tised the insolence of his deputy. The spirit of the debates was animated and just — it breathed of legislative freedom ; and though the doctrines were not yet ripened, nor the courage of men sufficient to demand a con- stitution, every successive triumph over the English interest — each victory over the inso- lence of power prepared the nation for what was to be. The fruit was slowly but surely coming to its maturity : the seed which was planted by tlie learning of Molyneux, and tended by the genius of Swift, and intrepidity of Lucas, was soon to break the earth and ripen to the glory of the country. The nation waited but an example of successful patriot- ism ; and all the subsequent events prepared the mind of Ireland for the lessons of freedom which were before long to be borne across the Atlantic from a young and liberated world."— T. Mac-Nevin. CHAPTER III. Accession of George the Third — Continued agitation in Ireland — Right of petition, and encouragement of the manufacture of paper by the receivers — Lucas — Flood — G rattan — Burke — Revolution of the American colonies — Sympathy of Irishmen — Organization of the Volunteers. If a History of Ireland were to be com- posed m a thousand chapters, each chapter ouglit to contain a caution against the " soph- ism of name." The sources of political gov- ernment and moral instruction were so poi- soned and perverted in Ireland during the first half of the eighteenth century that it is difficult for the most studied inoffensiveness to express the accompanying circumstances in pleas- ing language. In exposing the rapacity of the heads of the established church we wish not to be understood as attacking Protestant- ism. It is done to expose the robbers who now affect to despise Ireland for being so poor and troublesome. This caution is given here, not on account of any lack of intelligence in readers, but because the thieves cry out. A. D. 1764.] THIRD DIVISION. 409 when exposed in their villany, " Oh, we will settle that writer. We will either smother his book with contempt, or, if we must notice it in our reviews, all we have to do is to call him a Catholic or an Infidel : the good public will do all the vulgarity of the quarrelling for us, and we can pluck the fat goose at our leisure." Sincerely wishing to unite the Irish people, how could we propose to offend those who may think proper to be Protestants ? Sin- cerely desiring the unity of all mankind in the attainment of freedom, why should we not point out their real enemies ? These enemies wallow in the income of deceit and destruc- tion, and it is our duty to ungown the Cant- wells who live by instigating the bad passions of their Maw- worms. As regards the course of the " ascendency" party in Ireland, Dr. Madden informs us — " The penal code was framed for the pro- tection of confiscated property ; and the as- sumed hostility to the religion of the people who were dispossessed, was only a prac- tice in accordance with the purport and pretence of the iniquitous statutes which had already legalized three general confiscations within a period of two hundred years. This legalized system of rapine and proscription has been productive of evils which still are felt ; and those who, along with the lands of the proscribed people, obtained all the politi- cal privileges that were thought essential to the security of their new possessions, would have been more just than the generality of mankind, if, having power to protect the spoils they had obtained, or were encouraged to expect, they had not abused their privileges, and did not see in every extension of the people's liberties, another encroachment on the limits, now daily narrowing, of their power, property, and political pre-eminence." Gradually the Protestant people discovered the position that they and their English breth- ren were in ; and now, indeed, the history of Ireland is rendered full of instruction. But the greatest errors and real ignorance exist where the established church is strongest — England. The consummate hypocrisy of the legalized wolves still contributes to give out 52 the idea that if Ireland only had the " bless- ings" of England they would be found suita- ble for Ireland. A greater delusion cannot be invented. It merely serves to mislead the Irish people, divide the energies of her ad- vocates, and perpetuate the security of her enemies. What "blessings'' can England give to Ireland ? Ask the factory myriads and the chain-clanking miners. Ask the voter who is disfranchised unless he pays up his church-rate. Ask the thousands who pine in genteel obscurity and unmarketable honesty. Ask them : their answers will illustrate the wide difference between the " government of England" and " the English government" — a difference as wide as that between the followers of religion and the traders of religion, Taylor says — " The English people always regard their constitution with just pride ; and they thought that the blessings of good government must be secured to every country' in which it was established. They did not reflect, that the mere forms of the constitution may be pre- served, and yet more cruel despotism exist than Rome witnessed in the days of Nero. The mistake was very natural ; but it was, at the same time, as gross a mistake as was ever made by a nation." This difference is well understood now in England, and many a noble heart beats high with the recognition. But these noble hearts have little power against the proud, unscru- pulous, and insatiable wretches who have become initiated and identified with the secret tyranny of " the government of England." It was America that put the difference into shape, and explained it to the world ! A new light burst forth in and shone upon Ireland — the light of real freedom. Let one of Ire- land's sons tell the glad tidings : — " The reign of George the Third was one which, beyond all others, destructive to the glory and injurious to the prestige of England, in which her armies were captured, her flag dishonoured, and her policy made a sport and a scorn, was distinguished in the history of Ireland for struggles of lofty patriotism and national virtue. Yet the commencement of 410 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1769. the reign was not auspicious. The country was torn by the agrarian outrages of the White Boys, Oak Boys, and the Hearts of Steel. The peasantry, labouring under every form of exaction, ground into the dust by the requisitions of the landlord and the visitations of the iminemorially accursed agent of clerical right, the titlie-proctor, rose in riot to do vio- lence against a system they only knew by their miseries. However, the remedy was at hand — not to lessen rent or abolish tithe : the ready gibbet did its duty, and tranquillity was restored. Meanwhile, emigration drew away thousands from the north of Ireland ; and the armies of America gained many a recruit throuurh the active services of the driver and the tilhe-proctor. " One of the greatest measures which the patriots carried was the Octennial Bill. Lu- cas had worked with incessant energy in the service of his country ; but disiieartened with repeated failure, and having but little hope of effecting substantial constitutional freedom, he often sighed with the bitterness of a good man working in vain. But he worked. One object of his struggles often sought for, always eluding his grasp, was to limit the duration of parliament. The lease for life which men held in their seats rendered responsibility a delusion, — and the length to wliich their cor- rupt services might thus extend, made the wages of servility enormous. It was an evil of serious magnitude, and Lucas met it with boldness, and at length triumphed over it. The Octennial Bill was sent to England, and returned. It passed both houses and received the royal assent. The horses were taken from the viceroy's carriage, and the people drew him home. Some doubts arose as to the benefits produced by this bill in the way designed by its framers ; but no one doubted that the spirit discovered by the patriot party in the house produced effects at the time and somewhat later, which cannot be overstated or overvalued. It may, indeed, be doubted whether any measure, however beneficial in itself, could in those days of venality and oppression, with a constitution so full of blemishes, and a spirit of intolerance influen- cing the best and ablest men of the day, such as Lucas, for example, could be productive of any striking or permanent advantage. We must not be astonished then that the Octen- nial Bill was found incommensurate with the expectations of the patriots, who might have looked for the reasons of this and similar disappointments in their own venality, intol- erance, fickleness, and shortcomings, if they had ciiosen to reflect on themselves and their motives. The real advantages are to be found in the principles propounded and the spirit displayed in the debates. " The next parliament after the passing of the Octennial Bill met on the 17th of October, 1769. Lord Townshend was lord-lieutenant. The struggle between the English interest and the patriots was never more violent, and never more successful, on the part of the friends of the people, than in the parliament which Lord Townshend met. He came to Ireland the master of parliamentary tactics — a practised manager of contumacious senators. No effects were too unlikely or too remote for his genius to attempt — and he had his hands filled to overflowing with those splen- did excuses for political profligacy which the patriots of that day appreciated but too well. But Lord Townshend, in making his bargains with recreant patriotism, had left open one question on which the Irish members ap- peared obstinate — the right to resist the ori- ginating of money bills in England. " The Enghsh privy-council claimed this risht to the destruction of the constitutional powers of the Irish commons. The latter refused to pass a money bill, sent from Eng- land, and added the causes of the rejection, that it had originated in the English privy- council and not in the Irish legislature. Lord Townshend sought to place his protest on the books of the commons ; they would not per- mit so gross an encroachment on their privi- leges- The lords, however, did not refuse, and it was solemnly recorded in their books ; but it does not seem to have done much for the English interest, to restore which to all its pristine vigour was the special mission of Townshend to Ireland. The Money Bill was again refused by ninety-four to seventy- one, and it was resolved that the bill was A. D. 1770.] THIRD DIVISION. 411 rejected because it did not take its rise in the Irish commons. These affairs gave great umbrage in England ; and the press there abounded with: the most insulting representa- tions of the transaction. Woodfall's ' Public Advertiser' of the 9th of December, contain- ing some offensive paragraphs, the Irish com- mons remembered the precedents of England, and ordered the paper to be burned by the hangman. They further resolved to address the lord-lieutenant, to inform them whether it was his intention to prorogue the house ; and they carried the address by a majority of one hundred and six to seventy-three. The sec- retary brouglit up to the house his reply, which was not gracious, and he put an end to his own discomfitures and the triumphs of the patriots by proroguing parliament with most indecent haste. This measure, while it enabled him to set more active agencies at work to diminish the force of the opposition, and consolidate the English interest, * to do the king's business' more effectually than he had done it since his arrival, gave great cause of anger and disgust to the parliament and the people of Ii-eland. He dismissed the members in a short and offensive speech, which the house with great spirit refused to insert upon their journals. Upon the occasion of this prorogation, unexpected and uncon- stitutional, Mr. Ponsonby, the speaker, made a speech at the bar of the house of lords, of which the journals take no notice whatsoever. Plowden says that his speech was very spirited- It appears to have been peculiarly tame. It is filled with the usual servile common-places ; testifies the accustomed loyalty to his majesty's person, and presents two bills of supply, voted during the last session. It is not singular that the house of lords takes no notice of the speech. " Lord Harcourt succeeded Lord Town- shend, and adopted his policy of consolidating the English interest. In the same degree that the feeling and organization of a national party were growing stronger, the exertions of the faction in the confidence of government became zealous to create an antagonist influ- ence. However, Lord Harcourt had one merit, the proposition of an absentee tax of two shillings in the pound on the net results of all landed property, payable by all parlies not residing in the country for six months. It is wonderful how old are most of the reme- dies which modern conservatism stigmatizes with the name of innovation. The proposal was, however, by the usual influence, re- jected ; but by a small majority. Conces- sions, too, were made in this administration to the Catholics. But its general lone and temper was tyrannic and profligate. The national debt was increased, and several pen- sions created to reward the usual services which England stood in need of here. " The American question was every day becoming serious ; the last resort of war had nearly arrived, and it is strange enough that just at the time the colonies were breaking out into open insurrection, the strong analo- gies between the case of America and Ireland were pointed out by a furious English mem- ber, Mr. Rigby, who had been secretary to the Duke of Bedford, and who held what was then a sinecure, the office of ]\Iaster of the Rolls in Ireland. In a debate on certain commercial advantages about to be extended by the house of commons in England to the Irish people, this Rigby said that ' the Par- liament of England had a right to tax Ireland in all cases whatsoever as well as America* " The expression was fortunate ; it sug- gested identity of grievance and identity of resistance. The analogy was entirely com- plete when the arms of America vindicated her freedom, and when the constitution of Ireland was restored by the Declaration of Right. In both cases there was rude aggres- sion — in both cases the right assumed to dic- tate legislation — in both cases there was tax- ation without representation — in both cases the people flew to arms — in both cases they triumphed ; but in the case of Ireland, the fruits of hard-won victory were lost — but not forever. " The season of war was in England made a season of commercial speculation and fur- ther plunder of Ireland. Under the plausible excuse of preventing this country from sup- plying America with provisions, an embargo was laid on their exportation. The real dc- 412 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1776. sign of this ruinous measure, was to allow the British speculators to ply their trade without any rivalry. The poverty and the perils of the country at this period may be imagined from two propositions made by the government. One was to draw 4000 troops out of the establishment, which were not to be paid by Ireland unless when employed in that country : another was to introduce 4000 foreign troops into the kingdom. These troops, as an inducement, were to be Protest- ants. But the Protestant parliament of Ire- land spurned the servile thought, and nega- tived the proposition of the minister by a large majority. They addressed the lord- lieutenant, and assured him that they would render such a measure unnecessary by their own exertions. This was a great step to- wards liberty. " We have now arrived at the period of the American Revolution, the giant-birth of a new world of liberty. " The great questions involved in the dis- pute between England and her colonies, were also the subject of discussion between Eng- land and Ireland. It is not therefore at all surprising, tliat the development and progress of the Revolution were watched with great anxiety by the Irish people, and that they desired to view the triumph of their own principles, in the success of the American arms, and to read the final issue of their own efforts, in the establishment of a free govern- ment on the other side of the Atlantic. The example of America was contagious, and Ire- land was not long without showing some of the symptoms of revolution. " But there was another cause at work with the Irish nation in exciting the spirit which was so wonderfully heightened by the Revolution of the colonies : namely, the pov- erty of the people. The misery of the pea- sants ; the broken and decayed fortunes of the manufacturers ; the general decline or ruin of trade and commerce, were brought home without much difficulty to a long course of selfish legislation by the parliaments of England ; which tlie servile assemblies of Ireland had not the courage or the virtue to repudiate. " The latest act of English influence was before the nation in all its destructive effects. The embargo on the export of provisions, im- posed by a proclamation of the privy-council, had increased beyond measure the distresses of the people ; the manufacturers in Dublin were without employment ; the tables of the house groaned under the numerous petitions of the impoverished population ; and the many voices of wo spoke in the ears of a deaf and hardened government. The restric- tions on commerce went hand in hand with a profligate pension list, sinecure salaries, and wanton application of the public money, to the extravagance of administration. " Lord Harcourt left Ireland in 1776, and Lord Buckinghamshire assumed the reins of government, at a period when the distresses of the people were at their height. Govern- ment had little money to spare to alleviate the urgent wants of an impoverished country — the liberalities of the pension list, the enor- mous salaries to reward sycophancy and se- cret services, had drained the government purse, and taxed to the utmost the endurance of the people. The expenses in 1777, ex- ceeded by £^80,000 the revenue ; Ireland had been long a slave, she was now a bankrupt ; and had been brought to this state by the policy of England. The code of preventive law, which reduced the country to so impov- erished a condition, having no excuse in the religious passions, and being the result of mere monopoly, presents even more repug- nant features than the penal laws. The latter were intended to destroy a creed ; but the commercial restrictive code had a much wider object — to ruin a people. The laws against the Catholic were, to the greatest de- gree, sanguinary ; but those statutes which forbid industry, and made the gifts of God lie idly unproductive in the midst of an im- poverished people, were more abundant in the spirit of despotic evil than the other. ' The distresses of the kingdom,' said Grat- tan, ' are twofold : the poverty of the people, and the bankruptcy of the state. The first I will not ask the commissioners of the revenue to prove ; but I will ask them upon oath, whether the restrictions on our trade are not A. D. 1776.] THIRD DIVISION. 41S the cause ? Whether the prohibitions laid on by England against the exports of woollen cloths did not occasion it ? Whether there were not too many inhabitants in this king- dom, though not half peopled ? Whether, if to those inhabitants the American continent were still open, would they not have emi- grated thither, rather than pine in their native land the victims of English tyranny — rather than starve in it by an English act of parlia- ment V " This elegant extract, from T. Mac-Nevin's writings, shows the mind of a man who is an American in heart and sentiment, uncon- sciously. The Americans did not offend in advoca- ting liberty or in going to heaven their own way. Their offences, in the eyes of that which goes by the name of " the English government," consisted in presuming to claim the benefits of their own labour and legisla- tion; in building saw-mills and other im- provements ; in making their own hats as well as wearing their own heads ; and in daring to require the home government to pay proper attention to the petitions of the people. The facility with which the Er^lish government "receives" petitions is truly won- derful. The sanctimonious scoundrels are aware that the people of England were once free in fact and in truth ; it is therefore, as Doctor O'Toole would say, " a part of the system" to let petitions be " received" at all events. But these Americans actually pre- sumed to think that constitutional petitions should have constitutional treatment. The results, which are inseparable from Irish his- tory, are thus told in the spirited style of Mooney, being a sort of musical accompani- ment in the relation of the noble struggles of those American colonists who taught the world a never-dying lesson, and gave a prac- tical and political vitality to the maxim — " Dormitur aliquando jus, moritur nun- quamr Hear Mooney, who has heard " both sides" of the Atlantic, in calms and in storms : — " Then came the propositions to tax the colonies, for the purpose of drawing revenue to England. An agitation in opposition to these measures was begun in Philadelphia, in 1764, by Mr. Charles Thompson, an Irish- man, afterwards the secretary of Congress. The agitation was continued and extended. Benjamin Franklin was sent to London by Pennsylvania to remonstrate with the minis- try ; other states also appointed him their agent. He could effect nothing; he wrote a letter to Thompson, saying, ' The sun of liberty is set ; we must now light up the can- dles of industry.' Thompson replied, ' Be assured we shall light up torches of a very different kind.' The agitation was continued. On the ISlh of December, 1773, several armed persons, at Boston, in the disguise of Mohawk Indians, boarded three ships laden with tea, and threw the entire of the cargoes overboard, without doing further damage. The ships belonged to the East India Com- pany. Similar resistance to the tax was made in New York and South Carolina. A cargo of tea landed in New York, under pro- tection of a man-of-war, was obliged to be locked up. " In 1774, the stamp and other bills were withdrawn by the British minister ; but the American people, now surprised at their own strength, looked for a free trade, and liberty to use their own great resources. " In January, 1775, thirty men-of-war were fitted out, by England, to scour the Ameri- can coast, and prevent the colonies receiving European manufactures. In February, a hot debate took place in the British parliament, on the propriety of coercing the Americans — carried in the affirmative, by ayes 304, noes 105. In the minority were Edmund Burke, Barr}^ Connolly, and other Irishmen. " Mr. Burke, in his celebrated speech, 22d of March, 1775, moved his thirteen concilia- tory resolutions towards America, which were rejected, noes 270, ayes 78. The royal as- sent was given to a bill for restraining the trade of the colonies of New England, and preventing their fishing on the banks of New- foundland. " Mr. Wilkes, as Mayor of 'London, went up with an address to the king, approving of the resistance of the Americans, and praying the dismissal of ministers. 4U HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1776. " Meetings were held in Belfast, in Ire- '\ and his brave volunteers, many of whom land, approving of the resistance of the Amer- J! were Irishmen, from the Irish settlement of icans ! Subsequent meetings in that town Londonderry, in New Hampshire, — on which sent money to the American patriots. occasion he destroyed a British detachment, " A petition was brought up by Mr. Burke, kilhng and capturing more than nine hundred, from Bristol, approving of the resistance of in a desperate assault, — led to a series of still the Americans. A great excitement grew up in London in consequence. " The delegates of the thirteen colonies of America met at Philadelphia, 10th May, 1775, and formed a congress. To this con- gress Mr. Charles Thompson, the Irish agita- tor, was appointed secretary. He had been more brilliant victories in the north, which ended in the capture of Burgoyne, at Sara- toga, with five thousand Enghsh troops, arms, and baggage ! " This brilliant run of victory changed, ac- cording to Jefferson, the whole aspect of the war ; from a period of gloom, disaster, and one of the leading agitators against the power p despondency, which was previously experi- of England for the previous ten years. He || enced by Washington's diminished army, was, in fact, among the first who raised the every battle was now better sustained. The standard of opposition to the tyranny of Eng- land ; and he had the signal honour of bearing the commission of appointment from congress to the immortal Washington to take the com- mand of the forces of the United Slates. "On the 19th of April, 1775, the first Americans supported more vigorously the cause of liberty, and, amid great privations, defeated the British in several engagements. At length, on the 8th of February, 1778, Lord North introduced his bill into the Brit- ish house of commons, which proposed to blood was shed at Lexington, and the battle 1; concede every thing the Americans contended of Bunker Hill, in which the king's army lost Ij for, except their nominal independence of the upwards of one thousand men, took place on i crown ' the 17th of June following. " Montgomery, an Irish commander, of brilliant talents, as major-general of the nor- thern army, penetrated into Canada, and cap- tured Montreal, in the name of the United States. He, afterwards, with a hardy band from thence, attacked Quebec by a coup de main. They carried the first redoubts ; but one of a company of British soldiers, in re- tiring from their ground, fired off a cannon loaded with grape, which killed the brave Montgomery as he was encouraging his men to the advance. " The first naval battle, on the American shores, was fought in the harbour of Mar- garetta, where O'Brien, an Irishman, was placed, by twenty-seven volunteers, in com- mand ; and a British sloop-of-war was taken. John Barry, an Irishman, from Wexford, vol- unteered as a navy captain, and received the command of one of the first American-built war-ships. He acted bravely on the seas, as the eventful pages of American history testify. *' The brilliant exploit, at Bennington, of Stark, (whose mother was an Irishwoman,) j state of the country, extend over the entire *' The sudden abandonment of all points in dispute produced astonishment in the house, and his lordship's proposition was received, says the Annual Register, with a * dull, mel- ancholy silence.' " In a few days after this, the independ- ence of the United States was acknowledged by France. Franklin, Silas Deane, and Ar- thur Lee, were publicly received at the French court as the ambassadors of the Uni- ted States of America. A PVench army was then voted to aid the patriots, and from thenceforward their cause rose in Europe, and America, until at length they triumphed. America soon after established her independ- ence, which was the first move in advance towards establishing greater liberties IN Europe." To fully understand the real value of the " right of petition" in the practice of the un- warrantable upstarts who presume to act as the British government, let us again consult the classic elegance of T, Mac-Nevin • — " Addresses complaining of the miserable A. D. 1776.] THIRD DIVISION 415 reigns of Anne and George the First. The Irish parhament was confined to addresses — for, while the records of their proceedings are but the cries of distress, we find no ac- tive legislation ; whatever was their will, they had been stripped of their power by the usur- pations of England. In 1728 and 1729, there w^as a great scarcity of corn, and general ap- prehensions of famine ; in 1731, there was a deficiency in the revenue. In 1740, for the second time in a few years, a scarcity of pro- visions was felt. The deaths of the people — those unrecorded and silent executions by famine and by misery, were frightfully in- creased beyond the usual proportion — manu- facturers had no money to buy corn, and the farmers had no market for their produce — and we cannot better obtain a true estimate of the poverty of the nation, than by the fol- lowing fact. The national debt of Ireland commenced in 1715; it was £16,106 lis. l-2d., and increased in a short time to <£:371,312 12s. 2 l-2d. ; and to pay this sum, which modern extravagance would think a very mean item in the budget of a minister, occupied the nation forty years, and exhausted all the experiments of struggling bankruptcy, loans, and national mendicancy. " Rapidly and surely did poverty over- spread our country. The monstrous specta- cle was seen of a nation immersed in want, yet with a productive soil, a laborious peas- antry, a mild climate ; with all the means of wealth scattered around, and all the material of tiiriving manufacture wooing the industry of the hungry and oppressed. Without his sin, the people suffered the punishment of the son of Jove ; they were condemned to hun- ger and thirst in the midst of plenty ; their outstretched hands were stayed by the man- date of English avarice, and their parched lips denied the cooling draught by the dread- ful decree of foreign tyranny. * * * English law, and Irish servility, had created the stri- king contrast between the bounty of Nature, and the poverty of iMan. *' The want of industry soon produced crime ; and the outbreaking of the White- boys in 1762, was an indication of that great suffering which had been relieved out of the public purse, in the viceroyalty of the Duke of Bedford, in 1754, when £20,000 was voted to stay the steps of famine. The em- ployment of the people was suggested as a remedy — but the gibbet, as more simple in its stern activity, was adopted. In 1771, the revenue was again deficient, and the bounties and public works were left unprovided for ; and in the years 1772, 1773, and 1774, the linen trade, the only remaining manufacture that survived the wreck of general prosperity, shared the depression, and declined consid- erably. Yet, with all this want, with utter ruin approaching, the large sum of £1,401,925 was sent abroad to pay troops, from the year 1751 to 1778. " Thus, at the period when the American contest attracted the earnest attention of Eu- rope, but most peculiarly of the Irish people, the state of the country had reached a state of depression, between which and destruction there was scarcely one step to be passed. " There was one consolation to be derived from ' contemplating the results of the evil policy of government : those who distributed ruin were not without their share of general calamity. The embargo on Irish exports consummated the destruction of the industry of the people, and the disasters of govern- ment. It w-as a measure adopted contrary to lofty and generous public opinion in both countries. Mr. Pery wrote to 8ir R. Heron, the English secretary in Ireland, stating facts of a mosXmarvellous description, and ventur- ing upon predictions which would have been marvellous but that they were fully verified by time. Several Englishmen of principle, Lord Newhavcn and the Marquis of Rock- ingham among the number, pressed on the parliament of England the propriety of grant- ing to the Irish nation the liberty of exporting their produce, with the extraordinary excep- tion of their woollens, which formed a princi- pal ingredient. Lord Weymouth, however, resisted so dangerous a concession to the claims of Ireland ; and the only compromise which was effected, was an Export Bill, with the special exception of woollens and cottons. The Bristol merchants, who appear through the whole history of English avarice and ty- 410 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1777. ranny to have been influenced by a policy pre-eminently mean, selfish, and grasping — the genuine spirit of paltrj' trade — went so far as to heap insults on their representative, Edmund Burke, for supporting the measure, " The results of this barbarous system can be studied in the letters which passed be- tween the lord-lieutenant and Lord Wey- mouth. The former bitterly complains of the peculiar grievance under which the Irish government laboured — ' disappointments in respect of money.' The pauper executive had got a loan of £20,000 from the banking- house of the Messrs. La Touche — it tried again, but the fountain was dry ; the prudent money-dealers sent back word, that ' it was not in their power, though very much in their inclination.' " Bearing these facts in mind, let us ob- serve the progress of affairs in America. By the efforts of the colonies of England, Irish- men were, to a considerable extent, guided and influenced ; and from the analogies of the case of Ireland, and the case of America, they learned to appreciate more deeply, as well the infringements on their rights as the only substantial remedy of their grievances, " The English parliament, disregarding those principles of the English constitution which the colonists had carried with them to the new world, had, in 1765, imposed on the American colonies, without the consent of their local parliaments or councils, a stamp tax. Its payment was resisted ; and the tyrannous measure denounced from New York to Georgia. In deference to the irrita- ted patriotism of the colonies, the stamp duty was repealed in the following year ; but the English parliament, who, while they fled from their own measure, were unwilling to relinquish the privileges of unconstitutional interference, in 1767, imposed six duties, to be collected in America. Five of these duties were repealed — the mixture of shrinking and interference was astonishing. But the duty on tea was left unrepealed ; and this miserable i tax, as Burke said, ' shook the pillars of a commercial empire that circled the globe.' " America stood upon the ancient ways of the British constitution ; she denied that any right existed to tax her in a legislature where she was unrepresented ; she appealed as well to the spirit of British law as to the precedent the British minister himself had set in the repeal of the stamp duty. But strong meas- ures, and a more intelligible mode of reason- ing, were adopted by the fiery spirits of New England. Disguised as Mohawk Indians, a crowd of bold young men seized upon three chests of duty-paying tea, and plunged the slavish luxury into the waters of the Bay of Boston. These were noble precedents to teach a nation how freedom may be won, and how deserved — they were not forgotten by the Volunteers. " The Americans had, up to 1775, avoided the last resort of war. But a rumour was circulated through the colonies, that German mercenaries — the habitual vicarious butchers of England, who did her coarser work — were to be employed against their liberties, and they renounced an allegiance which could only be preserved by treason to their country. They planted the seed which ripened in the French Revolution ; and the declaration of Independence by Congress, on July 6th, 1776, was the declaration of war against old and obsolete opinions, systems, and despo- tisms ; it was the first great movement of the world's mind towards popular power. " It was impossible that an excitable peo- ple, like the Irish, suffering under analogous wrongs, could have watched the throes of the great birth of freedom, without catching some of the noble fire which inflamed their distant brethren. And though ' four thousand armed negotiators' were voted by the house of com- mons, * to cut the throats of the Americans,' the people shared little of the feeling of their government, and proudly pointed to the bri- gades of Irishmen who fought in the ranks of freedom, as an expiation for the services of their mercenary counlr}men. Much did they regret, then, the early ill-fortune of the Americans. The efforts of the republicans were at first unsuccessful ; defeat followed defeat ; and the victories of England prom- ised wo in every form to the conquered. Philadelphia surrendered ; Washington was twice beaten with considerable loss ; Howe A. D. 1779.] THIRD DIVISION 417 scoured the banks of the Delaware ; and it was not until far in the year 1777, that vic- tory declared for the patriots. But when Victory came, she came with a liberal hand ; an entire English army under Burgoyne was captured ; Clinton retreated before the Ameri- cans ; and to crown the successes of the army of liberty, France declared herself the ally of the republican government. " Singular contrast ! England, the boasted friend of freedom, warring against the princi- ples her own constitution