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>x A

HISTORY, OF THE ATTEMPTS

10 ESTABLISH THE

PROTESTANT REFORMATION
IN IRELAND, AND THE
SUCCESSFUL RESISTANCE OF THAT PEOPLE.
(TIME: 1540-1830.) BY
THOMAS DARCY M'G-EB,
AUTHOR OP " A HISTORY OP IRISH SETTLERS IN NORTH AMERICA J " " LIVES
OP THE IRISH -WRITERS;" " LIEE OP ART. M'MURROGH ; "
" HISTORICAL SKETCHES OP O'CONNELL AND HIS
PRIENDS," ETC., ETC., ETC.

" For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in'their synagogues :
" And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings, for my sake, for a testi
mony to them and to the Gentiles." — St. Matthew : Chap. x. Verses 17, 18.

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY PATRICK DONAHOE,
FRANKLIN STREET.
1853,

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
PATRICK DONAHOE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED AT THE
IOJTOB STEREOTYPE FOUNDBV

RT. REV. JOHN BERNARD FITZPATRICK, D.D.,

THIRD BISHOP OF BOSTON,

AS AN INADEQUATE EXPRESSION OF PROFOUND ESTEEM
AND VENERATION,

3Hfs Volume

IS VERT RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

Preface,  11
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
The early Irish Church and State. — The Milesians. — Druidism. —
St. Patrick. — The Apostolic Age. — The Danish Invasions. — Brian
at Clontarf. — St. Malachi. — The Normans in Ireland. — The "War
of Races. — Irish Church in the Middle Ages  19
CHAPTER II.
Henry VIII. of England elected King of Ireland. — Antecedents of this
Election. — The Clergy not consulted. — The Chiefs canvassed indi
vidually. — After the Election. — Apostate Bishops. — Confiscation,
Sacrilege, and Reformation  30
CHAPTER III.
King Edward and Queen Mary. — Cranmer's Attempts to establish.the
Reformation in Ireland. — The first Catholic Insurrection. — Acces
sion of Queen Mary. — Catholic Reaction. — Restoration of the
Irish Bishops. — Death of Queen Mary. — State of Parties  46
CHAPTER IV.
The Irish Catholic Strength at the Accession of Elizabeth. — Test
Oaths enacted. — Pirst Catholic Confederacy. — The Insurrection of
1*

CONTENTS.

the Desmonds. — Confiscation of Munster. — The Pirst Martyrs.—
The Ulster Princes. — Second Catholic Confederation. — Alliance
with Spain. — Battle of Kinsale  55

CHAPTER V.
Stuarts succeed to the Throne. — Endowment of Trinity1 College. —
Usher and O'Daniel. — Confiscation of Ulster. — " Recusant " Party.
— Charles I. — A new Persecution. — Strafford's Viceroyalty. —
Confiscation of Connaught. — The School of "Wards. — The Solemn
League and Covenant. ...  85

CHAPTER VI.
The Presbyterians and Puritans in Ireland. — Extermination then-
Policy. — Ulster Rising of 1641. — New Catholic Confederacy
founded by Rory O'Moore. — Oath of Confederation. — General
Insurrection. — Catholic Legislation. — Peters and Jerome. — Owen
Roe O'Neil. — Ormond. — Cromwell in Ireland. — The Puritan Penal
Laws. — Death of Cromwell  99

BOOK II.

CHAPTER 1.

Restoration of Charles II. —Act of Settlement. — Ormond's Attempt '
to GaHicanize the Irish Church. — Synod of 1666. — Lord Berkeley's
Viceroyalty. — The New Test Act. — "The Popish Plot." — Mar
tyrdom of Primate Plunkett. — Assassination of Count Redmond
O'Hanlon 

139

CHAPTER II.
Accession of James II. — Talbot, Lord Deputy. — Irish Soldiers in
England. — Invasion of William III. — Irish Parliament of 1686. —

CONTENTS. 7
" No Popery " Riots in London. — " The Irish Night." — The War
in Ireland. ... ... .  153

CHAPTER III.
Reign of William III. — Violation of the Treaty of Limerick. — Pro
scription of the Bishops and Clergy. — Further Confiscations of
Catholic Property  .  165

CHAPTER IV
Queen Anne's Reign. — " Act to discourage the Growth of Popery.''
— Sir Toby Butler heard at the Bar of the Houses of Parliament. —
His Character. — Immense Emigration. — Priest Hunting. — Pri
mate McMahon. . .  171

CHAPTER V.
Irish Catholics abroad. — Irish Colleges at Louvain, Paris, Rome, Lis
bon, &c. — Irish Soldiers in Foreign Service. — The Irish Brigade
in Prance. — How their Reputation reacted on England  191

CHAPTER VI.
The Jacobites and the Irish Catholics. — The Stuarts consulted at
Rome on the Appointment of Irish Bishops. — The Rapparees. —
The Wandering Ministrels and " Newsmen."  206

BOOK III.

CHAPTER I.

Irish Parties in the Reign of George II. — " The Patriots." — " The
Castle Party." — Increase of the Catholics. — Establishment of
Charter Schools. — Swift's Portraits of the Protestant Prelates. —
Battle of Culloden.— Change of Catholics' Tactics  215.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER II-

State of Ireland at the Accession of George III. - Publications on the
Catholic Question. -The Great Famine. - Catholic Committees
for petitioning Parliament.- Proposed Relief Bill of 1 762. - B™°»*
French Invasion. _ Agrarianism. - Martyrdom of FatherNidiola.
Sheehy and his Friends. - Spread of Secret Societies. - The Meth-
odists in Ireland 

232

CHAPTER III.
Second Catholic Committee formed. — Concessions in 1774 and 1778.
— Secession of "Lord Kenmare and the Sixty-Eight." — John
Keogh, Leader of the Catholics. — Management of the Committee. —
Cooperation of Edmund Burke. — General Discussion of Catholic
Principles in Ireland and England. — Arthur O'Leary. — Burke and
Tone. — London Riots of 1780. — Irish Catholic Convention elected.
— Their Delegates presented to George III., and demand Total
Emancipation.— .Relief Bill of 1793. — Political Reaction. . . .244

CHAPTER IV.
Maynooth College founded. — Union of Defenders and United Irish
men. — Insurrection of 1798. — Falsehoods concerning Catholics
engaged in it. — Proposed Legislative Union. — Pitt and the Bish
ops. — The Act of Union ; its Results on the Catholic Cause. . . .278

CHAPTER V.
Catholic Question in the Imperial Parliament. — Pitt. — Fox. — Gren
ville. — Catholic Committee of 1 805. — Its Dissolution. — Catholic
Board formed. — Veto Controversy. — Dissolution of the Board. —
Lethargy of the Catholics. — State of Ireland, A. D. 1820  290
CHAPTER VI.
Visit of George IV. to Ireland. — The Catholic Question in Parlia
ment. — Formation of the Catholic Association. — Its Progress and
Power. — The Catholics before Parliament in Person. — Foreign
Sympathy ; Aid from the Irish in America. — The " Second Refor-

CONTENTS.

mation." — General Catholic Controversy. — Advocates of Emanci
pation of the Press. — Election of O'Connell to Parliament. — Relief
Bill of 1829. — Relations of the Church and "the Establishment,"
A.D. 1830.— Conclusion.  316

APPENDIX.

L The Civil and Military Articles of Limerick,  343
II. The Irish Lords' Protest against the Act " to confirm the Arti
cles of Limerick," A. D. 1702,  353
III. Petition and List of Delegates of the Catholics of Ireland, . . 354
IV. The Pope's Letter on the Subject of the Veto,  363
V. Carey's Analysis of the Alleged Massacre of 1641, .... 371

PREFACE.

Every sect of reformers known in the British empire
has attempted to propagate itself in Ireland, and has
failed. The Anglican church is as far from the hearts
of that people as ever ; the Presbyterian denomination
has hardly retained the natural increase of its Scottish
founders. In Ulster it still flourishes ; but we must
remember that it was transplanted in its maturity to
that confiscated soil. It did not grow there ; it has not
spread beyond that privileged and exclusive province.
The Independents, planted by Cromwell ; the Qua
kers, introduced by Penn ; the Lutherans, endowed by
William; the Huguenots, patronized by Anne and the
Georges ; the Methodists, organized by the Wesleys and
Whitfield — all have been tried in Irish soil, and all
have failed.
In Ireland, the crown has been for Protestantism ; the
legislature, the only university, the army and navy, all
civil offices until, as it were, yesterday, have been re
served for the support of " the Protestant interest." Not
only all the privileges and all the forces have been on
that side, but even sacred rights, — such as freedom of
worship, of education, and of proprietorship, — until tbe

12 PREFACE.
close of the last century, have been all denied by law to
the Catholics. Protestantism had every thing its own
way — the crown, the laws, fhe taxes, forces, schools,
estates, and churches. By every human calculation, the
victory would be declared to the strong. Yet it is quite
otherwise in this instance.
How a poor and insulated peasantry could have kept
their ancient faith, against such odds, for three hundred
years, is matter of wonder to those who are not Cath
olics. To those who are, it is a source of inquiry and
reflection full of edification and encouragement. A book
in which the facts of this contest would be set down
briefly and intelligibly has long been wanted. Thirty
years ago, Charles Butler considered it "the great literary
desideratum" in our language; and a desideratum it has
remained. If it is important to have such a book published, it is
very difficult to compile it, even in summary style. In
Ireland, this must have been felt, where so many able
Catholic writers have declined it, either from the great
ness of the labor or the incompleteness of the authori
ties. In America, far removed from all who have made
any portion of the subject their special study, with such
authorities as are to be had or imported here, I have
found the work very arduous indeed. For some facts I
have had chiefly to rely on a large collection of manu
script notes, made partly in Dublin libraries and partly
in that of the British Museum in the years 1846 and
1847. The memoirs on which I have chiefly relied are of
three classes : —
I. Contemporary Catholic narratives of the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries — such as "The

PREFACE. 13
Four Masters," Bishop O'Daly's Histories, O' Sullivan's,
Bishop French's Tracts, the Jacobite Pamphlets and
Memoirs, Hibernia Dominicana, and Father O'Leary's
Letters. II. Publications on the Penal Code and Catholic
Relief Bills during the period of agitation ; Curry's Civil
Wars; Burke's Letters and Speeches; O' Conor's Pam
phlets ; Brookes's Letters ; Scully's Digest of the Penal
Laws; William ParnelFs Apology for the Irish Catho
lics ; Sir Henry Parnell's History of the Penal Laws ;
Petitions and Reports of the successive Catholic Com
mittees ; the Debates in the Irish and English Parlia
ments ; and the Diplomatic Correspondence of both
governments as far as it relates to Ireland.
III. County and City Histories — such as those of
Dublin, Armagh, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and Galway;
Biographies of the chief actors for and against the
church — Henry VIII., Usher, Strafford, Ormond, Crom
well, Clarendon, Walpole, Chesterfield, George III., Pitt,
and Castlereagh, of the Protestant side ; Hugh O'Neil,
Bishop French, Primate Plunkett, James IL, Patrick
Sarsfield, Charles O' Conor, Edmund Burke, Henry
Grattan, Wolfe Tone, John Keogh, Bishop Doyle, and
Daniel O'Connell, of the Catholic side.
From these authorities I have endeavored to extract
all the essential facts in relation to " the Reformation "
in Ireland.
I am deeply sensible, after all the care and time I
could bestow on it, how far the work is from what it
might be made in abler hands. Yet even as a substitute
for a better, it is well it should go forth. One half the
Irish race are in America, and need to have this His
tory by them. If not in this way, in what other shall
2

14 PREFACE.
they be shown the cost at which our fathers purchased
that "pearl beyond price," the religion which, through
the grace of God, we still retain ? Here are no wayside
crosses or empty belfries, no Cromwellian breaches, no
soil fruitful of traditions, to keep alive in their souls the
story of their heroic and orthodox ancestors. For the
monuments and memorials that abound in Erin, this
little book is the only substitute I can offer them. It
will be, I trust, an acceptable offering to those for whom
it is chiefly intended.
This book I call " A History of the Attempts " to
establish the " Reformation " in Ireland, because it re
lates each attempt and failure. The variety and energy
of these efforts may be well imagined from an abstract.
I. Attempts under Henry VIII. and Edward VI. to
intimidate the existing hierarchy, by punishing as trea
son the refusal to take the oath of supremacy ; the con
fiscation of religious possessions, and the war upon the
shrines, schools, and relics of the saints.
II. Attempts under Elizabeth, by armies and whole
sale confiscations, as in the case of Desmond ; by the
endowment of Trinity College, and the theory of Usher,
that the early Irish church was Protestant.
III. Attempt of James I., by colonizing Ulster with
Presbyterians, the act of conformity, and the exclusion
of Catholics from the Irish parliament.
IV. Attempt under Charles I., by ordering all priests
and Jesuits to leave the kingdom ; by the commission
for inquiring into defective titles ; by the enlargement
of the school of king's wards.
V. Attempts of the Puritans, by the solemn league
and covenant ; by the Anglo-Scotch invasion ; by trans-

PREFACE. 15
portation to Barbadoes ; by martial law ; by the impor
tation of Independents, Brownists, Anabaptists, &c.
VI. Attempt under Charles II, by the act of settle
ment, and swearing Ireland into " the Popish plot."
VII. Attempts under William and Anne, by banish
ing the Catholic soldiery, and colonizing German Prot
estants ; by violating the treaty of Limerick ; by en
larging the penal laws into a complete code.
VIII. Attempts under the present dynasty, by state
schools and a system of proselytism, to effect what
confiscation, war, and controversy failed to effect in
earlier times.
The work closes at the year of our Lord 1830. It
might have been continued down to the present time,
when we find new penal enactments added to the stat
utes of Westminster, new proselytizing societies ranging
through Ireland, a successor of St. Patrick assailed with
all the forces of British diplomacy, and a Catholic De
fence Association sitting in Dublin. But remembering
the advice of Ecclesiasticus, "Judge no man while he
is living," the narrative closes at 1830.
American Celt Office,
Buffalo, 1852.

BOOK I

A. D. 1540 TO 1660.

FROM THE

ELECTION OF HENRY" VIII., AS KING OF IRELAND,

UNTIL THE

DEATH OF OLIVER CROMWELL.

CHAPTEE I.
THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH AND STATE. —THE MILESIANS. — DRUID
ISM. —ST. PATRICK.— THE APOSTOLIC AGE.— THE DANISH INVA
SIONS.— BRIAN AT CLONTARF. — ST. MALACHI. — THE NORMANS
IN IRELAND. — THE WAR OF RACES. — IRISH CHURCH IN THE
MIDDLE AGES.
The history of Ireland is as stormy as its situation.
The pier of Western Europe, she braves the Atlantic,
and supports the furious violence of its winds and waves.
She has been wasted for the weal of Christendom ; and
as yet, Christendom has not studied, according to con
science, to do justice to the history of her western safe
guard — a history which is full of suffering, of devotion,
of miracles, and of good fruits, ripening through many
ages, and scattered throughout the world.
Ireland has been mainly influenced by three natural
causes. Her insular situation has made her a spectator,
rather than a party to European combinations for polit
ical purposes ; while Europe was inflamed, Ireland was
rendered cool by the fearful spectacle of another's pas
sion ; her story has been a standing mirror and com
ment on continental history. Peopled by an Asiatic
tribe, deriving, through Spain, the character of the Scotii,
or Milesians, has been the second remarkable influence
in her destiny. From them the mixed race, called Irish,
derive their Oriental imagination and idealism ; they
never were, and never can be, materialists ; their habits,
traditions, standards, are all Asiatic. Unlike the other
northern and western nations, they did not cross the con
tinent, gathering an alloy by the way ; their galleys shot
from the shore of Spain, and their Chaldean craft led
them to that remote island, where they drew their boats
on shore, and planted their banners. The relation of Ire
land and Britain is the third influence, which penetrates