taught — France, the despot of centuries, fighting in the ranks of liberty !" The successes of the Americans caused astonishing changes in the ranks of all the parties, however confirmed, in English poli- tics. The mercantile portion of the whig party, in particular, became all at once very friendly with the bishops and blockheads of the court. The following is Burke's defence of his course, addressed to his angry and money-making constituents at Bristol, in 1779 :— " It has been said, and it is the second charge, that, in the questions of the Irish trade, I did not consult the interests of my constituents, or, to speak out strongly, that I rather acted as a native of Ireland, than as an English member of parhament. " I certainly have very warm good wishes for the place of my birth. But the sphere of my duties is my true country. It was as a man attached to your interests, and zealous for the conservation of your power and dignity, that I acted on that occasion, and on all occasions. You were involved in the American war. A new world of policy was opened, to which it was necessary we should conform, whether we would or NOT ; and my only thought was how to con- form to our situation in such a manner as to unite to this kingdom, in prosperity and affec- tion, whatever remained of the empire, I was true to my old, standing, invariable principle, that all things, which came from Great Britain, should issue as a gift of her bounty and beneficence, rather than as claims recovered against a struggling litigant ; or at least, that if your beneficence obtained no 53 credit in your concessions, yet that they should appear the salutary provisions of your wisdom and. foresight ; not as things wrung from you with your blood, by the cruel gnpe of a rigid necessity. The first concessions, by being (much against my will) mangled and stripped of the parts whicli were neces- sary to make out their just correspondence and connection in trade, were of no use. The next year a feeble attempt was made to bring the thing into better shape. This attempt, (countenanced by the minister,) on the very first appearance of some popular uneasiness, was, after a considerable progress through the house, thrown out by him. " What was the consequence ? The whole kingdom of Ireland was instantly in a flame. Threatened by foreigners, and, as they thought, insulted by England, they resolved at once to resist the power of France, and to cast off yours. As for us, we were neither able to protect nor to restrain them. Forty thousand men were raised and disciplined without commission from the crown. Two illegal armies were seen with banners displayed at the same time, and in the same country. No executive magistrate, no judicature, in Ire- land, would acknowledge the legality of the army which bore the king's commission ; and no law, or the appearance of law, authorized the army commissioned by itself. In this unexampled state of things, which the least error, the least trespass on the right or left, would have hurried down the precipice into an abyss of blood and confusion, the people of Ireland demanded a freedom of trade with arms in their hands. They interdict all com- merce between the two nations. They deny all new supply in the house of commons, although in time of war. They stint the trust «f the old revenue, given for two years to all the king's predecessors, to six months. The British parliament, in a former session, frightened into a hmited concession by the menaces of Ireland, frightened out of it by the menaces of England, was now frightened back again, and made a universal surrender of all that had been thought the peculiar, reserved, uncommunicable rights of England ; — the exclusive commerce of America, of 418 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1777. Africa, of the West Indies — all the enumera- tions of the acts of navigation — all the manu- factures — iron, glass, even the last pledge of jealousy and pride, the interest hid in the secret of our hearts, the inveterate prejudice moulded into the constitution of our frame, even the sacred fleece itself, went together. No reserve, no exception, no debate, no dis- cussion. A sudden light broke in upon us all. It broke in, not through well-contrived and well-disposed windows, but through flaws and breaches ; through the yawning chasms of our ruin. We were taught wisdom by humiliation. No town in England presumed to have a prejudice, or dared to mutter a petition. What was worse, the whole parlia- ment of England, which retained authority for nothing but surrenders, was despoiled of every shadow of its superintendence. It was, without any qualification, denied in theory, as it had been trampled upon in practice. This scene of shame and disgrace has, in a man- ner while I am speaking, ended by the per- petual establishment of a military power, in the dominions of this crown, without consent of the British legislature,* contrary to the policy of the constitution, contrary to the declaration of right : and by this, your lib- erties are swept away along with your su- preme authority — and both, linked together from the beginning, have, I am afraid, both together perished forever. " What ! gentlemen, was I not to foresee, or, foreseeing, was I not to endeavour to save you from all these multiplied mischiefs and disgraces ? Would the little, silly, canvass prattle of obeying instructions, and having no opinions but yours, and such idle, senseless tales, which amuse the vacant ears of un- thinking men, have saved you from 'the pelting of that pitiless storm,' to which the loose improvidence, the cowardly rashness, of those who dare not look danger in the face, so as to provide against it in time, and therefore threw themselves headlong into the midst of it, have exposed this degraded na- tion, beaten down and prostrate on the earth, unsheltered, unarmed, unresisting ? Was I an Irishman on that day that I boldly with- * Irish Perpetual Mutiny Act stood our pride ? or on the day that I hung down my head, and wept in shame and si- lence over the humiliation of Great Britain ? I became unpopular in England for the one, and in Ireland for the other. What then ? What obligation lay on me to be popular ? I was bound to serve both kingdoms. To be pleased with my service was their affair, not mine. " I was an Irishman in the Irish business, just as much as I was an American, when, on the same principles, I wished you to con- cede to America, at a time when she prayed concession at our feet. Just as much was I an American when I wished parliament to offer terms in victory, and not to wait the well-chosen hour of defeat, for making good by weakness, and by supplication, a claim of prerogative, pre-eminence, and authority, " Instead of requiring it from me, as a point of duty, to kindle with your passions, had you all been as cool as I was, you would have been saved disgraces and dis- tresses that are unutterable. Do you re- member our commission ? We sent out a solemn embassy across the Atlantic ocean, to lay the crown, the peerage, the commons of Great Britain, at the feet of the American congress. That our disgrace might want no sort of brightening and burnishing, observe who they were that composed that famous embassy. My Lord Carlisle is among the first ranks of our nobility. He is the identical man who but two years before had been put forward, at the opening of a session in the house of lords, as the mover of a haughty and rigorous address against America. He was put in the front of the embassy of sub- mission. Mr. Eden was taken from the office of Lord Suffolk, to whom he was then under secretary of state ; from the office of that Lord Suffolk, who, but a few weeks before, in his place in parliament, did not deign to inquire where a 'congress of va- grants' was to be found. This Lord Suffolk sent Mr. Eden to find these vagrants, without knowing where this king's generals were to be found, who were joined in the same com- mission of supplicating those whom they were sent to subdue. They enter the capital A. D. 1780.] THIRD DIVISION. 419 of America only to abandon it ; and these assertors and representatives of the dignity of England, at the tail of a flying army, let fly their Parthian shafts of memorials and remonstrances at random behind them. Their promises and iheir offers, their flatteries and their menaces, were all despised ; and we were saved the disgrace of their formal recep- tion, only bec?iuse the congress scorned to receive them ; while the state-house of in- dependent Philadelphia opened her doors to the public entry of the ambassador of France. From war and blood we went to submission ; and from submission plunged back again to war and blood ; to desolate and be desolated, without measure, hope, or end. I am a royalist, I blushed for this degradation of the crown. I am a whig, I blushed for the dis- honour of parhament. J am a true English- man, I felt to the quick for the disgrace of England. I am a man, I felt for the melan- choly reverse of human affairs, in the fall of the first power in the world. " To read what was approaching in Ire- land, in the black and bloody characters of the American war, was a painful, but it was a necessary part of my public duty. For, gentlemen, it is not your fond desires or mine that can alter the nature of things ; by con- tending against which what have we got, or shall ever get, but defeat and shame ? I did not obey your instructions : no, I con- formed to the instructions of truth and nature, and maintained your interest, against your opinions, with a constancy that became me. A representative worthy of you ought to be a person of stability. I am to look, indeed, to your opinions ; but to such opinions as you and I miLst have five years hence. I was not to look to the flash of the day. I knew that you chose me, in my place, along with others, to be a pillar of the state, and not a weather- cock on the top of the edifice, exalted for my levity and versatility, and of no use but to indicate the shiftings of every fashionable gale. Would to God, the value of my senti- ments on Ireland and on America had been at this day a subject of doubt and discussion ! No matter what my suffering had been, so that this kingdom had kept the authority I wished it to maintain, by a grave foresight, and by an equitable temperance in the use of its power." To return to Ireland. Here is a noble and lovely picture, drawn by T. Mac-Nevin : — "The 19th of April, 1780, was th'e day selected by G rattan to crown the triumph of the principles of Swift, of Molyneux, and Lucas. On that great day, he took posses- sion of the heritage of their wisdom, and gave form to their noblest conceptions. Every exertion had been made to impede him in his career; he had been treated as a Phaeton rashly meddling with the chariot of the sun ; he was described as a madman. But with wise passion he scanned the future, he de- cided that no time was to be given to the enemies of his country, and his assault upon old usurpation was one full of brilliancy, fire, and wisdom. No greater day, none of more glory ever rose upon this countr)^ than that which dawned upon the senate house of Ire- land, on the 19th of April, 1780. The dull chronicles of the time, and the meager press which then represented popular opinion, are filled with details of the circumstances under which Grattan brought forward his Declara- tion of Right. They were circumstances certainly unequalled in our history, of milita- ry splendour and moral triumph. The streets around the Attic temple of legislation were thronged with the disciplined numbers of the Volunteers, and the impatient multitude of the people. The uniforms of the Irish army, the gaudy orange, the brilliant scarlet, and the chaster and more national green — turned up with different facings, according to the tastes of the various corps — contrasted gayly with the dark back-ground of the civilian mass, that watched with eager eyes the extraordi- nary scene. Over the heads of the crowd floated the banners of the Volunteers, with the watchwords of freedom and political re- generation worked in gold or silver on a giound of blue, green, or white. And truly, the issue to be tried within the walls of that magnificent building, was one great in its effects, and illustrious from the character of the contending parties. It was a trial of right between two great nations — but more, it was 430 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1780. to be either a precedent of freedom, or an ar- gument of usurpation. Much depended on the result, not alone as to the present inter- ests, but as to the future destinies of the country ; and the great men who were en- gaged in conducting this controversy of lib- erty were fully alive to the dignity of their parts, and fully competent to the successful discharge of the lofty mission they had un- dertaken, " Within the walls of the house of com- mons, a scene of great interest presented it- self to the eye. The galleries were thronged with women of the first fashion, beautiful, elegantly dressed, and filled with animated interest in the anticipated triumphs of an eloquence to wiiich the place was sacred. Scattered through the house, were several officers of the Volunteers ; for a Considerable number of the members held commissions in that great body. But the chief attractions of the house, were those distinguished men who were upon that day to make the noblest chapter in the history of Ireland — men cele- brated beyond those of almost any age for the possession of the highest of man's qualities, eloquence, wit, statesmanship, political wis- dom, and unbounded knowledge. There were to be seen and heard there that day, the graceful and eloquent Burgh — the intrepid advocate, the consummate orator, the im- maculate patriot, John Philpot Curran — the wise statesman, Flood — and the founder of Irish liberty, who watched it in its cradle, and who followed it to its grave, Grattan. Among the spectators, were Lifford, the chancellor, whose voice had negatived every liberty, and denied every concession — Charle- mont, the truest of patriots, but the worst of statesmen — and Frederick, (Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry,) whose coronet and miti-e could not keep down the ambition of a tribune, nor conceal the finest qualities of a demagogue. All eyes were turned to Grattan. * . ♦ * " The Volunteers were unpaid ; they were of the people, the children and champions of the state ; the preservation of public peace was an object most dear to them, not as a specific duty, but as a matter of pride and love ; and therefore the testimonies of all men, in the houses of parliament of England and of Ireland, and in the newspapers and political literature of the day, attribute to the existence of the Volunteers, the profound peace, the respect to law, and the regard for property which existed in Ireland during their confederation." The truth of this picture is confirmed by the testimony of a man not very likely to be influenced with superficial enthusiasm — Jere- my Bentham. He says — " Such being for five years together the effect of the volunteer system — of the will of the people manifesting itself on the principle of universal suffrage — in a word, of demo- cratic ascendency substituted for a mixture of monarchical and aristocratical ascendency under a foreign monarch, and calling itself ' Protestant ascendency' because it was by Protestant hands that the tyranny was exer- cised — such being the nature of the powerful influence exercised by the body of the people on the conduct of the government — what were the results ? " Subversion of the rights of property ? No such thing. Subversion of the constitu- tion ? No such thing. In the constitution of the kingdom of Ireland, a change was in- deed effected. But even on the occasion on which it was effected, numerous as were the authorities, without the concurrence of which the change neither was nor could have been effected, ample in every case was the ap- plause bestowed upon it. Scarcely in any one was an objection made to it — nor has so much as the shadow of an objection been raised against it since. The only flagrantly bad point removed, all the other points, good and bad together, continued as before. " Such being the institution — democratic ascendency — behold its fruits : tranquillity, harmony, morality, felicity, unexampled Such as they were — behold another miracle — by the evidence of all parties in one voice, their existence was acknowledged. People's men triumphed in their golden age, and re- corded it. Aristocratic whigs, even after they had succeeded in destroying it — in sub- stituting for it the iron age — trumpeted it, A. D. 1782] THIRD DIVISION. 421 calling it their own work. So conspicuous was it— T-so incontestable, that not even could the most zealous monarchists and tones for- bear confessing its existence." - The year 1781 closed in Ireland with a movement which is thus described by T. Mac-Nevin : — " On the 28th of December, 1781, the offi- cers and delegates of the Ulster first regi- ment, commanded by Lord Charlemont, as- sembled at Belfast to take into consideration the state of the country and the prospects of the national cause. Consideriqg what little attention the corrupt majority of the house of commons had paid to the constitutional rights of Ireland, they invited the Volunteer regi- ments of Ulster to assume the functions vir- tually abdicated by parliament, and to send delegates to deliberate on the alarming situa- tion of public affairs. They fixed upon the 15th February, 1782, for the intended con- vention, and Dungannon as the theatre of the warlike delegation." These glorious struggles, although after- wards made useless by the cajolery and ty- ranny of the British government, fully explain the readiness and facility with which Irish- men become good American citizens. The struggles of Ireland form the history of con- stitutional liberty. But our words are little needed in the observations of a discriminating reader. CONFIRMATORY APPENDIX. 1760 TO 1782. " Before the war against American inde- pendence, Ireland was poor, but owed no debt. That war was to her ^fraterna acies, for it was against the interests and inclina- tions of the majority of her people. It be- stowed upon her a debt of between two and three millions ; but it brought some advan- tage. It gave her her volunteer army, and somewhat of a national spirit, and won for her that sunny hour of independence and prosperity which, all transient as it was, suf- ficed to show what — with the free employ- ment of her own great national resources — she might soon become : and for a little sea- son, rare and wonderful, there was in Ireland peace, union, and contentment." — W. Samp- son. "After the laws had disfranchised four- fifths of the population, all the emoluments of office, all the wealth of the richest church in the world, all the distinctions of power, all the pomp, circumstance, and advantages of dominion fell into the lap of the favoured few. These men never wished to lessen the pretext of their gains ; they never sought the conversion of their helots by any means that ever made proselytes to any cause. " The domestic spoliation of the Catholics was the share of the Irish Protestants in this wholesale robbery. The spoliation of the Irish nation was the part of England in the boundless plunder : she took the whole trade, prosperity, and independence of Ireland, which the Irish Protestants freely surrendered for the license to pillage and tyrannize at home. These wrongs inflicted and endured begat mutual hatred and frequent collision, and will account for the little union among Irishmen, and the ferocity of character to be found in those districts where the adverse parties came oftenest into contact. " This barter of a nation's rights for the lucre of a faction is what was called the Prot- estant ascendency in church and state. It was also called the British constitution." — W. J. Mac-Neven. "The organization of the Volunteers spread like lightning through the land. The Prot- estants of the country thronged the ranks : the leading noblemen and gentlemen assumed command. But there was one great section of the people, which at this time of peril from foreign foe, and weakness of the government, might have been well excused if they had stood aloof in cold indifference or moody an- ger. What had the Catholics to hope from any change ? What to them was change of dynasty or change of system ? In every benefit, in every grace, they stood excepted. They had felt the iron of oppression in their souls — they had suffered for their loyalty as for their treason. Deprived of property, and plunged in darkest ignorance, despoiled of 493 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1782. rank, and power, and privilege, and land, little was left for that unhappy people in their own country, but the pursuits of paltriest trade or meanest usury. But they waxed great and numerous, and strong in persecu- tion ; the masters trembled at the number of their slaves. Yet, tortured as they had been during centuries of wrong — debased by ig- norance, and beset by foes, it was not in the hour of national uprising that this suffering, but gallant race, remembered their hard fate, or dreamed of vengeance. Far different feel- ings and nobler passions stirred their souls. They looked with pride upon the glorious pageant of their armed countrymen ; they saw in the great movement a bright though distant hope, that, when the objects of the Volunteers should have been achieved, their rights so long withheld would be awarded to their great endurance, and the wrongs so long and ruthlessly inflicted, would cease forever. • * * * The Catholics of Limerick, forbid- den the use of arms, subscribed and made a present of £800 to the treasury of the Vol- unteers." — T. Mac-Nevin. " The Irish nation, it is true, possessed, at this time, a parliament, but one withal so subservient and restrained, that it could do little. By Poynings's law, passed in the reign of Henry the Seventh, the Irish parliament could originate no measure that had not the sanction of the British privy-council. Not- withstanding this, the Irish parliament fre- quently manifested signs of vital independ- ence, and kept the hand of England out of her exchequer. An occasional gleam of na- tional spirit would flicker in the dark horizon." MOONEY. " The government was stimulated to exer- tion in the amelioration of the penal code, by the intelligence which arrived from across the Atlantic towards the close of the year. Gen- eral Burgoyne had surrendered to the Ameri- can ' rebels' at Saratoga, and the entire Brit- ish army had been led into captivity ! Of the Irish in America, a large proportion every- where stood foremost on the side of the pa- triots. It seemed as if Providence had mys- teriously used the victims of Britain's cruelty to Ireland — the men whom her persecutions had banished from the bosom of their own land — as the means of her final punishment and humiliation on a foreign soil. As the Irish Brigade struck down the British power at Landen and Fontenoy, so did the refugee Irish, in the ranks of the American patriot army, contribute to pluck from the haughty brow of Britain the palm of empire." — Smiles. " Free trade was carried in the Irish par- liament, but it was not yet sanctioned by the king. Meantime the Dubhn volunteers met for review in Dubhn. They were the artil- lery corps commanded by James Napper Tandy, and they appeared on parade with their guns covered over with placards ; and pasted very near the touchholes was the sig- nificant sentence, * Free Trade or Speedy Revolution !' This cry alarmed the king. Free trade was conceded. It was soon fol- lowed by a cry for a free parliament. From this to 1782 the public mind was ripening for independence." — Mooney. " Ireland has strong claims to the good will and affection of America. Let it be re- membered, that, when the war of our Revo- lution broke out, the inhabitants of Belfast, in the north of Ireland, were the very first Eu- ropean community — the court of France does not come under that classification — that gave open expression to their good wishes for the American cause. Public meetings, quickly following the first, were held throughout the country, to encourage the transatlantic re- sistance ; and, as the contest went on, Ire- land, catching inspiration from the example of the New World, took that noble attitude of resistance which gained for her, in 1782, under the guidance of Grattan and his patriot associates, the legislative and commercial in- dependence which was destined to so short a life. But, from that period of a common sympathy — which ought not to be affected by success or failure — Irishmen have never ceased to look towards America with ardent affection ; loving the people who won the freedom for which they vainly sighed and valiantly fought ; and regarding this country as the natural haven for hopes — too often shipwrecked in the tempest of hard fate that A. D. 1782.] THIRD DIVISION. 423 assails their native land." — N. Am. Review ; January, 1841. " There is no truth more thoroughly estab- lished than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity ; since we ought to be no less per- suaded, that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disre- gards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained, and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American peo- ple." — Washington. CHAPTER IV. Proceedincrs of the Volunteers — The Americans dis- posed of by British submission — Immediate rally of the church-and-state influence in Ireland — Lord Charlemont cajoled — Dispersion of the Vol- unteers — Splendid accommodations for the spare energies of aristocratic patriots — The principle of unity extending among the real people — Rise of the United Irishmen. To properly appreciate the initiatory glory which actually belongs to the Volunteers of 1782, we should not expect to be gratified with great or immediate successes. The worst patriots and the most doubtful freemen are those who measure every effort by its " quick return" of profit. It would be unfair towards both the living and the dead if we were to proceed with our story until the reader is informed of the state of Ireland before the Volunteers appeared, bringing their good intentions, it is true, to an unfor- tunate result, but preparing the way and building the experience to fully enjoy the brighter days of the future. This can be explained in a few lines, ac- cording to our method of quoting illustrative examples. Here is the evidence of one of the privileged faithful, written in 1775 : — " It appears there are forty-four charter working schools in Ireland, wherein two thou- sand and twenty-five boys and girls are main- tained and educated. These establishments are supported by an annual bounty from his majesty of £1000, by a tax on hawkers and pedlers, and by sundry subscriptions and legacies. The children eligible are to be born of ' popish' parents, sound in health and limbs, from six to ten years of age. The boys at sixteen, and the girls at fourteen, are apprenticed into Protestant families. A pre- mium of £5 is given to every person, edu- cated in these schools, on marrying a Prot- estant." With the calculation of a grazier, and the statesmanship of a schoolboy, he then pro- ceeds to infer — " This must in time leave a very beneficial effect, in lessening the number of Catholics, and thus giving a greater stability to gov- ernment." This is paraphrased from Twiss's " Tour in Ireland" for " The British Tourists," by "W^illiam Mavor, LL. D." The book was " Printed for E. Newberry, St. Paul's Church- yard, London ; and sold by every bookseller in the three kingdoms." Undoubtedly it was, and pertinaciously " put into the hands [and heads] of British youth." Such was Ireland just before the gallant rising of the Volunteers. Let justice be done to men who do the best they can, ac- cording to the times. We now proceed, with the valuable assistance of T. Mac- Nevin : — " The church of Dungannon was chosen for the convention of the delegates. On the memorable 15th February, 1782, the repre- sentatives of the regiments of Ulster — one hundred and forty-three corps — marched to the sacred place of meeting two and two, dressed in their various uniforms and fully armed. Deeply they felt the great responsi- ^ bilities which had been committed to their prudence and courage ; but they were equal to their task, and had not lightly pledged their faith to a trustful country. The aspect of the church, the temple of religion, in which nevertheless no grander ceremony was ever performed, was imposing, or, it might be said, sublime. Never, on that hill where ancient 424 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1783. piety had fixed its seat, was a nobler offering made to God than this, when two hundred of the elected warriors of a people assembled in His tabernacle, to lay the deep foundations of a nation's liberty. * • * » " Addresses were issued to the Volunteers of the three provinces, filled with the noblest sentiments in favour of liberty, and abundant in the impassioned if not inflated eloquence in which the spirit of the day delighted to be clothed. There was, however, an anomaly in their proceedings, and a striking and pain- ful contrast between their abstract theories of liberty, and their practical manifestation. A proposition in favour of the Catholics was rejected — singular fact ! Here was a body of men, not endowed with the powers of legislation, but acting as a suggestive assem- bly, dictating to legislation the way in which it should go, and declaring that freedom should be made more diffusive in its enjoy- ment ; yet, they are found on grave delibera- tion rejecting from their scheme the vast body of the nation, whom they professed to eman- cipate and raise. The practical absurdity was the rock on which they split. And it is said regretfully and without reproach, that the influence of this intolerant principle upon their counsels is attributable to Lord Charle- mont and Henry Flood. These good men were the victims of a narrow religious antip- athy, which prevented either of them from rendering permanent service to the cause of liberty. » * # # " Previous to the first meeting of the Dub- lin Convention, provincial assemblies were held in Leinster, Munster, and Connaught. They passed resolutions similar to those adopted at Dungannon — delegates were ap- pointed — and the whole nation was prepared for the great congress on which the fate of Ireland seemed to depend. » * • "As a great measure of revolution, the Con- vention would have been all powerful, if the Volunteers were ready to back its mandates with their arms, and the people with their sympathies. But the Volunteers were irres- olute — the people were apathetic. It was a madness to suppose that a mere oligarchy could contend with the power of England. And in the hour when they required every assistance that could be procured, with wan- ton folly they estranged the affections of a brave and faithful people. Herein is con- tained a lesson that may be usefully studied, and never more usefully than at present. England was weak, Ireland powerful — Eng- land assailed by French and American hos- tility, and sinking under domestic embarrass- ments, could resist no demand which Ireland chose to make. There existed in Ireland every element of constitutional or absolute freedom^— all the forms of government, a le- gislature, and an executive, a standing army — there was a wealthy and ancient aristocra- cy, a bold and martial people. Yet in this great and powerful machine there was one principle of self-destruction, working stealthi- ly but surely the ruin and the disorganization of its power. Intolerance was that evil and malignant principle — a principle planted in Ireland by English policy, and now con- servative OF English power. That fatal disunion — that mixed feeling of religious hatred, personal suspicion, and contempt with which the Catholics of Ireland were regard- ed by the Protestant people, gave way for awhile to the enthusiasm of volunteering, and seemed to be exercised by the Convention of Dungannon. But it revived after the con- cessions of parliamentary independence. The aristocratic party — the nobility of the Pale — were contented with their own triumph, and jealous of all participation in their glory. They churlishly refused to the Catholics their political rights. It became an easy task for the dark and evil genius of the great- est of English ministers to ripen the seeds of division. The Catholics were disgusted — the Protestants deceived. If Grattan had gone on with the movement, his tolerant genius would possibly have influenced the timed spirit of Charlemont, or rendered his bigotry as harmless as it was contemptible. The Volunteers would have become a na- tional body, not an aristocratic institution ; and the constitution of 1782 would have withstood every effort of England to destroy that ' final adjustment.' " Dr. Madden has made some excellent re- A. D, 1783.] THIRD DIVISION, 425 marks upon the proceedings of the Volun- teers ; and, being severely just as well as bold and original, we again give the caution relating to the deceptions of the " sophism of name." Persons and parties are equally lia- ble. Dr. Madden evidently understands the real want of Ireland : — " It is not inconsistent with truth, though it may be with the military glory of this in- stitution of the Volunteers, to say that it com- bined, in one great national phalanx, the tal- ent, the intolerance, the chivalry, the extrava- gance, the prodigality, the embarrassment, the republicanism and patriotism, for one brief epoch, of all ranks and classes. Here we find the ill-assorted names of the Earl of Charlemont and the Right Hon. Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh)— of John Clau- dius Beresford and Henry Grattan — of Toler and Ponsonby — of Saurin and Flood — of Col. Rowley and Major Sandys — of Ireland's only duke [Leinster] and Sir Capcl Moly- neux — of the rabid zealot. Dr. Patrick Dui- genan, and the Right Rev. ultra-liberal, the Bishop of Derry — of Archibald Hamilton Rowan and Jack Giffard — of the red-hot pa- triot, James Napper Tandy, and the facetious knight and slippery politician. Sir Jonah Barrington — and last, not least in celebrity, of George Robert Filz-Gerald, of fighting notoriety, and Mr. Joseph Pollock, the great advocate of peace and order. These incon- gruous names are found jumbled together in the pages of the history of the volunteer as- sociation. The world never saw an army of such heterogeneous materials, collected from all conflicting parties, for a patriotic purpose." This is not mere personality. With all his severity, the good doctor is mainly cor- rect. Hear him again : — " The services of the Volunteers are, on the whole, greatly exaggerated by our his- torians ; the great wonder is, how little sub- stantial good to Ireland was effected by a body which was capable ©f effecting so much. As a military national spectacle, the exhibi- tion was, indeed, imposing ; but it is not merely the spectacle of their array, but the admirable order, conduct, and discipline of their various corps — not for a short season 54 of political excitement, but for a period of nearly ten years — that, even at this distance of time, are with many a subject of admira- tion." * * * * " But, WHAT USE did the friends and advo- cates of popular rights make of this powerful association of armed citizens, which paralyzed the Irish government, and brought the Brit- ish ministry to a frame of mind very different to that which it hitherto exhibited towards Ireland ? Why, they wielded this great wea- pon of the nation's collected strength, to obtain an illusory independence, which never could rescue the Irish parliament from the influence of the British minister without reform, and which left the parliament as completely in the power of the minister, through the me- dium of his hirelings in that house, as it had been before that shadow of parliamentary independence had been gained. The only change was in the mode of using that influ- ence in the parliament : the material differ- ence was but between an open and a secret interference in its concerns." * * * * Let our Irish readers and their American sons calmly view this sincere language of a true patriot. All the concessions the Brit- ish government ever can make would still merely differ in the " mode of using" the lives and liberties of the Irish people. What benefit, other than preliminary, can accrue from the repeal of the Union ? The English people being entirely misrepresented by their government, and their own parliament being a mere school of genteel bribery, what can be expected from Irish parliaments as long as they have the least connection, direct or indi- rect, with such a mockery and imposture, which has grown aged — although not vener- able — in iniquity and tyranny? History tells ; Religion weeps : the sword of Justice is being raised for use, not blindly but im- partially, We proceed, with the aid of the far-seeing Dr. Madden : — " No great measure of parliamentary re- form, or Catholic emancipation, was seriously entertained, or wrung from a reluctant but then feeble government. The error of the leaders was, in imagining that they could 426 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1783. retain the confidence of the Cathohcs, or tlie co-operation of that body, which constituted the great bulk of the population, while their convention publicly decided against their ad- mission to the exercise of the elective fran- chise." This was a sad error on the part of men who should have acted nationally. But some idea of the blighting influence they had to contend with may be formed after reading the fate of their attempt to procure reform in parliament. When the monstrous mockery of " British power" is alarmed for its " rights" there is but a small chance for justice in either England or Ireland. Until the government of England is strictly and properly " the English government," it is absurd to expect justice from a source which only exists by injustice, carried on with man-degrading tyr- anny and GoD-defying mockery. The purer the victims, the more easy are the temporary successes of such an elaborated and organi- zed iniquity. Mooney says — " Flood moved the adoption of a plan for the complete reform of the Irish house of commons. It was carried in the convention by an overwhelming majority. Flood, who was himself a member of the corrupt parlia- ment, together with other members, who were also members of the convention, were nominated to move that measure in the house of commons. This petition was presented to the assembled parliament as the petition of a convention of three hundred armed delegates. It was debated at great length in the house ; messengers and reporters were constantly passing between the members of each body, both of whom were sitting at the same mo- ment — the one in Rutland Square, iht; other in College (ireen. " The government became alarmed, and affected to fear a physical collision ; the Eng- lish ministry were glad that this division had taken place, for they now saw a way opening through which they might destroy the inde- pendence of that parliament which these very volunteers had, a little while previous, so signally contributed to establish. The Brit- ish minister had reasons nearer home for doing all in his power to undermine the reforming spirit of the Irish volunteers. If the Irish parliament were reformed, nothing could prevent the English parliament from likewise changing its nature. The British minister in Ireland, therefore, resolved to separate the volunteers from the parliament, and, if possible, destroy them both. *' For this purpose, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland worked on the pride and fears of the courtly Charlemont. He was told that the volunteers were bent on enforcing their demands for reform by physical force, and that he, as their president, would be held responsible for all their acts. Lord Charle- mont found himself in a situation of great embarrassment. If he held the presidency of the convention, he became responsible for its proceedings ; if he resigned, the bishop [Derry] succeeded him in the chair. ' Lord Charlemont's pride,' says Sir Jonah Barring- ton, ' resisted his resignation, and, after much deliberation, he adopted the suggestions of the courtiers ; he did not oppose the volun- teers, but he duped them.' " I beseech the reader to pay attention to the development of this momentous transac- tion ; for to Lord Charlemont's weakness, or duplicity, — and his friends may take their choice of the motives, — is Ireland indebted for the destruction of the volunteers, her na- tional guard ; the bloody onslaught made on her by Pitt's mercenaries in '97 ; the san- guinary massacres of '98 ; and the loss of her parliament in 1800. * * " Mr. Hardy, the protege and biographer of the late earl, may impart to the transaction a hue of ' peace and order ;' but the naked fact cannot be dressed, even by him, in tol- erable sophistry. The convention was dis- solved, sine die, early in the day, before ' a house' had assembled ; and, it never after was called together by his lordship. * * • " Mr. Flood, as I have said, was selected by the convention to present their reform pe- tition to the Irish pafliament. The lord-lieu- tenant and his party in the house resolved to make a political assault on the convention and on their advocate. They resisted the consideration of the petition because it pro- ceeded from an armed association ; a long A. D. 1784.] THIRD DIVISION. 427 and furious debate ensued, which continued by adjournment for some days, the conven- tion still meeting and deliberating daily at the rotunda. " Up to twelve o'clock on Saturday night, 16th November, 1783, rto division was ar- rived at in the house of commons. The convention adjourned over till the ensuing Monday morning. The house continued the debate on to an early hour on Sunday morn- ing, and finally divided, and decided against considering the petition for reform. " The utmost excitement grew up on Sun- day. The Duke of Leinster and several other friends of the government saw Lord Charlemont on that memorable Sabbath, and prepared him for that act of timidity or du- plicity, which Ireland afterwards deplored in tears of blood !" " Barrington, being the historical executioner of Ireland at a time when the nation " was extinguished," we employ him as the " grim headsman" on the present occasion : — " On the Monday morning on which the convention was, by adjournment, to have met at the rotunda, his lordship and some of his friends were at the place of meeting an hour before the appointed time. As the clock struck twelve, Lord Charlemont took the chair. A delegate rose to allude to the insults flung upon their body by some members of the government in the parliamentary debate of Saturday ; his lordship became alarmed ; a protracted statement might give time for the arrival of other delegates, when his objects would surely be frustrated ; he at once look a step which had scarcely a parallel in du- plicity in the history of political bodies ; he instantly silenced the member, as being out of order, and after a few minutes more, he adjourned the convention sine die ; the ro- tunda was quickly emptied, and when the residue of the delegates came to the meeting, they found the doors closed, the chairman withdrawn, and that body to which the nation was indebted for its independence, dissolved FOREVER." ^ The dissolution of the convention has been artfully left as a matter of uncertainty so far as regards the motives of the courtly presi- dent. The best evidence on this subject is, for a variety of reasons, to be found in Ameri- ca. The commander of the celebrated Bill of Rights Battalion is now living at Salisbury Mills, Orange county, New York. He is the father of Mr. .lohn Caldwell, of New York, one of our most valuable and public- spirited citizens. The aged patriot thus writes in answer to Mooney, who made an apphcation to him (Aug. 4, 1845) for his evidence in this matter : — "You should recollect that in 1782 I was only thirteen years old, and had just been brought home from a four years' residence at an academy in England ; but I am firmly impressed with the truth of Barrington's state- ment (though I never liked the man nor his conduct in '98) of the dissolution of the con- vention. I believe him correct in that point. " The open hostility of many of the former leaders of the volunteer cause, together with the apathy of others who still affected zeal, wore the uniform, and attended partial re- views, occasioned a woful diminution of their numbers ; the Catholic question diminished their ranks ; the government called in the arms which they had lent ; and at length, by proclamation, and the attempt to establish on the ruins of the volunteer system a yeomanry corps, and that succeeded by a regular militia, effectually put down and prostrated the most noble military array that ever blessed and dignified a nation. You can, from these facts, draw somewhat of a conclusion whether the body was annihilated by force, fraud, treachery, intrigue, or a combination of all and each." It was, indeed, " a combination of all and each." It shows clearly the extent of all the good that ever can be drawn from what yet goes by the name of " British influence." This venerable witness is one of the men who knew the real want of Ireland. He did not despair ; he endeavoured to cherish the feelings of nationality which the success of the British ministry had apparently smothered. He was subjected to prosecution and im- prisonment. Explaining his adventures to Mooney, he writes — " A number of influential (government) 428 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1788. friends in Belfast solicited my discharge, and offered any security which might be demand- ed for my future * loyalty,' or, as the wording of the writing was, for my ' future good be- haviour.' This was acceded to, but utterly (though thankfully to my friends) declined by me ; and, after a series of adventures and per- ils by land and by water, I at length arrived in safety in this blessed land of liberty." Such an honourable and incorruptible wit- ness settles the subject of the dissolution of the Volunteers. The success of this insult to the Irish na- tion was greater than the contrivers had im- agined, and some more of their " influence" was needed. The Earl of Northington, who had only been in office about four months, was soon superseded by Charles, Duke of Rutland, whose administration is thus de- scribed in Grattan's " Life and Times :" — *' The Duke of Rutland was by no means a bad governor. He was a weak man, and he was young, but of gallant bearing, and great spirit ; handsome in his person, and pleasing in his manner, the true descendant of the celebrated and popular Marquis of Granby. His government, though expensive and dissipated, was not a bad one ; it cer- tainly added to the pension list, and commit- ted some acts that were below its dignity ; but these could scarcely form a ground for general complaint. His court was gay, lux- urious, and extravagant, and was upheld by a splendour hitherto unprecedented, but to whose dissipation he unfortunately may have been considered to have fallen a victim.* The duchess, so distinguished for her beauty, became not only the object of attraction, but even of more than admiration. General Cradock, Dennis Daley, and Sir Hercules Langrishe were high on the list of votaries and admirers ; and while the duchess adorned the revelry of the castle by her smiles and charms. Sir Hercules enlivened it by his wit and mirth. Ministerialist and opposition- * This language is painfully apologetic. Charles, Duke of Rutland, " may have been considered to have" died October 24, 1787. The main difference between him and the better men whom he (perhaps unconscioualy) assisted to dupe, was, that he suited himself. ist seemed to have laid down their arms at the feet of beauty in search of repose and enjoyment. These gratified the taste though they somewhat impaired the dignity of the court, and inflicted a wound upon the moral- ity of the island, which has ever been its proud characteristic. This mixture of re- fined gallantry, and the cessation of political hostility, seemed to be the reward of those political warriors, and a compensation after all their toils. They had succeeded in 1782, they had got over the difficulties of 1783 and the Volunteer Convention ; they got rid of the propositions ; and they relaxed from their labours in 1785 and 1786. The hvely dis- position of the nation, and the gallantry of her people, expanded themselves with free- dom and without reserve, and all parties seemed disposed to enjoy some pleasant mo- ments under this administration : every one sought to add to the gayety of the hour." If the elegant biographer of the Grattan were freed from the restraints of connection and interest which prevail so strongly in Eng- gland, this story would have been told in a bolder style of expression. As it is, the reader who knows the world, and the politi- cian who comprehends the nature of what is called " British" policy, will easily see that the British influence was, as usual, secured and perpetuated by the deliberately planned prostitution of all that woman should cherish or man revere. There were many firm patriots, however, who more than ever contended for a national and united organization of the people. Theo- bald Wolfe Tone and several others carried out the principle of agitation on this subject under various forms and in various methods. The " United Irishmen" became an important body. Let one of them speak : it is W. J. Mac-Neven : — " Warned by these errors, the United Irish- men altered the system of reform fundamen- tally. * They extended their base, .ind es- tablished their plan upon three simple princi- ples, necessarily dependent on each other, and containing the disease, the remedy, and the mode of its attainment.' The excess of English influence was the disease, a reform A. D. 1791.] THIRD DIVISION, 439 in parliament the remedy, and the inclusion of the Catholics the mode of its attainment. " Theobald Wolfe Tone had of all others the greatest part in effecting this change of sentiment among the Protestants, to whose communion he belonged. He wrote the original declaration for the first society of United Irishmen of Belfast, and his powerful writings brought the Presbyterians of the north very generally into the system. I was among the earliest of the Catholics who joined it in Dublin, and there I first knew Emmet, and there I often heard him in strains of pure and forceful eloquence expand, inculcate, and apply, for the benefit of his beloved country, the pohtical principles of the United Irish- men. " Wherever men had no means of legiti- mate redress, we have seen them become their own avengers, the worst government being always marked by the greatest com- motions. If there be not an impartial admin- istration of justice, the stiletto takes place of the jury, and for want of a government re- stricted and accountable in Ireland, insurrec- tion and civil war were the resource of an exasperated people. Left without the pro- tection of a national parhament, Ireland was always tyrannically ruled, the frame of so- ciety dislocated and broken, and her numer- ous insurrections were the throes of agonized nature. " But from the moment the Protestant re- formers recognised the principle that no re- form was practicable, efficacious, or just, which should not equally include Irishmen of every religious persuasion, the measure was feasible. It received the assent of the whole nation, save only the established church and the other dependants of the British gov- ernment. * * • • " Against that impious combination of treachery within and tyranny from without, the United Irishmen pointed their oath of union, — ' To forward a brotherhood of affec- tion, a community of rights, an identity of in- terests, and a union of power among Irishmen of every religious persuasion :' it was this oath, embracing the precept of 'love one another,' that the British government prose- cuted as a felony of death, and for which it sent frequent victims to the scaffold. It was made treason by that government for Irish- men to love one another, to bury religious feuds in charity, and to promote as brothers the welfare of their native land." In 1791, the Irish people were thus begin- ning to make some use of their bitterly-earned experience. The wretches who presume to call themselves the British government were more terrified than a dozen money-expending wars could make them, for they know well that if the Irish people were once " United Irishmen" in reality, they could not govern either Ireland or England for one single DAY. The seven years between 1782 and 1791 may be called the apprenticeship of Ire- land in the service of liberty, and although not so happily concluded as the seven years of warfare by the American colonists, the Irish people showed to their friends and proved to their enemies that they deserved success, and will be properly experienced when the time shall arrive for cancelling Ireland's indentures. CONFIRMATORY APPENDIX. 1782 TO 1791. " The people were severed, but the gov- ernment remained compact; the parliament was corrupted, the Volunteers were par- alyzed, and the high spirit of the nation ex- hibited a rapid declension. The jealousy of patriots is always destructive of liberty." — J. Barrington. " Who govern us ? English ministers, or rather the deputies of English ministers — mere subalterns in office, who never dare aspire to the dignity of any great sentiment of their own. Yet all this we submit to — we are satisfied — we are content — and only ask in return for an honest and frugal gov- ernment. Is it just — is it wise — is it safe to deny it? ♦ * ♦ * • " To what purpose is it that we are free from the expenses of a fleet, or of foreign ministers, or royal court, or all the splendid appendages of empire, if we are to be as 430 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1791. much exhausted by a pilfering, jobbing, ra- pine at home ? If we are to have expense, let us have empire ; or, since wc are wiUing to reUnquish empire, let us be freed from expense. * • * • "The people of this island are growing more enlightened every day, and will know and feel their situation : they will do more — they will know and feel their power. Nearly four millions of people, in a most defensible country, ought, perhaps, to be courted, but certainly ought not to be insulted with the petty, pilfering, jobbing, corrupting tricks of every deputy of an English minister that is sent over here. The people of Ireland have the feelings of men, they suffer like men, and they may be found to resent like men. * * " It shall be found and felt that this island abounds with men of as high minds as any nation whatsoever." — Earl Kosse, while Mr. Lawrence Parsons. " If history were, indeed, * philosophy teaching by examples,' the largeness or the exeguity of the scene, its nearness or distance in time and place, would but slightly affect its value and estimation. Lessons of politi- cal wisdom may be drawn from the res gestce of a St. Marino as effectually as from those of the all-absorbing republic of Rome ; and genius and self-devotion should as much commend themselves to reason and to the affections, when exerted in some remote and obscure warfare, as when exhibited at a Tra- falgar or a Waterloo, Such, however, is not the practical effect. With the mass of man- kind, history is but a vast picture-book, a collection of dissolving views, put forth to keep the * children of a larger growth' out of mischief; and they are valued in proportion to their gaudy colouring, or, at best, for their picturesque effect. The imagination has a much larger part than the judgment in our historical appreciations ; and abstract hu- manity, unsupported by interests, and un- backed by associations, is, what it has so well been name^, an old almanac." — London AthencBum ; July, 1842. " History tells us that the pride of Pitt was piqued in the early period of his reign by the rejection of his commercial proposi- tions ; and from that time, it would appear, that vengeance was mingled with every meas- ure that regarded Ireland, and the subsequent question of the regency in 1788 increased his desire to overturn her independence and fetter her growing prosperity. He chose fitting agents for this purpose, whose obedience and fidelity he secured by a large license to op- press and spoil their native land ; for Fitz- Gibbon, Beresford, and Foster were, as well as Lord Castlereagh, all of Irish birth. Fitz- Gibbon, afterward Earl Clare, was made lord- chancellor of Ireland, Mr. Foster speaker of the Irish House of Commons, and Mr. Beres- ford first commissioner of the revenue, by which means he secured the presidencies of the parliament and treasury ; and while the resources of England were employed in dic- tating forms of government and subsidizing unwilling nations, the treasures wrung from indigence in Ireland were spent in pampering worthless magnificence, bribing parliament men and parliament owners, fomenting un- holy religious and political animosities, and in entertaining a host of infamous informers, creatures such as Reynolds, Bell, Martin, Newell, Dutton, Jemmy O'Brien, and a thou- sand such others, whose description is so admirably given by Curran in the case of Heevy vs. Sirr, which the character and ex- ploits of Jemmy O'Brien and the episode of Heevy 's mare have rendered so memorable. These were a part of what were called the ' loyal,' or the ' king's friends,' sometimes sa- viours of their country ; but more popularly designated the * battalion of testimony ;' and the most polluted of them all was that Rey- nolds, whom Lord Ellenborough, chief-justice of the King's Bench in England, was not ashamed to say he could embrace with grati- tude. And it is worth noting that on the same day when the corporation of Dublin, in a paroxysm of Orangeism, disfranchised Grat- tan and a number of the honestest patriots, they voted the freedom of the city to Lord Nelson and to Reynolds the informer. Such were the alliances made in the name of the monarch whom it had pleased Heaven to afflict with mental darkness, and by such associates the government was upheld ; such k^ A. D. 1791.] THIRD DIVISION. 431 the uses lo which the pubUc treasure was devoted." — Sampson. " To the historian of United Irishmen, and the men of Ninety-Eight, belong the details of the decline of the Volunteers. Out of the embers of that institution grew the Whig Club, and that other powerful confederacy of which Theobald Wolfe Tone was the founder. These two bodies partook of the character of. their parents. The Whig Club established by Lord Charlemont, led a dilet- tante life and died of its own debility — the United Irishmen were deep, bold, and saga- cious, and but for the errors of a few leaders, would have overthrown the empire of Eng- land in their country, and established on its ruins an Irish Republic." — T. Mac-Nevin. CHAPTER V. Ireland united, and the true restoration commenced — Addresses of the United Irishmen — Means ta- ken by the British government to produce the " rebellion" of 1798, and establish the Union — Titles for treachery, and the gallows for good- ness ; gold for spies, and paper-money for the people — Pitt triumphant, and the United Irishmen temporarily defeated. According to the plan and design of this work, the narrative has now reached its cul- minating stage. The long struggles of the Irish people, against the power which robs them in prosperity or kicks them in adversity, were beginning to assume a form and direc- tion. The glorious example of America gives birth to nations of people, and embodies the scattered evidences of constitutional history. The English people, hving so near the daz- zling tyranny which is temporarily installed as " tlie English government," and, to use a common expression, " sailing in the same boat," will very naturally be the last to per- ceive the false trim and rotten rig of the abused colours they sail under. The Ameri- can Declaration of Independence, on the 4th of July, 1776, achieved much more than a mere separation from British power and mis- rule. History shows that the American col- onies, (notwithstanding the poetical flourishes of Fourth-of-July orators to the contrary,) had always enjoyed, in the very worst of times, every privilege of English subjects. The success of the Americans, in 1783, proved to the whole world that the tyranni- cal abuses which they complained of pro- ceeded from a power in England that was at variance with the real constitution as well as the wishes of the real people. From the 4th of July, 1776, the downfall of that grov- elling greediness (which had become organ- ized and consolidated in the mongrel money- monarchy of 1688-89) was doomed to fall, as historians will have occasion to relate. Fall it must : the people of England and the rights of man demand the sacrifice, for the love of truth and the sake of liberty. The lesson was not lost among the long- suffering and freedom-desiring Irish people, for none but Irish hearts can fully appreciate the bitter results of the outrageous violation of the Treaty of Limerick, — a violation which, alone, ought to sink a " government" with in-- famy. After the American war, the Irish people breathed wilh hope ; their arms were raised to heaven with resolutions of perse- verance : a new light illuminated the minds of millions. The Irishman learned lo con- sider that an Englishman, as such, is not ne- cessarily an enemy ; the Protestant began to see that the Catholic, as such, need never be treated as an enemy ; in short, the people discovered how their own power had been taken from their own control, and vested in the hands of real and implacable enemies. It was a glorious discovery ; heart could now speak to heart ; the American flag was aC' knowledged : there was, at last, a home for freedom. The very word " United" became a tower of strength, a citadel of hope, a bond of sympathy. Among the Catholics, generally, these feel- ings were at first subdued but cherished with a conflicting silence ; for their clergy, being usually loyal and conservative, became some- what alarmed by the excesses which " the British government" industriously charged upon the French and American republicans. Among the Protestants, however, were many men who, like the American colonists, well knew the way that " loyal" pamphlets are published and " respectable" newspapers are 433 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1793. purposely edited in England. These men, retaining among them some of the genuine and original principles of old English liberty, did not hesitate to express their universal sympathy and Irish nationality. The ster- ling freedom and old English frankness which had been expatriated from England by in- trigue and corruption, (a policy which even Cromwell exercised when in power,) were now revived and emboldened with the exam- ple of their American brethren. The prov- ince of Ulster rang with imprecations on the proud usurpers of English power ; the town of Belfast not only approved, publicly, of the American revolution, but the spirited inhabit- ants sent over valuable supplies and assist- ance. The unpopularity of the American war, among the English people, would show itself, in spite of " the government." The French Revolution was the first rude attempt at an enlarged development of republican principles. The aid of Christianity, and the importance of harmony, were well understood in Ireland. Such were the circumstances which immediately preceded the formation of the society of " United Irishmen." This state of reliance upon the sympathy of America could not be crushed in the de- feat and dispersion temporarily effected by Pitt and (what goes by the name of) the " Union." The " North American Review" (1841) justly observes — " Any one who has ever travelled in Ire- land, not merely with eyes to see her wretch- edness, but also with ears to hear her aspira- tions, must have remarked the enthusiastic feeling that exists towards America among all classes. * * * By the small farmers, arti- sans and peasantry, the United States are considered as a sort of half-way stage to heaven, a paradise, whither some of the kin- dred or friends of almost every family have . already repaired ; and whence they receive accounts, that, even when unexaggerated or falhng short of the truth, paint this new-found home, in comparison with their own domestic misery, as the very El Dorado of Spanish romance. Infants suck in, as it weje, with their mother's milk, this passionate admira- tion of the New World. They are cradled in eulogiums on its excellence. Its praises are the lullaby of the child. The boy is taught to venerate its greatness ; and the man believes, talks of, and sighs for its far-off shores, with a fervid admiration that knows no bounds." * * * * " It is, in fact, unquestionable, that the Irishman looks upon America as the refuge of his race, the home of his kindred, the her- itage of his children and their children. The Atlantic is, to his mind, less a barrier of sep- aration between land and land, than is St. George's Channel. The shores of England are further off, in his heart's geography, than those of New York or Massachusetts. De- grees of longitude are not taken into account in the measurements of his enthusiasm. Ire- land, — old as she is, and fond as he is of call- ing her so, — seems to him but a part and parcel of that great continent which it sounds, to his notions, unnatural to designate as ' the new world.' He has no feeling towards America but that of love and loyally. To live on her soil, to work for the public good, and die in the country's service, are genuine aspirations of the son of Erin, when he quits the place of his birth for that of his adoption. No nice distinctions of nationality, no cold calculation of forms, enter into his mind. * Exile' and ' alien' are words which convey no distinct meaning to him. He only feels that he belongs to the country where he earns his bread. His birthright has hitherto been but a birthright of suffering. The instinct of naturalization is within his soul. And he cannot conceive that the ocean which he is crossing should be more powerful to deprive him of— than his own heart-yearnings are to secure to him — all the rights and privileges which that instinct seems to claim." It was these rights and privileges which Theobald Wolfe Tone (a Protestant gentle- man, of great worth and excellent attain- ments) proposed to his countrymen should be, in future, the one sole object of public attention, discarding all strife except in the emulations of charity and freedom. Being a barrister, and much respected, he had an ex- traordinary influence at an early period of life. His efforts to secure the fojrty-shilling ^■.ff. w. '"^sr-- fj-' ♦**« V < ■ . ' J i ■h m ■I 4t '1 % \ .«. '^ 9 g % • 4 A. D. 1793.] THIRD DIVISION. 433 franchise, in the Catholic Relief Bill of 1793, were successful ; and the sympathy of the English people could not be stifled by all " the government" can do. The reform party in England was headed by Erskine, who, in speeches and writings, kept alive the spirit of old English liberty. In his work on " Par- liamentary Reform" he says — " The spirit of reform is at present high in Ireland. The recent zeal of that brave and virtuous people has completely detected the false and pernicious calumnies on both coun- tries. It has demonstrated that a desire to reform abuses in government is not at all connected with disloyalty to its establish- ment ; and that the restoration of a free con- stitution, by the wisdom and spirit of a nation, has no alliance with, but oh the contrary is abhorrent to, a submission to foreign force." In 1793, the United Irishmen of Dubhn held a general meeting and issued an address " to the Irish nation," from which we select the following specimen : — " It is our right and our duty at this time, and at all times, to communicate our opinion to the y^ublic, whatever may be its success ; and under the protection of a free press, itself protected by a jury, judges of law as well as fact, we will never be afraid to speak freely what we freely think ; appealing, for the purity of what we write, to the justness of our cause, and the judgment of our country. On the 9th of November, 1791, was this so- ciety founded. We, and our beloved breth- ren of Belfast, first began that civic union which, if a nation be a society united for mu- tual advantage, has made Ireland a nation ; and at a time when all wished, many willed, but few spoke, and fewer still acted, we. Catholics and Protestants, joined our hands and our hearts together ; sank every distinc- tive appellation in the distinctive name of ' Irishman ;' and, in the presence of our God, devoted ourselves to universal enfranchise- ment, and a real representation of the people in parliament, knowing that what the tongue is to the man, the press is to the people. Though nearly blasted in our cradle by the sorcery of the law-oflicers of the crown, we have rallied around this forlorn hope of free- 55 dom, and will maintain this last citadel of the constitution at the risk of our personal secu- rity and all that is dear to us in life. " They have come to us with a writ, and a warrant, and an ex officio information ; but we have come to them in the name of the genius of the British constitution, and the majesty of the people of Ireland. * * ♦ "We have addressed the friends of the people in England, and have received their concurrence, their thanks, and their gratula- tion. We have addressed the Volunteers. Deliverers of this injured land, have we done wrong ? If we have, tear your colours from the staff, reverse your arms, muffle your drums, beat a funeral march for Ireland, and then abandon the corpse to militia, fencibles, and dragoons. If we have not done wrong, — and we swear by the revolution of 1782 that we have not, — go on, with the zeal of enterprising virtue, and a sense of your own importance, to exercise the right of self-de- fence which belongs to the nation." That this was truly a national movement may be seen by the solemn declarations of the Catholics, who, although not accustomed or permitted to take such a prominent part in politics, were equally firm and sincere. They drew up some of the ablest documents we can find connected with these proceedings. The United Irishmen also issued a spirited address to the delegates for promoting a re- form in Scotland, the tone of which may be inferred from the following paragraph : — " Look now, we pray you, upon Ireland. Long was this unfortunate island the prey of prejudiced factions and ferocious parties. The rights or rather duties of conquest were dreadfully abused, and the Catholic religion was made the perpetual pretext for subjecting the state by annihilating the citizen, and de- stroying not the religious persuasion but the man ; not popery, but the people. It was not till very lately that the part of the nation which is truly colonial, reflected that though their ancestors had been victorious, they themselves were now included in the general subjection ; subduing only to be subdued, and trampled upon by Britain as a servile dependency. When therefore the Protest- 434 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1793. ants began to suffer what the CathoHcs had suffered and were suffering ; when from ser- ving as the instruments they were made themselves the objects of foreign domination, then they became conscious they had a coun- try ; and then they felt — an Ireland. They resisted British dominion, renounced colonial subserviency, and following the example of a Catholic parliament just a century before, they asserted the exclusive jurisdiction and legislative competency of this island. A sud- den light from America shone through our prison. Our Volunteers arose. The chains fell from our hands. We followed Grattan, the angel of our deliverance, and in 1782 Ireland ceased to be a province, and became a nation. But, with reason, should we de- spise and renounce this revolution as merely a transient burst through a bad habit, — the sudden grasp of necessity in despair, from tyranny in distress, did we not believe that the revolution is still in train ; that it is less the single and shining act of 1782, than a se- ries of national improvements which that act ushers in and announces ; that it is only the herald of liberty and glory, of Catholic eman- cipation, as well as Protestant independence ; that, in short, this revolution indicates new principles, foreruns new practices, and lays a foundation for advancing the whole people higher in the scale of being, and diffusing equal and permanent happiness." Upon these sentiments and with these views, the United Irishmen managed their proceedings, successfully with regard to themselves, but unfortunately in whatever they relied upon from other persons or parties. Even the Irish parliament, for twenty whole years, liad done nothing but exercise corrup- tion in' -the mockery of liberty. An Irish parliament, under British influence, is worse than useless — it is a shameful and blood- shedding delusion, as the " RebeUion of '98" conclusively proves. Further experiments with an Irish parhament may please a suc- cessful faction, but never will and never would satisfy the real wants and objects of the Irish people. At the time we now speak of, it was no more the " Irish" parliament than the present parliament in England is the " English" parliament. Under the " en- lightened" practice of the British government, the parliament never has the scope of power legitimately belonging to it by the balancing and judicious intention of the constitution. Being duly warned of the existence of such an absorbing and despotically controlling in- fluence, the reader will not much wonder to observe the temporary defeat of the best men or the purest measures. This is the influ- ence which " yielded to the Beresfords, but was deaf to the cries of a nation." The same thing is yet done every day in England. Those who may wish for a restoration of an Irish " royal parliament" are at liberty to get it ; but it is a liberty which will only rivet their chains, excite the murderous merriment of their enemies, and dishearten the hopes of their true friends. The lesson taught by the Irish parliament for twenty-eight years should be forgiven, but must never be forgotten. Remember 1782 to 1800 : remember the "parliamentary" neglect towards the noble and sincere " United Irishmen." The principal names we find connected with the formation of the United Irishmen are those of Archibald Hamilton Rowan, John Keogh, William Drennan, Simon But- ler, James Napper Tandy, Hutton, Tone, Neilson, and Russell. Butler and Drennan were prosecuted, and Napper Tandy fled to America and afterwards to France, where he took the rank of general of brigade. Rowan was obliged by similar prosecutions and per- secutions to lake the same tour. Tone also settled in Princeton, New Jersey ; but, in 1796, his Irish friends invited him to return, and he left his wife and sister in America, as they nobly urged his defence of Ireland. During Tone's absence, the United Irishmen had become properly disgusted with the con- temptible body which acted in the name of an Irish parliament. In this state of mind they were more favourably inclined to receive that assistance from France which was im- agined to be requisite for success. In the summer of 1796, the United Irish- men received many accessions to their ranks, talented and worthy men, who had no further hopes from the parliament. Among these we A. D. 1798.] THIRD DIVISION. 435 observe John Caldwell, Arthur O'Connor, Roger O'Connor, T. A. Emmet, W. J. Mac- Neven, Simms, Tennant, Chambers, Bond, Byrne, Trenor, Dowling, Hudson, M'Cor- mack, Sweeny, Sweetman, Finnerty, M'Cann, Esmond, Lawless, Dowdall, Wilson, Orr, and William Sampson. The terms upon which French aid was ac- cepted by the United Irishmen were these — " They accepted the offer on condition that the French would come as allies only, and consent to act under the direction of the new government, as Rochambeau did in America ; that, upon the same principle, the expenses of the expedition must be reimbursed, and the troops, while acting in Ireland, receive Irish pay." - Arthur O'Connor, and Lord Edward Fitz- Gerald had been appointed to make these arrangements between the French and Irish principals. For several reasons, and politi- cal considerations, his lordship did not cross the French frontier, but generally remained at Hamburgh during the negotiation. His lordship, like many other persons who know the world, was nevertheless unable to com- prehend or imagine the " fitting agents" which such a candied corruption as the British gov- ernment will not scruple to employ. This fatal innocence is proved by a trifling circum- stance which has an instructive significance. On returning to Hamburgh, after his ar- rangements were made with the French di- rectory, his lordship met, in the same con- veyance, a high-bred madam who, of course, was going to the same city, and who had actually been the mistress of an official col- league of Pitt. " Wholly ignorant of her relationship with the British ministry," slyly remarks Tommy Moore, " the habitual frank- ness of his nature not only expressed freely his opinions on all political subjects, but af- forded some clews, it is said, to the secret of his present journey, which his fellow- traveller was, of course, not slow in trans- mitting to her official friend." This, O ye Christian nations ! is what goes by the name of " government" in Great Britain. To sustain this system, hes are invented, prejudices are manufactured, and millions are slaughtered. To ruin and de- stroy the honest opponents of this iniquity, male and female fiends are sought out and caressed and promoted. Let us see how the governed are treated. In Ireland, during those days, as the people had been driven to rebel, so the Dublin fac- tion of the British minister were now anxious to make a profit by the rebellion. Instruc- tions were therefore given, and wretches were hired, to bring the rebellion to a head ; and then, by introducing and effecting the Union, to crush the national party forever. These statements cannot be denied. By a system of perjury and treachery, the move- ments of the Irish people shared the same fate as the efforts of their French allies. Lord Cornwallis was blamed for being too good ; but significantly informed that he might retrieve his character, if he would, on the Irish. The really chosen leaders of the people were betrayed, arrested, imprisoned, or despatched with ignominious deaths. Tay- lor says — " It became now the deliberate policy of the Irish government — a policy unblu shingly acknowledged and defended by the Irish ministers — to goad the people by torture into a premature insurrection, before the organi- zation of the conspiracy would have been so complete as to be irresistible. Martial law was proclaimed in several counties ; a savage soldiery, and a still more savage yeomanry, were encouraged to emulate each other in acts of cruelty ; the tortures of whipping, picketing, half-hanging, and the pitch-cap were put in active operation ; the huts of the peasantry were burned, their sons tortured or slain, their daughters subjected to all the out- rages of brutal passion. Disgusted at wit- nessing such barbarity, the lamented Aber- crombie, then in command of the army, pub- lished a proclamation, in which he described the Irish [?] soldiery to be so demoralized by licentiousness, as * to be formidable to every- body but the enemy.' Finding that no atten- tion was paid to his remonstrances, and that government had resolved to let loose this de- moralized army on the people, he resigned the command, and was succeeded by General 436 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1798. Lakej^ho was not troubled by such impo- litic scruples. The atrocities committed by the army and yeomanry in the counties of Kildare, Carlow, and Wexford are almost beyond belief; they had the effect of pro- voking a fearful retaliation. When the peas- antry at length had recourse to arms, they showed that they had not been inapt scholars in the lessons of cruelty taught them by the government." The routine of the facts as they occur will convince any impartial inquirer that there were secret influences at work among the governed. Those readers who are already acquainted with the services of Lord Castle- reagh as a " British statesman," will under- stand the point of the following capital hit by Dr. Madden : — " The idea of general union is said to have originated with the rebel, Theobald Wolfe Tone ; but the merit or demerit of its origin evidently belonged to the Volunteers, whom the king himself, and parliament, session after session, thanked for their devoted loy- alty. When the meeting took place in Dun- gannon in which the Irish people were told the western world was temptingly holding out a system of equal liberty to mankind, to profit by which these Volunteers declared it was necessary to unite men in Ireland, of all religious persuasions, for one common object, — when this meeting took place, Tone was a loyal subject, and Colonel Robert Stewart (subsequently Lord Casllereagh) was the chairman of a meeting at which se- dition was pretty plainly inculcated, in the example held forth of the successful struggle for American independence. But, in the course of the ca:/raordinary events of this world. Tone was sentenced to be hanged for attempting to carry into effect the project im- phed in the example so temptingly held forth, by * uniting men of all religious descriptions ;' and Colonel Robert Stewart, (subsequently Lord Castlereagh,) who sanctioned with his presence the sedition of the sword-in-hand deliberators on reform, became a foremost man in those councils which consigned the United Irishmen to the gallows." The honourable privilege of a soldier's death was invariably denied to the gallant and noble leaders of the United Irishmen, and every means were employed that money could buy or treachery procure, to build up a monument of terror, to confound the move- ments and oppose the hopes of future pa- triots. That monument of terror was crowned with the Union. In this our humble attempt to attract the American or general reader towards the con- sideration of Irish history, it may be proper to inform those who desire further particulars of the " Rebellion of '98" that they will find an excellent and spirited account in Mooneys " History of Ireland," a book which breathes the combined hopes of both hemispheres, and enlightens its main subject in a suitable and pleasing manner. For those who might de- sire a nearer acquaintance with the noble and persevering Tone, or with his gallant and faithful comrades, we would recommend Dr. Madden's " The United Irishmen, their Lives and Times." It is a delightful book, portraying the varieties of human character in a provincial circle, and soothing, with a tone of patient wit and faithful endurance, the painful feelings excited by the subject. If we had more such biographical treasures, the compilation of history would be a philo- sophical pleasure, and the style of the epic would then be appropriate for a History of Ireland. We cordially endorse the following historically instructive remarks on Dr. Mad- den's book in the " London Athenaeum :" — " Coming as Dr. Madden does after so many biographers of United Irishmen and their contemporaries, it cannot be expected that much novelty remained for even the most industrious to glean in relation to the causes which brought these men into action. As far as the great outlines of the story of the rebellion are concerned, little, if any thing, indeed, was left to be told. The cor- ruption of the Irish parliament, the prostration of the Irish commerce before the supposed interests of England, the predominance of English ideas in all matters of government, the encampment of a handful of English pro- prietors on the soil, (the monopolists of wealth and power,) and the abuse they made of their A. D. 1799.] THIRD DIVISION. 437 supremacy, are sufficiently understood. The rising importance of the Catholic population also, and the influence of the American and French revolutions .on the minds of the dis- senting Protestants, are equally clear; and the policy of the dominant faction, the masters of all the clews of the conspiracy, and the possessors of abundant means of crushing it, who nevertheless suffered events to take their course, and, finally, by a series of measures, comparable only with the war of the Palati- nate, drove the ignorant and innocent peas- antry into overt acts of resistance, is well known. Still a vast deal of detail, a mass of illustrative anecdote, and of not unimportant fact, was afloat in Irish society, and likely to perish, which was wanting to clear up doubts ; — and of these. Dr. Madden has possessed himself to enrich his narrative. To the read- ers disposed to study the policy of the Irish government of those days, the volumes be- fore us present the additional advantage of a clear and succinct narrative of a vast many particulars, necessary to be thoroughly un- derstood in order to form a correct notion of the character of the events. Dr. Madden has more particularly thrown into strong relief the leading circumstance, that, as the asser- tion of national independence was the first link in the chain which terminated in the Union, so the spirit which was then developed was the same which manifested itself in every successive effort at resistance. The Volun- teers were the parents of the first association of United Irishmen. The progressive vio- lence of the government ripened this associa- tion into an armed organization of the coun- try ; but the same spirit which animated these associations still smoulders in the Re- peal agitation." This "spirit" makes the grand truth of consolation, and the imperishable sentiment of nationality. A hundred manufactured re- bellions cannot extinguish the spirit which perseveringly accommodates itself to the temporary forms of territorial protection, par- liamentary reform, emancipation from eccle- siastical tyranny, or the repeal of the Union. It is the spirit of national freedom and legis- lative liberty ; a spirit which all the Pitts from the lowest depths of hell cannot conquer, however successful they may appear for a short interval of money-triumphs. Mooney thus describes the Pitt and Casile- reagh triumphs after the close of the rebellion of 1798 :— " Ireland was now seized as the spoil of the pirates. Her chiefs were all either de- stroyed, in captivity, or in exile. The gov- ernment abandoned the country to the licen- tious soldiery — to spies, informers, and pil- lagers. Desolation swept along its verdant fields. Ruin was pictured on all the towns and villages. The weeping of widows and orphans disturbed the repose of the dead. The ground went untilled. The jails were crammed. The executioners were busy, and the work of death alone proceeded. A fam- ine came the following year, and carried off hundreds of thousands. • • • • • " Such was the condition of unhappy Ire- land in 1799, after a contest which cost the British government twenty thousand of their best soldiers, and in which fifty thousand of the Irish were slain, — the majority of whom were butchered in cold blood !" Such is the power which presumes to teach nations, to despise the ignorant, and to convert the heathen ! CONFIRMATORY APPENDIX. 1792 TO 1799. " The ' United Irishmen' and their story, we may be told, is an episode in a provincial history, which has already passed from the remembrance of a generation, whose mind has been absorbed and whose sensations have been exhausted by the grander spectacle of a European revolution. To this class of ob- jectors it were but a bootless labour to reply by pointing to the moral and political import- ance of the tale ; to offer it as the most preg- nant instance in British story of the misery of corruption. It were, perhaps, scarcely less idle to declare the tragic interest of the story, a drama simple in action, prepared, combined, matured, and brought to its catas- trophe, in all the perfection of Aristotelian 438 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1799. poetics ; or to enumerate the characters of the dramatis personcB, great in passion, prominent in good or in evil, and agitated by vast and sudden reverses of fortune. Such, however, is the fact : but much and frequent- ly as Irish affairs have of late years been brought in strong relief before the English eye, — ^frequently as the injuries and the claims of Irishmen have been the objects or pretences of contending British factions, — the subject is as yet more unknown to Englishmen than the circumstances of many of their remotest and poorest colonies ; nor can one educated man in a thousand among us give a clear and satisfactory reason for the countless anoma- lies which present themselves in the actual condition of the sister country." — London AthencBum, July, 1841. "From the history of Ireland, also, may the enlightened American find lessons of deep moral import for the government of his own conduct, which can nowhere be better studied than there, where the conflicting principles of good and evil have been most strenuously active. He will there learn to value the blessing which his forefathers, at the peril of more than life, and with years of pain and toil, achieved for their country, when they redeemed it from colonial dependence and provincial degradation. He will see by what subtle means corruption enters and treason triumphs, and how what is hardly won may be too easily lost. He will apply to his own heart the farewell advice of the Father of his Country, and ' cherish with immoveable at- tachment its union, the fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively, though often insidiously and covertly directed : he will watch for its preservation with jealous anxiety, and indignantly frown upon the first dawn of any attempt to alienate any part of his country from the rest.' And if he be one whose name stands yet high and unsullied in the estimation of his fellow-citizens, he will forbear to urge any merely local measure which, should it succeed, would only serve to sap the strength and glory of his country, and tarnish his own name and memory for- ever and forever." — W. Sampson. " In 1792 the petition of the Roman Cath- olics for the extension of the elective fran- chise to their body, and the petition of the Protestants of Belfast in their favour, were rejected with circumstances of great con- tumely. During the parliamentary recess, the different grand juries were directly en- couraged by the government to adopt very strong resolutions against further concessions to the Catholics. Having thus raised the hopes of the violent Protestants, and provoked the just enmity of the Catholics, the govern- ment, to the utter astonishment of both par- ties, early in the session of 1793 introduced a bill for extending the elective franchise to the Catholics, which passed into a law by nearly the same majority that only a few months before had voted against even taking the subject into consideration. Several pop- ular and conciliatory measures were at the same time adopted ; among others, leave was given to bring in a bill for amending the state of the popular representation ; and a bill for disqualifying certain placemen was actually passed. The minority in return supported the minister in several coercive measures ; such as, an act against the im- portation of arms and military stores, an act against conventions, and an act for raising a militia. The plan of parliamentary reform, which had been prepared apparently with the implied sanction, or at least neutrality, of the ministry, was rejected in 1794 by a great majority ; but there was, however, some rea- son to hope that measures of justice and con- ciliation would yet be adopted, and the fatal calamities of civil war averted." — Taylor. " But it should be recollected that these concessions were made more in fear than in friendship. The revolutionary war was about to commence — the flames of republicanism had spread far and near. It was eagerly caught up among the Protestant and espe- cially among the Presbyterian population of the north of Ireland. Belfast was its warm- est focus ; it was the deep interest of the British government to detach the wealth and intelligence of the Catholics of Ireland from the republican party. This policy was adopted. The Catholics were conciliated. A. D. 1799.] THIRD DIVISION, 4M The Catholic nobihty, gentry, mercantile, and other educated classes, almost to a man, separated from the republican party. That which would otherwise have been a revolu- tion, became only an unsuccessful rebellion. "Illustrious Lady — the Rebellion of 1798 itself was, almost avowedly and beyond a doubt proveably, fomented to enable the British government to extinguish the Irish legislative independence and to bring about the Union." — O'Connell. " Mr. Pitt, having sent Lord Fitz-William to Ireland with unlimited powers to satisfy the nation, permitted him to proceed until he had unavoidably committed himself both to the Catholics and country, when he suddenly recalled him, leaving it in a state of excitation and dismay. ** The day Lord Fitz-William arrived, peace was proclaimed throughout all Ireland. The day he quitted it, she prepared for insur- rection. " The Beresfords and the Ponsonbys were arrayed against each other ; and, in one week more, the Beresfords would have been pros- trate. Mr. Pitt, however, terminated the question by dethroning Lord Fitz-William ; the whigs were defeated; and Ireland was surrendered at discretion to Lord Clare and his connection. Within three months after Lord Fitz- William's dismissal. Lord Clare had got the nation into full training for mili- tary execution." — J. Barrington. " A proclamation was issued by the Irish government on the 30th of March, [1798,] declaring the entire kingdom in a state of re- bellion, and at the same time they published an order signed by Sir Ralph Abercrombie, the commander of the forces, authorizing the troops to act without waiting for the authority of a civil magistrate. " The brave Abercrombie, finding himself compelled to sign such an order by the com- mands of the king and Pitt, resigned the com- mand of the army in Ireland. Disgusted with both the army and ministry, he thus described the former : * It was in a state of licentiousness that rendered it formidable to every one but the enemy.' " — Mooney. " Mr. Pitt counted on the expertness of the Irish government to effect a premature explo- sion. Free quarters were now ordered, to irritate the Irish population ; slow tortures were inflicted, under the pretence of forcing confessions. The people were goaded and driven to madness. " General Abercrombie, who succeeded as commander-in-chief, was not permitted to abate these enormities, and therefore resigned with disgust. Ireland w^s by these means reduced to a state of anarchy, and exposed to crime and cruelties to which no nation had ever been subject. The people could no longer bear their miseries. Mr. Pitt's object was now effected, and an insurrection was excited." — J. Barrington. " In former times, resort was had to simi- lar acts of outrage, for the purpose of driving the native into a resistance that should be fol- lowed by a forfeiture of their estates : now a rebeUion was intentionally produced by the chief agents of the British ministry, in order to give an ojjportunity for confiscating the whole power of the nation, by an act of union." W. J. Mac-Neven. " That the enormities recited by Sir John Davies have been even exceeded in modern days is not so well known nor admitted as, for the sake of truth, and justice, and of last- ing peace, (which can only be founded on those principles,) it should be. But abundant evidence is recorded in statute-books and rolls of parliament of this great truth. There will be found, coexisting, a gunpowder bill de- priving the people of arms for their defence ; a convention act, to prevent meetings to peti- tion for redress ; insurrection acts, authori- zing the infliction of the curfew, of depopu- lation, banishing, dungeoning, and every other act of tyranny by the most unworthy agents, and making the sacred and holy obli- gation ' to promote union and brotherhood of afiection among all religious denominations,' a felony of death ; bills of indemnity to screen from justice the acts of sworn exterminators. It was upon a motion for such a bill upon the heel of the Union, when the speech from the throne had 'declared' that all was tranquil and loyal, that Mr. (Earl) Grey well ob- served, * that it should have been entitled ' a i 440 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1799. bill for the encouragement and protection of secret informers,' and that to cover every il- legal act of ministers for twelve years was unprecedented and unconstitutional, and was, in fact, the severest censure upon the admin- istration that required it.' "Add to all these the suspension of the habeas corpus act for a long series of years, authorizing summary imprisonment in secret dungeons, hulks, and military prisons, and finally the estabUshment of military law where no standard was raised, nor no enemy in pres- ence ; and let no man now wonder if a peo- ple so treated should be turbulent and vindic- tive ; that they should not all at once discard their resentments, or look with confidence to a quarter whence so many wrongs proceeded, and where faith had been so often and so lately broken." — W. Sampson. " It appears, from a variety of evidence laid before your committee, that the rebellion would not have broken out as soon as it did, had it not been for the well-timed measures adopted by the government, subsequent to the proclamation of the lord-lieutenant and council, bearing date 30th March, 1798." — Report of the Secret Committee appoirited by the Brit. Gov. "When men imagine that their food is only a cover for poison, and when they nei- ther love nor trust the hand that serves it, it is not the name of the roast beef of Old Eng- land that will persuade them to sit down to the table that is spread for them. When the people conceive that laws, and tribunals, and even popular assemblies, are perverted from the ends of their institution, they find in those names of degenerated establishments only new motives to discontent." — Burke. " It cannot be denied, that from the year 1782, at least, Ireland was indisputably as independent of England in her laws, legisla- ture, and trade, as England was of Ireland ; and ministers were no less impeachable for their acts of misrule in the one country than in the other. Happily for the English peo- ple, they timely anticipated the last extremi- ties before the picket, pitch-cap, walking gal- lows, and indemnified murders and treasons had been wrought into their system of police. But why did they not raise their voice as audibly against these abuses in the sister island ? For the same reasons that have been assigned, as will be shown presently, for the evils of the first four centuries of Eng- lish misrule ; that is to say, the hostile spirit of the administration, that delivered the coun- try into the hands of usurping factions, and the mischievous and treacherous councils of the great lords, who * laboured to effect a per- petual bar and separation,' and whose interest lay in misrepresentation and division, and in opposition to the true interests of both na- tions." — W. Sampson. " Lord Castlereagh had been more than seven years in the Irish parliament, but was undistinguished. In private life, his honour- able conduct, gentlemanly habits, and enga- ging demeanour, were exemplary. Of his public life, the commencement was patriotic, the progress corrupt, and the termination criminal. His first public essay was a mo- tion to reform the Irish parliament, and his last to annihilate it. It is impossible to deny a fact so notorious. History, tradition, or the fictions of romance, contain no instance of any minister who so fearlessly deviated from all the principles which ought to characterize the servant of a constitutional monarch or the citizen of a free country. Incontestable facts prove the justice of this observation." — J. Barrington. " Now, my lord, shall I scruple to declare to the world, — I wish I could to the four quarters of it ! — that among you, your ill- treatment has murdered my brother, [Edward Fitz-Gerald,] as much as if you had put a pistol to his head. In this situation, no char- itable message arrives to his relations, no offer to allow attached servants to attend upon him, who could have been depended upon in keeping dreadful news of all sorts from him. No, no ! To his grave, in madness, you would pursue him — to his grave you perse- cuted him." — Letter from Lord Henry Fitz- Gerald to the Lord-Lieutenant. " Be firm. Irishmen, but be cool and cau- tious ; be patient yet awhile ; trust to no un- authorized communications ; and, above all, we warn you, again and again we warn you, A. D. 1799.] THIRD DIVISION. 441 against doing the work of your tpants, by premature, by partial, or divided exertion. If Ireland shall be forced to throw away the scabbard, let it be at her own time, not at theirs. Dublin, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, 1798." — Proclamation of the United Irishmen. " But, ere we fight, go call at Edward's tomb ; cry in his ears ; bid him who sleeps to wake ; bid him rise and fight his enemies. Brave as the lion,- gentler than the lamb, the sparkling jewel of an ancient home, the no- blest blood of any in our land ran through his veins. He hears you not. He sleeps to wake no more ! Of all his country, and of all he owned, there rests no more to him than the cold grave he lies in. " O, gallant, gallant Edward ! fallen in the flower of youth, and pride of manly beauty, — had you lived to see your country free, the proudest conqueror that wears a sword dare not invade it !" — ^W. Sampson. "The patriots of 1796, '97, and '98 had not the power of ' wielding at will the fierce democracy,' possessed by the agitators of the present day ; but they had a belter and more consistent view of the remedies that their country needed. It would be folly to deny that we do not accord the confidence to the political unions we would have given to the societies of United Irishmen. Personal mo- tives, private pique, and petty objects of am- bition are too often conspicuous in the de- bates of the present men of the people ; with them we find no traces of any fixed and defi- nite plan for ameliorating the condition of the peasantry, and rendering the resources of the country available for the support of its inhab- itants." — Taylor. " One hope there is ; if it prove vain, then all is vanity. It is in the renewal and fur- therance of that union which, in spite of ad- verse interests and unforeseen disasters, went so near to make of Ireland a nation, and of her children a people. When the Catholics, represented by men of unsophisticated under- standings, and acting in the spirit of the age, embraced their countrymen who had first lent them a succouring hand ; and when they vowed together on the altar of their country 56 to abjure those hatreds fomented by their enemies, which had set Christians against their Christian countrymen with a zeal no less than that of infidels in the dark days of pagan superstition, pride was alarmed and prejudice was shocked. And the oligarchy, which, like the Mameluke powers of Egypt, servile and tyrannical, preyed upon the peo- ple with whom they felt no sympathy, saw nothing in this union but a treasonable con- spiracy against their prescriptive sway : and this sacred obligation, which warred against the oath of sworn exterminators, was made by law a felony of death. And many were the martyrs who fell by the law and by the sword, whose virtues were enough to conse- crate the axe, the cord, and all the vilest im- plements of their destruction. But there was in the motive and the object an ennobling principle which gave to those even in the humblest walks of life a dignity and elevation which did not forsake them under the severest trials. • • # # " And many there were in whose hearts the duties of my profession and the ties of friendship gave me to read, when there was no concealment or reserve, and nobler never were. They did for their country what they could ; and, when they could do no more, they met their fate with manly firmness. And he, if such there be, who thinks success the only title to remembrance, is himself un- deserving of confidence and unworthy of suc- cess : — ' Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat' " W. Sampson. " We may observe, that as the Irish re- bellion was not an isolated fact unconnected with political antecedents ; so it cannot be regarded as unproductive of future conse- quences. The causes of discontent which provoked that outbreak, though partially re- moved by law, still, we fear, survive in the manner in which that law is administered : nor is it credible that the vast and wide- spreading organization of the United Irish- men was so completely broken as to leave no traces behind it. Many of its detached links, not improbably, still subsist, and are applied 449 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1600. in a resistance to agrarian oppression, of which such dreadful results occasionally are exhibited to * fright the isle from its propriety.' Evidences of a general intelligence among the peasantry for the purposes of revenge, (that wild justice of the hopeless,) again and again exhibit themselves ; and the same truth is evinced in the diflSculty with which the offenders are traced and brought to justice : the spirit of conspiracy has descended from the higher to the lower classes." — London AthencBum ; July, 1841. " Rich and poor there will be, so long as the world endureth ; if only to give employ- ment to the higher virtues of humanity ; and without wealth and poverty, the Gospel itself would be unintelligible : — " But as the natural current of example is not upwards, but downwards, social vices, having the same origin as the fashions, must needs descend, as the fashions do ; and it can be but by ill example that the poor could be generally corrupted. " And seeing that the poor have never yet established a fashion, neither could they, with all their labour and patient endurance, give currency to social immoralities and disorders. " The privations of poverty, then, are all its own ; but its vices challenge a higher parentage. "Let the rich duly consider their duties and natural influences, their means and op- portunities ; for it can be but by their default, that infidelity and manifestations of ill-will can ever afflict a nation." — Christian's Econ. of Human Life. CHAPTER VI. Leffislative union of Great Britain and Ireland — Awful pause under the paws of the British lion — The scaffold for faithful patriots, but respectable titles for legislative liars and traitorous thieves — Wonderful efforts of Daniel O'Connell, a cham- pion of the people proper — Glorious awakening of the English mind — Death of George the Third — Success of Catholic emancipation. The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland is the next subject in the historical course of our narrative ; and it is one which has been commonly considered a very im- portant epoch. It is true that the measure has produced an immense amount of mischief and misery, but the days of its duration are numbered, and the subject will hereafter (towards which history instructs) have very little importance. Properly speaking, the reigns or acts of English power ought not to be considered at all in reference to Irish his- tory ; and we have only noticed them for the purpose of making our subject agreeable to the recollections of the general reader. Ac- cording to our view of the Union, it is a very small affair, and we shall treat it as such. Among all the subjects of real and positive and perpetual importance in the history of Ireland, the organization of the United Irish- men is the most truly worthy of attention and memory. Grieving that we cannot bestow more space in this work to relate their pa- triotic exertions, we must be allowed to con- tribute our humble endeavours to hand down the names of the principal leaders for the ad- miration of all the well-wishers of mankind. The impartial readers in future times will perceive that the " rebellion," like many other such struggles, was, in its primitive and pop- ular origin, neither a fanatical nor a factious movement. It was one of the most sublime attempts to overcome the prejudices and dif- ficulties of time and place that the world had ever seen. And it is also worthy of additional observation, that when parties and sects be- gan to see how contemptibly they were gov- erned by means of their separated antago- nism, the old barriers of prejudice were at once broken down, and men saw each other as they ought to be — a band of brothers. Similar discoveries, on a small scale, had often occurred, in spite of governmental t3nr- anny ; the early English settlers became " more Irish than the Irish :" the first Lord Baltimore, having examined Ireland for him- self, the noble-hearted Yorkshireman soon shone out as "Irish" as any of the O'Neills. These truly important and consistent inci- dents we have endeavoured to describe, be- cause they present the main evidence of Ire- land's true position and real progress. In 1798, these movements were confirmed and consolidated by the unquestionable fact that A. D. 1800.] THIRD DIVISION, 443 a hundred thousand of the brave and well- equipped Protestants of Ulster could scarcely be restrained from voluntarily hurling the British power — where it ought to be. The year 1798 was truly an epoch in the national history of Ireland. It