20 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
the history of this people, especially in the modern
period. The growth of a Christian church and state in the
Island of the Scotii affords a highly-interesting subject
to the student of national life and character. It is
necessary to indicate here the facts of that general con
version. We know the Druidical form of paganism to have
been a refined and elaborate system- Of all the false
systems known to us, it approached nearest to the Greek
mythology. The elements were deified, and the hours
and seasons dedicated'to their appropriate gods. The
crystal wells were worshipped as the abodes of pure
spirits ; a future state of being was believed to exist,
under the western waves, where the Tierna n'oge, or Lord
of the Ever- Young, dwelt, and with him heroes, in end
less enjoyment. Through the island there were sacred
groves, dedicated with mysterious rites, and guarded
by severe penalties from profanation. Certain trees and
plants, as the oak, the ash, elm, and hazel, were held
sacred; the mistletoe and vervain were gathered un
der certain planetary auspices, according to a pre
scribed ceremonial. The winds and stars were deities,
solemnly invoked and sworn by. Crom was the Jupiter,
Briga, or Bridget, the Muse, and Mananan McLir (son
of the sea) the Neptune of the Celtic system.* Of
their ceremonies and sacrifices we know nothing that is
certain. Annually they had two great religious festivals,
at spring time and in harvest. Their "ritual was preserved
in obscure rhymes, their hierarchy an hereditary order, at
once poets, judges of the civil law, and priests. They
* Crom, the thunderer, or fire god, is a well-known character to Irish
readers. The Druid's altars, throughout Ireland, are still called Crom-
leaches, or Crom's stones. In the " glossary" of Cormac, Archbishop of
Cashel, (a work of the tenth century,) there is this Christian-like ac
count of the son of Lir : " Mananan McLir was a famous merchant that
lived in the Isle of Monan. He was the best navigator that lived in the
sea in the west of the world. He used to ascertain by heaven-study,
that is, observation of the heavens, the duration of calm and storm, and
the duration of either of these two periods." Quoted in Appendix to
the Irish version of Nennius. Dublin : Archaeological Society's Publica
tions, 1848.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 21
somewhat resembled the Egyptian priesthood ; they had
separate estates, dedicated to their maintenance. Many
good and wise pagan princes had obeyed and upheld
this system. Tighernmass innovated upon its early sim
plicity, for he was the first to introduce idols ; Tuathal,
who was known to Agricola and Tacitus, restored dis
cipline, and, perhaps, added something of the formulas
he had learned during his long exile in Britain and
Rome. The Druidical families were a powerful party.
The numbers and energy of the islanders, even in
those early ages, were remarkable. They had colonized
the Isle of Man in the third century. In the fourth,
they had given a colony to Scotland, which afterwards
consolidated and ruled that kingdom ; in the fifth, they
had effected settlements in Anglesea and Wales, from
which, after twenty-nine years' possession, they were
forcibly expelled by Cassawallawn, the long-handed,
famous in Welsh history. About the same time, they
extended their expeditions into Gaul, their path being
made clear through Britain by the withdrawal of the
Roman legions for the defence of the empire. In 406,
Nial of the hostages perished in the Loire ; and in 430,
Dathi, his successor, died near Sales, in Piedmont.
Their habitual route was from Chester to Dover, along
the Gwyddelinsarn, or "road of the Irish," which long
after became King Alfred's boundary between the Danes
and Saxons, in Britain.
In the year of our Lord/ 431, Pope Celestine sent to
Ireland St. Patrick. That wise and holy bishop knew
well the people he had to teach and baptize. He
adopted all their natural rites, which were in themselves
innocent. He blessed their worshipped wells ; he per
mitted their spring and autumn festivals, but converted
them to the honor of the saints ; he followed in his
ecclesiastical, arrangements the civil divisions of the isl
and ; he destroyed the ceremonial, but retained the his
torical writings of the Druids. He made seven circuits
of the island, the first six on foot, and is said to have
ordained three hundred bishops and seven thousand
priests. The poet with his harp, and the prince with

22 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
his power, he enlisted ; he called, with supernatural in
sight, his apostles from all orders of people — the con
verted Druid, the peasant from the plough, the smith
from the forge, and the fisherman from his boat; he
found a vocation and a place for all. He died towards
the close of the century, (A. D. 493,) leaving Christianity
in all the high and lowly places of Erin ; having seen
paganism, if not entirely destroyed, mortally wounded,
and driven into solitary places, where yet a while it con
spired in vain for restoration.
The three centuries following St. Patrick's death make
the golden age of the Irish church. The spiritual order
was exalted to an uncommon degree — exempted from
taxes and from service in war ; endowed with the col
lective gifts of tribes and princes ; recruited from all
classes, honored by all. While the Gothic tempest was
trampling down the classic civilization, Ireland provi
dentially became the nursery of saints, and the refuge
of science. Her two most ardent passions then were to
learn and to teach. In Iceland, the Orkneys, Scotland,
Britain, Gaul, Germany, even in Italy, her missionaries
were every where, transplanting, in the loosened soil, the
pagan tree of knowledge and the Christian tree of life.
As the Goths conquered Rome, the Celts conquered the
Goths. Where the barbarian was strongest, there the
Christian islanders won their highest victories. The
Roman martyrology gives us, for those three centuries,
three hundred saints — a canonized soldier of Christ
for every year of the era. Why should I name these
illustrious missionaries ? All Christian nations, in their
cathedrals, annals, and festivals, keep their memories
green before the generations of men.
In the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, a great
and unheard-of danger threatened the Irish church 
the northern barbarians. They first appeared in the
Irish seas between the years 790 and 800. The flocks
and herds, with which the island abounded, and the
richly-endowed shrines and schools, were the chief attrac
tions for these piratical pagans. Accordingly, the sa
cred places suffered most from their incursions. In 838

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 23
they spoiled and burned down Clonard of St. Kyran, a
famous school and see ; in the same expedition, Slane,
the school of King Dagobert, and Durrow of Columb-
cille, also suffered ; four times in the same century Ar
magh was desecrated, and laid in ruins ; Lismore, and
even Clonmacnoise, in the very heart of the country,
were rifled. Three centuries of peace had left the pious
and studious Irish ill prepared to resist these fierce in
vaders, but necessity restored the warlike spirit of the
race. In 863, " the Danes " were beaten near Lough
Foyle ; in 902, near Dublin ; at Dundalk, in 920 ; at
Roscrea, in 943 ; and again at Lough Foyle in 1002.
Several of their kings perished upon Irish fields, as. saga
and chronicle attest. It was in Ireland, and probably as
a captive, that King Olaf Trygvesson, the apostle of
Denmark, became a Christian.
But the majority of those who poured from the north
on Christendom, at this epoch, were inveterate pagans.
The Irish wars against them are therefore to be con
sidered as earlier crusades. In this character we regard
the campaigns of Brian, called Boroimhe, that is, Trib
ute-taker. For half a century, as general and as sove
reign, he pursued these enemies of God and man with
heroic constancy. From the Shannon to Lough Foyle,
in more than threescore battles, he had broken and
routed their annual expeditions. At the end of the
tenth century, he had left no Northmen in the land, ex
cept a few artisans and merchants at Dublin, Wexford,
Waterford, Cork, and Limerick, who pursued their call
ings in peace, and paid taxes for protection. Brian,
whose sovereign genius thus sheltered his age and na
tion, was in rank but a provincial king. The king of
Leinster was Maolmorra, a jealous and headstrong
prince. Some sharp words over a game of chess played
at Kincora, with Brian's son, led this great criminal to
enter into a league with the ancient enemy, and invite
them once more to Ireland. The northern races warm
ly responded to his call, as did their kinsmen in Britain
and Normandy. The King of Denmark's two sons, Car
olus Kanutus and Andreas, with twelve thousand men,

24 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
reached Dublin, and were loudly received by the traitor
who sent for them. Broder and Arnud came with one
thousand select Norwegians, covered all in armor ; Si
gurd, Earl of Orkney, brought at least as many ; Maol-
morra added nine thousand men. At least twenty-five
thousand of the invading force mustered in Dublin on
Palm Sunday, A. D. 1014. They insisted on being led
to battle on Good Friday, which one of their oracles
assured them would be a day of victory to them. Brian
would have avoided fighting on so holy an anniversary,
but he was forced to defend himself. With him was a
numerous army, divided, like the enemy, into three col
umns : his two sons commanded the first ; Kian and Do
nald the second; and Connor O'Kelly and other western
princes lead on the third. A Scottish" auxiliary force,
under " the great Stewart," fought on the side of Ire
land and the faith. Brian, then over fourscore years old,
with crucifix in hand, harangued his army. " Long have
the men of Ireland," he exclaimed, " groaned under the
tyranny of these seafaring pirates ; the murderers of
your kings and chieftains ; plunderers of your for
tresses ; profane destroyers of the churches and monr'
asteries of God ; who have trampled and committed to
the flames the relics of his saints ; and (raising his voice)
May the Almighty God, through his great mercy, give
you strength and courage this day to put an end forever
to the Lochlunian tyranny in Ireland, and to revenge
upon them their many perfidies, and their profanations
of the sacred edifices dedicated to his worship ; this day,
on which Jesus Christ himself suffered death for your
redemption." He then, continue the ancient annals,
" showed them the symbol of the bloody sacrifice in his
left hand, and his golden-hilted sword in his right, de
claring that he was willing to lose his life in so just
and honorable a cause." And he did lose it, though not
in the battle. The chiefs of the army insisted on his
retiring to his tent, where he was slain before the cruci
fix by a party of the enemy. The victory of the Chris
tians was, however, complete. At sunset, fourteen thou
sand pagan bodies lay dead upon that memorable field.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 25
*
The Irish loss was less in numbers ; but Brian himself,
his second son, and two grandsons, the great Stewart
of Scotland, and other captains fell on their side. The
fame of the result filled all Christendom in that and after
times ; the chronicles of Epiparchus, and of Ratisbon,
the Niala Saga, and the Saga of Earl Sigurd, preserved
among the Normans and their northern kindred the
memory of " Brian's battle." * It was to Christendom a
later Tours, or an earlier Lepanto, this event of Good
Friday in Ireland, A. D. 1014. Under Brian's successor,
Malachi II, the Danes made an unsuccessful attempt to
recover their lost possessions in Leinster, but were sup
pressed, and Dublin, their city, burned and demolished.
This eleventh century, so auspiciously begun, is one
of the most remarkable in modern Irish history. It is
at this time we must look for the first weakening of the
federal bond, which had hitherto kept Tara the capital,
and the Ard-righ the Imperator under the Celtic consti
tution ; with the derangement of the ancient balance,
there comes into account the aggrandizement of the great
houses. The O'Briens, especially, overgrew every pro
vincial standard. Malcolm, King of Scots, married a
daughter of Brian ; Donagh, Brian's heir, married Dri-
ella, daughter of Godwin, Earl of Kent, sister to the
Queen of England, and to Harold heir presumptive.
When Godwin and his sons were banished, they took
refuge with O'Brien ; and from Ireland, and with Irish
troops, they returned to assert their rights in England.
Twenty years' after the battle of Hastings, the sons of
Harold, fostered and educated in Ireland, made a descent
with Irish troops, landing in the Severn, as their father
had done, and fighting with hereditary ill luck.f Thus
was Ireland brought into direct collision with the new
and sensitive Norman dynasty established in the neigh
boring island. To this dynasty, the townsmen and
tradesmen of Danish origin, tolerated in the seaports,
* The well-known Danish ode on this battle, translated by Thomas
Gray, will also occur to the reader's memory.
t Thierry's Norman Conquest, vol. i.
3

26 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
also turned with expectation. They sent letters of con
gratulation to William the Conqueror, on his accession ;
their bishops of Dublin and Waterford went to Canter
bury to be consecrated ; in 1142, Irish Danes served
under Cadwallader, King Henry's ally in Wales; and
in 1165, they served under Henry II, in person, against
David ap Owen. This alliance, so natural in its origin,
wants not a link in those ages ; but, though natural, it
can hardly be justified, when we know that these same
naturalized Irish Danes rendered homage to the succes
sive kings of Ireland* They evidently acted a double
part in the politics of both kingdoms at this period.
While the Norman dynasty was strengthening itself
in England, and the Celtic constitution was gradually
degenerating from its essential unity, the Irish hie
rarchy were zealously employed in repairing the disci
pline, and the churches, destroyed by three centuries of
pagan warfare. An unlettered clergy, more accustomed
to defend their creed with the sword than the syllogism,
had succeeded the learned fathers of the apostolic age ;
the canons were flagrantly violated, often unintention
ally ; the office, of erenach, or treasurer, originally con
fined to archdeacons, was usurped, almost in every dio
cese, by laymen ; the very primacy had begome an heir
loom, and for three generations had been kept in one
family. God had pity on his people, and raised up a
second St. Patrick, in the person of the illustrious Mala-
chy, Archbishop of Armagh. He became the restorer of
the old foundations, and the founder of new ones. He
reopened the school of Bangor, and founded, or com
pleted, the college of Armagh. He introduced the Cis
tercian order, and sent pupils to graduate at Clairvaux,
under his dear friend St. Bernard. He held several syn
ods, revived discipline, repaired sacred edifices, and set,
in his own life, the holy example of a perfect bishop.
Five of his contemporaries are canonized as saints — the
best proof that he had worthy and zealous fellow-labor-

* A. D. 1073, they rendered homage to the Ard-righ Thorlogh ; A. D.
1095, to the Ard-righ Mortogh ; A. D. 1164, to McMurrogh.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 27
ers. The great provincial families vied with each other
in contributing material to the restoration of religion.
Then Holy Cross was founded by the O'Briens ; then
Cong and Sligo rose upon the grants of the O'Con
nors ; then Mellifont raised its noble front heavenward ;
then Ardagh, Kells, Ferns, Lismore, Clonmacnoise, and
Boyle rejoiced in the return of their long-absent glory.
St. Malachy died at Armagh in 1148 ; but the good work
did not pause. In 1152, the council of Kells was held
by the legate, Cardinal Papiron, where the palliums
(or Raman capes) were duly delivered to the four arch
bishops, and where, also, a memorable event — the abo
lition of the slavery of Saxon domestics — was decreed.
The Irish church might now have looked for another
apostolic age. But it was not so ordered. A new
trial in the civil order awaited pastors and people. As
Maolmorra had invited the Danish invasion long before,
so his descendant, Dermid, banished for political and
personal crimes, conspired to bring in the Normans.
Though guilty and unpopular, he had a party in Lein
ster, and when, in 1169, that party was reenforced by a
few foreign knights, the Danish town of Wexford opened
its gates to them. The next year, Danish Waterford
received a further detachment of bis allies, under Rich
ard, Earl of Pembroke ; and then the wedge entered
that divided beyond repair the uncentralized native con
stitution. In 1172, Henry II visited Ireland, and made
compacts with some of its princes, and prescribed limits
to his own subjects, settled on the eastern coast. Under
enterprising leaders, at different times, these limits were
enlarged in various directions. De Courcy, Fitzgerald,
Butler, and De Burgo are the great names of the Nor
mans in Ireland. Against them, the Milesians may put,
without fear or shame, the O'Briens, O'Connors, and
O'Neils. The fluctuating frontiers of the Norman in
terest during four centuries show that the children of
the Scotii knew how to guard their land against the
descendants of the Danes.
This internecine, colonial, or civil war was necessa
rily highly prejudicial to the best interests of religion.

28 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
National feuds were carried into the chapter, the cloister,
and even the pulpit. Henry's chaplain, Giraldus, taunt
ed the Archbishop of Cashel that the Irish church was
without martyrs. " We will have martyrs enough now
that your master has come among us," was the prompt
reply. Giraldus, in a sermon at Christ Church, Dublin,
reflected on the native clergy. The next day, Auban
O'Molloy, Abbot of Glendalough, from the same pulpit
preached a retort, in which there are allusions to St. Thom
as a Becket not to be misunderstood. These were but
faint portents of troubles and collisions to come. Among
the native clergy, most conspicuous was St. Lawrence,
Archbishop of Dublin. Visiting England, he narrowly
escaped martyrdom, while celebrating mass at the altar
of St. Thomas of Canterbury ; going to Rome, he is
ordered by Henry not to return to his see, the metropo
lis of which is now under the English flag. He died an
exile, at Eu, in Normandy. In 1175, Primate Conor
died at Rome, whither he had gone to consult the suc
cessor of St. Peter. In 1215, Dionysius, Archbishop of
Cashel, also died at Rome ; the same year, returning
from the fourth Lateran council, died O'Heney, Bishop
of Killallo. The native bishops have frequent and
urgent occasions for appealing to Rome. Besides insti
gating to invasion and plunder, the Kings of England
claim a right of nomination to Irish bishoprics not to
be borne. Thus David, a relative of Fitz Henry's, being
appointed, in 1208, Bishop of Waterford, is slain in a
tumult, endeavoring to get possession of it; thus, in
1224, we have " Robert, the English Bishop," of Ardagh.
In 1236, Maolmorra O'Laughlin, " having obtained the
pope's letters, with the consent of the king," is conse
crated Archbishop of Tuam, in England. In 1258, when
a successor to this prelate was to be chosen, the suffra
gans of Tuam nominated O'Flynn, but the King of
England nominated Walter, of Salerna. Walter died
the same year, and so a collision was avoided.*

* Annals of the Four Masters, under the several dates in the text.
In addition to these nominations, we find, in 1246, Albert of Cologne
nominated for Armagh ; in 1267, a " Roman Bishop" of Clonfert and in
1530, a Greek Bishop nf Elphin.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 29
The same fierce contest of nationalities was carried
into the monastic houses. Mellifont totally excluded
men of English birth, for which it was severely censured
by the chapter of the order. Donald O'Neil complains,
by name, of English monks who preached the extermi
nation of the Irish ; at Bective, Conal, and Jerpoint, no
Irish brother of the order may enter. Many years and
many reprimands were needed to take the edge off this
deadly, criminal quarrel, and to establish religious unity
between the two races. Happily, in the fourteenth cen
tury, this better spirit generally prevailed. The statute
of Kilkenny (A. Di 1367) enacted in vain a decree of
non-intercourse ; the union went on.*
Through warfare, and faction, and national controver
sies, the great duty of education was not neglected.
Flan O' Gorman and other scholars of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, it is written, " studied twenty years
in the schools of France and England." Armagh Col
lege being declared sole school of theology, seven thou
sand scholars are counted there at one time. The Do
minicans of Dublin bridge the Liffey for the convenience
of their scholars ; Archbishop de Bicknor projects and
commences a University of St. Patrick's, for -which bulls
are issued at Rome ; St. Nicholas College, at Galway,
begins to make itself known to the learned. At Ox
ford, there are national feuds between "the three na
tions," and a serious riot on Palm Sunday, 1274. The
Irish students are prohibited from entering the English
colleges after this, and so remain at home, or betake
themselves to Paris. The great mental rivalry between
the two races was favorable to learning.
Among the laity, even the noblest, there is no lack of
devotion. Godfrey and Richard count some of them
among their followers, as the zealous Tasso sings : " the
concert of Christendom " was completed by " the Irish
harp." Ullgarg O'Rorke died beside the Jordan in 1231 ;
* The native saints were popularly supposed to avenge their invaded
country. Dermid McMurrogh died by the interposition of St. Columb-
cille, and Strongbow by St. Bridge's ; St. Kiaran saved Clonmacnoise
"from the King of England's constable ;" i. «., De Lacy.
3*

30 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Hugh O'Connor, grandson of Roderick, died on his
return from Jerusalem in 1224. Roderick himself died
in the religious habit, at Cong, in 1198, having spent
five years in the cloister. In his will he left offerings to
the churches at Rome and Jerusalem. During the two
succeeding centuries, almost every second obituary of
an Irish noble states that he " gained the victory over
the devil and the world," in the religious house and habit
of some regular order. When St. John of Matha
founded his noble brotherhood for the redemption of
captives, Ireland erected fifty-three houses of that order
— as many as England and Scotland put together.
Such was the Irish church of the middle ages.
In the state, the provincial rulers still maintained their
rank and title ; but though many noble names are men
tioned as " worthy heirs of the crown of Ireland," no
regular election to that high office seems to have taken
place during the three centuries following the death of
Roderick.