is a lesson teaching that unity which now animates the advocacy of repeal. All its teachings yield hope to freemen, but strike terror to tyrants. Of the many excellent men brought for- ward into public notice by the 1798 mani- festation of the inextinguishable sentiment of nationality, Dr. Madden and others among them have enabled us to make the following classification, which we believe is mainly correct : — / Episcopalians. — Executed. — Henry Sheares ; John Sheares ; B. B. Harvey ; Leonard M'Nally ; Anthony Perry ; Bar- tholomew Tone ; Matthew Keuogh ; Robert Emmet ; Lord Edward Fitz-Gerald, died in prison ; Theobald Wolfe Tone, ditto ; Ohver Bond, died just after pardon. Sent to Fort George. — Thomas Addis Emmet; Arthur O'Connor; Roger O'Con- nor ; Thomas Russell ; John Chambers ; Matthew Dowling ; Edward Hudson ; Hugh Wilson ; William Dowdall ; Robert Hunter. Other Leading Members. — A. H. Rowan ; J. N. Tandy ; Simon Butler ; John Russell ; Thomas Wright; W. L. Webb; William Hamilton ; Richard Kirwan ; James Rey- nolds ; Deane Swift ; Joseph Holt ; WilUam Weir ; John Allen ; Thomas Bacon ; W. Corbett ; T. Corbett. Presbyterians. — Executed. — Henry Byers ; William Orr ; Samuel Orr ; H. J. McCracken ; James Dickey ; Henry Monroe. Sent to Fort George. — W. S. Dickson, (Rev. ;) W. Tennant ; R. Simms ; S. Neil- son ; G. Cumming ; J. Cuthbert. Other Leaders. — William Sampson ; W. Drennan ; W. P. McCabe ; H. Haslett ; W. Sinclair ; J. Sinclair ; R. McGee ; J. Milli- ken ; G. Mcllvaine ; R. Byers ; S. Kennedy ; R. Hunter ; J. Hope ; Robert Orr ; J. Rabb ; H. Grimes ; W. Simms ; W. Kean ; — Tur- ner ; J. Burnside ; J. Greer ; R. Osborne. - Catholics. — Executed. — John M'Cann ; W. Devereux ; Felix Rourke ; W. Byrne ; W. M. Byrne ; J. Esmond ; John Kelly ; J. CUnch ; S. Barrett ; E. Kyan ; Col. O'Doude. Sent to Fort George. — W. J. Mac-Neven ; J. Sweeny ; Joseph Cormick ; John Sweet- man. Other Leaders. — Charles Teeling; Bar- tholomew Teeling; E. Fitz-Gerald, (Wex- ford ;) Peter Finnerty ; William Lawless ; E. J. Lewins ; Gen. J. Devereux ; Garret Byrne ; R. McCormick ; Thomas Doorley ; B. Mahon ; M. Dwyer ; J. Sweetman ; J. Farrell ; W. Aylmer ; Ferd. O'Donnell ; Gen- eral Cloney. Among the clergy who were implicated or accused, we find the following : — Presbyterians. — Executed. — Rev. Messrs. William Porter ; — Warwick ; — Stevelly. Others. — Rev. Messrs. W. Steele Dick- son ; — Simpson ; — Barber ; — M'Neill ; — Sinclair ; — Mahon ; — Smith ; — Birch ; — Ward. Catholics. — Executed. — Rev. Messrs. J. Quigley ; Moses Keams ; Michael Murphy, (shot ;) P. Roche ; — Redmond ; — Pren- dergast ; John Murphy. Others. — Rev. Messrs. H. O'Keon ; Den- nis Taafe ; — Harrold ; — Stafford ; — Kava- nagh. On looking over this list, and especially the glorious names among the Episcopalians, the reader will naturally ask — What were the established clergy doing ? This question the historian is somewhat puzzled to answer as might be required by both duty and in- clination ; but, let us charitably suppose that they were doing their duty. We now proceed to the Union, an event which Sylvester O'Halloran would have treat- ed precisely as Charles Phillips has done in a short note appended to his beautiful poem of " The Emerald Isle :"— " Of the Irish ' union,' — that infamous con- summation of our calamities, Tsegot in bribery and baptized in blood, which robbed the Irishman of the impulse of a name, degraded his country into a province, gave him an itin- erant legislature and an absentee aristocracy, left him at the mercy of every 'prentice states- man, and carried away his wealth to bribe i 444 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1800. his foreign masters into contemptuous civility, — I shall not speak, because I trust it is but a fleeting spark, and that Irishmen will never DESIST until the very memory of that penal statute on our national pride is obliterated and erased." Previous to the solemn farce of the Union being enacted, Lord Castlereagh and the British government were very anxious to make some arrangements for the silence or absence of the fifteen or twenty state-prison- ers then in Dublin. The negotiations were carried on by Lord Castlereagh with that grace of exquisite delusion which was so pe- culiarly his fortCy and which constituted the whole and sole secret of his elevated differ- ence above those less-pompous geniuses whom the criminal laws usually send to Bot- any Bay or to the Old Bailey for a patent of elevation. After several wicked but fruitless attempts to ensnare the brave captives of Dublin into a confession of submission, Lord Castlereagh and his government very coolly undertook to assure the world that they had submitted ; and the inflexible patriots were then suddenly removed to Fort George, in the north-eastern part of Scotland. They had already been in prison nearly a year ; among them were men estimable for every virtue that could adorn the most happily gov- erned nation ; they had wives or families whose social qualities would either grace a prison or dignify a palace : but what availed all these considerations to such a " nobleman" (we believe that is the " respectable" word) as the then Lord Castlereagh ! There were twenty state-prisoners included by the order ; and, at four o'clock the next morning, this noble band of exiles, already despotically de- prived of hearth and home, tearfully but hopefully beheld the dim and dew-bathed shores of Ireland for the last time. These incorruptible patriots being disposed of, a bill to raise £1,500,000 for bribes among the Irish representatives became speedily arranged. The men who opposed the Union in 1799 were placed under the "respectable" tuition of Lord Castlereagh, and the money, in his diabolical hands, had the desired effect of corrupting sufficient vic- tims for the required purpose. The third reading of the bill for a " Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland" was moved by Lord Castlereagh with his usual elegance of style. A British regiment was placed at the doors, to secure the fulfilment of the " government arrangements," and con- summate the deed of loyal log-rolling with legislative lying. There were no back doors for the half-repentant victims of the money- fiend. The bill was passed. Lord Castle- reagh buttoned his diamond-studded gloves and retired with all the temporary honours of that locomotive atmosphere of cool placidity which accompanied him when on earth. This is sober history. It is too true. No amount of romantic language can exceed the facts. Consult Barrington, Plowden, and the official journals of the parliaments. The con- duct of Lord Castlereagh was neither acci- dental nor sincere ; for although his presence graced public affairs for twenty years after- wards, his happiness was always drawn from the misfortunes of society, and even his best friends never imagined him incommoded by the human warmth of sincerity. The political career of this "nobleman" scattered and desolated many loyal hearts ; but their descendants, possessing the true patent of nobility, are not likely to cease execrating the wretch whose only title to his- torical notice was built upon the ruin of good men and saintly women, infinitely his supe- rior in all national and moral excellence. The pen that here has to record the perfidy of such a titled traitor belongs to one of the many hands which are thus naturally and unconsciously united in deliberately exposing the moneyed-monster whose diabolical diplo- macy is a real title to the scorn of all hon- ourable men. The repeal of the Union would create quite a rustling of new readings among the modern mongrels of the British peerage. More than thirty years after the Union, when the gallant Sampson had conquered the bitter feelings of personal injury, and when he was well qualified to speak historically, he thus writes : — " Robert Stewart, [Lord Castlereagh,] when he first set up upon the republican or A. D. 1801.] THIRD DIVISION. 446 Presbyterian interest against * the lordly in- terest,* for his native county, (Down,) solemn- ly pledged himself upon the open hustings to his constituents to support and promote in and out of the house of parliament, with all his ability, the following bills : 1st, for amend- ing the representation of the people ; 2d, to exclude pensioners and placemen ; 3d, for limiting their number; 4th, for preventing revenue officers from voting; 5th, for ren- dering the servants of the crown in Ireland responsible ; 6th, to protect the personal safety of the subject against arbitrary and ex- cessive bail, and against the stretching of the power of attachment beyond the limits of the constitution ! Such was he who corrupted and annihilated that parliament ; held places and sat in parliament ; gave places to men who sat in it, increased the number of place- men and pensioners, suspended the habeas corpus, enacted the insurrection act, which, together with the gunpowder bill, etc., left no right unviolated, established martial law, and instead of responsibility, gave a large and unlimited charter of indemnity to the delin- quent servants of the crown, for the adminis- tering of a system of torture and rigour be- yond the laws ; and pursued with renegado vengeance to death, and even beyond the GRAVE, the friends to whom he stood so pledged, and over whose shoulders he had risen to power." Our duty required the mention of this " no- bleman" in his peculiar connection with the Union, and it is hoped that the task has been as impartially performed as if we had never seen the " gentleman." On the 27th of March, 1800, the house of lords and that of the commons waited upon the lord-lieutenant with the articles of the Union. In England, the "Union Act for Ireland" was passed July 2. On the 1st of January, 1801, the imperial united standard of Great Britain and Ireland was raised and saluted in Dublin by the mercenary men and mercenary guns of a mercenary government. Sampson tells us — " It was on the first day of January, 1801, at the hour of noon, that the imperial united standard mounted on the Bedford Tower in Dublin Castle, and the guns of the royal salute battery in the Phenix Park, announced to weeping, bleeding, prostrate Ireland that her independence was no more, and that her guilt-stained parliament had done itself to death. It was proclaimed abroad that rebel- lion was crushed, that those ' designing' men who had led the people astray were all brought to justice or to ' submission,' and now with the opening century was to arise a new and hap- pier era. " The government was now possessed of the power that a vanquished insurrection gives, with an army of 126,000 well-appoint- ed soldiers, highly commended for the tri- umphs they had won, and the great and loyal spirit with which they had achieved such victories. Ministers certainly, upon their own showing, were all-powerful for evil or for good. Here was the time, had there been wisdom or virtue in the authors of this sanguinary revolution, so long darkly con- templated by the despotic minister, and now dictated by his will to his blind instruments : here was the moment to let the curtain fall softly down upon the bloody and tragical ca- tastrophe ; to throw back to the account of past centuries the crimes and cruelties with which the last had closed ; to make good the promises and alluring hopes held out by the royal revolutionists and rebellion-makers, who had themselves so lately, when it suited a temporary purpose, drawn such strong and glowing pictui'es of former misgovernment, and of the contamination of the parhament which they themselves had poisoned, as more than justified rebellion. They had taken upon themselves the credit, and with it the responsibility, of the rebellion, or, which is the same thing, the * explosion ;' and the re- volution called the Union was from first to last the entire work of their own hands. It is not in the memoirs of Theobald Wolfe Tone, nor in the prophetic speeches of Fox and Grey, that this truth is to be found, but in their own deliberate avowals." The Union was succeeded by one of those dreadful pauses which indicate the extent of the injury inflicted. As in that national stupor which followed the violation of the i 446 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1808. Treaty of Limerick, the popular mind be- came fitful occasionally, but soon reverted into sullen silence, — an English characteristic which is only of comparatively modern intro- duction in Irish affairs. At first, the Union was openly condemned by a few energetic patriots, who knew the real sentiments of the country ; and Robert Emmet was the actual representative of the Irish people when he made his last speech before the brutal butcher whom blood-bought bribery and unscrupu- lous servility had bolstered on the bench. After the execution of Robert Emmet and eighteen of his gallant comrades,* tyranny became more quiet and confirmed ; but, such is the invincible nature of truth and liberty, that Daniel O'Connell, a champion who had been gradually attracting notice since 1799, commenced wielding those wonderful abili- ties which promise to break up all the " re- spectable" quietude of the consolidated tyr- anny built upon the ruin of the Irish parlia- ment and the fate of Robert Emmet. Never had the chains upon Ireland been 80 artfully or so strongly bound. Tyranny had learned to assume a half-pious, half-gal- lant exterior, evidently borrowed from Cas- tlereagh and Norbury. In the dreary inter- val between the death of Emmet and the peace of Europe, little could be done. The " government" profited, by its difficulties abroad, in conquering the voice of reform at home. The habeas corpus act and trial by jury were suspended, martial law proclaimed, and the freedom of the press fettered with a nominal liberty of no use except to tamper- ing traitors. Tyranny wore all the externals of a respectable sinner : — the morning had its Te Deum of sanctified sleepiness ; dinner was composed of a large slice of French or American glory ; and, in the evening, treach- ery was invited to take tea and tell tales. Legal forms being the order of the day, | * Notwithstanding our confined limits, we must men- 1 tion the names, at least, of these true noblemen: — Tho- j mas Russell, Edward Kearney, Thomas Maxwell Roach, Thomas Keenan, John McEntoeh, Owen Kirwan, Hen- j ry Howley, James Byrne, John Hay, John Biggs, Mi- , chael Kelly, Denis Lambert Redmond, Nicholas Tyrell, Felix Rourke, Laurence Regley, John Killen, Thomas Donelly, and John McCaiin legal remedies are therefore principally em- ployed ; but, to the minds of competent ob- servers, the contest between O'Connell and the government, in behalf of the people of Ireland, has evidently been carried on with brilliant activity and steady success in the great cause of freedom. Daniel O'Connell has perseveringly watched the best opportuni- ties and proved himself equal to the times and to his task. With truth and right on his side, he has maintained a continual war against the royally reposing church-and-state com- bination of selfish interest and spiritual tyr- anny. Mooney says — " In future ages, this mighty man will be deemed the creature of the fabulist. His labours will be doubted. The voice of his- tory will be insufficient to attest them. Some mighty monument should be raised on which his triumphs could be engraved in brass or in granite ; for, although his labours ought to live in the hearts of his liberated countrymen to the remotest generation, yet the habitual apathy of mankind may blunt the recollection of his deeds of glory. Raise a Theban pyra- mid, ye men of Ireland, to his fame ! Carry it beyond the flight of your own eagle. Hang on its apex the harps of your country ; and when the beams of the morning sun shall strike upon their chords, the music of praise shall be heard for him, the greatest master of the human mind that ever Ireland produced. Gather around its base on each returning anni- versary of his birth ; renew there your vows to freedom, and perpetuate to other ages the peaceful doctrines of her greatest champion. " Nor does Ireland alone feel and acknowl- edge the benefit of his labours. Other coun- tries accord to him their obligations. The chief writers of the earth have recorded their high estimation of his worth. His fame will live in their literature, and his example will be followed by patriots that are unborn. His grateful and admiring countrymen have desig- nated him, by way of eminence, the Libera- tor and moral regenerator of Ireland. They may heap upon him title upon title, epithet upon epithet, until the pyramid reach the very clouds ; and yet the name alone by which posterity will recognise him, is O'Connell." A. D. 1816.] THIRD DIVISION. 447 The " apathy of mankind" is of little con- sequence to a Christian patriot. But the time is assuredly coming when, as Mooney says of O'Connell, "his labours will be doubted." The English people will scarcely believe the historian who tells them that they had an act-of-pariiament religion and a state- church in the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury. Thousands of millions will be happily incapacitated from believing in the existence of such a traitorous wretch as Castlereagh ; so also will be doubted the necessity and use- fulness of such a devoted patriot as O'Connell. The death of Mr. Pitt, January 23, 1806, caused a slight improvement in the treatment of Ireland. Lord Grenville became first lord of the treasury ; Mr. Fox, secretary of state for foreign affairs ; and Mr. Erskine (created a baron) was appointed lord-chancellor. But Mr. Fox dying on the 13th of September, and the negotiations for peace with Buonaparte having failed, Ireland was again given up to the same arrogant selfishness that dictated the " orders in council" against America. In 1807, a bill for the emancipation of the Catholics passed both houses of parliament. The king suddenly remembered that he had a conscience, and not only refused to sign the bill, but ordered the cabinet to abandon the subject forever. They refused to comply with such despotic dictation, and his majesty called in the Duke of Portland and Mr. Per- ceval to form a new ministry. The amiable Erskine was displaced for Lord Eldon, a man capable of any amount of crocodile meanness, or any degree of Bible-and-crown rapacity. George the Third's prospective despotism caused much attention to what was called the " veto question," and the years 1808-9 were occupied in arguing its merits. The Con- vention Act was enforced by the government, and Lord Fingal was arrested for presiding at a Catholic meeting. The vigilance of the "government" was not always victori- ous ; and, in 1810, a very large repeal meet- ing was held in Dublin, at which Lord Clon- curry and Mr. O'Connell spoke with great effect, and a petition was sent to parliament. In 1812, the " Cathohc Board" was organized for the fourth time, under the legal advice of Mr. O'Connell. The illegal excesses com- mitted by the " Carders" in 1813 operated very badly against the Cathohcs, and enabled Sir Robert Peel to saddle several insurrec- tion acts upon the country. The curfew law was revived ; and Mooney, writing from ob- servation, says — " The trial by jury was a ' mockery,' and the laws a * snare.' In truth, the law was a scourge, its officers corrupt, the judges par- tial, the juries packed, and the government unprincipled and despotic. Peel was sec- retary of state in Ireland, and Castlereagh secretary of state in England !" In 1814, the fall of Buonaparte strength- ened the hands of the "government," and the constitutional rights of either England or Ireland were little heeded. The nation found men and money, and the government lived in clover. The escape of Buonaparte from Elba only confirmed that state of alarm which gives to the collection of taxes a " respecta- ble" excuse. After the battle of Waterloo, the cessation of hostilities lessened the peculiar power of that very peculiar usurpation called, in "respectable" parlance, "the British gov- ernment." During the previous five years, the annual average of expenditure was £108,720,000. The following five years reduced the average to £64,660,000. The proceedings of the session of 1816 show that the ministry were unable to con- tinue the property-tax for another year. They were also compelled to relinquish the malt- tax, which usually brought in £2,000,000. The Bank Restriction Bill was extended for two years. The Catholics, however, failed again with their claims. In those thinking " times of peace," the inventive faculties of the government were much tried to divert the reflective sobriety of the ex- hausted nation. Among the novel expedients invented to amuse the public mind were the marriage of the Princess Charlotte to Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg ; the Duke of Gloucester mar- ried the Princess Mary ; and, as a sort of national restorative of hock and soda. Lord Exmouth was sent to give the Algerines and ^^ 448 HISTORY OF IRELAT^D, [A. D. 1817. the quotations in gunpowder a brilliant blow- ing up. In 1817, the unnatural and unconstitutional treatment to which Great Britain and Ireland had long been subjected could not be hidden any longer. The people of England were aroused to the examination of names and meanings. Public meetings, addresses, and petitions were spirited and incessant; and the voice of Old Ireland swelled the popular demand for parliamentary reform. This state of affairs brought to hght a sin- gular and sympathetic juxtaposition of two classes who were previously supposed to be widely separated : one was the nobility in the ministerial interest, and the other (what is known since 1817 as) the *' shopocracy." A more grovelling set of inveterate t3nrants than the latter never grew up among the gar- bage of profligate power. As they are the latest growth of political corruption, so they will be the last class to deserve the liberty that is in store for freemen. At the present moment they are the most wilhng slaves and the most contemptible despots in the whole world. They have no hope in the future, except for the accumulation of capital. Ig- norant, base and servile, they know nothing about Ireland ; and if they did, they would not dare to use the knowledge before their church-and-king masters. These "thriving earth-worms" are easily detected by their peculiar stupidity, which is quite different and profound in comparison with the simpli- city of excusable ignorance ; and every man of them, however he may dress or behave, wears by nature the everlasting shroud of a stupid and satisfied slave. When we say " every man of them" it is because we suppose that they should be called men ; but the meaning only refers to that description of English "comfortable" tradesmen who are, emphatically, the " shop- ocracy." In England our words would re- quire no explanation. The "gentry" we allude to are well known and well despised among their neighbours. Like their Dublin imitators, they may be infallibly distinguished by never giving any thing to the poor except Bibles, or abuse in the form of advice ; but. on such occasions as an addition to the royal family, or a disastrous misfortune to other nations, they will expend a hundred pounds each in guzzling and vulgar glorification. It should not be supposed that the posses- sion of wealth is or was favourable only to this clique of a class. Happily, such is not the fact, although the government would have prevented it, if possible. The city of Lon- don proper, possessing the means of preserv- ing the true principles of constitutional free- dom better than either Dublin or Edinburgh, is, even yet, the repository of old English liberty, and presents the spectacle of a nearly perfect model-republic existing and flourish ing among all the contaminations of a cor- rupted and imperial legislation. The return of peace had the effect of distinguishing the men who deserve their wealth from those who abuse it by their senseless servility. The agitation of parliamentary reform and Cath- olic emancipation necessarily made London the forum of debate, especially after the Union. During the mayoralty of Mr. Saw- bridge, an excellent epitome of the principles of liberty was drawn up by Dr. Richard Price, for which service he received a vote of thanks, and a gold box of the value of fifty pounds, containing the usual documents con- ferring the freedom of the city. In 1817, William Beck added a new preface, and a dedication to Lord-Mayor Wood. It was then issued in a cheap and popular form by Thomas Dolby, (the undaunted publisher of Cobbett's Register,) and hundreds of thou- sands of copies were circulated throughout the three kingdoms. This little paper-pellet struck terror among the war-making, tax- inventing traitors who pretend to govern Great Britain and Ireland. The following short extract will show a few of the argu- ments which really do frighten the long-eared imitators of the British lion : — " It is obvious, that all civil government, as far as it can be denominated free, is the creature of the people. It originates with them. It is conducted under their direction ; and has in view nothing but their happiness. All its different forms eire no more than so many different modes in which they choose A. D. 1817.] THIRD DIVISION. 440 to direct their affairs, and to secure the quiet enjoyment of their rights. In every free state every man is his own legislator. All taxes are free gifts for public services. All laws are particular provisions or regulations es- tablished by common consent for gaining pro- tection and safety. And all magistrates are trustees or deputies for carrying these regula- tions into execution. ** Liberty, therefore, is too imperfectly de- fined when it is said to be * a government by laws, and not by men.' If the laws are made by one man, or a junto of men in a state, and not by common consent, a govern- ment, by them, does not differ from slavery. In ihis case it would be a contradiction in terms to say that the state governs itself. " From hence it is obvious that civil lib- erty, in its most perfect degree, can be en- joyed only in small stales, where every member is capable of giving his suffrage in person, and of being chosen into public of- fices. When a state becomes so numerous, or when the different parts of it are removed to such distances from one another, as to render this impracticable, a diminution of liberty necessarily arises. There are, how- ever, in these circumstances, methods by which such near approaches may be made to perfect liberty as shall answer all the pur- poses of government, and at the same time secure every right of human nature. " Though all the members of a state should not be capable of giving their suffrages on public measures, individually and personally, they may do this by the appointment of sub- stitutes or representatives. They may in- trust the powers of legislation, subject to such restrictions as they shall think necessary, with any number of delegates ; and whatever can be done by such delegates, within the limits of their trust, may be considered as done by the united voice and counsel of the community. In this method a free govern- ment may be established in the largest slate ; and it is conceivable that by regulations of this kind, any number of states might be subjected to a scheme of government that would exclude the desolations of war, and produce universal peace and order. 57 " Let us think here of what may be prac- ticable in this way vdth respect to Europe in particular. While it continues divided, as it is at present, into a great number of inde- pendent kingdoms whose interests are con- tinually clashing, it is impossible but that disputes will often arise which must end in war and carnage. It would be no remedy to this evil to make one of these states supreme over the rest, and to give it an absolute pleni- tude of power to superintend and control them. This would be to subject all the states to the arbitrary discretion of one, and to es- tablish an ignominious slavery not possible to be long endured. It would, therefore, be a remedy worse than the disease ; nor is it possible it should be approved by any mind that has not lost every idea of civil liberty. On the contrary, — Let every state, with re- spect to all its internal concerns, be continued independent of all the rest ; and let a general confederacy be formed by the appointment of a senate consisting of representatives from all the different slates. Let this senate pos- sess the power of managing all the federal or general concerns of the united states, and of judging and deciding between them, as a common arbiter or umpire, in all disputes ; having, at the same time, under its direction, the common force of the states to support its decisions. In these circumstances, each sep- arate state would be secure against the in- terference of foreign power in its private con- cerns, and, therefore, would possess liberty ; and at the same time it would be secure against all oppression and insult from every neighbouring state. Thus might the scattered force and abilities of a whole continent be gathered into one point ; all litigations settled as they rose ; universal peace preserved ; and nation prevented from any more hfting up a sword against nation." The sentiments expressed in this quotation from Dr. Price's observations are imperish- able, and the utmost that the British govern- ment ever can do is merely to delay their certain and inevitable adoption ; indeed, it is quite probable that Ireland will voluntarily step forward, and again lead the march of true improvement in Europe, as she did be- i 450 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1820. fore the days of Alfred, Columb Kille, or St. Patrick. On the 10th of June, 1818, the imperial par- liament was dissolved, and the excitements of an election diverted the attention of the people from the ministry; but the reform leaders took the opportunity of pressing for parliamentary reform. All the ministerial candidates in the city of London were thrown out. Sir Samuel Romilly and Sir Francis Burdett being relumed for Westminster, and the really active members of the reform party having gained many valuable accessions to their ranki^ we find that the ministry in this year, notwithstanding the death of Queen Charlotte, availed themselves of the occur- rence of no less than four marriages in the royal family. The names of the parties are of little consequence in this place. The ex- pedient had the usual political effect in favour of the government, and at the close of the session, the ministerial majority was as safe in both houses as even Lord Castlereagh might have desired. The "Manchester Massacre," in 1819, was wickedly made the foundation of an ex- cuse to bring out and enforce the famous " six acts" of despotic power which enabled Lord Castlereagh and his tribe to set aside the constitution, and to inflict the same hor- rors upon England which he had so profitably (for himself) employed in Ireland. Such was the state of the " most enlightened" na- tion at the time its most Bible-reading mon- arch closed a reign of sixty similar years. George the Fourth, who had been Prince Regent since 1811, succeeded to the title of king on the 29th of January, 1820 ; and then, indeed, there was " high life below stairs." Then came in a tribe of government spies, bawds and pimps, who had long revelled in the regal profusion of the regency, and had learned to pray with fervour for the death of the third George, so that the harvest of crowned extravagance might reward the gen- teel meanness and fashionable crimes which they had so long exercised in the political perfidy of their ministerial masters. Among these privileged robbers, who cared for Ire- land, except to wring the rents in profligacy, or to take the tithes in hypocrisy? Who cared for Scotland, except to tax the simple, or corrupt the learned ? Who cared for Eng- land, except to cheat her people, or perpetrate modem and double-refined wickedness under shelter of the glory of her ancient name ? It was about the time that this diabohcal democracy of dastards had become rich in roguery when some small-beer imitators un- dertook to set up the same trade, under cover of a money-making combination of the popu- lar and the "respectable" interests. For this purpose, every person who did not hap- pen to agree in opinion with the cabinet min- isters was represented as a " cut-throat" radi- cal, an enemy of the law, and a despiser of religion ! Nearly all of the " respectables" of the British and Irish press joined in the chorus ; and thousands of well-meaning peo- ple actually believed that the advocates of parliamentary reform or Catholic emancipa- tion must necessarily be anarchists, infidels, or " bloody papists." Great Britain and Ire- land were pertinaciously informed that the " constitution" was in danger ; the " church" was also duly discovered to be in danger. In this predicament, what were the money- making respectables to do ? The holy " So- ciety for the Suppression of Vice" was de- clared insuflicient to meet the crisis of dis- loyalty and infidelity ; nothing could save the country, or the church, unless every loyal Briton were to pay a guinea and become a member of the " Constitutional Association," that being the name of the new shield for Britannia invented by the vulgar imitators of the lucky parasites of the court. This mimic " British government" levied enormous sums on the loyal and religious fears of that notice-seeking class of society which is mainly composed of haggling haber- dashers, blockhead booksellers, and church- going professionals, ornamented, occasionally, with pious and perjured stationery-contract- ors. The guineas came in by thousands, and the " new broom," having been consecra- ted by the semi-oflficial consent of court and clergy, began to do its work against the friends of reform. The equivocal characters and doubtful advocates, (many of them hired "*^ A. D. 1823.] THIRD DIVISION, 451 spies,) were soon dispersed ; but the original band of indomitable patriots (who had risked life and fortune for years together) were not to be dismayed by imitative tyranny. Ma- jor Cartwright, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Dolby, Sir Charles Wolseley, Daniel O'Con- nell, Joseph Hume, Sir Richard Phillips, Thelwall of "The Champion," the Hunts of " The Examiner," and the Roscoes of Lon- don and Liverpool, — were well-tried leaders, not only proved to be incorruptible, but gen- erally acknowledged as above suspicion. Of this unconquerable band, Dolby, being a printer and publisher, was especially exposed to the attacks of the self-styled " Constitu- tional Association," which generally evinced its activity in the form of libel suits or crimi- nal informations, purposely playing into the hands of the attorney-general and the packed juries of the "government." The associa- tion, having usually met with success, and being unconstitutionally encouraged to act like a " fourth estate" in the realm, had its arrogance crushed after presuming to attack Dolby. He legally and successfully fought the battle out, (silently burying his almost indescribable injuries,) and, after a long strug- gle, ultimately secured that freedom of the press which now strikes every traveller in Europe as the most glorious remnant of Eng- lish constitutional liberty. The main scene of legislative and political action for Ireland having been removed to England since the Union, the relation of these circumstances will assist in showing the nature of the difficulties Mr. O'Connell and the Irish people had to encounter in pro- curing Catholic emancipation and parliament- ary reform. In 1821, George the Fourth visited Ire- land, and made his public entry into Dublin on the 17th of August. His majesty was most loyally entertained, although Lord Castle- reagh, the Great Undisturbed, marred the festive scene with the hateful reminiscences brought forward by his constant presence. The census of Ireland, in 1821, is various- ly reported. The parliamentary returns, since discovered to have been incomplete, were thus rendered : — Provinces. Leinster, Munster, Ulster, . Connaught Total, Population. 1,737,295 1,971,683 1,985,348 1,105,573 6,799,899 The Dublin directories, which are more likely to be correct, make the total 6,846,949. During the absence of George the Fourth from London in August, 1822, when on a visit to Scotland, the Great Undisturbed cut his OWN throat with that elegance of precis- ion which graced all the movements of Lord Castlereagh to the last. There was none of that vulgar indecision which might possibly affect the trembling hands of unsuccessful patriots while immured and betrayed in dun- geons of darkness ; none of that uncertainty with which a broken heart or a wounded spirit sometimes afflicts and unmoors even the noblest minds. By no means. Like the celebrated " Mr. Gammon," the Great Un- disturbed could not err in decorum ; and, on the present occasion, he deliberately diplo- matized and did the deed " according to the rubric." Living in one of his many houses, on one of the most delightful spots in all England, surrounded with all that worldly wealth can buy, and enjoying " the personal esteem of his sovereign," he condescended to cut his OWN throat. As the life of Robert Stewart, Lord Castle- reagh, Marquis of Londonderry, and so forth, was a continual violation of all law, human and divine, so also his injudicious friends de- termined that his funeral should be a practi- cal defiance of the common law of England ; and " a tomb in Westminster Abbey" is now rapidly ceasing to be a desirable object in the minds of all reasonable and honourable men. In 1823, after exertions deserving volumes of explanation, Mr. O'Connell succeeded in organizing the " Catholic Association of Ire- land." His principal supporters were Rich- ard Lalor Shell, John Lawless, Henry Grat- tan, Maurice O'Connell, Thomas Wyse, O'Gorman Mahon, Thomas Steele, Richard Barrett, Michael Staunton, and the Right Rev. James Doyle. This band of unshrink- ing patriots finally obtained, in 1829, (after 453 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1829. repeated disasters and continual triumphs,) the emancipation of the Cathohcs from their legal disabilities. On examining the whole proceedings of the time, we are compelled to declare that it was extorted and procured solely from the monarchical fears of the British government ; and, for such reasons. Catholic emancipation was finally passed as a ministerial measure. How much gratitude is due from the Irish people towards O'Connell and his assistants, and how httle towards the British govern- ment, for the " boon" of Catholic emancipa- tion, may be easily seen in the following ex- tract from Thomas Wyse's " History of the Catholic Association," admirably describing the state of Ireland during the agitation of the Catholic question : — " Many began to adopt a tone of thinking quite in harmony with the first addresses from America. They began to consider even Cathohc emancipation but a very partial remedy for the political and moral evils of Ireland. They looked to a regeneration far more sweeping and decisive ; they believed that Ireland had outgrown the connection, and could now set up for herself. Reason- ing on past experience, they were disposed to treat with distrust and contempt all over- tures from England. They had in history pfoof that she had never made concessions to Ireland, except upon compulsion. They looked only to such a crisis as might, by its appalling force, loose the iron grasp altogether, and liberate the country for ever from its de- pendence. They laughed at any thing less than self-government in its amplest sense ; separation and republicanism were the two head articles of their political creed. Such a party has been rapidly increasing in Ireland — far more formidable than the French party which haunted the imagination of Mr. Grat- tan, and which he so often denounced in par- liament. It based its projects, not on the fanciful theories of the French revolutionists, but on the practical model which it saw in America, expanding to a greater maturity and vigour every day before them. They com- pared the resources, the advantages, the pop- ulation, the energies, the intolligence, of the two countries. They opposed the oppres- sion and wretchedness of one to the freedom and prosperity of the other. They calcula- ted that there was no other emancipation for Ireland than the absolute assertion of her independence ; and that the attempt, if con- ducted with ordinary prudence and perse- verance, quietly husbanding and augmenting their forces, and awaiting with patience the propitious and certain hour for the experi- ment, could not ultimately fail of the most entire success." Such is the historical value of the extraor- dinary circumstances attending the memora- ble fact of Catholic emancipation on the 13th of April, 1829. CONFIRMATORY APPENDIX. 1799 TO 1829. " The operation of dangerous and delusive first principles obliges us to have recourse to the true ones. In the intercourse between nations, we are apt to rely too much on the instrumental part. We lay too much weight upon the formality of treaties and compacts. We do not act much more wisely when we trust to the interests of men as guarantees of their engagements. The interests frequently tear to pieces the engagements ; and the pas- sions trample upon both. Entirely to trust to either, is to disregard our own safety, or not to know mankind. Men are not tied to one another by papers and seals. They are led to associate by resemblances, by con- formities, by sympathies. It is with nations as with individuals. Nothing is so strong a tie of amity between nation and nation as correspondence in laws, customs, manners, and habits of life. They have more than the force of treaties in themselves. They are obligations written in the heart. They ap- proximate men to men without their know- ledge, and sometimes against their intentions. The secret, unseen, but irrefragable bond of habitual intercourse holds them together, even when their perverse and litigious nature sets them to equivocate, scuffle, and fight A. D. 1829.] THIRD DIVISION. 463 about the terms of their written obligation." Burke. "The history of Ireland for the last six hundred years, was a history of blood, with the exception of one bright but brief period, under the auspices of Mr. Grattan ; shortly before her fatal union with England. Then, indeed, for a short period, her commerce and manufactures sprung up with the elasticity of youth. The just administration of some- thing like just and equal laws, inspired a con- fidence in the safety and durability of her institutions ; and something like a fair re- muneration for labour brought a transient gleam of happiness to her peasantry. Then it was that her eloquence and her wit and her song electrified the world. But the sun of that 'bright morning' went down in blood, and was succeeded by the long dark night of the Union, upon which no mom has yet arisen. To Ireland it had been indeed a night of death, relieved only by the memory of that great man upon whose name the mo- mentary sunshine of her sad history rests." — S. Stevens ; Address to the Albany Re- pealers, Jan. 3, 1844. " It has been well and truly observed, that whoever desires to study the intimate nature of the English government, to discover the manner in which the representative system has been worked, by those who have made THEMSELVES THE MASTERS OF ITS POWERS, must look to Ireland for the most demonstra- tive illustration. The Irish representation and administration, up to the Union, were a magnified and distorted image or reflection of their prototypes on this side of the water. Power exercised with less responsibility, re- presentation on a narrower basis, and selfish- ness less controlled by public opinion than with us, formed a combination whose results, like the preparations of morbid anatomy, were luminous in proportion as they were diseased. To Englishmen, it is a matter of no small import to gather from Irish story the leading fact that a fictitious representation and a gov- ernment of class interests carried with them the seeds of an inevitable and calamitous end. All the energies of an uncontrolled and not feeble series of Irish administrations applied to consolidating and fortifying that systeifi, ended in their utter incapacity to continue it in activity. The Union with England was pohlically inevitable ; and the rebellion which preceded it, even if fomented, as is asserted, for the Machiavellian purpose of hurrying on that consequence, was still a demonstration of its necessity. The example is striking, and deserves to be meditated beyond the sphere of mere Irish interests." — London Athenceum; July 1841. " The British minister, having permitted the Irish parliament to convict itself of in- competence and intolerable tyranny, com- pelled it to pass on itself the sentence of con- demnation, and assent to its own annihilation. Scarcely had the insurrection ended, when the question of Union began to be jigitated. It was at first so decidedly unpopular, that, exhausted as the country had been by the late commotions, its independence might prob- ably have been maintained by arms, had not the minister, by a wonderful mixture of cor- ruption and cunning, effectually broken the strength of the opposition. The measure of Union was rejected in the session of 1799 by the house of commons ; but, by a lavish profusion of bribes, the same house was in- duced to adopt it in the next session, by a considerable majority. The Catholics were induced to give a species of tacit assent, though certainly with considerable reluc- tance, by the promise of obtaining their eman- cipation. Hopes, utterly inconsistent with such a promise, were presented to the violent Protestants ; money was liberally bestowed on all who could forward the views of gov- ernment ; and at length, after unparalleled scenes of bribery and deception, the Irish legislature assented to its own destruction." Taylor. " By the measure of a legislative union, Ireland reverts again to the same wretchetl state as when bound by acts of the EngUsli parliament. On the misery of that state the ablest men who ever advocated her cause, even other than United Irishmen, have ex- hausted eloquence and invective, and the brightest page in her history is the one which records the extorted renunciation of 454 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1829. ► that usurped power and her plenary right of self-government." — W. J. Mac-Neven. " It is my settled sentiment, and I am sat- isfied it is the sentiment not only of every man who now hears me, but of the Catholic people of Ireland, that if our opposition to this injurious, insulting, ruinous, and hated measure were to draw upon us the revival of the whole penal code, in its most Satanic form ; we would boldly, cheerfully, and unanimously endure it, sooner than withhold that opposition, and sooner throw ourselves once more on the kindness of our Protestant brethren, than give our assent for one mo- ment to the political murder of our country. " Yes ! I know, although exclusive advan- tages may be, and are, held out to the Irish Catholic to seduce him from the duty he owes his country, that the Catholics of Ireland still remember they have a country, and that they never will accept of any advantage as a sect which would debase them and their Protest- ant countrymen as a people." — O'Connell ; First Public Speech, Dublin, 1799. " It was the opinion of Emmet [T. A.] that the legislative union was a measure more suited to facihtate the despotism of the min- istry than to strengthen the dominion of Eng- land. Since the abuse of power has ever followed its excess, no less in nations than individuals, a restraint upon human actions is salutary for all parties, and the impediment that shall stop the career of ministerial tyran- ny will be found to work best for the stability of the connection. If this operate to the good of Ireland, she will observe it for its utility, an Irish parliament being then its best pre- servative. If, on the contrary, it be made, as at present, to sacrifice the many to the few, it will be viewed as a curse by the Irish people, who have in all cases most power, and, in this, will have least reason to sustain it." — W. J. Mac-Neven. " The Union deprived Ireland of self-gov- ernment. It reduced her into the state of a province from being an independent nation. " The second great evil of the Union is the financial robbery of Ireland which has been effected by means of that measure. *' The third evil resulting from the Union is one that now no compensation can be given for. It was not the less a monstrous mischief. It was this : — The Union retarded the eman- cipation of the Irish Catholics for a full quar- ter of a century. A full generation hved and died in slavery, who would have enjoyed the blessings of equal laws but for the Union." • * * • • * " If an Irishman be equally fit to govern, to make laws, and to execute them, as the native of any other country, why should we give to others the power of m£iking laws for us, or of executing them ? Is it not evident that no persons can have so great an interest in there being good laws in Ireland as the in- habitants of Ireland ? Having, then, the most deep interest in there being good laws in Ire- land ; having our properties, our lives, our comforts, our liberties, all at stake in the good government of our country ; must we not be the most fit persons to take care of those properties by wise laws ; to protect our lives by just institutions ; to attend to the promotion of our comforts by salutary regu- lations, and to establish our hberties by sound legislation ? Who else can have the deep, the entire, the perpetual interest we have in these things ? If this be so, as it certainly is so — is it not the height of wicked absurdity in us, to devolve upon strangers the care of these most important concerns, and to de- prive ourselves of the natural control and superintendence over our own affairs ? " This government and management we were deprived of by the Union, — they can be restored to us only by the abrogation of that measure. " It is true — familiarly true even to the trite- ness of a proverb — that he who intrusts his business to others is sure to have it neglected ; that no man's business is well done, but the business of a man who superintends it himself. "What is true of each individual is equally true of the aggregate of individuals called a nation. Each nation has a sacred duty im- posed on it, to attend to its own affairs ; that duty is also a sacred right, which in our case has been most treacherously as well as basely violated. " This, as I have said, is manifestly an evil ;' A. 1). 1829.] THIRD DIVISION. 455 inherent in the Union, and for which there can of course be no remedy but in the repeal of that measure." — O'Connell ; Reply to the Earl of Shrewsbury, etc. " The first insurrection that followed upon the renewal of the laws of terror was that of Robert Emmet, which has been treated as an insane attempt. It is not easy for the truest friend and admirer of the talents and virtues of that youth to venture upon his de- fence : his own last and most impressive words forbid it, and they must be sacred : — * Let no man write my epitaph till my country is free.' Oppression, we are told, maketh the wise man mad, and he had his share of it. He was the youngest and perhaps the most shining of three brothers, sprung from gifted and honourable parents, all of spotless name and great endowments ; and if ever there were patriots pure and devout, they deserved that glorious name. His only sur- viving and beloved brother had been, by a signal breach of ministerial faith, long in- carcerated, previous to his final and perpetual exile from his native land, of which he was indeed an ornament ; and he himself had been long before rancorously expelled from his alma mater, which never did before nor since possess so fair a bud of merit and of hope ; and this for no crime alleged but that he loved his country, and maintained her rights with all the energies and eloquence of youth in- spired by truth. Noble of nature, his coun- try's degradation touched his heart ; the cries of the tortured entered his soul. His mind caught fire — it was a holy flame, and may have burned too bright for mortal government. With him too fell Russell, whom to know was to love. Gentle of heart and merciful in nature, faithful and brave, with every grace of mind and person, and every charm of vir- tue ; he too, after having suffered years of imprisonment without trial, was driven to desperation, and also doomed to die upon a gallows. " There is a cloud over this subject which time may yet clear up, and then it may, per- haps, appear how far the hand of a faction, long practised in the wily art of luring men to their destruction, was in these transactions. The government accounts and proceedings of that day are full of contradictions, and argue either extreme folly, or great and wicked cruelty." — W. Sampson. " Lord Castlereagh, the betrayer and butcher of Ireland, died by his own hand, at North Cray, in Kent. Borne down by the remembrance of the dreadful deeds he had perpetrated towards his country, he sank be- neath the summary vengeance of his own will. It may be worth remarking that, when his coffin was taken out to be interred, the populace of London rent the air with their acclamations." — Mooney. " Ireland lost all and gained nothing by the Union. Every promise was broken, every pledge was violated. Ireland struggled, and prayed, and cried out to friends for aid, and to Parliament for relief. " At length a change came over the spirit of our proceedings. The people of Ireland ceased to court patronage, or to hope for rehef from their friends. They became ' friends to themselves,' and after twenty-six years of agitation, they forced the concession of Emancipation. They compelled the most powerful as well as the most tricky, the most daring as well as the most dexterous, of their enemies, to concede Emancipation. • • • • " Let it be recollected that our struggle was for * freedom of conscience.' Oh, how ignorant are the men who boast of Protestant tolerance, and declaim on Catholic bigotry ! This calumny was one of the worst evils we formerly endured. At present we laugh it to scorn. The history of the persecutions perpetrated by the Protestant Established Church of England, upon Catholics on the one hand, and upon Presbyterians and other Protestant dissenters on the other, is one of the blackest in the page of time." — O'Con- nell. " In England and Germany, Protestantism introduced itself by the head of the state, by princes, and nobles, and magistrates, and men of letters, and descended slowly into the lower ranks. Christianity followed an oppo- site course ; it commenced in the plebeian classes, with the poor and ignorant. The faith ascended by degrees into the higher 466 HISTORY OP IRELAND [A. D. 1829, ranks, and reached at length the imperial throne. It is a remark of Chateaubriand, too just to be rejected, * that the two impressions of these two origins have remained distinct in the two communions.' The same differ- ence continues in the propagation of the two religions." — Ages of Faith. " Whatsoever knowledge hath in it no part nor concern for the general welfare, is but an art political, self-seeking and ostentatious ; great in sound, but little in substance ; some- thing in prospect, but nothing in possession. " Excess of toil tendelh only to brutish- ness : hunger is indocible ; and book-instruc- tion is but mockery to the destitute : for the ignorant will ever think as they are made to feel. " Will man never begin to understand the wants of his own nature, and perceive that he can govern and be governed only by jus- tice and benevolence ? " The virtues are qualities to be inspired, but not enforced ; and a frowning principal must not rely too far on the fidelity of his de- pendants. " As wisdom was said of old to cry in the streets, so may her plaintful appeals be still overheard in fields and senates ; and the cry is still, — ' How long will the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge ?' " Christianity halh been preached and pro- fessed for nearly two thousand years ; but there is still more learning in the world than knowledge, and knowledge than goodness : hence the Christian profession is still held in a state of slavish subjection to infidelity. " The wisest labour in vain for their own approbation, and their own imperfections teach them humility ; but they will have advanced nearer to the attainment of their better aspirations, when they begin to per- ceive the wisdom of befriending the igno- rant." — Christian's Econ. of Human Life. " Among the manifold blessings enjoyed under the exercise of the ancient faith, none deserves more special notice than the happy state of the lower classes, caused by their constant access to religious buildings and solemnities, and the temporal relief dispensed to them by ecclesiastics. It is to the poor and humble man, whose worldly pilgrimage lies in an obscure and barren track, that the Catholic church imparts the greatest store of blessings. Without faith and the wondrous consolations of religious joy, how abject and wretched must be the lot of such a being ! with them, who on earth tastes truer joys ? " Among men of worldly minds, he is an object of scorn and derision ; he is not suf- fered to partake of the banquet ; he is thrust from the festive assembly. Had he no place of refuge, — had he no consolation, what an outcast would he be ! But see, the doors of the temple stand ever open to receive him ; poverty, there, is no disgrace ; lowliness is accounted glory. Once within the sacred walls, as if the barrier of the grave was al- ready passed, all distinctions of rank and riches cease. No cushioned pew or veiled partition divides him from the high-bom and the wealthy ; from one common floor ascend the supplications of the poor and the rich, — the powerful and the humble, — the learned and the simple. Here, then, untaunted, un- rebuked, may the lowly man pour forth his supplications and his hymns of praise : he is carried far away from his worldly troubles, and seems as if already in Abraham's bosom ! What regrets can he feel at his exclusion from the sumptuous banquets of the great, when he is deemed a worthy guest at the table of his Redeemer, and is fed with the bread of angels ? What musical assembly can produce such melody as that which is hourly sent forth from our choirs ? how vain are the glittering shows of worldly pomp, when compared with the holy splendour of the Church, — the glory of whose solemnities, sanctified by the presence of God himself, as far transcends all worldly grandeur, as heaven the earth ! What palace or mansion can boast such towering pillars, lofty vaults, or gorge- ous richness, as the cathedral where he may enter and dwell ! Then the sound of the almonry-bell will summon him to receive the dole of temporal rehef, dispensed by the same kind hands that ministered to his spiritual assistance. The poorer classes, being thus continually familiarized with every species of excellence, became a set of intellectual be- A. D. 1829.] THIRD DIVISION. 457 ings, infinitely superior in mind and conduct to many of the best educated of our times. " The ennobling influence of the Catholic religion on the mind is truly surprising : the humblest labourers and artisans were as eager to promote the splendour of religion as the learned and the rich. In proof of this, all the magnificent stained windows, which decorate the choir of Rouen Cathedral, were given by these sorts of persons ; and, in the lower corners of those windows, may be seen representations of the donors' occupations. In one will be found ' the water-carriers of the city ;' in another * the fish-sellers ;' ' the bargemen and sailors of the port' in a third ; in a fourth * the weavers.' Each window, in fine, was the combined donation of the per- sons following some humble occupation or trade ; and, I may add, similar instances of pious devotion are frequently met with in the decorations of ancient churches. " What a subject is this for the considera- tion of those who maintain that the establish- ment of Protestantism has not debased the human mind, and destroyed religious influ- ence ! I will ask, do the fishwromen, the coal- heavers, or even the mechanics of London ever bestow the slightest consideration on church ornaments ? For the most part, they never enter the precincts of a place of wor- ship ; hardly do they think of the existence of a God. Yet these very classes of people, four centuries ago, were largely contributing, and that in no mean manner, to the decora- tions of the most splendid temples ever raised for the worship of the Almighty : and yet the religion which produced such wondrous ef- fects, on even the humblest minds, is impu- dently denounced, by modern writers, as one which generates * ignorance !' and the periods which produced such glorious results are de- nominated the ' dark ages !' " — A. W, Pugin. " Let England, with her weight of influ- ence, the learned and pious of her clergy, put forward a little longer in her fervent prayers — and we shall see her — to use the language of one of the most beautiful writers among the divines [See Brit. Critic, July, 1841] at Oxford — * taking the lead in the return of her sister churches to the reverential faith of .58 other ages — to that high, and holy, and self- denying spirit of devotion and charity, which visibly embodied itself of old in our cathe- drals, and our abbeys ; but which has, alas, been far from impressing such clear traces of her influence on any portion of the church, in more recent times.' " Let once more that mother country enter into the arms of Rome, the great head and mother of all that is Christian, Catholic, and holy in the world, and just so surely will she lead after her, not only the sister churches of Europe — not only America — the Reuben ofher children, her firstborn and her strength, but all the millions of her adopted families. Quando, heu quando ! Deus mens ne tarda- veris. Send forth thy spirit, O my God, and let the face of the earth be created anew. O glorious, venerable, O holy Church ! whose saints are sages, whose sages are apostles, whose apostles are martyrs, whose princes are the humble ! O beautiful Church, whose poetry is divine, whose music is angelical, whose painting is inspired, whose architec- ture is inimitable ! Rise up, O shepherd of this flock of ages ; rise up, O head and leader of the hosts of God on earth ; rise up, O bishop of the churches of Rome and of the world, call around thee some few honour- ed from among thy multitudes ; show to those who know thee not, (and are proud be- cause they know thee not,) show them thy great Gregories, thy great Auguslines, thy Aquins, thy Benedicts, and thy Loyolas ; show to them thy Anthonys and thy Xaviers, thy Edwards and thy Charlemagnes, thy Catharines, and thy Clares ; show them thy Dantes, thy Angelos, thy Raphaels ; and show them those whose names we know not, but whose works are superhuman in science, in beauty, and in majesty. Show thyself to them, O St. Peter, the fisherman of Galilee ; founder of an eternal dynasty, father of an eternal philosophy, master of the great mas- ters in all the arts noble. Show thyself to them, O thou rock Catholic, that all who would have their works to stand may build on thee. Show thyself to them, O thou shepherd Catholic, that all who would be folded with the flock of Christ may flee to 458 HISTORY OF IRELAND, [A. D. 1830. tliee Show thyself to all the world, that all the world may become catholic in wisdom, catholic in science, catholic in faith ; that the beauties and the miracles of Rome may be seen everywhere ; that the ministers of Eng- land may be multiplied in both the Indies ; that thy schools may be ubiquitary, and their scholars once more be armies. Rise up, O glorious vicar of God ! not in anger, but in power. Smite not, but pity. Remember thine own unfaithfulness ; and pray for those who have not followed thy repentance. Pray for our country, pray for the dear islands of our fathers, pray for our offspring, that the people whose habitations the daylight never dies upon, the music of whose language is breathed by all the winds, may become dwell- ers in the tabernacles of holiness, and chant tliy hallowed liturgy, and the name of Jesus, with the sun that never sets." — P. Connel- ly; Lecture at Baltimore, 1842. CHAPTER VII. Accession of William the Fourth — Parliamentary reform obtained — Movements for repeal — Exer- tions of Daniel O'Connell — Accession of Queen Victoria — Father Mathew — Declaration of Irish rights — Sympathetic resolutions proposed in the American congress — The national redemption of Ireland inevitable — Close of the narrative. From the Union in 1800 to the emancipa- tion of the Catholics in 1829, Ireland was suffering all the aggravated results of the previous misgovemment of six centuries. The foresight of Mr. O'Connell taught him to persevere with Catholic relief and parlia- mentary reform. These obtained, the repeal movement appears to be his next great pre- liminary in view of legislative and national independence. When we consider that thirty years of O'Connell's life were occupied in procuring the first great item — Catholic eman- cipation — we may form some idea of his in- cessant efforts for the general welfare of the Irish people. No historian or historians, whatever may be their abilities, can ever do justice to such a wonderful man — the mighty agent in the regeneration of a nation's liberty — stepping forth from the ranks of a class of Christians politically and cruelly degraded by act of parliament, and yet beating the usurpers of the government with their own weapons, " according to law." It is a moral triumph taught by the devotion of a valuable life to the cause of universal freedom and religious equality. Mooney has well ob- served— "The * Life of O'Connell' and the ' History of Ireland' for that period, are iden- tified — the self-same work." An additional incentive for delay exists in the British government beyond those ordi- narily exercised while opposing reforms : it arises from a settled policy that the origina- tors and defenders of legal improvements should be scattered, worn out, or otherwise disposed of, so that some ignorant or truck- ling slave may give to the world such a ver- sion of the affair as might suit the learned liars and political pickpockets of the govern- ment to have promulgated. This truly " Brit- ish" policy has been shamefully adopted in relation to parliamentary reform and Catho- lic emancipation ; but it has signally failed. Who cares for the splendid style of Ali- son, or the maudlin slanders of Maunder ? The truth will prevail. Here is a speech from the Protestant lips of Charles Phillips, spoken at Liverpool about the days of eman- cipation : — " You may quite depend on it, a period is approaching when, if penalty does not pause in the pursuit, patience will turn short on the pursuer. Can you wonder at it? Con- template Ireland during any given period of England's rule, and what a picture does she exhibit ! Behold her created in all the prod- igality of nature ; with a soil that antici- pates the husbandman's desire ; with har- bours courting the commerce of the world ; with rivers capable of the most effective navi- gation; with the ore of every metal strug- gling through her surface ; with a people, brave, generous, and intellectual, literally forcing their way through the disabilities of their own country into the highest stations of every other, and well rewarding the policy that promotes them, by achievements the most heroic, and allegiance without a blemish. " How have the successive governments of England demeaned themselves to a nation A. D. 1830.] THIRD DIVISION. 459 offering such an accumulation of moral and political advantages ? See it in the state of Ireland at this instant ; in the universal bank- ruptcy that ovenvhelms her ; in the loss of her trade ; in the annihilation of her manu- factures ; in the deluge of her debt ; in the divisions of her people ; in all the loathsome operations of an odious, monopolizing, hypo- critical fanaticism on the one hand, wrestling with the untiring but natural reprisals of an irritated population on the other ! It required no common ingenuity to reduce such a coun- try to such a situation. But it has been done ; man has conquered the beneficence of the Deity; his harpy touch has changed the viands to corruption; and that land, which you might have possessed in health, and wealth, and vigour, to support you in your hour of need, now writhes in the agonies of death, unable even to lift the shroud with which famine and fatuity try to encumber her convulsions. This is what I see a pen- sioned press denominates tranquillity. O, wo to the land threatened with such tran- quillity ; solitudinem fadunt, pacem appel- lant : it is not yet the tranquillity of solitude ; it is not 5'et the tranquillity of death ; but if you would know what it is, go forth in the silence of creation, when every wind is hush- ed, and every echo mute, and all nature seems to listen in dumb, and terrified, and breath- less expectation, — go forth in such an hour, and see the terrible tranquillity by which you are surrounded ! How could it be otherwise, when, for ages upon ages, invention has fa- tigued itself with expedients for irritation ; when, as I have read with horror in the pro- gress of my legal studies, the homicide of a * mere Irishman' was considered justifiable ; and, when his ignorance was the origin of all his crimes, his education was prohibited by act of parliament ! — when the people were worm-eaten by the odious vermin which a CHURCH-AND-STATE ADULTERY had Spawned ; when a bad heart and brainless head were the fangs by which every foreign adventurer and domestic traitor fastened upon office ; when the property of the native was but an invitation to plunder, and his non-acquies- cence the signal for confiscation ; when reli- gion itself was made the odious pretence for every persecution, and the fires of hell were alternately lighted with the cross, and quenched in the blood of its defenceless fol- lowers. " I speak of times that are passed ; but can their recollections, can their consequences, be so readily eradicated^ Why, however, should I refer to periods that are so distant ? Behold, at this instant, five millions of her people disqualified on account of their faith, and that by a country professing freedom! and that under a government calling itself Christian ! You (when I say you, of course I mean not the high-minded people of Eng- land, but the men who misgovern us both) seem to have taken out a roving commission in search of grievances abroad, while you overlook the calamities at your own door, and of your own infliction. You traverse the ocean to emancipate the African ; you cross the line to convert the Hindoo ; you hurl your thunder against the savage Alge- rine ; but your own brethren at home, who speak the same tongue, acknowledge the same king, and kneel to the same God, cannot get one visit from your itinerant humanity." This " itinerant humanity" is one of the principal characteristics of that class of " re- spectables" who generally win their power during the war expenditures of the " govern- ment." The poUcy of setting up subjects of impossibility, or ultimate inutility, is so well established in the every-day practice of the British government that a similar versatility of proceeding is partly forced upon all politi- cal action, even in the hands of the most straightforward patriots ; and such must al- ways, by necessity, be the case, as long as the expected redress is sought for in British legislation. " Justice for Ireland" can never be granted by Great Britain unless the peo- ple of Great Britain have a government which would do justice to themselves. His- tory shows how "justice for Ireland" is treat- ed in the British cabinet : it is a lingering drawn-battle between the patience of those who are robbed and the occasional fears of those who rob "by authority" and "cwot priviUgior 460 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1833. Lady Morgan, while advocating unceasing opposition to tyranny, has judiciously ob- served — " The number of those who see questions in their wholeness is very small. The mass are more moved by especial instances and examples. In knowledge, nothing is isolated. The establishment of one truth is the de- thronement of many errors. With these it is better to deal in detail, and await the gradual development of a growing spirit before ven- turing upon points in which the age is not prepared to follow. A man may ensure for himself the palm of martyrdom without ad- vancing public opinion one iota. Proceed, therefore, like the snail, with your feelers before you, and reserve to yourself, by a timely halt, the privilege of never combating with more opponents at once than you feel yourself able to overthrow. Disgraceful re- treats are pregnant with fearful delays ; for a coup manque is followed by a revulsion of sentiment which may require the lapse of a generation to recover." Mooney remarks, (after quoting a similar extract from Lady Morgan's spirited wri- tings,) that O'Connell has always acted with a "patient, persevering, and peaceful" en- ergy. Our industrious predecessor then con- tinues — *' It was the actual basis of his entire sys- tem of agitation, and affords us the means of understanding his apparently inconsistent and Protean movements — to-day praising, to-mor- row abusing, the whigs ; one day execrating Peel and Graham, and then forgiving and receiving them into favour; again, condemn- ing the Chartists, and anon applauding to the skies the hon-hearted democracy of England ; to-day applauding republics, to-morrow laud- ing constitutional monarchies ; upon one oc- casion exalting the wisdom and chivalry of the French, on another execrating their vio- lence and infidelity ; to-day praising America for its valour in the field and its independence, to-morrow condemning * the last resort of freemen,' and pouring indignation upon the traflic in men. * * * * " The weathercock upon the steeple, or the straw upon the stream, does not indicate more unerringly the point of the wind, or the direction of the tide, than does O'Connell the sentiment and will of the Irish people ; and as well might the British government, by grasping the straw, or pulling down the vane, try to stop the current of the tide, or change the direction of the wind, as try to impede, by arresting O'Connell, the progress of Ire land to her destiny among the nations." We have made room for these explanations of English modern and " enlightened" gov- ernment, because they will supersede the necessity of recounting the voluminous par- ticulars of O'Connell's exertions, and enable the American reader, who may never have been out of his own happy country, to com- prehend the mill-horse circle of generations going round and round, from the ministers to the sovereign, from the sovereign to the par- liament, from the parliament to the London press, (which grows and revels in the very manure of exalted corruption,) and so on, round and round again. The passage of the Catholic Relief Bill was followed by several circumstances highly favourable for its beneficial action. Mr. O'Connell, who had long been elected mem- ber for Clare, took his seat in the house of commons on the first day of the 1830 session. He was the first Catholic representative who had that privilege in either the English or Irish parliament after an interval of one hun- dred and forty-five years. On the 26th of June, 1830, the Duke of Clarence succeeded to the throne of England as William the Fourth. In July, revolutions occurred in France and in Belgium, having for their ob- ject the improvement of constitutional gov- ernment. In November, the Wellington cabinet resigned, and the " reform ministry," under Earl Grey, was organized, — a most " motley crew" of mountebanks and monopo- lists. The interval between November, 1830, and April 14, 1832,— when the Reform Bill passed the house of lords by a majority of nine, — was occupied by the " respectables" in eating the words they had uttered against parliamentary reform. The task appears to have been generally diflficult and unpalatable to all except Sir Robert Peel, who, with his A. D. 1834.] THIRD DIVISION, 461 usual promptitude and self-reliance, swal- lowed the whole mountain of his anti-reform speeches during about three days of quiet retirement. The parliamentary census of Ireland in 1831 is thus stated for the four provinces : — Provinces. Population. Leinster, .... 