CHAPTER H.
HENRY VIIL OF ENGLAND ELECTED KING OP IRELAND. — ANTECE
DENTS OF THIS ELECTION. — THE CLERGY NOT CONSULTED.—
THE CHIEFS CANVASSED INDIVIDUALLY. — AFTER THE ELEC
TION — APOSTATE BISHOPS.— CONFISCATION, SACRILEGE, AND
REFORMATION. The election of Henry VIII of England as King
of Ireland is one of the primary facts in the history of
both nations. To our present purpose its considera
tion is indispensable.
The Kings of England, from Henry II to Henry VII,
had always claimed the lordship of a part of Ireland.
Sometimes, in the purposely indefinite language of dip
lomacy, they had styled themselves " Dominus Hibemia,"
without qualification. This title they assumed in the
same sense that the Danish Vi-kings of Dublin and

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 31
Waterford, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, had styled
themselves " kings " of the whole country. The bulls of
Popes Adrian and Alexander, which were relied on as
the foundation of their title, were couched in very gen
eral terms, and the non-fulfilment of their conditions
necessarily rendered the title conditionally given of no
legal authority. During the thirteenth century, the Holy
War, in the fourteenth, the wars with France and Scot
land, postponed the formal assertion of sovereignty.
At the close of the fourteenth, the young Richard II, a
candidate for the empire, was tauntingly told, by the
German electors, to " conquer Ireland first." Under the
instigation of this taunt, his expeditions of 1394 and
1399 were undertaken, in which Art. McMurrogh won a
deathless name, Henry IV. his knightly spurs, and Rich
ard II. lost his early character for courage, and finally his
crown. While Richard was absent in Ireland, the ban
ished Duke of Lancaster returned to England, seized
the government, and captured his luckless predecessor.
Thus commenced, with the next century, that civil war
of the roses, which closed on Bosworth Field in 1485.
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, the conqueror upon
that day, was a bastard, like William of Normandy ;
he conquered, like William, with foreign men and arms.
Still, the parliament confirmed his title; and his marriage
with Elizabeth of York, the lawful representative of the
royal line, as well as the strong desire of all English
men for peace at any price, gave a sanction and a
strength to his claims, which no other king had obtained
in the same century. The present British monarchy
properly dates from the battle of Bosworth Field.
Henry VII's administration needs to be known, in
order to understand the more important reign of his
son. The one prepared the way for the other, in church
and state, in Ireland and in England. The leading idea
of the new king was, the centralization of all power and
patronage in the hands of the sovereign. Money was
his darling object ; taxation and confiscation his favor
ite means. An insurrection in Yorkshire, in the second
year of his reign, and the successive attempts of two

32 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
claimants to the throne, in the Yorkist interest, gave
him the desired opportunities. The Duchess of Bur
gundy, the Kings of France and Scotland, patronized
both " the pretenders." But their main strength lay in
Ireland, among the Geraldines and other nobles of " the
Pale," who, whatever they may have thought of the
title of Simnel or Warbeck, were politic enough to see
that a strongly-established dynasty would be likely to
enforce its authority over their baronial demesnes. In
1486, they crowned Simnel at Dublin, and paid him
homage. Joined by two thousand Burgundians under
Schwartz, they invaded England the following June,
landed at Foudray, in Lancashire, and gave battle to
Henry at Stoke upon the Trent. They were defeated.
Among the dead were the Lords Maurice and Thomas
Fitzgerald, the Earl of Lincoln and ' Martin Schwartz.
Simnel was taken prisoner, and made a scullion in the
king's kitchen. Soon a more formidable pretender ap
peared, under the title of Richard, Duke of York, second
son of Edward IV. In 1495, he landed at Cork, where
the mayor of the city, O'Water, the Earl of Desmond,
and many others, declared their belief in his legitimacy,
and rendered him homage. He tried his fortune in Kent,
failed, and returned to Flanders. He again went to
Ireland, and from Ireland landed in Cornwall, where he
gained -three thousand adherents. Advancing towards
London, his forces were surrounded near Taunton, and
himself captured. In 1498, he was executed on a
charge of attempting to escape from' the Tower. The
mayor of Cork and his son suffered with him at Tyburn.
With his usual policy, Henry VII. made these at
tempts occasions for new taxes and new confiscations.
The insurgents were pardoned at so much per head ;
the poor for twenty pence, the rich for two hundred
pounds. Cities and corporations were taxed according
to their numbers, the London merchants paying not less
than ten thousand pounds. The Parliament of 1497
voted him twelve thousand pounds and three fifteenths
of the revenues. Sir William Capell compounded for
one thousand pounds ; the Earl of Derby was pardoned

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 33
for six thousand pounds. We need not wonder, that in
a few years Henry became one of the richest kings in
Europe. Not only did he gather in riches, but power also. In
his reign the feudal law of " maintenance," which made
the followers of each lord his dependants, in peace or
war, was abolished. The sheriffs of counties, instead
of being local administrators, were now royal deputies.
The Parliament at Westminster swallowed all the pala
tine and ducal courts of the kingdom, and in its fulness
became the contented slave of the king. Private prop
erty was converted into royal fiefs ; estated orphans were
made royal wards ; common lands were enclosed and
sold. The1 same arbitrary and avaricious policy was
attempted with the church. The chapter of York pur
chases a concession with one thousand marks ; the Bish
op of Bath, at his nomination, undertakes to pay one
hundred pounds per year to the king ; a Carthusian
monastery, for the renewal of its charter, pays five thou
sand pounds. In these signs it is not difficult to foresee
another Henry improving on the paternal examples of
avarice and absolutism.
Ireland had been dangerous to the new dynasty in its
first years, but the double defeat of the Yorkists had
taught the Pales-men wisdom. The Earls of Kildare
and Desmond paid heavily, for Henry's forgiveness ; ,and
the colonial Parliament, which sat at Drogheda in 1497,
was quite as slavish as that which sat at Westminster.
The English deputy in Ireland, Sir Edward Poynings,
was a fit minister for such a master. He obtained the
consent of the Parliament, that, in future, all heads of
bills should be sent into England for the previous ap
proval of the king and council. This act, known as
Poynings's law, is celebrated in Irish parliamentary dis
cussions, both of the last and the previous century.*
For the time, it effectually secured the dependence of
fhe Anglo-Irish barons on the new dynasty.f
* In 1782, and at the time of the legislative union, Poynings's law
was a principal topic of parliamentary debate in both kingdoms. •
t Among those who did homage at Dublin were Gerald, Earl of

34 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Anxious to atone for their double rebellion, and to
reimburse themselves for the heavy fines twice levied
on them, the nobles of the Pale were disposed to renew
the struggle of races, which had been suspended for
more than a century. Tbe statute of Kilkenny forbid
ding intermarriages was, from the first, a dead letter
in two thirds of the island. Fitzgeralds, Burkes, and
Butlers had constantly intermarried with O'Connors,
O'Neils, and O'Briens. There was a near prospect, of
national unity, when Poynings, under the instigation of
his royal master, insinuated the Roman policy, " divide
and conquer." In 1504, we find the new loyalists, with
their Milesian connections, engaged, in the deadly battle
of Knoc-Tuadh with the native Irish under O'Connor
and O'Brien, and the naturalized Normans under Burke
of Clanrickarde and Bermingham of Athenry. Kildare,
Gormanstown, and Howth commanded for King Henry,
and the dead who were left on that hard-fought field
would outnumber those who fell at Bosworth and Stoke
piled together. Knoc-Tuadh ("the hill of the battle-
axes ") is one of the most memorable battles in the war
like history of the Irish. Henry was well avenged that
day for the aid Ireland had given to the pretended dukes
of Clarence and York. He did not live to reap all the
fruits of his great victory ; but this, with many other
advantages, he bequeathed to his successor.
In 1509, at the age of eighteen, tbe future " reformer "
found himself a king. His very first act was signifi
cant of his evil career. Immediately after his corona
tion, he sent for the oath he had publicly sworn, and
privately altered it.
" He had sworn to ' maintain of Holy Church, granted
" by the ancient Christian Kings of England ; ' he added,
" ' as far as they will not be prejudicial to his jurisdiction
" and royal dignity.' He had sworn to 'maintain peace
" between Holy Church, the clergy, and the people ; ' for
" this he substituted that he should ' endeavor to work

Kildare, the Archbishop of Dublin, Eustace, Lord Portlester, Preston,
Lord Gormanstown, the Barons of Howth, Trimbleston, Slaine, and Dun-
sany, the Abbot of St. Mary's, Dublin, and the Prior of Holnroatriek.
Wicklow. *

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 35
" with the people and clergy under the royal dominion.'
" He had sworn to ' maintain justice and equity, and yet
" to be merciful ; ' this he altered into a promise to ' grant
'* mercy to him who, according to his conscience, should
" merit it.' He had sworn to ' maintain the laws of the
"kingdom, and the customs ofthe nation;' 'without
" prejudice,' he wrote, 'to the rights of the crown, or his
" imperial dignity.' Henry, after making these altera-'
" tions, closed the book, and said not a word of what
'flie had done."*
It is not our place to detail the history of this reign.
For the first twenty years of his life, Henry was gov
erned by a great but unscrupulous minister, Cardinal
Wolsey. On the 30th of November, 1530, the cardinal's
body was lowered into a vault at Leicester, and with
him was buried the last restraint upon the terrible pas
sions of the master he had so long served and controlled.
The seeds of " reformation " were silently growing up
in England before and during Wolsey's time. The con
troversy upon the king's divorce, and the heat it pro
duced, gave vigor to the rank productions ( of schismatic
scholars. So early as 1523, the king began to express
scruples touching the lawfulness of his marriage with
Katherine, who had been betrothed to his elder brother,
Arthur, and after Arthur's death married to him. For
ten years, he tried every art and every influence to obtain
the dispensation of Rome, but in vain. His own power,
the book against LutKer so highly valued, the mediation
of France, all failed to procure the desired divorce. At
length, devoured by passion and impatience, he resolved
to cast off the bonds of spiritual obedience which had
united England with Christendom for eight centuries.
The successive steps of the schism followed rapidly on
each other. In 1529, he proposed, but postponed, the
law for the confiscation of the lesser monasteries. In
1531, he obliged the clergy, under the penalty of pramii-
nire, (transportation from the realm,) to acknowledge
his supremacy in spirituals. In 1532, from the national
convocation of the clergy, he obtained his divorce. In

* Audin's Henry "VTH. p. 28.

36 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
1533 took place his marriage with Anne Boleyn, and
the birth of Elizabeth, which followed rather quickly
upon it. In 1535, the royal "order in council" ap
peared, ordering the omission " of the name of the bishop
of Rome from every liturgical book;" and the same year
Lord Chancellor More and Bishop Fisher died, martyrs
of the faith, for their resistance to the new ordinances.
While these' events were transpiring in England,
Henry, through his agents, was urging forward a favor
ite project in Ireland — the conversion of his title from
a lordship granted by the pope, to a kingship by election
of the estates, and the consequent modification of the
titles, tenures, and laws of Ireland, upon the feudal basis.
To this design, Gerald, Earl of Kildare, seems to have
been an obstacle, and accordingly was summoned to
London. There he was charged with having, among
other offences, married one of his daughters to 0*Don-
nell, and another to O'Connor, of Offally. He was sent
to the Tower, where, the following December, he died.
A false report having reached Dublin, in 1534,. of his exe
cution, his son, called, from the splendor of his dress, " Silk
en Thomas," and others, his relatives, flew to arms.
O'Neil, O'Connor, and O'Moore sent him supplies and
men. He began the siege of Dublin, and entered into a
treaty with the citizens, and exchanged hostages to insure
their neutrality. At Clontarf he cut off a small reenforce
ment which had landed from England ; and greater sup-
• plies, under skilful captains, followed. After keeping the
field, with various fortunes, for more than a year, he was
induced to surrender to the king's mercy. His five un
cles followed his example ; but in February, 1536, they
all six suffered death at Tyburn, with some of their
adherents. This danger, and the consideration shown
abroad to the emissaries' of the Irish leaders, increased
Henry's anxiety to be possessed of the crown of Ireland
by a title apparently legal and spontaneous. Whether
the project originated with Wolsey, or in the controversy
with Rome, or earlier, it certainly was much more zeal
ously urged after the revolt of Silken Thomas than it
had been before.
The nature of the divorce controversy was not gen-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 37
erally understood in Ireland. Henry's book against
Luther was better known than his correspondence about
the queen. His " Confession " of 1536, with the essen
tial exception of the Papal supremacy, was altogether
Catholic. His " Six Articles " of 1539 all affirmed Cath
olic doctrines. It was the policy of Henry that the Irish
should be as much in doubt of his real purpose as diplo
macy could leave them. In 1535, he had appointed
George Browne, a partisan of the divorce, and an Eng
lishman, Archbishop of Dublin ; but when the new
prelate caused the Baculus Jesus and other sacred relics
to be burned, he was rebuked for his precipitancy. In
June of that year, he writes to Mr. Secretary Cromwell,
that "there goeth a common rumor," that he intended to
pluck down our Lady of Trim, and other idols ; " which
indeed," he adds, " I never attempted, although my con
science would right well serve me to oppresse such ydols."
In 1539, Con O'Neil, Prince of Ulster, taking alarm at
the rumors which had reached him, marched southward,
and after taking Ardee and Navan, reviewed his troops
at Tara. On his return, at Bellahoe, in Monaghan, he
was surprised and defeated by the Lord Deputy Grey,
who, after the battle, proceeded to Trim, where the famous
statue of our Lady stood, and the deputy, "very de
voutly kneeling before her, heard three or four masses ; "
the archbishop and Lord Butler, the treasurer, refused
to go in. The next year, this deputy was superseded by
Anthony St. Leger, who, in 1541, succeeded in assem
bling "the great court" at Dublin, for the long-desired
election. Those who attended for this purpose were of two
classes — Anglo-Irish barons, and Milesian-Irish chiefs ;
the clergy, by a device of St. Leger's, contrary to all
former usage, were not summoned. Of the barons, the
Earls of Desmond and Ormond, and nearly all the Lein
ster viscounts were present ; of the Celtic chiefs, those
of secondary rank were numerous, but the principals
were few. "Until their suffra'ges were taken, it was felt
necessary to postpone the proclamation.
The absent chiefs were separately consulted, and
4

38 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
their consent obtained on terms such as usually existed
between vassal and sovereign in continental countries.
O'Brien, O'Connor Faily, and O'Dun acknowledged
the title in June and July, 1541 ; O'Donnell acknowl
edged it on the 6th of August, in the same year ; (J • Neil
at Maynooth, in 1542; O'Moore on the 13th of May;
M'Carthy, O'Sullivan, O'Callaghan, and O'Ruarc, m
September ; and M'Donnell of the Glens, and M'Wil-
liam Burke, on the 18th of May, 1543. In each case,
the acknowledgment was made on the stipulation that
each chief was to remain " head of his nation," and that
the ancient rights and laws of each clan were to be re
spected. With this guaranty, they agreed that the
national crown, which from the thirteenth century had
not been conferred upon any aspirant, should be united
to the crown of England. In 1542, the Dublin heralds an
nounced that " his majesty is now, as he hath always of
right been, acknowledged by the nobility and commons of
Ireland to be king of the same" &c In January, 1543, he
was proclaimed, in similar terms, in London ; and in 1544,
when the suffrages of the chiefs were complete, the old
seals of office in Ireland were cancelled, and new ones
sent to.Sir William Brabazon, who was the first viceroy.
" The collation of this royal dignity by the Irish nation
alone," says Mr. Plowden, " is a proof and a full recog
nition by England of the absolute sovereignty and inde
pendence of the Irish nation." * The absence of the
bishops and lord abbots from the great court is a
memorable omission. The Irish church stands acquitted
of imposing the present dynasty on that country.
The English ambassadors abroad were directed to
procure the acknowledgment of the new title, which,
after some diplomatic delays, was universally conceded.
One of the parties, who was most reluctant to admit it,
was the King of Scotland.f
* Plowden's Ireland, vol. i., p. 62.
t Pinkerton's History of Scotland. The Irish sovereignty was con
sidered one of the most ancient in Europe, as the following anecdote
proves : At the council of Constance, in 1417, where the legate of Henry
V. disputed precedence with the legate of France, priority was awarded
to the English agent expressly on account of his king's partial sover-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 39
The chiefs of the great court proceeded in 1542 to
Greenwich Palace, where they formally presented Henry
the crown of Brian and of Roderick. In exchange, pat
ents of nobility were made out for them ; and O'Neil,
O'Brien, and Burke returned Earls of Tyrone, of Tho-
mond, and of Clanrickarde. These new titles, and the
new code which they announced, gave great dissatisfac
tion to the clans, who now began to understand on what
business their chiefs had been summoned to Dublin.
They truly foresaw that this was but the beginning of
actual conquest ; and, in fact, at the very time the new
earls were inspecting their patents at Greenwich, Henry
had before him a detailed project for the confiscation of
the entire soil of Ireland, prepared for his consideration
by the chief baron of his Dublin exchequer.* Confis
cation and Protestantism were born at a birth in the
fertile mind of the newly-elected King of Ireland. What
ever charges we can bring against the Catholic Plan
tagenets, they certainly never proposed wholesale con
fiscation. That was reserved for the Defenders of the
Faith and Supreme Heads of the Church, by law estab
lished. The election over, the crown fitted to the chosen head,
the earls graciously dismissed to their homes, the first
attempt to introduce the reformation begins. Arch
bishop Browne had been a Protestant from the time of
his nomination by the king ; and, in his zeal for the new
doctrines, had more than once impeded his master's
diplomacy. In 1538, he was reprimanded for his impru
dence ; the same year, he made a visitation of his prov
ince, accompanied by the chancellor and others. They
extended their journey as far south as Clonmel, where
eignty in ancient Ireland. The authority of Albertus Magnus and
Bartholomaeus, on that occasion, was cited, for they had divided univer
sal history thus : —
" In the division of the world, Europe was subdivided into four great
kingdoms — 1. That of Rome ; 2. That of Constantinople ; 3. That
of Ireland ; i. That of Spain ; Whence it appears the King of Eng
land, being also King of Ireland, is one of the most ancient kings of
Europe." * Baron Einglas's "Breviate of Ireland," in Harris's Hibernica.

40 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
they were met by the Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam,
and the Bishops of Leighlin, Ferns, Lismore, " Immo-
lacen," and Limerick. Browne preached ; " his sermon
finished," writes his friend the chancellor, " all the said
bishops in all the open audience took the oath mentioned
in the acts of Parliament, both touching the king's suc
cession and supremacy — before me, the king's chanr
cellor; and divers others there present did the like."
This statement, said to be copied from the original in
the State Paper Office, is not borne out by Browne's
reports of the same year, 1538, to Secretary Cromwell.
He states, " I endeavor myself, and also cause others of
my clergy, to preach the gospel of Christ, and set forth
the king's cause ; " with what success he does not
say. The same year, Agard, an official, writes to Crom
well, that, "excepte the Archbishop of Dublin, only
Lord Butler, the master of the rolls, Mr. Treasurer,
and one or two more of small reputations, none may
abide the hearing of it, (the king's supremacy,) spiritual,
as they call them, or temporal." *
The burning of the " Baculus Jesus," this year, was a
wanton and fruitless sacrilege. It was a relic which had
been held in universal veneration from the earliest Chris
tian times. Every Life of St. Patrick agrees in the
tradition, that on his journey to Rome, it was given him
by a hermit of the Tyrrhene Sea, as a staff which our
blessed Redeemer himself had carried. Our earliest
records notice it as existing at Armagh ; that it was
used to swear by, and to quell social war. Mailsheach-
lan, coming into the, tent of the monarch, Thurlogh
O'Brien, A. D. 1080, bearing this staff, induced him to
turn back from an invasion of Leinster ; in 1143, peace
between Connaught and Ulster was ratified by an oath
taken on this staff; in 1184, it was translated to Dublin,
probably by Philip de Worcester; and so late as 1529,
we find oaths taken " upon the holie Masebooke and the

/ C°rrte9P°ndtn°eT?it1!v ^ th£^e^ *° the 0bits ^ Martyrology
of ^Christ Church : Dublin, (published by the Archaeological Society,)

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 41
great relike of Erlonde, called Baculum Christi, in pres
ence of the king's deputie, chancellor, tresoror, and
justice." The public destruction of this venerable relic was
sure to be bruited abroad over the kingdom, and equally,
to produce indignation and opposition. The politicians
interposed to prevent the repetition of such indiscretions.
In another letter, Browne writes that he has contradicted
a rumor that he " intended to pluck down our Lady of
Trim and other idols," although he adds, his heart well
enough inclined him thereto.
At the " Great Court " of 1541, an abstract of the
laws and ordinances of the Pale was made and decreed
the basis of the future Irish code. One of these ordi
nances, thus confirmed, was in these words : —
" I. That the church of Ireland shall be free and
enjoy all its accustomed privileges.
"II That the land of Ireland shall hereafter enjoy all
its franchises and privileges, as it used to do before." *
Notwithstanding these guaranties, the election of
Henry was scarcely over when the reformers renewed
their work. When asked their authority, they produced
a commission " dated two years before," which consti
tuted Dr. Browne and four others a tribunal of inspec
tion and examination. Armed men attended them from
church to church, hewing down the crucifix with their
swords, defiling the sacred vessels, and defacing the
monuments of the dead. " There was not," says the
contemporary annalist, " a holy cross, nor an image of
Mary, nor other celebrated image in Ireland," within
the reach of the reformers, or near their fortresses, " that
they did not burn." f The celebrated image at Trim, so

* Cited in the Irish Commons' Journals, A. D. 1641. Of course "the
Church of Ireland," in Henry VII.'s reign, could only mean the Holy
Roman Catholic church.
t "A. D. 1537. A heresy and a new error broie out in England, the
effects of pride, vainglory, avarice, sensual desire, and the prevalence of
a variety of -scientific and philosophical speculations, so that the people
of England went into opposition to the pope and to Rome. At the
same time they followed a variety of opinions, and the old law of Moses,
after the manner of the Jewish people, and they gave the title of Head
of the Church of God to the king. There were enacted by the king
4*

42 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
long respited, " which used to heal the blind, the deaf,
the lame, and every disease in like manner," — to which
women in labor offered gifts, and all Ireland rendered
respect, — was " burned " with the rest. " The image of
Christ crucified, in the Abbey of Ballybogan," also
suffered. Pilgrims were forbidden free passage through
English districts and towns, and the favored shrines of the
faithful were all swept into the treasury of Dublin. The
commissioners declared i that Henry's warrant directed
them to " break in pieces, deform, and bear away the
same, so that no fooleries of this kind might henceforth
forever be in use in the said land." Nothing loath, they
traversed the Pale, keeping well clear of less guarded
ground. The churches of Dublin fell first under their
iconoclastic fury. The relics of St, Brendan and St.
Lawrence in Christ Church were burned. Of the statues
but one — the image of our Lady, placed over " Le
Dame's Gate," escaped by being buried in the well of
Whitefriars. Its contemporaries all perished. " The seven
orders " of religious were expelled from three hundred
and seventy houses by intimidation or actual force. The
cathedrals of old Leighlin and Ferns shared the fate of
St. Patrick's, the English being masters of those towns.

and council new laws and statutes after their own will. They ruined
the orders who were permitted to hold worldly possessions, viz., monks,
canons, nuns, and brethren of the Cross ; and the four mendicant orders,
viz., the Minors, the Preachers, Carmelites, and Augustinians. The
possessions and living of all these were taken up for the king. They
broke the monasteries. They sold their roofs and bells, so that there
was not a monastery from Arann of the Saints to the Iccian Sea that
was not broken and shattered, except only a few in Ireland, which
escaped the notice and attention qf the English. They further burned
and broke the famous images, shrines, and relics of Ireland and Eng
land. After that they burned in like manner the celebrated image of
Mary, which was at Ath-Truim  and the staff of Jesus, which
was in Dublin, performing miracles from the time of Patrick down to
that time, and which was in the hand of Christ while he was among
men. They also made archbishops and sub-bishops for themselves ;
and although great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against
the church, it is not probable that ever so great a persecution as this ever
came from Rome hither. So that it is impossible to tell or narrate its
description, unless it should be told by him who saw it."  Annah of
Ulster, commonly called " The Four Masters."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 43
The gold, silver, and precious stones, gathered by the
commissioners, is rated (by them) at £326, 2s. lid.;
other stuffs "of superstition" at £1710 2s.; and one
thousand 'pounds of wax tapers, at £20. When we
consider the value of money in that age, this was no
inconsiderable spoil from four out of the, then, numerous
dioceses of the kingdom.* One of the most active of the
commissioners was Chief Baron Finglass, who had pre
pared shortly before a " Breviate of the State of Ireland,"
in which he roughly estimates the strength of the Celtic
chiefs ; urges the policy of confiscating their lands, and
offering their " settlement " to " young gentlemen of good
family out of England." f He goes into the details of this
plunder very deliberately ; and to him belongs the first
suggestion of that series of confiscations which Eliza
beth, the Stuarts, Cromwell, and William followed up ;
which Cecil, Raleigh, Bacon, Milton, and Clarendon
advocated or defended; and which ceased only when
there was nothing further left to confiscate. The whole
sale civil confiscations were deferred till the churches
were first stripped of their wealth. One robbery at a
time was considered enough.
The monasteries and churches which stood beyond the
Pale, and still enjoyed the protection of native chiefs, were
partly donated to adventurers, " if they could conquer
them," and the principal corporators of walled towns had
the rest, in order to interest them in the progress of plunder.
The northern abbeys (untouched for many years after)
were vested in the Chichesters, Caufields, and renegade
McDonnells; the sduthern were conferred on the Prot
estant Lord Butler, Sir John King, and others ; the mid
land and western on the Dillons, Plunketts, Croftons,
Taafes, and the Earls of Clanrickarde and Thomond.
The corporate towns were also tempted with the spoils :
Dublin got All Hallows and other houses ; Drogheda
got Mellifont; Limerick, Inniscattery ; Clonmell, Wa-

* Original Report, Records Office, Dublin. Mant's Presbyterian
Church in Ireland.
t " Breviate of Ireland," in Harris's Hibernica.

44 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
terford, and Carrickfergus were equally endowed. Thus
the interests, the selfish interests, of a large body of bad
men, in town and country, became inextricably inwoven
with heresy, and the roots of one race were planted in
the mouldering foundations of the other. The O'Neils
were robbed to enrich the Chichesters, the McCarthys to
build up the Butlers, the O'Sullivans to endow the
Boyles and Kings, and the rich abbeys of the pious
O'Connors fell a prey to the Burkes and Croftons.
Henry's commissioners of course did not neglect them
selves. Browne, in imitation of his friend Cranmer,
had married a wife, and pleaded that he had a family to
provide for. He complains in his letters that he was
refused " Grace Dieu " and " a very poor abbey of
friars, near Ballymore." As a consolation, he was
endowed with lands and abbeys in other counties, which
we find his descendants enjoying two generations later.
After that his family vanishes from the records of the state.
The Irish church was as a rich argosy abandoned
by its officers, the civil rulers, to be rummaged and preyed
on by pirates. Besides the fifty cathedrals of its ancient
dioceses, besides the numerous colleges enriched by the
piety of early times, besides the many places of pilgrim
age where the offerings of successive centuries were
stored up, there were, to excite avarice and reward
apostasy, nearly six hundred houses of the religious
orders. The Augustinian orders, male and female, could
count two hundred and fifty-six of their own founda
tions ; the Cistercian houses were forty-four; the Bene
dictine, fourteen ; the Dominicans, forty-one ; the Fran
ciscan orders, one hundred and fourteen ; the Carmelites,
twenty-nine ; the Knights Hospitallers, twenty-two ; the
Hermits of St. Augustine, twenty-four ; the Trinitarians,
fourteen ; the Norbertines, eight ; the Bernardines, two
Besides these, there were a few houses, under the rule of
St. Bridget, and St. Columbcille, and a priory of Cul-
dees at Armagh.* Some of these houses, especially
* In Archdall's Monastieon there is an incomplete list of five hun
dred and sixty-three Irish houses confiscated. Vide Appendix No. I.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 45
those of the Cistercian order, founded at the time of the
restoration of religion, were endowed with large posses
sions and many privileges. They afforded pieces of silver
enough for every Judas that could be found.
Henry VIII. did not live to direct the work he had
commenced. Ulcerated in body and mind, he died a
death of exquisite agony, in January, 1547. The daily
fluctuations of his creed, during the last years of his
life, had prevented any regular system of Protestant
propagandism. The work of plunder, however, was
zealously carried on by the king and the apostates, high
and low. That method of conversion needed neither
council nor confession of faith. It proceeded with com
plete success in every shire at the same time. In Ireland,
it was limited only by the extent of military force, at the
command of Dr. Browne, Lord Butler, Baron Finglass,
and their fellow-commissioners. It took a full century
to complete the grand scheme of sacrilege and spoliation
which they devised.
The character of Henry, as exhibited in his Irish
policy, is a compound of duplicity and ferocity. His
treacherous execution of the six Geraldines ; his dis
simulation before the act of election, and his instant
use of his new powers for purposes of confiscation ; his
choice of agents, in church and state, such as Lord
Leonard Grey and Archbishop Browne ; his imposition
of the oath of supremacy, — these high crimes against
religion and law fully entitle him to be reckoned among
the greatest criminals known to mankind. He united all
the passions of Nero to all the crafty intelligence of
Tiberius. His end was like theirs, a memorable mani
festation of God's justice beginning in this world.
His election introduced that vicious confusion into the
civil affairs of Ireland which has not yet been elimi
nated. It altered every thing old and salutary; it was
a radical revolution. It substituted an heretical foreign
king, an apostate, anti-national clergy, and an aristocracy
of conquest, for native princes, a Catholic hierarchy, and
the old tenures which secured the soil to its cultivators.
The form of election was just sufficiently legal to con-

46 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
stitute a de facto government, and yet was unconstitu
tional enough to render debatable every extreme ex
ercise of its authority. A doubtful allegiance and a
vicious authority were, in the political order, counter
parts of the first attempt to introduce the reformation'
into Ireland. We can hardly be surprised to find, three
years after Henry's election, the Anglo-Irish Earl of
Ormond poisoned at London for opposing his govern
ment, or, the same year, (1545,) the Milesian Irish chiefs
in secret treaty with Francis I. of France, who sent
John de Montluc, as his envoy into Ulster. All they
asked to shake off the yoke of England, was the pope's
sanction, ".two thousand arquebuses, two hundred light
horsemen, and four cannon." * But the complications of
French policy delayed any action upon this, the first
projected Catholic insurrection.

CHAPTER III.
KING EDWARD AND QUEEN MARY. — CRANMER'S ATTEMPTS TO
ESTABLISH THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND  THE FIRST CATH
OLIC INSURRECTION.— ACCESSION OF QUEEN MARY. — CATHOLIC
REACTION. — RESTORATION OF THE IRISH BISHOPS  DEATH OF
QUEEN MARY. — STATE OF PARTIES.
The boy Edward, son of Henry VIII. by Lady Jane
Seymour, was crowned king, in 1547, in the tenth year
of his age. His mother's brother, Edward Seymour,
duke of Somerset, was declared protector of the king
dom, during the minority of his nephew.
The ruler of England, in matters of religion, during
the reign of Edward, or rather the protectorate of
Somerset, was Thomas Cranmer, a native of Notting
ham, who, from being an expelled scholar of Oxford,

* Cox, Rerum Hib. Anglicarum.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 47
and the husband of the barmaid of the Dolphin Inn,
had risen to the rank of King Henry's Archbishop of
Canterbury. He had first attracted the king's attention by
writing in favor of the divorce of Queen Katharine ; he
had secretly married the niece of the reformer Osian-
der, while he still pretended to be a Catholic and a
bishop ; he had assisted at the marriage, the accusation,
and sentence of the four queens, whom Henry succes
sively espoused and put away. By consenting to every
thing, he had at last overcome every thing, and, next
to the regent, was the most powerful man in the king
dom. %
Ireland attracted, early, Cranmer's attention. An order
in council commanding the use of the new liturgy in
that kingdom was issued; another order commanded the
administration of the oath of allegiance ; another trans
ferred the primacy from Armagh to Dublin, much to the
satisfaction of George. Browne. Some new bishops
of Cranmer's making — among them Dr. Goodacre for
Armagh, Dr. Lancaster for Kildare, Dr. Bale for Os-
sory, and Dr. Travers for Leighlin were sent over. They
were providently accompanied by six hundred horse
and. four hundred foot, under Sir Edward Bellingham,
" a man of great valor, and celebrated for military science,"
who was honored with the title of " marshal and cap
tain general of Ireland." The old bishops, being sum
moned to Dublin, to take the_oath of allegiance, boldly
refused, with three sorrowful exceptions, Myler Magrath,
Archbishop of Cashel, Staples, Bishop of Meath, and
Quinn, or Coyn, Bishop of Limerick. The apostasy
of Magrath alone excited attention, the other two being
" nominations " of Henry. The laity of his diocese
rose in a tumult of indignation, and ordered him to
leave the city of Cashel, where Dr. Edmund Butler, son
of the Earl of Ormond, was enthroned in his stead.
Magrath fled into England, and threw himself on the
bounty of Cranmer. In Queen Elizabeth's reign, we
find him, for a time, intruding in the see of Lismore, and,
except in the polemical songs of the age, we hear of
him no more. James I's captains in Munster did not

48 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
spare his heirs, though they pleaded their kindred " to
Milerus, late archbishop." The other " king's bishops "
succeeded little better. Dr. Goodacre, having the fear of
Shane O'Neil before his eyes, never ventured tq Armagh;
Dr. Bale, under cover of Ormond Castle, entered Kil
kenny. He preached " very peaceably " so long as the
Irish did not understand him ; but when he ordered his
menials to pull down images and crosses, they rose,
" slew five of his servants, and barely suffered him to
escape."* Dr. Lancaster's diocese lay among the O'Con
nors and O'Moores of Offally and Leix, who had no
very strong desire for his administration. They rose in
arms against it, and Bellingham marched to support the
bishop. A battle was fought at Three Castles, in Kil
kenny, in which the Catholics were defeated, and Maurice
" of the Wood," son of the Earl of Kildare, was taken
prisoner. He, with two of his nephews, was executed at
Dublin. The bishop and the foreign soldiery triumphed :
they built or repaired forts in Offally and Leix, and
strongly garrisoned Cork, Belfast, and Athlone. These
garrisons, when not otherwise employed, were allowed
to make descents upon the churches and schools of the
adjacent country. At Down, they mutilated the shrine
of Sts. Patrick, Bridget, and Columbcille. Taking to their
longboats, the northern garrison plundered the shrines
of-Rathlin Islet, and coming to Derry, they assailed the
Black Abbey of St. Columbcille, in which so many
princes and prelates had laid down mitre and crown.
Here, Shane O'NeiFs forbearance ended, and with the
red hand of Ulster, he brushed the wretches out. Four
miles above Athlone, on the sloping banks of the Shan
non, stood the seven churches, the castle, round tower,
and village of Clonmacnoise. There St. Kiaran died, and
their Abbot Tighernan O'Broin, after the Danish desola
tions gathered together the early annals of our race. In a
sudden foray, the garrison of Athlone surrounded Clon
macnoise, slew all its religious inhabitants who remained,
mutilated the tombs of chiefs and abbots, and carried