1,928,067 Munster, .... 2,215,364 Ulster, 2,293,128 Connaught, .... 1,348,097 Total, 7,784,636 The annual revenue of the archbishops and bishops, in 1831, (then 22 in number, now reduced to 12,) amounted to £151,128, and the total income of the established church was jC865,535. The tithes of most parishes have since been compounded for, — the amount being usually estimated at £555,000 for ecclesiastical purposes. The amount of church revenues, in 1833, was stated at £937,456, including £657,670 for tithes. The English Reform Bill became a law by the royal assent, June 7, 1832. On the 29th of January, 1833, the first "reformed parliament" was opened by commission ; and, on the 5th of February, William the Fourth delivered his speech in person. In it the worthy monarch was made to speak of " the increasing spirit of insubordination and vio- lence in Ireland," and to expatiate on the ne- cessity of severer laws for the good of the " government." No long agitation of litera- ture or politics need be employed to carry out this ready-made advice. In less than a month the " insurrection acts" were in full force, violating every right of law, nature, and religion. In June, 1833, Feargus O'Connor placed a notice on the order-book of the house of commons, that the Union, after the experi- ence of thirty-two years, was a measure of bad policy ; that all the conditions of it had been violated, etc. Mr. O'Connell gave no- tice in July, that, on the first day in the en- suing session, he should move a resolution for the introduction of a bill for the re-estab- lishment of the Irish parliament, with a view to secure the connection between the two countries. The repeal question came up, by arrange- ment, on the 22d of April, 1834, in the house of commons. O'Connell astonished his most intimate friends with the vigour and brilliancy of his attack on the " government." On the 28th of May, being the anniversary of Wil- liam the Fourth's birthday, the " Irish pre- lates" presented to him a " loyal and dutiful address," in which they " protested" against " ecclesiastical innovations." This latter circumstance is one of the richest jokes his- tory affords for the last three centuries. The remainder of the year was occupied in argu- ing on the Irish Coercion Bill ; and, at last, the Melbourne cabinet was formed out of the very dregs of the Grey ministry. During the discussions on repeal, the con- sideration of the Union was revived, and an article in the New MontlJy Magazine, of February, 1834, says — " Sir Jonah Barrington exposes the places, pensions, sinecures, and literally the hard cash vulgarly put into the palms of individual members for their parliamentary speeches and votes, not only upon occasion of the Union, but upon all others. He shows you how the clergy, the judges, the bar, the no- bihty, gentry, and even corporate oflicers, were bought and sold by government, until all pollutions ever known in England, and a tithe of which would now rouse the English to rebellion, were as immaculate purity com- pared to the undisguised habits and practices in Ireland. Nay, more than this, he shows how duellists were hired and bribed, even by judgeships, as assassins (for they deserve no better name) against any man that dared to be honest ; and a mixture of more horrible barbarity, of daring and of sneaking paltry crimes, never disgraced the human species, under the name of a government and a parlia- ment. The effects on the population were dreadful, and Dean Swift's fiction of the Yahoos, and the fictions of cannibalism, seemed to be realized, or surpassed, in the climax of 1798, which led to the Union. To revert, therefore, to any thing Irish, before the Union — to talk of restoring any thing that ever existed under the name of Irish parlia- ment — displays either mania, ignorance, or HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1639. the political ruse of obtaining an object by inflaming the passions of ignorance, by means of pretending to aim at that of which the mere thought of the real acquisition would appal the worst nature that ever had exist- ence, or that fancy ever created. Mr. O'Con- nell would be one of the last men in the em- pire to consent to a repeal of the Union, and a RESTORATION of the Irish parliament." But, whatever are the ulterior views of Daniel O'Connell, his " agitation" was pro- ductive of new good. The new " Commis- sion of Inquiry" was forced to make some kind of a report, and, (like the most ancient politician on record,) was obliged to tell some truth. The state of religious instruction is thus stated : — Eccles. Provinces. Livings. Parishes. Epis. Pop. Armagh, (Ulster,) . 552 658 517,722 Dublin, (Leinster,) . 311 624 177,930 Cashel, (Munster,) . 469 791 111,813 Tuam, (Connaught,) 103 275 44,599 Total, 1435 2348 852,064 Upon this statement, the statistical Edwin Williams* has observed : " This shows an average of only 363 per- sons, (men, women, and children,) to a par- ish, and less than 600 persons, on an average, to each living. The amount of the tithes varies much in the different parishes, viz. from Id. to 4s. per acre. In some of the parishes where tithes are exacted, there are no Protestants. The tithe composition, for the whole tilheable land of Ireland, amounts to about £665,000 a year; of this, about £555,000 is for ecclesiastical, and £110,000 for lay tithe." In the anxiety of the hybrid whigs to retain office, they determined to avoid Irish agita- tion by inundating Ireland with gold and kindness. The Earl of Mulgrave, as lord- lieutenant, and Viscount Morpeth, as chief secretary, (men of true nobility,) were the instruments employed on this occasion. For once, even Daniel O'Connell was unable to " surround the enemy." This mode of at- tacking Ireland was quite new and unexpect- ed. Places, pensions, and pickings silenced the selfish tribe who make a trade of me- • PoUtical Hirt. of Ireland: Nev York, 1843. chanically repeating the cry of " Justice fcJr Ireland !" Instead of being crushed with cruelty, Ireland was smothered with kind- ness : the object attained was the same during the four years it lasted. O'Connell " bided his time," as usual. The lieutenancy of the Earl of Mulgrave began on St. George's Day, (April 23,) 1835, and ended April 3, 1839, when he was suc- ceeded by Viscount Ebrington. In the in- terval, June 20, 1837, the Princess Victoria ascended the throne as Queen of Great Brit- ain and Ireland. The crown of Hanover was, from the salic law, assumed by the next male heir, the Duke of Cumberland. One of those mathematical engines of charity which suit the peculiar administration of the British " government," and which are commonly supposed to act for the relief of the poor, was now partly carried into effect under the name of the " Irish Poor- Law." The enactment of all such laws proves the wicked connivance between parliaments and ministers to deceive, rob, and murder the people. It is also worthy of notice that, for fear there should ensue a good understand- ing between this amiable sovereign and her abused people, the most talented and corrupt portions of the press were employed to mis- represent the subjects while vilifying their queen. The London Times actually dared to impugn her virtue, and the Quarterly Re- view seriously advocated the immediate en- actment of an English salic law ! Such were the means taken by the black-coated wolves of the " government" to teach her majesty the initiatory principles of the art of " reign- ing with dignity." The real nature of this assumed " dignity," and the blessings of " British" rule, will be seen in the following remarks of Gustave de Beaumont, while speaking of the Irish " Commission of Inquiry" appointed by Wil- liam the Fourth in his first unchecked zeal for the welfare of his subjects : — " The commissioners charged with this memorable inquiry estimate that in Ireland there are nearly three millions of individuals who yearly sink into absolute destitution. These three millions are not merely poor, A. D. 1840.] THIRD D ivreioN. they are wretchedly poor. Besides these three millions of poor, there are still millions of unhappy creatures who, as they do not die of absolute hunger, are not counted. " The author of this book,* to whom simi- lar testimony would have undoubtedly ap- peared sufficient, thought proper, however, to see with his own eyes that painful scene which his reason was unwilling to believe. Twice, in 1835 and in 1837, he has, while traversing Ireland, visited expressly the coun- ties where famine has been accustomed to rage with violence, and he has verified these facts. Shall he relate here the sum of that misery which he there saw ? No. Ireland presents social horrors which are so much beyond the endurance of humanity that hu- man LANGUAGE CANNOT DESCRIBE THEM." Such being the state of Ireland, under the most " enlightened" government, on the ac- cession of Queen Victoria, we are warned against attempting to portray that misery which "human language cannot describe." The events of really historical value are few and far between. It is a singular fact that many of the pea- cock patriots who are continually brawling out " Justice for Ireland !" have no knowl- edge of (or care for) the actual condition of the people of Ireland. Like the British min- istries and Irish parliaments, they consider the population as a mere field of selfish and cold-blooded speculation. Taylor remarks, in a very valuable post-union note at the end of his work, that — " Much surprise has been expressed by those unacquainted with Ireland that the con- cession of emancipation in 1829 has not been followed by the immediate tranquillization of Ireland : those who have read the preceding pages can scarcely feel any wonder on the subject. The exclusive laws produced many evil consequences not specially mentioned in their enactments, and perhaps it would not be too much to say that greater calamities •^suited from their indirect than their direct operation. They aggravated and perpetuated the abominable system of land-letting, which * L'Irlande, Sociale, Politique, et Religieuse : Paris, 1839. has been the greatest source of the evils that afflicted the wretched island, — a system that has led the landlord to exult in his tenant's misery, and the tenant, not unjustly, to regard his landlord as a t)rrant. The Irish parlia- ment during the period of its mischievous existence passed laws by the hundred to arm the lords of the soil with /resh power, but NOT ONE single enactment appears on their records for securing to the cultivator any share in the profits of his industry." This state of local misery and national dis- content had been increasing in Ireland, un- checked by any act of really wise government or sound legislation, when an angel of be- nevolence, familiarly knov^n on earth as " Father Malhew," carried out the idea of blending the principle of " total abstinence" with the religious obligations to Christian temperance already existing among a large majority of his countrymen. Considering the urgent necessity of the case, and the im- portance of a united and firm resolution on the part of the people to redeem their usual character and former rights, it was a sublime endeavour to prevent the many murderous advantages derived by wrong-doers from the excitable temperament of the mass of the population. The faithful virtues of the Irish people now shine all the brighter for previous failings and present trials. They have proved to the world that they are capable of every ' moral superiority, in addition to that religious fidelity which can only be registered in heaven. The moral regeneration of the Irish people, (and their happy deliverance from the intoxi- cating influences formerly introduced by mod- ern luxury and countenanced by " British" legislation,) encouraged Daniel O'Connell to permanently organize the *' Repeal Associa- tion" on the 15th April, 1840. His principal assistants in this movement were John O'Con- nell, W. J. O'Neill Daunt, Thomas Mooney,* Thomas Re3aiolds, and Richard Barrett. * Mooney's " History of Ireland" pVte an admirable account of the political details of O'Connell's " Life and Times," and opens a new field of historical reading for students who may have been accustomed to depend upon merely English sources. 4R4 H I S T O R^ O F is certainly mve IRELAND. [A. D. 18 4«. The population of Ireland is certainly than nine millions. Of the whole number, 82 per cent, are Roman Catholics ; 10 per cent, are Episcopalians ; and 8 per cent, are Presbyterians or other " dissenters." ^ut the entire people (separating a very few ex- ceptions) became united in demanding the repeal of the Union. The number of repeal- ers in other countries has been greatly in- creased by the circulation of O'Connell's " Memoir," which appears to have been specially adapted for those readers whom circumstances had heretofore prevented from being drawn towards the examination of the historical grounds of Irish remonstrance. That talented tyranny which perverts every constitutional measure as soon as it is at- tained, and then gravely turns round to the public (as, for instance, in the case of the Reform Bill) and says — " What have you gained by it ?" is well exposed in the Libera- tor's "historical indictment." For all use- ful purposes, it is worth fifty of the old dot- and-carry-one histories written without sym- pathy or hope. With the combined influences of O'Con- nell and Father Mathew, the redeeming progress of Ireland is rapid and steady. A gloriously national spirit has been brought forward, and some of the noblest men in the 1 world (of all ranks and creeds) have joined in the agitation for repeal. The whole of this book would not contain a mere list of their names. The most thoughtful men of Ireland, Scotland, England, and the United States are with them, heart and hand. In spite of prosecutions, packed juries, and all the'well- known tyrannical machinery of the '* govern- ment," O'Connell arid his Catholic and Prot- estant supporters generally progressed in the national and righteous cause ; and, on the 30th of May, 1845, William Smith O'Brien brought forward in Dublin the ** Declaration of Irish Rights," so that the following pledge was signed by the Eighty-Two Club, and the provincial delegations appointed for the purpose by the whole actual people of Ire- land. The phraseology^ this pledge is as significant as its substanSP: — "We, the undersigned, being convinced that good government and wise legislation can be permanently secured to the Irish peo- ple only through the instrumentality of an Irish legislature, do hereby solemnly pledge ourselves to our country and to each other, that we will never desist from seeking the re- peal of the legislative union with England, by all peaceable, moral, and constitutional means, until a parliament be restored to Ireland." This glorious event has awakened the at- tention and sympathy of all the lovers of lib- erty throughout, the world. In the United States, notwithstanding many untoward cir- cumstances, the cause of repeal has more true friends than ever ; and, on the 5th of January, 1846, one of America's purest pa- triots, Felix G. M'Connell, moved for per- mission to read the following resolutions in the house of representatives at Washington. Leave was granted, and they were read for the information of the house : — " Resolved, That we hail the elevated feel- ing which now universally prevails in our glorious confederacy to strengthen and con- solidate the principles of republican freedom, and to extend the blessings of our free institu- tions in every practicable quarter of the uni- verse, in the spirit of Christian love and peaceful brotherhood. " Resolved, That while we hail the ad- mission of Texas, (which fought its way to independence,) as a sister state into our Union, and view with unaffected pride and satisfaction the palriotic\resolulions of the executive governmen^^HJHj^ngress of the United States, to uphdl^^ff. title to Oregon ; and also observe the ^ojwing desire to in- corporate Mexico, Yucatan and California into this confederacy — that Ireland- is fully entitled to share the blessings of our free in- stitutions. " Resolved, That the Irish people, ks a nation, have long been ground down by the tyranny of British misrule and misgovem- ment, and, while her people for centuries have groaned under a foreign monarchical yoke, they have always cherished the princi- ple of republican governn^ent — the only civil- ized institution that has ever secured freedom to man. \ A. D. 1846.] THIRD DIVISION. 465 " Resolved, That this house receive with due consideration and attention any commu- nication that may be forwarded from that ^^„^igh-minded and liberty-loving people with a view to eflFect such an object." Here our narrative rests. What " action" may be taken on these resolutions by the friends of freedom remains to be seen. Daniel O'Connell has said and written that — " No honest man ever despaired of his country !" We add — " Nitor in adversurrC 5 -^ CONFIRMATORY APPENDIX. 1829 TO 1846. " Ireland is the most deplorable instance of modern history, that a great and noble people may, for centuries together, be in- volved in the same inmstice and infatuation — and all the highly-jflBped /orms of jj|g con- stitution be paralyzedby the force c^^fesion and prejudice. King, lords, and commons, have, alternately or simultaneously, wronged Ireland. How should order, humanity, mild- ness, and obedience to the laws, proceed from such education?" — Von Raumer's ting- land in 1835. " The history of the world presents nothing to equal the Irish penal code against the Catholics, for comprehension and for vigour. Yet the population of Ireland increased in wealth, and in numbers, to a degree that ren- dered the further continuance of that system impossible. The pride an^the natural feel- ings of the landed gentry, wno were the first depositaries of this force, directed it to the attainment of an "Independent parliament. That parliament, for its own purposes, broke through the coarser links of the chain of Catholic oppression. Catholics obtained wealth, and were aAaditted to the possession of land. Land bro^^t power to its possess- ors ; commerce (snatched from the grasp of English monopoly) still further strengt^aed the Catholic subject. ThAiation has^las, in an inconceivably short time, increased from three to eight millions, while inability after inability has been removed from the 69 Catholics, in deference to the growing im- portance of the people. Every step in this progress was the consequence of that which preceded it, and the whole leads with an . overwhelming force to its practical con- clusion. It is disagreeable to resign ac- quired supremacy ; it is painful to be driven to a conclusion hostile to our presumed in- terests ; but the past is the best warrant for the future ; and the hopelessness of a con- tinued struggle against what man cannot PREVENT, must become eventually evident to all those to whom history is any thing better than an old almanac." — London Atheneeum, May, 1841. " The pope was in the custom of giving away not only all bzirbarous countries, with their inhabitants, but at times, civilized coun- tries too. He dethroned sovereigns, laid their kingdoms under an interdict, and ex- communicated them ; and all this was sub- mitted to. And the government of Great Britain at this day holds Ireland by no other title. Three hundred years before the grant of America to Ferdinand and Isabella, Pope Adrian gave Ireland to Henry the Second, of England; and England holds the island under that title now, unless, indeed, she sets up another title by conquest ; but Ireland, if in form conquered, has been in almost per- petual rebellion ever since. England has been obliged to reconquer her some half doz- en times, and if she means to do it again now, SHE MUST BEGIN SOON. The qucstiou has been raised whether Ireland shall be inde- pendent, and if we get into a war it will be a pretty serious matter for England t^^ain- tain her title." — J. Q. Adams ; Addressing the American House of Representatives, 1845-6. _ -— 'v " Look at the wars that are now actually ^^M raging in the different parts of. the earth ; ^* wars which have no excuse ; that are not dignified even by a decent ambition, or a re- spectable thirst for glory ; wars commenced from the meanest motives ; prosecuted by the most inglorious means. In Algeria, the power of enlightened France is put forth in the vain endeavour to butcher into submission » people whose ancestors successfully re- 466 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1846. sisted Carthage and Rome, ages before the egg was laid from which was hatched the Gallic cock, and who succumbed not to the Vandals of the north or the Saracens of the east. In the Euxine, the black bear of Rus- sia is growling, with his claws on Circassia, and slowly wading in blood up the slopes of Caucasus, marking as he goes each fair valley and broad plain with the carcasses of a people whose fathers crouched not before the triumphal chariot of Sesostris ; who laughed to scorn the efforts of the Caesars, and from whom obedience never could be enforced, even in the mightiest days of the Turk. And what do we see in the extreme east ? Swarms of red-coated vermin, the spawn of that canting hypocrite of the Isles, whose bullies have deflowered more nations than the legions of imperial Rome — do we not see them threading the passes of the Hymmalayah, bridging the Indus on the one side, and the Ganges, ay, even the Berum- pooter on the other, murdering Arabs at Aden, hunting Kaffirs and Bushmen and other poor beings over the flowery karoos of South Africa, baptizing in their own blood - " the godless nations of the Bay of Islands, or ^ stuffing opium pills on the point of a bayonet 1^ down the throat of the Brother of the Sun ^^^ and Moon ! Talk about Christianity and ^^B civilization, and enlightened public opinion !" B^iV. Y. Tracts for the Times, 1846. W^ " But there is one man in Great Britain who has done and is doing more for humanity than Brougham ; one who has never tripped, halted, varied, or shifted his course ; who has made more public speeches than any man now living, and always spoken like a repub- lican ; who abhors oppression with all his heart ; who has been hated, courted, feared, (but never despised,) by every party ; a man who has been a target for all Britain to shoot at for a whole generation ; who has come victorious from every conflict, even when he has been beaten ; who has never betrayed his principles ; who is eternally, and with a zeal that never grows cold, demanding jus- tice for all the subjects of the British empire ; a man that now stands higher in the hearts of his countrymen, and in the opinion of the world, than ever — Daniel O'Connell." — C. £. Lester. "Mr. O'Connell, with all his talents for excitation, would have been utterly powerless and incapable, unless he had been allied with a great conspirator against the public peace ; and I will tell you who that confederate is ; it is the law of the land itself that has been his main associate, and that ought to be de- nounced as the mighty agitator of Ireland. The rod of oppression is the wand of this potent enchanter of the passions, and the book of his spells is the penal code. Break the wand of this political Prospero, and take from him the volume of his magic, and he will evoke the spirits which are now under his control no longer." — R. L. Sheil. "Will the clergy deny that the men whom they employ are ruffians, who must cheat the parson or plunder the poor; and that the clerical remedy against connivance is, to make the poor pay a premium for the increase of the plunder and exaction of which they themselves are the objects ? • • * • The tithe rises on the poor, and falls in com- pliment to the rich. It proceeds on prin- ciples the REVERSE of the gospel ; it crouches to the strong and oppresses the feeble, and is guided by the two worst principles in society — servility and avarice — united against the cause of charily, and all under the cloak of religion." — Grattan the Illustrious. " The tithe-farmers make the composition of the Protestant gentleman very light, while the poor Catholic is made to pay for the de- ficiency of his betters." — A. Young. " Thus these, and all the ascending grades, weave their flimsy webs of exclusiveness ; one and all esteeming nothing so derogatory as to have it imagined that they can have any connection with, much less dependence upon, * the poor :' and this is the vile squeak- ing called social harmony. This is that chorus of the mock sublime which has no bass to it ; and it is an offering worthy of that derision to which it is everlastingly dedi- cated." — T. Dolby. " Aristarchus, heretofore, could scarcely find seven wise men in Greece ; but, with us, scarcely are to be found so many idiots, for A. D. 1849.] THIRD DIVISION. 467 all are doctors, all divinely learned. There is not so much as the meanest Jack-Pudding who does not give you his own dreams for the word of God. For the bottomless pit seems to have been set open, from which a smoke has arisen which has darkened the heavens and the stars, and locusts are come out with stings, a numerous race of sectaries and heretics, who have renewed all the an- cient heresies and invented many monstrous opinions of their own. These have filled our cities, villages, camps, houses, nay, our churches and pulpits, too, and lead the poor deluded people with them into the pit of per- dition." — H. Wharton ; Pre/, to Polyglot. " If you recollect that we are now in Prot- estant Germany, you will be astonished at the laxity of the Sabbath. The German re- formers never, I believe, undertook to reform the continental Sabbath. They probably un- derstood too well the inflexible nature of na- tional customs, and how much more difficult it is to remodel them than to recast faith. We are accustomed to talk of ' the horrors of a continental Sabbath,' and are naturally shocked with an aspect of things so different from our own. But, when I remember the dozing congregations I have seen, the do- mestics stretched half the heavy day in bed, the young people sitting by the half-closed blind, stealing longing looks out of the win- dow, while the Bible was lying idle on their laps ; and the merry shouts of the children at the going down of the sun, as if an enemy had disappeared, — it does not seem to me that we can say to the poor, ignorant, toil- worn peasant of Europe, ' I am holier than thou !' " — Sedgwick's Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home. "Formerly it was the fashion to preach the natural, now it is the ideal. People, too, often forget that these things are profoundly compatible ; that in a beautiful work of im- agination the natural should be ideal, and the ideal natural." — Schlegel, (A. W.) " There are ideal trains of events which run parallel with the real ones. Seldom do they coincide. Men and accidents commonly modify every ideal event or train of events, so that it appears imperfect. Thus it was with the Reformation ; instead of Protest- antism arose Lutheranism." — Novalis. " I dislike all people who desire to found sects. It is not error, but sectarian error — nay, and even sectarian truth — which causes the unhappiness of mankind." — Lessing. " It is only necessary to grow old to be- come more indulgent. I see no fault com- mitted that I have not committed myself." — Goethe. " The last, best fruit, which usually ar- rives with late perfection, even in the most kindly souls, is tenderness towards the hard, forbearance towards the unforbearing, warmth of heart towards the cold, philanthropy to- wards the misanthropic." — J. P. Richter. " Arrogance and injustice, (when associa- ted with power,) never listen to reason or remonstrance as long as the power lasts." — Cobbett. " Let us then, in uniting our voices with those of our brethren throughout our widely- extended land, demanding that you who, like other men, are endowed by Heaven with in- alienable rights, may enjoy with us the bless- ings of civil and religious liberty, entreat you, by every consideration which can influence human action — by and in the name of that Liberty which we invoke for you in our common prayer — to pursue faithfully to the end the precepts inculcated by your fearles and patriotic Liberator — ^by peaceably de manding justice at the hands of man, while raising ' invocations to the living God ;' and Ireland — devoted, persecuted, down-trodden Ireland — Ireland shall be free." — D. S. Dickinson ; Address of Albany Repealers to the People of Ireland, Jan. 3, 1844. CHAPTER VIII. EXPRESSION OF -SYMPATHY, FOR conscientious CURATES. It is hoped that the readers of this work will not understand the language which his- tory compels us to employ (when speaking of the state-church of England) as being in 468 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1840. tended to injure or depreciate any individual whatever. On the contrary, we have seen abundant evidence that the really deserving curates of Ireland challenge the sympathy of all those hearts which are illuminated with Christian charity. The following communi- cation, from a Dublin " Churchwarden" to the London " New Monthly," thus explains the social position of the established clergy in 1833. We wish we could say that it had been improved in 1846 : — " It has been stated, that the total expense of the established church in Ireland was about 2,239,000Z. per annum, and this is not overrated. It might have been further added, that this enormous sum is paid for the spirit- ual instruction of about 500,000 persons who frequent that particular service : and so, com- paring the income of the pastors with the number of the flock, it is the richest church that not only now is, but that ever was in the world. "Were this large sum allocated in any fair or reasonable proportions for the main- tenance of the clergy, so that every one who ministered to others in spirituals should have a competent share of temporal things, it might serve to abate the public clamour against this immense and, as it appears to them, unnecessary expenditure ; but when they see it accumulated in heaps, and mo- opolized by the indolent few, while the ac- tive, laborious, and efficient members are abandoned to absolute want ; when they see the dignitaries like large wens on the hu- man body, with the limbs that support it feeble and emaciated, while the whole nutri- ment is absorbed by a few unsightly and morbid excrescences, — they consider it not only a useless waste, but a scandalous abuse ; and it is one of the principal causes which increases the sectarian congregations by the secession of Protestants from the establish- ment who first disapprove of, and then desert, what they call a worldly, mercenary, and unchristian system of worship. " In order that this opinion of the public may be fairly appreciated, let us see what grounds there are for it. There are in Ire- land about three thousand clergymen of the church of England. Of these two-thirds have no benefice of their own, but officiate for others as their curates or deputies. They are men who have all, or with, very few exceptions, graduated in Trinity College, Dublin. Their education in a university more strict than those of England procures them a literary reputation to which they are well entitled ; the certificates of grave and reverend men, who have known their de- portment for some years before ordination, is a pledge of their moral worth ; and the severe examination they must undergo by the archdeacon of the diocese renders it next to impossible that they can be other than men of religious knowledge. They are, moreover, gentlemen in rank and deport- ment, and their general conduct is such, that there is no class of persons more esteemed, and justly esteemed, in the community. When appointed to a duty, they are never absent from the spot, but always to be found in active service on their cure, officiating in church, baptizing infants, catechising chil- dren, visiting the sick, burying the dead, in fact performing all the necessary functions, and so supporting all the real interests of the established church. Yet what is their reward out of the expenditure of more than two millions of the public money ? Their stipend, till of late years, was 601. and un- der. A trifling amelioration of their condi- tion then took place, and it was fixed at 75/., as an important favour, at the very time when I the salary of the lowest clerk in the custom- house of Dublin, down to the seventeenth grade, was raised to 80/. with an arrange- ment for a gradual increase. Even this paltry addition of 15/. was not mandatory, and at this day some laborious curates are obliged to work for 50Z. and 60/. Supposing, however, the whole to have been 75/., their case will stand thus : — Expenditure of the established church for one year, 2,239,000Z. Stipend of 2000 curates at 75Z. each, 150,000/. " Thus it appears that, out of this enor- mous sum paid by the country for the sup- port of the Church, the active, serviceable clergy, who do all the real duties, receive no more than one fifteenth part ! A. D. 1846.] THIRD DIVISION. 4«9 " It further appears that the following in- come is divided among the beneficed clergy, the majority of whom are pluralists, and hold two and three benefices at a time, so that the actual number of individuals who share this income does not amount to one thousand : — Tithes of 2436 parishes, . . £880,000 Glebes, 120,000 Rent in houses, 48,000 Churchyards, 102,000 Marriage and other fees, . . . 