* Life of Dr. Bale, prefixed to his works.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 49
off the rich shrine of its saint. Donald O'Brien, of
Thomond, worthy of his name, rose in arms on receiving
this intelligence, captured, in rapid succession, the garri
sons of Clare and Limerick, and in the decisive battle
of Thurles, where, nearly four centuries before, his ances
tor had routed Strongbow, he cleared the southern
counties, for that generation, of the reformers.*
On Leix and Offally the forces of the captain-general
were concentrated. Defeated in several engagements,
O' Moore and O'Connor agreed to refer their case to the
protector. On reaching London, with some friends,
they were cast into the Tower, where O'Moore died in his
chains. O'Connor's son found safety in exile at the
court of Margaret of Scotland. Their districts were
declared confiscated to the crown, and in the next reign
were called King's and Queen's, county. Bellingham
boasted that he had been the first to enlarge the limits
of "the Pale," since the days of Edward III. This boast
was not only well founded in this instance, but in an
other; in 1550, the head of the old royal house of Mc-
Murrogh, who had not participated in the election of
Henry, " made his submission" in Dublin.
The lord deputy having received an order in coun
cil, dated the 6th of February, 1551, commanding the
use of the new liturgy in ali the churches, in flagrant
violation of the conditions of the election of 1541, im
mediately summoned the bishops, as he had ten years
before summoned the barons. They assembled, on the
1st of March, at Dublin, the Catholics led by Primate
Dowdal, the heretics by Dr. Browne. After a lengthy
discussion, " the primate and his party left the assem
bly. The Archbishop of Dublin remained and received
the king's order, commending it to those of his brethren
who were present ; " that is, to Staples, Lancaster, Travers,

* The plunder of Clonmacnoise is thus stated in the Annals : " They
took the large bells out of the steeple, and left neither large nor small
bell, image, altar, book, gem, nor even glass in a window in the walls of
the church, that they did not carry with them ; and that truly was a
lamentable deed to plunder the city of St. Kiaran, the patron saint." —
Annals of the Four Masters. A. D. 1552.
5

50 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
and Coyn, or Quin, who were already Protestants. On
Easter day following, Christ Church Cathedral beheld
for the first time the " celebration of divine worship ac
cording to the English liturgy." The viceroy, the mayor,
and the bailiffs were present. Dr. Browne " preached lan
able sermon from the 18th verse of the 119th psalm " —
" Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of the law."*
.St. Leger, having conducted this second negotiation to
a result, was recalled after Easter, and Sir James Crofts
sent over in his stead. One of his instructions was, "to
propagate the worship of God in the English tongue ;
and the service to be translated into Irish, in those
places which need it." He had the English liturgy
printed at Dublin — one of the first books issued there.
He appointed " a herald af arms, named Ulster," and
performed, as his eulogist says, " many memorable acts"
— most of which are now forgotten.
The death of Edward, in July, 1553, and the accession
of Mary, daughter of Katharine of Arragon, gave the
harassed Irish church a reprieve. Her marriage with
Philip of Spain, the following year, still farther aug
mented this hope, which, for a season, was fulfilled, so
far as the church was concerned. The banished bishops
were restored to their sees, and the desecrated churches
to their ancient uses. The restoration of the church lands
was postponed, until, by the queen's death, it was ren
dered impossible.^ The apostate Anglo-Irish nobles con
formed to their former faith with as much alacrity as
the English aristocracy. With the exception of some
of the remoter Irish chiefs, the heads of the Milesians
were all at peace with the state ; Donald O'Brien and
Shane O'Neil included. When, in the last year of Mary,
her deputy marched from Dublin to Galway, he met no
opposition on the way. It is stated that " the bishops

* Sir R. Cox's Rerum Hib. Ang. Rev. R. King's Book of the Irish
Church. t The priory of Kilmainham, restored to the knights of St. John, was
the only act of restitution of this kind of property in Mary's short reign.
Doubtless, if she had lived, the other religious estates would also have
been restored to the right owners.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 51
and clergy of Tuam, Clonfert, and Clonmacnoise went out
to meet him in procession." The Spanish marriage-had a
great effect in preparing the irritated and insurrectionary
spirit of the Irish people for peace. In Philip, and in
Philip's influence,~they had every confidence ; nor was
the queen without her personal claims to their regard.
Apart from the heroic constancy with which she had
persevered in the profession and practice of her faith,
she had other good qualities, in Irish eyes.
In the reign of Edward, we have seen that O'Connor,
of Offally, was imprisoned in the Tower. Six years he
lingered on in that gloomy prison, from which, at length,
he was delivered, in this romantic fashion. " Margaret,
[his daughter] went to England on the strength of her
friends there andof her knowledge of the English lan
guage, to ask the release of her father from Queen
Mary ; and having appealed to her mercy, she obtained
the release of her father, whom she brought back with
her to Ireland." * Her praise was in every mouth, in

* This heroism of Margaret O'Connor was hereditary in the women
of her family. Three generations earlier, another Margaret, daughter of
O' Carroll, married O'Connor, chief of Offally, retaining, after her mar
riage, (a not unusual custom with our ancestresses,) her maiden name.
Several traits of her character, given in M'Ejrbiss's Annals,- prove her to
have been a woman of- remarkable spirit and capacity. Thus we read
of her pilgrimage to Compostella, and how the English of Trim, having
taken several Irishmen, her neighbors, prisoners, and her lord having in
his keeping certain English prisoners, she " went to Beleathatruim, and
gave all the English prisoners for Mageoghan's son, and for the son's son
of Art, and that unadvised to Calagh, and she brought them home,," —
Mis. Irish Arch. Society, vol i. p. 212. — "It was she," says the same
annalist, " that twice in one year proclaimed to, and commonly in
vited, (in the dark days of the yeare,) on the feast day of Da Sinchel in
Killaichy, all persons, both Irish and Scottish, or rather Albians, to the
general feasts." The numbers who usually attended these feasts are set
down as " upwards of 2000," by some at 2700. It is stated also, " she
was the ony [one ?] woman that has made most of preparing highways
and erecting bridges, churches, and mass books, and of all manner of
things profitable to serve God and her soul." Her death, from cancer of
the breast, is very pathetically bemoaned, as well as it might be by the
M'Firbiss of her time. It took place in 1461, which is called on that
account " an ungratious and unglorious yeare to all the learned in Ire- -
land, both philosophers, poets, guests, strangers, religious persons, sol
diers, mendicants, or poor orders, and to all manner and sorts of poor in
Ireland." — Mis. Irish Arch. Soc. vol. i.

52 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
her time, and Queen Mary's was not forgotten. It was
the first, and we believe it remains almost the only, case
on record, where an English sovereign extended mercy
to an Irish patriot prisoner.
Not alone in this, but in other cases, did Queen Mary
do justice towards the Irish race. Gerald and Edward,-
sons of the Earl of Kildare, who had been sixteen years
in exile in France, and Rome, were restored- to their
estates and titles. The heir of Fitzpatrick, Earl of Os-
sory, was also permitted to return, and resume his rank
and property. " The greater part of the south of Ireland
were much rejoiced ""at this unhoped-for restoration of
ancient Catholic families. The towns and cities were in
special good humor. The only retaliatory measures they
took against the reformers was the infliction of some
nicknames. No Protestant suffered in life, or limb, or
property. Nay, adds one of themselves, " Such was the
general toleration, that many English families, friends to
the reformation, took refuge in Ireland, and there en
joyed their opinions and worship without molestation."*
Cranmer's bishops were allowed, without hindrance, to
quit the country. Dr. Leverous was restofed in Kildare,
and Dr. Walsh, banished by Cranmer, in Meath ; Dr. Hugh
Curwin was appointed Archbishop of Dublin, and' chan-

* Taylor's History of Ireland, vol. i. The following Protestant *
anecdote of this reign is inserted for " What it is worth " : — " Mary
despatched Dr. Cole to Ireland with a commission for punishing the
Protestants ; Cole stopped at Chester, and being waited on by the mayor,
a Romanist, Dr. Cole's zeal outran his discretion, and he exclaimed to
the mayor, while holding up a leathern box, "Here is a commission thai
shall lash the heretics of Ireland." The landlady, Elizabeth Edmonds,
who was a Protestant, and had a brother of the same creed in Dublin,
became alarmed, watched her opportunity, and placed a pack of cards,
wrapped up in a sheet of paper, and abstracted the commission. Dr.
Cole arrived in Dublin, 7th October, 1558. The lord-lieutenant con
vened a full council to receive Dr. Cole and hear the queen's commission
read, but when with great solemnity the box was opened, nothing but a
pack- of cards was found. The astonished doctor declared he had received
a commission, and proceeded to England to obtain another, or a copy ;
but while on his journey, the brief but iniquitous career of Mary was
stopped, and -the lives of many Protestants were saved. Mrs. Ed
monds received a pension of forty pounds a, year from Queen Eliza
beth." — Quoted iwMartin's "Ireland."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 53
cellor. The pope, (Paul IV.,) in June, 1555, confirmed
the title to the kingdom, which Mary inherited from her
father. , A national synod, held the same year, restored
the canons law, and effected much for the purity of
religion throughout the island. In 1556, an Irish Par
liament sat at Dublin ; thence was prorogued to Limerick,
and afterwards to Drogheda. Very important laws and
ordinances were ordained in these sittings.
" 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 posterity declared entitled to inherit the crown
"of England and Ireland; heresy was made liable to
" punishment, and ordered to be suppressed ; all the acts
" which were passed against the pope, since the twentieth
" year of the reign of Henry VIII, were repealed, and all
" concessions made by Archbishop Brown were declared
" null and void ; the first fruits too were restored to the
" church ; but all these statutes were annulled in the be-
" ginning of the succeeding reign. An act was also passed
" for granting 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 Scotchmen into Ireland, or to inter-
" marry with them, without a license under the great
" seal." This last law was suggested by the fact that a Scot
tish settlement had been formed in Antrim, by the Mc
Donnell's and others, who held that country by main
force and the connivance of O'Neil. The Scottish and
Irish Gael had always considered themselves one people,
and in no respect did they more entirely agree than in
hatred of the Saxon. In the summer of 1556, they
besieged Carrickfergus, the garrison of which had given
them much trouble; but the Lord Deputy Sussex,
marching northward, defeated them with great loss.
They stiff, however, kept their forts and fields in the
glens of Antrim.
The only native opposition to Queen Mary arose from
the despotic attempts ~of Sussex and Sidney to substi-
5*

54 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
tute the English for the Brehon law. Donald O'Brien
and Shane O'Neil equally resisted the abolition of the
old law of the land. Both maintained that the source
of nobility was the election by the tribe ; that the land
of each clan belonged in common to its members, who
had, however, the right to dispose of their part, with the
general consent ; that the customs, or Celtic common
law, of gossipred, gavelkind, and coshering, answering to
the old English usages of maintenance, fosterage, and
gavelkind, were just and wise, and ought to stand ;
that hereditary Brehons were better judges than royal
barons. In short, they contended for all the former
law of Ireland, excepting only that part regulating the
supreme power. After some warlike demonstrations of
the deputies, some castles and skirmishes won and lost,
they finally made peace with O'Neil, at Kilmainham,
and O'Brien at Dangan, iii which they conceded to
Ulster and Munster the free exercise of the Brehon
law. On the 17th November, 1558, Mary died at St. James's
palace, Westminster ; Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester,
died before her, and Cardinal Pole on the following day.
King Philip was absent in Spain ; the Catholics were
left without a head. The Protestants, on the contrary,
had kept up a compact organization during this- reign.
The mercantile jealousy of Spain, the national humilia
tion of the loss of "Calais, and the intrigues of those who
had forfeited the possession of power by their conduct
in former reigns, sustained that combination. They can
only be characterized by the term party ; for they had all
the strength and weakness of party. They procured a
vote of the Parliament declaring Elizabeth, daughter of
Anne Boleyn, heiress to the throne. She was crowned
in Westminster, according to the Roman ritual, the
Bishop of Carlisle officiating. Dr. Heath, Archbishop of
York, and other prelates, refused to attend.
These six years of Mary's reign were highly useful to
the Irish church as a breathing space, as a truce between
two battles. It demonstrated the hollowness of that
court religion which was put on and off like a garment,

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 55
and it enabled the hierarchy to strengthen their defences,
and to recruit their broken order. The storm that now
arose found it with full and well-ordered ranks, and prel-
ates prepared to meet martyrdom rather than apostasy.

CHAPTER IV.
THE IRISH CATHOLIC STRENGTH AT THE ACCESSION OF ELIZA
BETH.— TEST OATHS ENACTED. — FIRST CATHOLIC CONFEDERA
CY.— THE INSURRECTION OF THE DESMONDS. — CONFISCATION
OF MUNSTER. —THE FIRST MARTYRS. — THE ULSTER PRINCES.—
SECOND CATHOLIC CONFEDERATION. — ALLIANCE WITH SPAIN.—
BATTLE OF K.INSALE.
When Elizabeth was crowned, there were about sixty
great chiefs, or princes, in Ireland, all of whom pos
sessed actual~civil and military power. Perhaps forty
were Milesians, the remainder Anglo-Normans. Cutting
a crescent out of the Leinster side of it, the island was still
Celtic. The Brehon laws were still administered in three
of the provinces : the chiefs spoke Latin, French, or Eng
lish, and the people under their banners still cherished their
native tongue and native customs. Well organized, this
force would be a formidable opposition. The O'Neil could
command six thousand foot and one thousand horse ; the
Earl of Desmond, lord of fcWo hundred and fifty thousand
acres of the most fruitful soil of Munster, could count five
hundred knights of his own name, each of whom stood for
a dozen armed men ; the O'Brien and his suffragans could
command nearly equal force, and the western and Leinster
chiefs as many more. With a population of little more
than a million, Ireland had a total of nearly fifty thousand
men in arms throughout this long reign, though never in
one particular place, nor under one general-in-chief. The
result teaches how vainly provincial forces must struggle
for liberty if national unity does not inspire and concen
trate their efforts.

56 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
The acts of supremacy, and uniformity, in the outset
of the new reign, showed Catholics what they had^to
expect. By the one, all clergymen and laymen holding
church property or civil office should swear to receive the
queen's headship of the church — to deny this thrice was
treason ; by the other, none hut the established liturgy
was to be used by clergymen, on pain of perpetual im
prisonment, and absence from the established churches
on Sunday entailed a fine of one shilling on laymen.
The oath of supremacy, by a retrospective enactment, was
to be put to all who held public office, had taken a
degree abroad, or were engaged in the profession of the
laws. Members of the House of Commons were to be
tested by it ; the peers were exempt. Elizabeth's first Irish
deputy, Charles Brandon, Duke of Sussex, called a Dub
lin Parliament.in 1559 ; but, though the attendance was
inconsiderable, its acts were held to be ever after binding.
At this Parliament was passed, among other acts, "an
acte for the uniform ytie of common prayer and service
in the churche and admynystration of the sacraments in
the church."
" An acte againste suche persons as shall unreverentlye
speake agaynst the sacrament of the bodye and blode of
Christe, commonlye called the sacrament of the alter,.
and for the receivynge thereof under bothe kyndes."
" An acte restoring the crowne the auncient jurisdis-
tion over the, state ecclesiasticall and spirituall, and
abolyshinge all power repugnant to the same."
" An acte for the conferrynge and consecratynge of
archebushopps and bushopps within this realme."
By the same Parliament, the late " pryorye or hos-
pytall of Seynt Jones Jerusalem," in Ireland, was
restored to the crown.
In the subsequent session, which began in 1560, an
act was passed, of which the most important clauses
were —
" Sec. V. JYo foreign power to exercise ecclesiastical
jurisdiction in this realm.
" Sec. VI Such jurisdiction annexed to the crown.
" Sec. VII. Ecclesiastical persons and officers, judges,

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN- IRELAND. 57
justices, mayors, temporal officers, and every other person
that hath the queen's wages, to take the oath of su
premacy. v
" Sec. VIII. Penalty for refusing the oath, forfeiture
of office, and of promotion during life.
" Sec; XVII. Commissioners to exercise spiritual juris
diction shall not adjudge any thing heresy, but what is
so judged by the canonical Scriptures, or the first four
general councils, or any other general council, or by
Parliament." All bishops and archbishops, " in the name of God,"
were called on to aid in enforcing the same. And, lest
the old bishops should fail of their part, even so con
jured, a set of queen's bishops were duly inducted. One
Sheyn was entitled Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, and com
menced his career at Cork by burning the image of St.
Dominic ; a successor to Dr. Bale was set down in
Ossory, and forty principal citizens of Kilkenny gave
heavy bonds to attend his ministrations ; one Brady was
made queen's bishop of Meath, and Adam Loftus, fellow
of Cambridge, aged twenty-eight years, whose " comely
person and good address pleased the queen," was made
Archbishop of Armagh, over which he watched solici
tously from the safe distance of Dublin Castle. The
" recusant " bishops (this was the English synonyme for the
faithful) were obliged to throw themselves on the native
princes for protection, and with them in MunSter and
Ulster, they found safety yet a while. The Earl of Des>
mond, O'Brien, and O'Neil were the champions of the
persecuted churchmen. O'Neil, especially, distinguished
himself in the first years of Elizabeth. A troop of horse,
under one Randolph, having landed a.% Derry, stabled
their horses in St. Columbcille's church. Roused by
this profanation, O'Neil besieged them ; Randolph was
defeated and slain, and Derry taken. In like manner he
. drove another sacrilegious garrison from Armagh, leaving
the queen no fortress north of Dundalk. In 1564, de
spairing of his subjugation, the deputy employed Piers,
a spy, to assassinate him. Under pretence of peace, the
assassin met him at McDonnell's, of Antrim, procured a

58 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
quarrel, stabbed him, and brought his head, " pickled", in
a pipkin," to Dublin Castle. For this service Piers had
" a thousand marks," from the queen.
Thurlogh was the next O'Neil. In 1587, Hugh, grand
son to Con, was duly elected, the last and perhaps the
ablest of his able family, who bore the title of " Prince of
Ulster." Desmond was guilty of three offences against the
queen's majesty — his immense estate, his marriage of a
daughter of O'Brien, and his hospitality to Leverus, the
"recusant" Bishop of Kildare. To complete his guilt,
he refused to take the oaths. The Earl of Ormond and
Sir William Drury were, in turn, commanders of a
southern army sent to chastise him. By the former the
earl was defeated and taken prisoner at Affane, in 1564,
sent to London, and imprisoned in the Tower. Exchanged
to Dublin ten years afterwards, to use his influence over
his brothers then in arms, he effected his escape, during
a hunting party, the following year, and, once back amid
his people, he prepared for open,, war. With this view
he strengthened himself by marriage with the daughter
of McCarthy, (his first wife being deadj) made alliance
with other powerful neighbors, and despatched his gal
lant brother, Jam6s, (to whose fraternal care he owed his
liberty,) to the pope and the King of Spain. After the
election of the English dynasty, this was fhe first suc
cessful effort at an offensive ^alliance with a foreign power.
In Madrid, James of Desmond was cordially received
by King Philip and by the legate, Cardinal Granville.
His two sons were placed at the University of Alcala,
and himself lodged in the king's house. At this time,
the Netherlands were in arms against Spain, Elizabeth
privately abetting them. Philip retaliated by alliance
with the Desmonds. If he had before conceived the
expedition of "the Armada," he now hastened his reso
lution; and soon after that memorable fleet began to
grow beneath the hands of his skilful shipwrights, at
Cadiz and Seville.
From Madrid, in 1580, James proceeded to Rome,
Where, on the 13th of May, Gregory XHI issued his

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 59
bull, granting to all who would take up arms under
him " the same indulgence granted to those who fought
against the Turks for the recovery of the Holy Land,"
the indulgence to extend " during the lifetime of James
and his brother John." * At Rome, under the name of
Stukely, was an Irish refugee, supposed to be a chief of
the Kavanagh or McMurrogh family. Created by Greg
ory, Marquis of Ross and Duke of Leinster, he had
command of two thousand Romans for an invasion of
Ireland. Desmond was to precede him, after a rapid
visit to France and Spain ; and accordingly we soon find
the successful emissary on the coast of Kerry. With
such troops as he had, he marched towards Connaught
to form a junction with the Burkes, was intercepted, and
mortally wounded. Calling to him Dr. Allan, afterwards
cardinal, his then chaplain, he confessed his sins, received
extreme unctiori, and expired.
The Romans, under Stukely, had put jnto the Tagus
just as Don Sebastian was departing on his Moorish expe
dition. Allured probably by some promises of future
aid, he accompanied the Portuguese hero to the African
shore, and fell on the bloody field of Alcaquivir, in that-
ferocious melee where Don Sebastian and his rival,
Muley Moloc, both perished.
John, brother of the late James, and of the earl, now
took the lead, and continued the war. At Monow, in
Limerick, he routed the English, under the Duke of York,
so badly, that the Earl of Ormond from England, and
Lord Deputy Grey from Dublin, were ordered to Munster
with reenforcements. As a set-off, eight hundred Italian
and Spanish veterans, under Stephen San Joseph, arrived
from Spain, on the coast of Kerry. Hearing of the
approach of a powerful army, they fortified themselves
in an island called Oillan na Oro, calling their works
" Fort Del Oro." The position was a vital one, since by
it Spain could command a harbor and landing-place in
Ireland for future operations, and. San Joseph seems
to have made a very resolute defence. The grand
* O'Daly's History of the Geraldines ; where several bulls in rela
tion to the Catholic wars of Ireland are given.

60 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
inquisitor of Portugal, O'Daly, a native of the district,
and contemporary of the event, thus records the siege of
Del Oro : — ^
" After the viceroy had invested the Golden Fort by
" sea and land, and kept up a continual fire on it for
" about forty days, the English began to be weary of
" their fruitless attempts, and to dread the rigors of the
" coming winter. They knew, moreover, that they could
" not take up their winter quarters in the open field
" against a garrison so well furnished with guns and
" provisions. And, having maturely weighed all these
" matters, they resolved to seize by fraud that which
" their arms could not achieve.
" Having sent the Spaniards a flag of truce, they de-
'1 manded a parley. In the Spanish garrison there was
" at that moment an Irish cavalier, named Plunket, who
" protested against any overture, and vainly sought to
" dissuade San Joseph from visiting the English com-
"'mander's camp ; but he was not listened to, and San
" Joseph at once proceeded to the viceroy's quarters,
" bringing Plunket with him to act as interpreter. They
" were received with the greatest blandness and courtesy
" by Grey, who promised the Spanish commandant the
" most honorable terms if he would surrender the for-
" tress. Now, Plunket interpreted all the viceroy ad-
" vanced as the very opposite of what he really said —
"- namely, that the garrison had no chance of escaping
" destruction if they did not throw themselves altogether
" on the mercy of the English, and beg terms of him.
" Greatly did San Joseph marvel at this insolence, which
" denied him and his honorable terms ; as he then held a
" place which, in the opinion of all, was deemed one
" of the strongest in Ireland, and amply provisioned to
" hold out many months' siege. Whereon Plunket in-
" terpreted that the commander had made up his mind
" never to surrender the garrison ; and, consequently, that
" it was only sacrificing his men if the viceroy sat any
" longer before it. But the expression of Plunket's
" features, and the fiery indignation of the Spaniard,
" caused Grey to suspect that his words had not been

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 61
" fairly interpreted ; and then Plunket was bound, hand
" and foot, and committed to prison, another interpreter
" having been procured to supply his place.
" San Joseph, having returned to the fort, reported to
" his men that he had obtained the most unexception-
" able terms, and that, seeing the defence of the fortress
" utterly impracticable, he had resolved to consult the
" safety of his soldiers. But even in his chains did
" Plunket cry out, ' Treason ! treason ! Mind you, that
" on the holding of the fortress all the hopes of the Catho-
" lies depend. The very inclemency of the season must
" compel the viceroy to quit the field ere long. The
" Geraldines,' continued he, ' are hastening to aid you
" with men and supplies. Abandon your position, and
" the hopes of the Catholics are forever lost ! ' Of
" Plunket' s opinion were Hercules Pisano and the Duke
" of Biscay ; but the soldiers gave willing ear to their
" commander, who, preferring life to glory, forfeited both ;
" for the place being surrendered in the month of De-
" cember, the entire garrison was put to the sword, with
" the exception of the Spanish commander, who was
" contemptuously driven out of the kingdom. Plunket,
" too, was reserved for a more painful death. A short
" time after the rendition, he had all his bones broken by
" strokes of a hammer, and thus gave up the ghost.
" Ever after did ' Grey's faith ' become an adage among
" the people, whenever they 'would speak of consum-
" mate perfidy. Behold what value these English at-
" tached to treaties, oaths, and honor, which amongst
" savage nations are esteemed inviolable."
Sir Walter Raleigh, then in his thirty-fifth year, and
already favored by his queen, won his first laurels and
several thousands of Desmond's acres, by superintend
ing the details of the massacre after the surrender of the
fort. This date is November 9, 1587.
In the same year, John of Desmond was surprised and
slain near Imokilly, and soon after Elizabeth published
an amnesty to all who were in arms, except the brother-
less earl and two of his allies. The outlawed Desmond,
defeated in his attempts to raise another insurrection,
6

62 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
was assassinated in a forest in Kerry, in the month
of December. He was the last of his line who exercised
sovereignty over South Munster, from the Blackwater to
the Shannon.
The fate of this illustrious family is worth summing
up. We" have seen the earl and his two brothers die by
the sword. A fourth, Thomas, had previously died on
his bed. ' They all had children ; but one only apostatized
— the earl's son, from his childhood a hostage in London.
The sons of James and John being abroad, and the son
of the earl a hostage, the son of Thomas was elected
chief. Elizabeth, thereupon, released the young earl,
who, on entering Kilmallock, his father's town, was
received with acclamations, the people showering wheat
and salt on him ,. from the housetops, emblematic of
the safety and plenty they wished him. The Sunday
following, they were surprised to see him turn his steps ,
towards the heretical church from which they strove " to
dehort him." * He persisted, however ; but on coming out,
they hooted and spat upon him. From 'that day he
never was followed or spoken of by name in Desmond.
Thomas, taken captive, after a confinement of seven
years in the Tower of London, died in his chains.
The two sons of James, educated at Alcala, perished
in the Armada of 1588, upon the Galway coast.
Another James, shipwrecked in Scotland, escaped to
Spain. He was created count there, at the instance of
the grand inquisitor, O'Daly, a clansman of his ances
tors. Charged with the defence of a Spanish town, he
refused to surrender it to the French, and was starved to
death.f His descendants, so late as the middle of the
last century, were historical men in Spain.
So perished this illustrious Catholic family, whose
once fertile principality, in contending for the faith, was
" reduced to a heap of carcasses and ashes." $

* Pacata Hibernia, p. 164.
t O'Daly's History of the Geraldines, p. 179, (Meehan's translation.)
Duffy, Dublin, 1847-
I Pacata Hibernia.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND.

63

Here we give some of the confiscations in the south
of Ireland which followed the insurrection of the Des
monds : — Acres.
Co. Waterford, Sir Christopher Hutton, - - 10,910
Co. Cork and Waterford, Sir W. Raleigh, - - 12,000
Co. Kerry, Sir Edward Denny, - - - 6,000
Ib. Sir WUliam Harbart, - - - - 13,276
Ib. Charles Harbart, - 3,768
Ib. John Holly, -r - 4,422
Capt. Jenkin Conway, - - - - 526
John Champion, ----- 1,434
Cork, Sir Warham St. Leger,  6,000
Ib. Hugh Caff,  6,000
Ib. Sir Thomas Norris, - - - ( - - 6,000
Ib. Arthur Robins, - - - A . 1,800
Ib. Arthur Hide, - - - - 5,574
Ib. Francis Butcher and Hugh Wirth, - - 24,000
Ib. Thomas Say,  3,778
Ib. Arthur Hyde,  11,766
Ib. Edmund Spencer, ------ 3;028
Cork and Waterford, Richard Beacon, - - 6,000
Lirnerick, Sir William Courtney, - - - - 10,500
Ib. Francis Berkly, Esq., - - - 7;250
Ib. Robert Anslow,  2,599
Ib. Richard and Alex. Fitton, - - - 3,026
Ib. Edmund Manwaring, Esq., ' - - - 3,747
Ib. Waterford and Tipperary, Sir Edward Fitton, 11,515
Ib. Wm. Trenchard, Esq., ----- 12,000
lb. George Thornton, Esq., - - , - 1,500
Ib. Sir George Bourcher, ... - 12,880
lb. Henry BiUingsley, Esq., - - - 11,800
Inverary, Thomas, Earl of Ormond, ... 3,000
205,699
Thus a new aristocracy was created in Munster on
the ruins of the old — an order in its origin and nature
anti-national and anti- Catholic. Other provincial con
fiscations in the succeeding reigns completed this design,
first entertained by Henry, and first regularly undertaken
by Elizabeth. The manifold evils which followed then,
and which still follow, from such an iniquitous division

64 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
of the soil of a populous island, have long since made
the very name of Irish landlord synonymous with op
pression throughout the world.
While the war against the Desmonds was raging in
the south, under pretence of suppressing rebellion, no
one could help seeing that in reality it was directed
against the Catholic religion. If any had doubted the
real object, events which quickly followed Elizabeth's
victory soon convinced them. Derrriid O' Hurley, Arch
bishop of Cashel, being taken by the victors, was brought
to Dublin in 1582. Here the Protestant Primate Loftus
besieged him in vain, for nearly a year, to deny the
pope's supremacy, and acknowledge the queen's. Find
ing him of unshaken faith, he was brought out for mar
tyrdom, on St. Stephen's Green, adjoining the city:
there he was tied to a tree, his boots filled with combus
tibles, and his limbs stripped and smeared with oil and
alcohol. Alternately they lighted and quenched the flame
which enveloped him, prolonging his tortures through
four successive days. Still remaining firm, before dawn
of the fifth day, they finally consumed his last remains
of life, and left his calcined bones among the ashes at
the foot of his stake. The relics, gathered in secret by
some pious friends, were hidden away in tbe half-ruined v
Church of St. Kevin, near that outlet of Dublin called
Kevinsport. In Desmond's town of Kilmallock were
taken Patrick O'Hely, Bishop of Mayo, Father Cor
nelius, a Franciscan, and some others. To extort from
them confessions of the new faith, their thighs were
broken with hammers, and their arms crushed by levers.
They died without yielding, and the instruments of their
torture were buried with them in the Franciscan con
vent at Askeaton. The Most Reverend Richard Creagh,
Primate of, all Ireland, was the next victim. Failing to
convict him in Ireland of the imputed crime of violating
a young woman, who herself exposed the calumny, and
suffered for so doing, they brought him to London, where
he is said to have died of poison on the 14th of Octo
ber, 1585. In the same year, the war of extermination
was directed towards Ulster.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. ' 65
Two great families, descended from a common ances
tor, were pillars of the church in the north. O'Don-
nell's, the younger, was tributary to O' Neil's, the elder
branch. Differences and'conflicts more than enough had
been between these houses in past times ; but about this
period, two chiefs arose of a more generous and politic
nature, who, for twelve years and upwards acting in con
cert, saved Ulster and Connaught from the horrors re
cently' inflicted on Munster.
Hugh O'Neil, grandson of Con, now of middle age,
was, in his infancy, carried away by the English, and
educated at London. He was of " large soul," " profound
dissembling heart," and " great military skill," according
to Camden, the annalist of his enemies. No man surely
had ever such need to remember the Spartan maxim of
eking out the lion's with the fox's skin. Reared to be
used for his country's division, he hoped to be her liber
ator ; trusted as a tool, yet, while trusted, hated, his first
twenty years of public life are full of devices and changes
of character, easily accounted for, but not to be jus
tified. From Leicester and Walsingham, Cecil and Ba
con, he had learned to justify to his own mind simulation
and dissimulation, to wait patiently for the ripening of
opportunities, and to trust implicitly no man but himself.
High O'Donnell, surnamed Rud, (Rufus,) was twenty
years of age, when, after five years' imprisonment in
Dublin Castle, he effected an escape, and made his way
undiscovered to his home. From his earliest youth, the
greatest expectations were entertained in Ulster of this
chief; his valor, comeliness, and chivalry fitting him for
popular leadership, as much as the wisdom- and science
of O'Neil. The one" supplied what was defective in the
other, and when their several clans chose them as chiefs,
and they pledged a life-long fealty to each other in the
halls of Dungannon, the hopes of the northern Catho
lics rose over all obstacles.
While as yet O'Neil was in London court, and O'Don
nell in Dublin Castle, King Philip's ships were tossing
in the white waves of Biscay. The Armada was partly
intended for Ireland, and the spirit that manned it with
6*