12,000 Ministers' money, Dubhn, . . . 10,000 Income of 1000 beneficed clergy, £1,262,000 Ditto of 2000 curates, .... 150,000 "The curate, who is bound to the soil, and cannot hold, because he cannot do the duty of, more than one cure, thus receives no more than one-sixteenth part of his rector's income, who, being usually a pluralist, is necessarily a non-resident on one or more of his livings, and so does no part at all of the duty. "Finally, there are twenty-two* bishops whose income is as follows : — Income of 22 bishoprics in rent and fines ....:.. £222,000 Income of 2000 curates . . . 150,000 " Thus it appears that twenty-two persons, who are known to do comparatively nothing, receive more than one-and-a-half as much as the whole two thousand effective and operative members of the church. In order that the operation of this system may be justly appreciated, I will take an individual case out of the multitude, because it has been recently made a scene of public no- tice. The living of Finglas, in the vicinity of Dublin, consists of a union of four parish- es, on all of which there were formerly places of worship, as is evident by the existing ru- ins ; but at present there is but one church which has three clergymen nominally at- tached to it, — a rector, a vicar, and a curate. • * * [We omit the names.] • • • The rector never goes near the parish, except to collect his tithes ; he performs no duty, never officiated in the church in his life, and, such is the state of things, that it is not even ex- * Our Correspondent wrote before the Irish Church Reform Bill had passed. — Ed. N. M. Maq pected that he would. The vicar has other engagements, so numerous that he, of course, is seldom present. The curate is never ab- sent, resides near the church, and attends alone to the duties of four extensive parishes, and this is the division of the income : — Rector, who never attends, . £1400 per an. Vicar, who has other duties, . 800 per an. Curate, who is never absent, . 75 per an. " It would be a waste of time to multiply instances of this kind, when four-fifths of the parishes in Ireland are similarly situa- ted." • * • ♦ [The honest churchwarden here gives the names and particulars, relating several affect- ing examples.] " It may be said, however, that there are means to which unbeneficed clergymen may resort, and add to their limited income by useful and appropriate employment. This has been done heretofore ; and many excel- lent schools and seminaries were kept by Dublin curates highly beneficial to the parishes in which they resided. It appears, however, that his grace the late archbishop had thought that this employment of leisure hours might interfere with parochial duties, and so it was notified to every teacher in the diocese that he must give up either his curacy or his school." ♦ * * [Here follow several statements illustrative of this unjust treatment of curates.] " That nothing might be wanting to com- plete the series of injustice which a Dublin curate has to complain of, the injury does not cease with the dead, but seems to be visited, as it were, on the surviving families of those devoted men. In almost every other department, provision is made for the widow of a pubUc servant whose income dies wiUi him, and she has either some house or asy- lum provided for her, or the means of pro- curing it ; but there is no such thing for the widow of an Irish curate : indeed it was naturally supposed that the immense reve- nues of the church would be sufficient for every such purpose, and that its guardians would take care that a competent part of it should be so applied. In the diocese of Dublin there are about 70 unbeneficed cler- 470 HISTORY OF IRELAND [A. D. 1846. gymen. The repeal of the ecclesiastical law enjoining celibacy, being one of the supposed great improvements of the Reformation, the curates think they are not only permitted, but enjoined to marry, and so they do, unwarily entangle themselves with a family they are not allowed the means of providing for, die in indigence, and leave the survivers in deep distress. • • • " Thus then with a revenue exceeding two millions per annum, adequate, and more than adequate, to all the wants which an establish- ment could feel, the most numerous and re- spectable part, — because its real and efficient strength, — is left in extreme indigence while they live, and their families denied the com- mon protection of a pauper asylum when they die. " But it may be said that the church in England is chargeable with the same in- equality in its remuneration of services, and that of Ireland has no exclusive right to com- plain. This is very true ; yet it does not at all lessen the grievance because another is equally afflicted with it. But besides this, there is' an infinite difference in many re- spects in the state of both ecclesiastical es- tablishments. That of England is the re- ligion of the people ; it has grown up with their habits and is interwoven with all their feelings ; and if any part of their pastors re- ceive too large a remuneration, they have at least a numerous flock to attend to, and an apparent duty as extensive as their income. Besides, the character of their dignitaries is of that high tone, that it ensures veneration and respect ; and, except in the collision of politics, they never commit it, nor is there any other standing beside it to lessen it by invidious contrast. In the church of Ireland, there have been also many excellent and learned men of exalted rank, and there are some now who would do honour to any pro- fession ; but, unfortunately, there have been others who do not stand so high in public opinion, who have devoted their whole atten- tion to the acquisition of wealth, and stamped upon the church that mercenary character which its enemies delight to attach to it ; and whose immense accumulation formed not only a strong contrast with the poverty of their own humble curates, but with persons of correspondent standing with themselves in other persuasions. As it is not safe to med- dle with the living, we will advert to those that are gone, as mere matter of historical record. "The Rev. Dr. Moody, the Rev. Dr. Troy, and his grace the Rev. Dr. Eager, were lately the contemporary heads of the Pres- byterian, the Catholic, and the Protestant Church in Dublin, and for many years were well and personally known to every inhabit- ant in the city. Dr. Moody was a tall, thin man, with long gray hair. He had an in- come of about AOOl. per ann., on which he lived in a plain, hospitable manner, and had besides something for acts of kindness and charity. He was never absent from his duties in his church, or among his congre- gation. All his leisure hours were devoted to literary labours connected with his sacred profession ; and he was not less distinguished as an author than as a pastor. After a most useful life of 80 years he was called away, leaving behind him nothing but his writings, and the memory of his good works, which is still cherished by people of every persuasion. " The Rev. Dr. Troy was a short, fat man, of an exceedingly kind disposition, and an* active and useful clergyman. Without com- promising the interest of the church over which he presided, he was distinguished by his attachment to the government of the country ; and his various addresses and ex- hortations to his flock, in times of peril and commotion, are a proof of his zeal and utility at a trying period. The whole income of this archbishop, who presided over the spirit- ual concerns of five milhons of people, did not exceed 800Z. per ann., the voluntary con- tributions of his flock, and this sum he im- mediately returned to those who gave it. He was never known to have a shilling in his pocket ; he was so liberal to others and so careless of himself, that he would have want- ed common necessaries if his friends did not take care of him ; and when he died, at the age of 85, it was well known that he did not leave enough to bury him. A. D. 1846.] THIRD DIVISION. 471 " Of Dr. Eager's services to his church I am unable to speak, not being acquainted with them. I know, however, that he was neither so tall as Dr. Moody, nor so fat as Dr. Troy, nor so liberal or charitable as either of them. He had an income of about 12,000/. per ann., which he endeavoured to increase by every allowable means. He sold the venerable archiepiscopal residence in Kevin-street to government for 7000Z., and the Bishop's Palace is now a soldier's barracks. But there was one expedient for increasing his income which the curates of his diocese, at least, will never forget- It was once upon a lime a practice in the church, as the curate of our parish tells me, for bishops, as S'jrio'xowoi, or overseers, to visit their clergy in person, and inspect their parishes ; on which occasion certain among the clergy were appointed procuratores to provide a suitable dinner for the bishop when he came. But when prelates fell into that love of ease which too much wealth naturally brings with it, instead of visiting their clergy, they enjoined their clergy to visit them ; and as they came from different distances to a strange place, the bishop always provided for them the same kind of dinner which they were accustomed to provide for him. But in order that this should be attended with no expense to the prelate, they were still obhged to pay for it under the form of fees, called, in their visitation ticket, proxies (quasi procura- tores) and exhibits, which every clergyman is obliged to pay when he visits his bishop on this occasion. During the prelacy of Dr. E. the dinner was omitted, though the prox- ies or price of it was regularly exacted ! This was really a severe privation to the curates, some of whom looked forward to the periodical enjoyment of a good dinner, wine, and the society of friends, as indulgen- cies which their own scanty means never allowed. Many of them came from distant parts of the country, and had no friends in the metropolis who would give them a din- ner. On this occasion the worthy curate of our parish always sent out into the highways to collect stragglers. He could not well afford it, but he could not see his brethren hungry in the streets while he could procure any thing to give them to eat. Dr. Eager died, like his contemporaries, at the advanced age of 80, but left behind him rather more money : his property sworn to, I think, amounted to 200,000/. " It is to this mercenary character of the church here, to which the conduct of some of its dignitaries gives too much cause, that is to be attributed much of that disrepute into which it has fallen, and from which all the excellence of its pure and tolerant doctrines, and apostolic and becoming discipline, can- not rescue it ; for that it has fallen, and is falling, in public estimation, its real friends at once admit and deplore. In fact, what part of the community have any feeling of interest or sympathy in its prosperity, out of the seven millions of people among whom it is estab- lished ? Five millions of Catholics hate it as a usurpation on their own, refuse to pay its tithes, and loudly complain of the misappli- cation of those immense funds, which they say were much more equally and usefully applied by themselves. One million of Dis- senters profess to despise it as a mere worldly establishment, whose ministers, they say, sacrifice not to God but to mammon. Even the half million of its own members think of it without affection and talk of it without respect ; while two-thirds of the ministers who officiate within its walls have reason to repine at its injustice, and to wish that their lot had been cast in any other estabhsh- ment." Surely there must be some cure for such monstrous social evils. We beg leave to suggest the voluntary principle. Every read- er has a public voice, which may be effect- ively employed in the cause of civil arj^.^- hgious liberty. CHAPTER IX. DIGRESSION OF ADVICE, TO RAMBLING READERS. According to the present fashionable styles in literature and the drama, any " ta- 473 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1846. king" production without a pair of lovers, a poor simpleton, a licentious priest, or a blun- dering Irishman, would be incomplete. All such unmanly and unjust libels on human nature should be counteracted by constant vigilance in the minds of improvement-de- siring readers. The test to be employed in such cases is — to pause and inquire the ob- ject of the writer ; whether it is to flatter the falsely proud or to befriend the truly humble. That is the grand test of all authorship and public service. The earnest and amiable author of " Flo- reston" makes an instructive digression on this subject, in the following manner : — " The truth, however accurately expressed, being in itself a thing inert and ineffectual, and being indebted therefore to belief for all its activity and potency, there must needs be different kinds of belief, requiring to be ap- pealed to in different ways, to make the dif- ferent truths effective. Truth is swallowed up in accuracy ; nearly all the mere search- ers after it having stopped short at the dis- covery of it. This is not written to discour- age inquiries after truth, and least of all to recommend fallacies ; but to show that works that are not humanly, as well as scientifically true, will but in a very limited degree engage the feelings, and promote the happiness of ankind, which ought to be the primary ob- ject of all science and authorship. " It is possible, therefore, for a book to be scientifically correct, while, humanly and so- cially speaking, it may contain many errors ; and therefore be as unnatural, as unlike hu- man life, and of no more use to it than an Italian opera : and it was probably some such conviction as this that had flashed upon the mind of Bacon, when, at the close of his in- viflttable labours, he modestly said, he had * only rung a bell to call the wits together.' " With all due deference to the learned, and to learning be it spoken : — the wants of Humanity are daily becoming far more ur- gent than those of science ; and that unless the former shall be more adequately provided for than they appear likely to be at present, tlie growing desire for scientific distinction will greatly tend to widen social inequalities, until, perhaps, there shall be only one sci- entific man to a million of simple ones ; and, finally, there shall be a great gulf fixed be- tween knowledge and happiness. " On the other hand, it is possible for works of pure fiction to be humanly true ; and this brings us to the consideration of what should he the standard to which writers ought to submit their productions ; for ill- directed sensibility is worse than boorish stupidity ; and because there are shades of difference and gradations in all the different departments of truth, from the acme of per- fection to downright lying. It has appeared, after a due and careful consideration, that writers, even of acknowledged fictions, (who must naturally have need of some rules to work by as well as other artificers,) could not desire a more plausible, reasonable, nor equitable groundwork whereon to erect the creations of their fancy, than the honour and happiness of mankind at large ; laying their foundations broadly and deeply in the great primeval masses, on which must any sci- entific, literary, or social superstructure rest securely, or not at all. " It is true a recourse to this mode of au thorship, and to this way of measuring, form- ing a judgment upon, and testing literary productions, might sometimes appear to cast an occasional slur upon polished marble busts, and mural entablatures ; a column or so might begin to totter on its base ; a title, once in a century, might not appear * right worshipful on shoulder-blade ;' and some fa- vourable reviews would appear, perhaps, to have been a little overdone. " But this is an age of inquiry^ Where are the classes, or what the interests, that can feel confident, from day to day, that their gamers are safe ! Who can be sure that the insidious enemy is not boring through his castle-walls ? that the bane is not, even now, in his private chambers ? that the worm of inquiry is not already eating up the covenant, the indenture, the very bond and seal of his vested rights ? " Only see, for instance, how valorously the knights have pressed forward to shiver a lance with misery, and the cry is still, * They A. D. 1846.] THIRD DIVISION, 473 come !' How mendicity has been cut up ! How the * back slums,' and the underground abodes of wretchedness are periodically ex- plored ; and all the gluttony, midnight orgies, and the profligacy of mendicity are brought to light, and proclaimed in the high places, to prevent the milk of our human kindness from continuing to be poured out to waste ! Will * a generous pubhc' never be convinced of its amiable weaknesses, and stay its too bounti- ful hand ? "But our magnanimity exceeds, if pos- sible, our munificence ; for see how patient- ly we submit to be told of our misjudging tenderness ! Seventy times seven have we withstood the soft impeachment, and the beg- gars still live ; they are still allowed to hob- ble and to crawl onward towards their in- quests and post mortem examinations, on which the surgeons, and 'most respectable' juries find nobody in fault but God, whose * visitation' removes those whom the consti- tuted authorities, the dispensers of our bounty, and the depositaries of the public sympathy, had so tenderly pressed to remain, and be fed, instructed, and comforted ! But what need have we now of more inquiries and reports ? Can we require more witnesses against the beggars and their evil ways, than the prints of their own naked and frostbitten feet ? Does not everybody now know that all wretchedness is imputable to the wretched ? " Next came the inquiry into pauperism. In this case it appeared that none could be so well qualified to enter into the feelings of our rural poor, and to do justice to their va- rious good and evil propensities, their wants and errors, as London barristers and book- makers. Forth went a chosen band accord- ingly, both to inquire and compose reports ; and never did lovers shape their woful bal- lads to their mistress's eyebrows with a more fervent desire to win favour, than did our in- quirers shape their reports to square with the views and one-sided notions of those who employed them, for everywhere the victims were the wrongdoers. Had the victimizers then done nothing amiss ? O, minime gen- tium! Whosoever possessed wealth and power, in any degree, had been, as in the 60 case of the beggars, most grievously, most cruelly wronged. The latent mischief, as we have now discovered, was happily brought to light just in time to prevent the founda- tions of our social fabric from becoming as tender and yielding as our own hccirts ; and but for these inquiries and reports, future generations would scarcely have beheved to what a lamentable extent our benevolence had been imposed upon ! " Let those, then, who take pen in hand, and have hitherto enjoyed the comfort of finding that, * a little wit to any thing will screw,' begin to bethink them what their fate might turn out to be under a commission of inquiry. How they would like to have sal- low and hard-featured barristers, and, per- haps, rival book-makers, turned loose among them, to force them into the vanguard of so desperate a ' battle of the books,' that a pre- cious hfe must drop for every inch of shelf ! Direful the clash ; many the grim fighter, Fulvosque lupi de pelle galeros, and having more temerity than brains, that must die the death. "All novelists and dramatists, therefore, are hereby forewarned and earnestly exhort- ed, to lose no time in beginning to widen the groundwork of their plots ! For if Sym- pathy has made but little or no progress during these inquiries. Utility has begun to look narrowly into the reason of things ; am there are readers now-a-days who do not scruple to ask why we should wade through three volumes, post-oclavo, before we can be sure whether a man will turn out to be a pnnce or a bandit ? or what is the use of fol- lowing an ill-natured man, with a Norman name, over the same extent of ground, upon the strength of the author's assurance that his teeth are perfectly regular, and that there is a kind of curl, up or down, or one way or other, in one or both of his lips ; and upon these very slender premises to call upon us to behold his hero, out-Heroding him that last swayed the sceptre of Judah, outraging all the aflTections that existed before, and all the decencies that have been established in civilized society since ; and then, just upon the very last page of all, perhaps, to let us 474 HISTORY OF IRELAND. [A. D. 1848. into the secret, that notwithstanding all his midiTulged guiltiness, he was a lord, and had been a lord all the time ! And not only that, but that this world, though God made it, was not good enough for my lord to take a kindly interest in it, or my lord would unquestion- ably have condescended to be happy in it ; but that, notwithstanding the world had dis- appointed his lordship's expectations, he ac- tually intended to marry the lovely, faithful, and too-confiding creature whom he had so inhumanly tortured ; not, mark, because it were just and kind in him so to do ; oh, no ! but because he had found out that if himself would once more know what comfort is, if he would put an end to the agonistic struggle between the man and the monster, he must be neither cruel, nor indecent, nor dishonest any longer. • • • "Two persons, then, and in some cases only one, are made theatrically happy. And in order to bring about this result, half-a- dozen others, perhaps, in one way or other, are to be made wretched ; and this is the- atrical enjoyment ! This is poetic justice ! For this are all the natural charms of this beauteous, wide-spreading, and soul-eleva- ting world gladly sacrificed ; for this are chaplets woven and psans sung. For this are all the sweet influences of real pity for ^real distress, abandoned or set at naught. ;For nothing more than this are men and wo- men hailed, and honoured, and rewarded, as though they had led the way in reclaiming contemporary miUions from ignorance, misery, and moral degradation ! " This, then, is the corollary of the fore- going digression, — namely, that the very narrow and exclusive grounds taken by many of our novelists, have a tendency to blunt the feelings and contract the notions of what is called the reading public ; and that the most of the modern dramatic plots, being equally or more narrow, exclusive, and ungenerous, and developed, as they are, in the enervating steams of theatres, have a like tendency to destroy all genuine sympathy for real distress, all relish for a noble and generous wit ; to enfeeble and derange the animal functions, and therefore to deteriorate the better quali- ties of both the mind and body of those who attend them." These judicious observations have the ad- ditional merit of being written by one of the most Uberal patrons that ever encouraged the English drama or general literature. CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION OF CAUTION, PRO BONO PUBLICO. Thomas Mac-Nevin has shrewdly ob- served that " the history of a government may well be read in its rewards and punish- ments." The nature and policy of a gov- ernment can also be discovered by similar indications. The history of Ireland, there fore, PROVES that the British government is a power composed of those elements which never would voluntarily grant any actual benefit or common justice to the Irish people. Perhaps the most concise description of Brit- ish rule that language affords is to be found in Cobbett's " Postscript" to the " Life of Andrew Jackson," in which the " respecta- ble" and pious " band of spungers" are con- spicuously illuminated by the light of truth and the colours of ridicule : — ^ " I thought I had, in the dedication or the preface, done justice to the Irish people, rela- tive to the deeds of this famous man, who sprang from among them. But, I have since looked into the peerage of Pakenham, and found what he was, what honours had been heaped upon him, who died in the midst of disgrace unparalleled ; for all the disgrace was his, as all the honour would have been his. The valour that takes a man up to an intrenchment, or makes him the first to enter a breach, is of a character not a thousandth part equal to that of a bulldog. Many hun- dreds of his soldiers went nearer to the mouths of the American muskets than he did ; it is / the valour which discovers itself in cool \ moments and day-after-day reflections, an. [A. D. 19461 7*?! " Burke called nobility * the cheap defence of nations/ Look at our half-pay list ; look at our pension-hst ; look at the retired-allow- ance list; look at this very family of Pak- enham. We find that this man had nine brothers and sisters ; one a lieutenant-colonel in the army ; one a captain in the navy ; one in the church : so far for the men ; and as to the women, I could be bound to find them all out if I had time ; but we know that one of tli«i» was the wife of Wellington. A pretty dearish defence of nations, I should think, all this. But, not to waste any more words upon the subject, here we have all this swaggering nobility, this hunting down from 'William de Packenham,' in the time of Edward the First to the present time ; and only think of their publishing their mottoes : * Gloria virtutis umhra* that is to say, ' Glory is the shadow of virtue ;' a saying which we can hardly understand the meaning of ; but the more senseless, the more it ex- cites the cogitating wonderment of stupid and base people. When a public robber gets into a carriage with three or four Latin words written on it, and with the other insignia which" he chooses to have put, all the base part of the people, and that is not a small part, look upon him as something or other a wonderful deal better than themselves. Now, unless this feeling be changed ; unless the people be cured of this baseness, nothing that can be done by men, even the most able, and industrious, and zealous, will ever render them better oflf than they now are. How- ever, that which I have here exhibited will do real good in America ; it will make the people there resolve to guard against all the crafty and subtle approaches of aristocracy, which have always been begun by suffering wealth to be drawn into a small number of hands. When once that is done, then the titling work begins ; and then come all the curses under which we are now labouring. I shall be told that I have always been an advocate for a government of king, lords, and commons, and for bishops seated among the lords. Now, this is very true ; and my ar- gument always has been that those things could not be bad in their nature, along with which co-existed ^u^ wise^^nd just laws ; so much freedom, so much power, possessed by so comparatively small a country ; and such an immense mass of national resources of all sorts, together with a degree of reputa- tion for integrity, frankness, and all public virtue, was never surpassed by any other nation, and, indeed, never any thing like equalled. "Well, then, ought you not to cherish these orders now ? Are they not what they always were? Have we not still dukes, marquises, earls, just as in the time of * * * ? Stop : yes, my friend, we have dukes, mar- quises, earls, and so forth still ; but those that we have now are no more like those in former times, than a French crab is like a Newtown pippin. " Well, but in what do the present lords differ from the lords of former times ? In every thing, except in the shape of their bodies, and the manner of receiving their nutriment, though even in this latter I do nqt know that I am not admitting too much. The people of England, when called out in the wars, and especially in defence of their country, were commanded by the lords ; and observe, the lords found them theirSrnjs, and their clothing, and their provisions, and their money for the service, out of their own pock- ets and estates. It was the business of the lords each one to protect his people from wrong ; to see that they had fair play ; they were their advocates in courts of justice ; pleading their causes in their defence, and always for nothing. There was no such thing as a tax for a poor or working man to pay, nor ever heard of to pay, of any sort or kind. The bishops and abbots were in par- hament to take care that the poor were not plundered of their patrimony ; and thus it was that nobility was * the cheap defence of nations.' " What do we behold now ? Every great family, as it is called, not paying for warriors to come forth to defend the country ; but making the people pay them, men, women, and children, to the amount of thousands, and thousands upon thousands ! In short, it is a prodigious band of spungers, livii^ A^D. 1846.] THIRD DIVISION. 477 upon the labour of the industrious part of the community, and making the people pay them, and men that they enhst ; the object of hav- ing such men in pay and armed with bayo- nets, can be hidden from nobody in this world but an idiot ; a nobility, not paying the people to come out, and furnishing them with arms and ammunition, and clothing them, to de- fend the country; but a nobility, actually LIVING UPON the sweat of the people, and passing laws at the same time to transport the very same people, if caught in pursuit of pheasant, partridge, or hare! While (oh, gracious God !) these same people, still call- ing themselves nobility, are breeding those wild animals for the purpose of feeding the wretches in London whom they support in the demanding and the receiving of three days' work instead of one." This description, by Cobbett, agrees with all the results of historical teaching in rela- tion to the " British" treatment of Ireland, and shows the thievish cohesiveness of that monstrous mockery, united usurpation, and patented policy which rules England in de- fiance of her own people. It is a govern- ment whose favourite agents are stationed around the globe without daring to show themselves among other ambassadorial repre- sentatives, but living like spiders, profiting by entanglements, and producing cool falsehoods from the warm eggs of corruption. The British government, as at present ex- isting, is one vast scheme of diplomatic false- hood and administrative tyranny, forming a fabric which is based upon the misfortunes of individuals and nations, and sustained and perpetuated by deceiving all those who are naturally unwilling to believe in the existence of such an organized creation of respectable wickedness. An apology may be, perhaps, due to our readers for the manner in which the British government is mentioned in this work, making the author appear to have " damnable iteration in him." It has been unavoidably required in the performance of our duty towards both the history and the people of Ireland. Some of Sir Robert Peel's wrangling and scholastic ♦ I discipline might, possibly, have taught us to pay the same respect to the British govern- ment as if it were really respectable ; but we are unwilling to learn insincerity by rule, or to assist in the perpetuation of perversions. Let the Irish people remember the Treaty of Limerick, and the coNrrNuxL perfidy which accompanied the cruelty of the penal laws. Let them beware of expecting any justice from England unless they can deal directly with the true representatives of the real people of England. What "justice" can be expected from a gewgaw gang whom the voice of History has already convicted of being letter-openers, boundary-breakers, oath- jugglers, sacramental-slanderers, and treaty- tramplers ? Until the English people possess in reality the power of forming their own government according to constitutional principles, no FAITH OR CREDIT IS DUE TO ANY TREATIES OR ARRANGEMENTS MADE WITH THE BrITISH (sO called) GOVERNMENT. We are also necessi- tated to declare that this caution is not merely applicable in the affairs of Ireland, but that every other nation having the misfortune to depend upon the honour or justice of the British government will eventually discover that they are dealing with a power which robs its own people for the express purpose of creating the means and the influence to deceive, divide, and rob the whole world. Under these circumstances, there is nothing but wo to the nation expecting justice from the British government. Any degree of rash- ness would eventuate better than the painful folly of such expectations. No robbers are so incorrigible as those who practise the rapacity which (securely and sanctimonious- ly) robs under the robes of respectability and religion. The history of Ireland, from its first con- nection with the English crown, — and more particularly since the politico-religious tyr- anny of Henry the Eighth, and the money- morality of 1688, — teaches the world that such a CAUTION is positively requisite, and we now leave this Complete History of Ireland to our successors. LORD-LIEUTENANTS OF IRELAND. ^;-.« i{.:^^ 1^^ 1361, Lionel, Earl of Ulster. 1379, Edmund Mortimer, E^l of March. 1382, Philip Courtney, Lord Birmingham General. 1384, Robert De Vere. Earl of Oxford. 1394, King Richard II. in person. 1395, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March and IJlater. 1399, King Richard II. in peison, (second time.) 1401, Thomas, Ekirl of Lancaster. 1410, John, Duke of Bedford. 1413, Edward, Earl of March. 1414, Sir John Talbot. 1416, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. 1427, Sir John De Grey 1428, Sir J. Sutton, Lord Dudley. 1433, Sir Thomas 6eorge, Viscount Townshend. 1772, November 30, Simon, Earl Harcourt. 1777, January 25, John, Earl of BuckiiiKhamahire. 1780, April 14, William Henry, Duke of Portland. 1780, December 23, Frederick, E^rl of Carlisle. 1782, September 15, George, Earl Temple, and again, De- cember 16, 1787, as Marquis oi Buckingluim. 1783, June 3, Robert, Earl of Northington. 1784, February 24, Charles. Duke of Rutland, died 24th Oo- tober, 1787. 1787, December 16, George, Marquis of Buckingham. 1790, January 5, John, Eiarl of Westmoreland. 1795, January 4, William, Earl Fitzwilliam. 1795, March 31. John, Earl Camden. 1798, June 20, Charles, Marquis Comwallis. 1801, May 25, Philip, Earl of^Hardvvicke. 1806, March 18, John, Duke of Bedford. 1807, April 19. Charles, Duke of Richmond. 1813. August -26, Charles, Earl Whitworth. 1818, October 9, Charles, Earl Talbot. 1821, December 29, Richard, Alarquis Wellesley, and again September 26, 1833. 1828, March 1, Henry. Marquis of Anglesey, and again, December 23, 1830. 1829, March 6, Hugh, Duke of Northumberland. 1830, December 23. Henry. Marquis of Anglesey. 1833, September 36. Richard, Marquis Wellesley. 1834, December 29, Thomas, E^arl of Haddington. 1835, April 23, Henry Constantine, E^l of Mulgrave. 1839, April 3, Hugh, Viscount Ebrington. THE SHAMROCK, THE ROSE, AND THETHISTLE The shamrock, the rose, and the thistle combined. Have long been as emblems of union entwined ; But oh ! they regard not the emerald stem. Who tear it from earth — to entwine it with them. For the rose hath its thorn, and the thistle its sting, Wliile naught can the shamrock but gentleness bring ; And their touch, when they meet, darts the venom they bear. To the life of the shamrock— that soon withers there. Tlie rose and thistle togetlier may cling. And impart to each other their thorn and their sting ; But say. shall the shamrock of Erin be found With their porcupine prickles eternally bound? Oh no ! in full freshness, unsullied 'twill blow. When round it nor roses nor thistles shall grow ! Too long have their presence retarded its growth. Then oh ! may our isle soon refuse bloom to both ! O'Moiic. END OP THE THIRD DIVISION. -^**:' ?;a. J** ANALYTI)CAL INDEX TO THE SECOND AND THIRD DIVISIONS. SECOND DIVISION. CHAPTER I.— Moral aspect of Ireland in the twelfth cen- tury—Political tendency of the visit of Henry the Second —Jealousy of his queen, and rebellion of his sons— Mili- tary and political arrankements by the king— Meath ap- propriated to Hugh de Lacy— Admiration of the Enelish for their Saxon nobility a parallel case to that of the Irish for their native chiefs— Summary view of Henry's general policy while in Ireland— His return to Wales . . 23—25 II.— Real extent of Henry's conquest— Conference between De Lacy and O'Ruarc— Defeat of the English by O'Dempeey— Strongbow called to Normandy ; his return — Raymond le Gros retires to Wales— General rising of the septs— Raymond recadled ; his marriage-^nfirma- tory treaty between Roderic and Henry— Death