66 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
so many noble cavaliers was, in part, inspired by Irish
preachers and writers at Madrid, Salamanca, Coimbra,
and Lisbon. Many of these exiles were companions
ofthe voyage — the young Geraldine, from Alcala; Don
nell Kavanagh, (called " Spaniagh," or the Spaniard ;)
Florence Conroy, Archbishop of Tuam, and many ec
clesiastics, secular and regular, sailed in the expedition
of 1588, and in the second expedition in 1589. The
wreck of this fleet, and the capture of some stray
ships knocking about the English Channel, are familiar
to all. English patriotism has dwelt for three hundred
years on the tale, and repeated it with every possible
embellishment. On the west coast of Ireland thirteen
great ships and three thousand men were lost, including
the vice admiral, Alphonso de Leria, a natural son of
King Philip, a nephew of Cardinal Granville, and the
Geraldines. The expedition of the following year fared
no better, though less lives were lost. Archbishop Con
roy escaped back to Spain, where he lived for some years,
until, under the viceroyalty of Albert and Isabella-, he
removed to the Netherlands, and founded the Irish col
lege at Louvain. There he presided, wrote his commen
taries on St. Augustine, established an Irish press,
from which he issued devotional and catechetical works
" For the salvation of the souls of the Gael," and there
his ashes remain near the high altar of the chapel dedi
cated to St. Anthony' of Paolua. He was an active pro
moter of both expeditions.
The wreck of the Spanish Armadas of '88 and '89
retarded the projects of Hugh O'Neil. He, however,
made the best use of certain Spanish officers, who es
caped to Dungannon, by opening through them a formal
correspondence with King Philip. Cautious and artful
as he was bold, he had previously obtained the consent
of Elizabeth to maintain six companies of foot, which
he kept constantly disbanding and recruiting as fast as
they acquired discipline. He also gradually imported
military stores, and extended his confederacy, so that by
1593 he had his plans tolerably well matured.
By design, or accident, O'Donnell began the war.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 67
Aided by his suffragans, McGuire, O'Rorke, and the
McSweeneys, he drove the English garrisons out of Stra-
bane and Enniskillen. He then carried the war into
Connaught, took Sligo, defeated an English army among
the Leitrim Mountains, and made tolerably clean work
of it wit,h all their garrison towns as far south as Athlone.
During this campaign, O'Neil acted, to admiration, the
part of mediator; but in the coming spring, he resolved
to clear his territory of the garrisons, after O'Donnell's
fashion. From the towers of Dungannon, the broad white flag,
with the blazon of the red hand, was spread, amid the
acclamations of a great gathering, in the spring of
1594. A detachment simultaneously advanced on the
English fort of Portmore, near Coleraine, took and
razed it to th* corner stone. Advancing through Cavan,
O'Neil laid siege to Monaghon, resolving to carry the
war towards Dublin. Russell, the new viceroy, deter
mined to negotiate, and sent forward, as queen's
commissioners, Sir Henry Wallop and Chief Justice
Gardiner. O'Neil treated with them in a plain between
both armies, but a temporary truce was the only result.
This truce, made to be broken, gave time for Sir
John Norreys to arrive from England with a picked
body of Flemings and Brabanters, and for O'Donnell, on
the other hand, to come up from Connaught. At Clon-
tibret the first regular battle was fought, Norreys defeated^
the chief of bis " Methian " cavalry, Seagrave, killed by
O'Neil's own hand, and the royal standard captured.
The war, thus commenced, lasted for seven years
almost without interruption. From the victory of Clon-
tibret to the defeat before Kinsale, " the two Hughs "
were the Achilles and Ulysses of the Catholic cause. In
1596, they received Don Alonzo Copis, who brought
them some arms and ammunition from SJDain ; the same
year O'Neil retook Armagh; in '97, De Burgh, a new
deputy, but an old soldier, t marched northward with a
great army, and despatched Sir Conyers Clifford to the
north-west ; O'Donnell routed Clifford with immense loss
in Leitrim; another detachment was cut to pieces at

68 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Tyrrell's Pass, by Tyrrell and O'Connor; while at Drum-
fiuich, on the Blackwater, the united Irish forces
routed the main army with heavy loss, the Lords De
Burgh and Kildare, Sir Francis Vaughn, and other lead
ing officers being among the slain. A fresh store of
English standards and arms were forwarded as trophies
to Dungannon and Donegal.
The chief Irish victory of the war was that won at
the " Yellow Ford," on the little river Avonmore, in
Armagh. It was fought the 10th of August, 1598. Mar
shal Bagenal commanded for the queen, O'Neil for the
Catholics. " Two thousand five hundred English. were
slain, including twenty-three superior officers, besides
lieutenantsand ensigns. Twelve thousand, gold pieces,
thirty-four standards, all the musical instruments and
cannon, together with a long train of provision wagons,"
were taken. Fifteen hundred -prisoners were disarmed
and marched to Dublin ; the Catholics buried all the
dead, as well foes as friends. They had only two hun
dred and sixty killed and six hundred wounded.* This
was the most glorious day of that heroic effort against
the heresy and policy of Elizabeth.
Warmed by these tidings from the north, the whole
nation was stirred with emulation. Owen O'Moore,
son of Rory, the victim of Hellingham, won back, by
the strong arm, two thirds of Leix, as O'Connor did the
greater half of Offally ; Feach McHugh O'Byrne, of
Glendalough, backed by clan Kavanagh, rose at the
same time, defeated and slew Sir Dudley Bagenal and
Heron, constable of Leighlin ; and again, in 1599,
routed the Earls of Essex and Southampton, half way
between Arklow and Enniscorthy, pursued them forty
miles to Dublin, and razed the fort at Crumlin, within
two miles of the capital.
Even desolated Munster raised her head once more.
A collateral heir of the Desmonds was made earl by
O'Neil, to whom he did homage ; and except a few
* Mitchel's Life of Hugh O'Neil, p. 144, where the several authorities
are quoted.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 69
strong points, Munster was, for the time, restored to the
right owners. In Connaught the English power was
also much reduced, and Elizabeth spent a sad Christ
mas in 1598, thinking how she should make one last
effort to regain Ireland. In a justifiable cause, the
indomitable will of this woman would have been as admi
rable as that of Isabella of Castile, in her wars against
the Moors, a century earlier. Very different was Eliza
beth, the Protestant, from Isabella, the Catholic. Isabella
was a pious, gentle, affectionate wife and mother ; she
loved learning, and hated error ; but even the errors of
paganism she rather strove to cure than to punish.
Elizabeth, boastful of her virginity, was of notoriously
lax life ; she was intolerant of all belief in any other
supremacy than her own, while she countenanced most
of the immoralities and heresies of the day. Elizabeth
and Isabella loved learning, and were indefatigable in
enterprise ; but in all ''things else Anne Boleyn was
naturally more inferior to Queen Katharine than her
daughter was to poor Katharine's celebrated mother.
The winter of 1598 was spent by the English states
men in considering the next Irish campaign. The
queen's favorite, Essex, was ,to command in chief^ with
the most experienced aids. Cecil and Bacon prepared
his " policie." He wanted for nothing the queen could
give. On the 15th of- April, 1599, he disembarked
20,000 chosen men at Dublin, where the previous com
mander, Ormond, met him with a force of 10,000, or
15,000. One historian estimates the entire Catholic forces
at 29,352 ; another sets them down at 20,592. Of these
6000 were with O'Neil in the north, and 4000 with
O'Donnell in the west. A Spanish ship, with arms for
2000 men, arrived safely in Donnegal, with news of the
death of King Philip, and assurances of cordial aid
from the young king, Philip III.
This young king seems to have meant his message.
He despatched Don Martin de la Cerda, and Mathew of
Oviedo, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, to O'Neil. They
bore him an indulgence for all who would fight against
England; "a phoenix plume," blessed by Pope Sixtus,

70 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
V., and 22,000 golden pieces for his chest. Taking
advantage of a six weeks' truce with Essex, and accom
panied by the Spanish ambassadors, O'Neil made a
pilgrimage from Dungannon, in Tyrone, to Holy Cross,
in Tipperary, in which they were joined by all the army,
the cavalry mounted, and the footmen armed. Here
the Southern chiefs, the remains of the Desmonds, and
Florence ..McCarthy, created by him McCarthy More,
met O'Neil, and here it was arranged that the promised
Spanish auxiliaries should land in Munster, where they
were most needed. From Holy Cross, the Spanish
convoys returned home; and, according to agreement, a
Spanish fleet, of 6 galleons, 11 armed vessels, about 30
storeships, manned by 1500 sailors, and carrying 6000
troops, sailed the next spring, under the command of
Don John d'Aguila, for Munster. After losing a squad
ron off Corunna, he landed, with 3400 men, at Kinsale,
and garrisoned the town.
Essex, having wasted some weeks with protocols, sud
denly returned to court, and was disgraced. He was
succeeded by a very different deputy, Christopher Blount,
Lord Mountjoy. This war had already cost Elizabeth
£3,4t)0,000 — an immense sum, as money then rated.*
Mountjoy was instructed to succeed — to end the war
by any means. He was the ablest enemy the Catholic
chiefs had yet to cope with.
The new viceroy marched to the borders of Ulster, and
skirmished with O'Neil at the pass of Moira and about
Newrry. Having then strongly garrisoned Newry, Dun-
dalk, and Carlingford, he suddenly retreated. In fact,
this movement was a feint to occupy " the two Hughs,"
while Sir Henry Docwra, with a vast fleet, entered
Lough Foyle, seized and fortified Derry, thus planting
a garrison and commanding A harbor in their rear.
Having effected this manoeuvre, a quasi toleration was
permitted the Anglo-Irish Catholics about Dublin, and
every effort was made to seduce the members of the
¦  •  _  . — .
* Hume's History of. England. The single campaign of 1599 cost
Elizabeth £600,000 — worth then ten times its present value.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 71
Catholic confederacy one by one out of that league.
A queen's O'Neil, O'Donnell, and McGuire were set up.
O'Connor, in Munster, was induced to believe, by a
forged letter, that the new Desmond had betrayed him ;
and so in his wrath, he delivered Desmond to the com
mon enemy: Feagh McHugh, and Donnell Spaniagh
were feasted in Dublin Castle, " the dishes being brought
in by colonels and captains ;" O'More, of Leix, was killed
in a skirmish, leaving an infant son, called Rory, or Roger
O'Moore; the uxorious McCarthy More was seduced
into submission by his English wife, "who refused to
come to his bed till he made peace with her majestic"
Intrigue was thus at its work in Leinster and Mun
ster when Don John and his, Spaniards reached Kirisale.
Mountjoy immediately issued orders for the queen's troops
to concentrate in Cork. The design of this viceroy
was to reduce the Catholics by famine and pestilence
rather than the sword. A few entries from the memoirs
of the campaigns of Mountjoy, by himself and his offi
cers, will show how systematically this murderous policy
was pursued.
* 1 600. " Captain Flower was sent into Carbry with
" 1200 foot and 100 horse, and burned and preyed as far
"as Ross!"— Cox, 425.
1600. « On the 28th of May, the president entered
" Clanwilliam, and John, Burk refused to submit person-
" ally, pretending that his priests taught him that it was
" a mortal sin so to doe. The president, disdaining that
" frivolous answer, the next-day burned and destroyed his
"houses, corn, and country! and then, on the 30th of
" May, Burk came and submitted.". — Cox, 426.
1600. " The president sent Maurice Stack, with 50
" men, to Kerry, where he surprsied Liscaghan Castle,
" burned Adare, and preyed the country ! " — Cox, 429.
" The same day fiftie-eight were executed in the market
" place ! " — Pacata Hibernia, 574.
" The Earle of Clanricard had many faire escapes,

# Vindicise Hibernicse, pp. 74, 75.

72 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" being shot through his garments, and no man did bloody
"his sword more than his lordship did that day, and
"would not suffer any man to take any of the Irish
" prisoners, but bade them kill the rebels ! " — Idem, 421.
" Whome, though until hir majesties pleasure knowne
" he did forbeare, yet the residue he spared hot ; but after
" their deserts, he executed in infinit numbers." — Hollin-
shed, vi. 370.
" The president, therefore, as well to debarre these
" straglers from releefa, as to prevent all ^neanes of suc-
" cours to Osulevan, if hee should returne with new forces,
" caused all the county of Kerry and Desmond, Beare,
" Bantry, and Carbery to be left absolutely wasted." —
Pacata Hibernia, 680.
" They passed the next morning over the bridge of
" Adare, and by the waie,-they burned and spoiled the
" countrie." — Hollinshed, vi. 429.
" On the 1st of May^ Captain Taaf took a prey of 300
"£ows, and many sheep, and on the second, Captain John
" Barry brought in another prey of 500 cows, 300 sheep,
" and 300 garrons ; and on the 8th, 300 men were, in the
" night, sent to Artully to meet Sir Charles Wilmott's
" forces, and to conduct them to the camp ; which was
"leffected, to the great grief of the rebels, and a prey of
" 4000 cows were taken in Iveragh." — Cox, 450.
" Upon the 5th of May, hee secretly dispatched a
" partie of men, which burnt and spoyled all the countrey,
" and returned with foure thousand cowes, besides sheepe
" and garrons." — Pacata Hibernia, 538.
" The lord justice marched a few miles in Mac Aulies
"countrie, spoiling, defacing, and burning the same." —
Hollinshed, vi. 432.
- " On the 31st of October, the English took a prey of
" 2000 sheep, and 1000 garrons, from O'Sullivan and the
" Irish, who fought very smartly for their cartel, so that
" many were slain on either side." — Cox, 453.
" They tooke also from thence certaine 'cowes and
" sheepe, which were reserved there as in a sure storehouse,
" and put the churles to the sword that inhabited therein."
— Pacata Hibernia, 659.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 73
" Great were the services which these garrisons per
formed; for Sir Richard Pierce and Captain George
" Flower, with their troopes, left neither corn, nor home,
" nor house, unburnt, between Kinsale and Ross. Cap-
" tain Roger Harvie, who had with him his brother, Cap-
"tain Gawen Harvie, Captain Francis Slingsbie, Captain
" William Stafford, and also the companys of the Lord
" Barry and the treasurer, with the president's horse, did
" the like between Ross and Bantry." — Idem, 645.
" Some were slain of the lord governor's men, though
" not so many, amongst whom Captain Zouche's trum-
" peter was one ; which so grieved the lord general that
" he commanded all the houses, towns, and villages, in
" that country, and about Lefinnen, which in any way
" did belong to the Earl of Desmond, or any of his friends
" and followers, to be burned and spoiled ! " — Hollinshed,
vi. 425.
" Hereupon, Sir Charles, with the English regiments,
" overran all Beare and Bantry, destroying all that they
" could find meet for the relief of men, so as that country
" was wholly wasted ! " — Pacata Hibernia, 659.
" The next daie following, being the twelfe of March,
"the lord justice and the earle divided their armie into
" two several companies by two ensigns and three togeth-
" er, the lord justice taking the one side, and the other
" taking the other side of Slewlougher, 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 cattell which they found that
« daie !
" And the said lords, being not satisfied with this
"daie's service, they did likewise the next daie divide
" themselves, spoiled and consumed the whole countrie
" until it was night! " — Hollinshed, vi. 430.
" They passed over the same into Conilo, where the
"lord justice and the earl of Ormand divided their
" companies, and as they marched, they burned and de-
" stroyed the country." — Ibid.
" He divided his companies into foure parts, and they
" entered into foure severall places of the wood at one
7

74 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" instant ; and by that meanes they scowred the wood
" throughout, in killing as manuie as they tooke, but the
" fesidue fled into the mountains." — Hollinshed, vi. 452.
" There were some of the Irish taken prisoners, that
" offered great ransomes ; but presently upon their bring-
" ing to the campe, they were hanged." — Pacata Hiber-
nia, 421.
" Then dividing into three parts marched to Dingle,
" and as they went, they drove the whole country before
" them, whereby they took a prey of eight thousand cows,
" 'besides garrons, sheep, Src, and slew a great many, people,
" and had slain more but that Sir William Winter gave-
" many of them protections." -— Cox, 366.
" One hundred and forty of his gallow-glasses had the
" misfortune to be intercepted £tnd made prisoners ; and as
" intelligence was received that the rebels advanced and
" prepared to give battle, Skeffington, with a barbarous
" precaution, ordered these wretches to be slaughtered; an
" order so effectually executed, that but one of all the tmm-
" ber escaped the carnage." — Leland, ii. 181. t**--
" Capteine Macworth recouvered the possession of the
" whole, and did put fif lie to the sword, of which nineteene
" were found to be Spaniards ; and six others he tooke,
" whereof one was a woman, which were executed in
" the campe I None were saved that daie but onlie the
" capteine, Julio, whom the lord justice kept for certeine
" considerations two or three daies : but in the end he
" was hanged, as the rest were before him." — Hollinshed,
vi. 431.
" Sir Charles Wilmot, with his regiment, was sent
" againe into Kerry, (which countrey having therein great"
" store of corne and cattle, would otherwise haue beene
" left open to the rebels' reliefe,) with direction to remoue
" all the inhabitants, with their goods and cattle, over the
" mountaine into the small county of Limerick, and
" such corne as could not be presently reaped and con-
" vaied,- (as aforesaid,) hee was commanded to burne and
" spoyle the same." — Pacata Hibernia, 582.
" From this he tooke his journie towards Corke, and
" in his waie at Drunfening he tooke a preie of one

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 75
" thousand five hundred kine or cowes, which were all
" driven and sent unto Corke." — Hollinshed, vi. 425.
" When after great trauels they had maruelouslie wasted
" and spoiled the countrie, they appointed to march to
" Carigofoile, and to laie siege to the same." — Hollinshed,
vi. 430.
" They wasted and forraged the countrey, so as in a
" small time it was not able to giue the rebels any relief e !
" having spoiled and brought into their garrisons the most
" part of their come, being newly reaped." — Pacata Hiber
nia, 584.
1600. " On the 12th of August, Mountjoy, with 560
" foot, and 60 horse, and some voluntiers, marcht to
" Naas, and thence to Philipstown, and in his way took
" a prey of 200 cows, 700 garrons, and 500 sheep, and
" so burning the country ! " — Cox, 428.
1600. " Sir Arthur Savage, governour of Connagh,
" designed to meet the lord lieutenant, but could not
" accomplish it, though he preyed and spoiled the country
" as far as he came .'" — Ibid.
1600. " Mountjoy staid in this country till the ,23d of
" August, and destroyed 10,000/. worth of com, and slew
" more or less trf the rebels every day ! One Lenagh, a
" notorious rebel, was taken and hanged, and a prey of
" 1000 cows, 500 garrons, and many sheep, was taken by
" Sir Oliver Lambert, in Daniel Spany's countrey, with
" the slaughter of a great many rebels ! " — Ibid.
1601. " Then he wasted Sleugh- Art, a little country in
" Tir-Oen, full of woods and bogs, about fifteen miles
u long .' " — Camden, 638.
1601. " It was not long before he did invade Macduff's
" country, and took a prey of 1000 cows, and burned
" what he could not carry away .' " — Cox, 436.
1601. " The deputy sent out Sir Henry Danvers, with
" 300 foot, to burn about 20 houses, which he effected." —
Cox, 439.
D'Aguila, a soldier ofthe school on which the weafth of
Mexico and the defeats in the Netherlands had done
enervating work, despatched messengers for aid to O'Don
nell and O'Neil. Both had now invaders within their

76 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
borders, in Derry, in Portrnore,~in Lifford, in Donegal,
and in Newry, but they raised their several sieges, and
marched southward to relieve their ally., Mountjoy was
already there with 15,000 men, while Sir Robert Levis-
ton, with ten English ships, blockaded the coast. O'Don-
nel with 2500, and O'Neil with 4000 men, proposed to
combine at Holy Cross, and with the aid of the southern
Celts, strike for Spain and the Catholic faith. Early in De
cember, they had formed a junction, and with about 6500
men, came in sight of the enemy. The Spanish flag
still flew on the ramparts, and the English flag in the
the plain. O'Neil's plan was to besiege the besiegers in
their-camp, to cut them off from the country, as the
town did from the sea, and thus compel their surrender.
A skirmish, however, on the night ofthe 24th, accident
ally drew on a general engagement, and Christmas
day beheld the triumph of the heretical forces. D'Aguila
remained within his walls, not even attempting a sally,
and O'Neil's 6000, outnumbered, were forced to retreat.
On the last day of the month, Don John, according to
treaty, evacuated Kinsale, bringing away to Spain his
colors, arms, and money — every thing indeed but his
reputation. The end is a tragedy : O'Donnell went to Spain to
make a new alliance and refute the inventions of d' Aguila,
but died of fever in the royal palace of Simancas, before
his mission had come to any head. He was at the time
but thirty years old. O'Sullivan and other brave Mun
ster chiefs followed him, where the young O'Sullivan
Beare commanded a ship of war for Philip III., and
wrote his Catholic History of Ireland.
The best of the Leinster chiefs, Feagh McHugh, died
at an extreme age, after forty years of noble exploits.
Donnell Spaniagh took a pension from Mountjoy, and
eat his bitter bread beside Dublin Castle.
The heir of O'Moore, an infant in Spain, was nursing
against the day of wrath, 1641.
O'Neil was surrounded by foes on every side, who
simultaneously advanced upon Dungannon. His biog
rapher tells the sad story of their progress : —

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 77
" Chichester marched from Carrickfergus, and crossed
" the Bann at Toome : Docwra and his Derry troops
". advanced by way of Dungiven ; and Mountjoy himself
" by Dungannon and Killetrough ; * — and wide over the
" pleasant fields of Ulster trooped tbeir bands of ill—
" omened, red-coated reapers, assiduous in cutting that
" saddest of all recorded harvests. Morning after morn-
" ing the sun rose bright, and the birds made music, as
" they are wont to do of a summer's morning ' on the
" fair hills of holy Ireland;' — and forth went the labor-
" ers by troops, with their fatal sickles in their hands ;
" and some cut down the grain, and trampled it into the
" earth, and left it rotting there ; and some drove away
" the cattle, and either slaughtered them in herds, leaving
" their carcasses to breed pestilence and death, or drove
" them for a spoil to the southward ; and some burned
" the houses and the corn-stacks, and blotted the sun with
" the smoke of their conflagrations ; and the summer
" song of birds was drowned by the wail of helpless
" children and the shrieks of the pitiful women. All this
" summer and autumn the havoc was continued, until
" from O'Cahan's country, as Mountjoy's secretary de-
" scribes it, 'we have none left to give us opposition,
" nor of late have seen any but dead carcasses, merely
" starved for want of meat.'
" The deputy had taken Magherlowny and Ennis-
" laughlin, two principal forts and arsenals of O'Neil's,
" and now, about the end of August, he penetrated to
" Tullough-oge, the seat of the clan O'Hagan, and broke
" in pieces that ancient stone chair in which the princes
" of Ulster had been inaugurated for many a century.f
" Castle-Roe also soon became untenable ; and O'Neil,
" retiring slowly, like a hunted beast keeping the dogs at
" bay, retreated to the deep woods and thickets of Glan-
" con-keane,f the name of that valley through which the
* Moryson.
t Stuart, the historian of Armagh, says that some fragments of the
O'Neil's stone chair used to be shown upon the glebe of the parish of
Desert-creight, county Tyrone.
1 Gleann-cin-cein, the " far head of the glen."
7*

78 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" Moyola winds its way to Lough Neagh, then the most
" inaccessible fastness in all Tyr-owen. Here, with six
" hundred infantry and about sixty horse, he made his
" last stand, and actually defied the armies of England
" that whole winter. His western allies were still up in
" Connaught, and Bryan McArt O'Neil in Claneboy
" — and a favorable reverse of fortune was still possi-
" ble ; or the Spaniards might still remember him, and
" in any event he could ill brook the thought of surren-
" dering. " But the winter's campaign in Connaught was fatal
" to the cause in that quarter. In the north, O'Cahan
" gave in his submission to Docwra, and Chichester and
" Danvers reduced Bryan McArt ; so that early in the
" spring of 1603, O'Neil found that no chief in all Ireland
" kept the field on his part, except O'Ruarc, McGwire,
" and the faithful Tyrrell. He had heard too of Rod-
" erick O'Donnell's submission, and Red Hugh's death,
" and that no more forces were to be hoped from Spain.
" Famine also and pestilence, caused by the ravage of
" the preceding summer, had made cruel havoc among
" his people. A thousand corpses lay unburied between
" Toome and Tullogh-oge, three thousand had died of
" mere starvation in all Tyr-owen, and ' no spectacle,'
" says Moryson, ' was more frequent in the ditches of
" towns, and especially of wasted countries, than to see
" multitudes ofthe poor people dead, with their mouths all
" colored green by eating nettles, docks, and all things
" they could rend up above ground.' It was this winter
" that Chichester and Sir Richard Moryson, returning
" from their expedition against Bryan McArt, ' saw a
" horrible spectacle — three children, the eldest not above
" ten years old, all eating and gnawing with their teeth
" the entrails of their dead mother, on whose flesh they
" had fed for twenty days past.' Can the human imagi-
" nation conceive such a ghastly sight as this ? — Or
" picture a winter's morning, in a field near Newry,
" and some old women making a fire there, ' and divers
" little children, driving out the cattle in the cold morn-
" ings, and coming thither to warm them, are by them

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 79
surprised, and killed, and eaten.' * Captain Trevor
'and many honest gentlemen lying in the Newry,' wit
nessed this horror — a vision more grim and ghastly
than any weird sisters that ever brewed hell-broth
upon a blasted heath.
" And at last the haughty chieftain learned the bitter
lesson of adversity ; the very materials of resistance
had vanished from the face of the earth, and he
humbled his proud heart, and sent proposals of ac
commodation to Mountjoy. The deputy received his
instructions from London, and sent Sir William Go-
dolphin and Sir Garret Moore as commissioners to
arrange with him the terms of peace. The negotia
tion was hurried, on the deputy's part, by private infor
mation which he had received of the queen's death ;
and fearing that O'Neil's views might be altered by
that circumstance, he immediately desired the com
missioners to close the agreement, and invite O'Neil;
under safe conduct, to Drogheda, to have it ratified
without delay.
" On the 30th day of March (alas the day!) Hugh
O'Neil, now sixty years of age, — worn with care, and
toil, and battle, and in bitter grief for the miseries of
his faithful clansmen, — met the lord deputy in peaceful
guise at Mellifont, and, on his bended knees before
him, tendered his submission ; and the favorable con
ditions that were granted him, even in this, his fallen
estate, show what anxiety the counsellors of Elizabeth
must have felt to disarm the still formidable chief. First
he was to have full ' pardon ' for the past ; next to be re
stored in blood, notwithstanding his attainder and
' outlawry,' and to be reinstated in his dignity of Earl of
Tyr-owen; then he and his people were to enjoy full
and free exercise of their religion ; and new ' letters
patent' were to issue, regranting to him and other
northern chiefs the whole lands occupied by their
respective clans, save the country held by Henry Oge
O'Neil and Turlough's territory of the Fews. Out of
* Moryson in Mitchel's Life of Hugh O'Neil.

80 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" the land was also reserved a tract of six hundred acres
" upon the Blackwater ; half to be assigned to Mount-
" joy Fort, and half to Charlemont.
" On O'Neil's part the conditions were, that he should
" once for all renounce the title of ' The O'Neil,' and
" the jurisdiction and state of an Irish chieftain ; that
" he should now, at length, sink into an earl, wear his
" coronet and golden chain like a peaceable nobleman,
" and suffer his country to become ' shireground,' and
" admit the functionaries of English government. He
" was also to write to Spain for his . son Henry,* who
" was residing in the court of King Philip, and deliver
" him as a hostage to the King of England.
" And so the torch and the sword had rest in Ulster
" for a time ; and the remnant of its inhabitants, to use
" the language of Sir John Davies, ' being brayed as it
" were in a mortar with the sword, famine, and pesti-
" lence together, submitted themselves to the British
" government, received the laws and magistrates, and
" gladly embraced the king's pardon.' That long, bloody
" war, had cost England many millions of treasure,! and
" the blood of tens of thousands of her veteran soldiers ;
" and from the face of Ireland it swept " nearly one half
" of the entire population."
Four years after, James being king, Cecil employed
Lord Howth to hatch a plot against O'Neil, and Rod
erick O'Donnell. They were summoned to Dublin, but,
forwarned of their fate, fled to the continent. In 1616,
Hugh O'Neil received at Rome the holy viaticum, from
Father Luke Wadding, to whom he intrusted his sword,
in keeping for the next chief of the Irish nation. He is
buried in the church of " San Pietro in Montorio."

* " This Henry appears to have been the only son of O'Neil and his
first wife ; and he had been living for some years in the court of King
Philip. O'Neil had four wives in succession — first a daughter of one
of the O'Tooles, then Hugh O'Donnell' s sister, then Sir Henry Bagnal's
sister, and last a lady of the McGennis family, of Down. " — fttitc/iel.
t " ' In the year 1599 the queen spent six hundred thousand pounds ih
six months on the service of Ireland. Sir Robert Cecil affirmed that in
ten years Ireland cost her three millions four hundred thousand pounds.'
— Hume. These were enormous sums at that period."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 81
Roderick O'Donnell died in Spain, where his posterity
rose to many honors, and from whence the return of a
" Baldearg," who should liberate Ireland, was confidently
expected for a hundred years after.
Thus passed away the first generation who resisted
the introduction of Protestantism into Ireland. Judged
by their enemies or their acts, they were no-mean men.
They were not deficient in policy, and they surpassed in
valor. Rome recognized their championship, and Spain
their reputation. Grey, De Burgh, Raleigh, Carew,
Mountjoy, Cecil, Bacon, and Elizabeth were no ordinary
adversaries. The resources of the enemy were far supe
rior to those of the Catholics, and in the sovereignty of
Elizabeth, the former had the incomparable advantage
of a higher unity of action.
For a generation, no other Catholic armament was
attempted. The reasons for this long and inglorious
submission may be gleaned from the despatch which
Mountjoy addressed to the privy council at the end of
the war. He writes —
" And first, to present unto your lordships the out-
" ward face of the four provinces, and after, to guesse
" (as neere as I can) at their dispositions. Mounster, by
" the good government and industry of the lord pres-
" ident, is cleare of any force in rebellion, except some
" few, not able to make any forcible head ; in Leinster
" there is not one declared rebell ; in Connaught there is
"none but in O'Rorke's country; in Ulster none but
" Tyrone and Bryan McArt, who was never lord of
" any country, and now doth, with a body of loose men,
" and some creaghts, continue in Glancomkynes, or neere
" the borders thereof. Cohonocht McGwyre,, some-
" times Lord of Fermanagh, is banished out of the coun-
" try, who lives with O'Rorke; and at this time, Conor
" Roe McGwyre is possessed of it by the queene, and
" holds it for her. I believe that generally the lords of
" the countries that are reclaimed desire a peace, though
" they will be wavering till their lands and estates are
" assured unto theni from her majestie ; and as long as
" they see a party in rebellion to subsist, that is of a

82 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" power to ruine them, if they continue subjects or other-
" wise, shall be doubtful of our defence. All that are
" out doe seeke for mercy, excepting O'Rorke, and
" O'Sullivan, who is now with O'Rorke ; and these are
" obstinate only out of their diffidence to be safe in any
" forgivenesse. The loose men, and such as are only
" captaines of bonnoghts, as Tirrell and Bryan McArt,
" will nourish the warre as long as they see any possibilitie
" to subsist ; and like ill humours, have recourse to any
" part that is unsound. The nobilitie, towns, and English-
" Irish are, for the most part, as weary of the warre as
" any, but unwilling to have it ended, generally for fear
" that upon a peace will ensue a severe reformation of
" religion ; and, in particular, many bordering gentlemen
" that were made poore by their own faults, or by rebels'
" incursions, continue their spleene to them, now they
" are become • subjects ; and having used to help them-
" selves by stealths, did never more use them, nor better
" prevailed in them than now, that these submittees
" have laid aside their owne defence, and betaken them-
" selves to the protection and justice of the state; and
" many of them have tasted so much sweete in entertain-
" ments that they rather desire a warre to continue there
" than a quiet harvest that might arise out of their own
" honest labour ; so that I doe find none more pernicious
" instruments of a new warre than some of these. In the
" meane time, Tyrone, while he shall live, will blow
" every sparke of discontent, or new hopes that shall lye
" hid in a corner of the kingdome, and before he shall be
" utterly extinguished make many blazes, and sometimes
" set on fire or consume the next subjects unto him.
" I am persuaded that his combination is already broken,
"and it is apparent - that his meanes to subsist in any
" power is overthrowne ; but how long hee may live as a
" wood-kerne, and what new accidents may fall out while
" he doth live, I know not. If it be imputed to my
" fault that, notwithstanding her majestie's great forces,
" he doth still live, I beseech your lordships to remember
" how securely the bandittoes of Italy doe live, between
" the power of the King of Spaine and the pope. How

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 83
" many men of all countreyes of severall times have in
" such sort preserved themselves long from the great
" power of princes, but especially in this countrey, where
" there are so many difficulties to carry an armie, in
" most places so many unaccessible strengths for them
" to flye unto ; and then to bee pleased to consider the
" great worke that first I had to breake this maine rebel-
" lion, to defend the kingdom from a dangerous invasion
" of a mightie forraine prince, with so strong a partie in
" the countrey, and now the difficultie to root out scat-
" tered troopes that had so many unaccessible dennes to
" lurke in, which as they are by nature of extreme
" strength and perill to bee attempted, so it is impossible
" for any people, naturally and by art, to make greater
" use of them. And though with infinite dangers wee
" do beat them out of one, yet is there no possibilitie
" for us to follow them with such agilitie as they will flye
" to another; and it is most sure that never traytor knew
" better how to keepe his owne head than this ; nor any
" subjects have a more dreadfull awe to lay violent hands
" on their sacred prince than these people have to touch
" the person of their O'Neales ; and hee that hath as pesti-
" lent a judgment as ever any had to nourish and to
" spreade his owne infection, hath the ancient swelling
" and desire of libertie in a conquered nation to worke
" upon ; their fear to bee rooted out, or to have their old
" faults punished upon all particular discontents, and
" generally over all the kingdom, the feare of a per-
" secution for religion, the debasing ofthe coyne, (which
" is grievous unto all sortes,) and a dearth and fam-
" ine, which is already begun, and must necessarily
" grow shortly to extremity ; the least of which, alone,
" have been many times sufficient motives to drive
" the best and most quiet estates into suddaine con-
" fusion. These will keepe all spirits from settling,
" breed new combinations, and, I feare, even stir the
" townes themselves to solicit foraine aide, with promise
" to cast themselves into their protection ; and although
" it bee true that if it had pleased her majestie to have
" longer continued her army in greater strength, I

84 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" should the better have provided for what these cloudes
" doe threaten, and sooner and more easily either have
" made this countrey a rased table, wherein shee might
" have written her owne lawes, or have tyed the ill-disposed
" and rebellious hands till I had surely planted such a
" government as would have overgrowne and killed any
" weeds that should have risen under it ; yet since the
" necessitie of the state doeth so urge a diminution of
" this great expense, I will not despayre to goe on with
" this worke, through all these difficulties, if wee bee not
" interrupted by forraine forces, although, perchance,
" wee may be encountered with some new irruptions,
" and (by often adventuring) with some disasters ; and it
" may bee your lordships shall sometimes heare of
" some spoyles done upon the subjects, from the which
" it is impossible to preserve them in all places, with far
" greater forces than ever yet were kept in this kingdome ;
" and although it hath been seldom heard that an armie
" hath been carried on with so continuall action, and en-
" during without any intermission of winter breathings,
" and that the difficulties at this time to keepe any
" forces in the place where wee must make the warre
" (but especially our horse) are almost beyond any hope
" to prevent, yet with the favour of God and her majes-
" ty's fortune I doe determine myselfe to draw into the
" field as soon as I have received her majesty's com-
" mandments by the commissioners, who it hath pleased
" her to send over; and in the mean time I hope by
" mine owne presence or directions to set every partie
" on worke that doth adjoyne, or may bee drawn against
" any force that doth now remaine in rebellion. In which
"journey the successe must bee in the hands of God:
" but I will confidently promise to omit nothing that is
" possible by us to bee done, to give the last blow unto
" the rebellion."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 85

CHAPTER V.
STUARTS SUCCEED TO THE THRONE.— ENDOWMENT OF TRINITY
COLLEGE.— USHER AND O'DANIEL.— CONFISCATION OF ULSTER.
— "RECUSANT" PARTY.— CHARLES I.— A NEW PERSECUTION.—
STRAFFORD'S VICEROYALTY— CONFISCATION OF CONNAUGHT.—
THE SCHOOL OF WARDS.— THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT.
The reigns of James and Charles I. were spent in
dividing the spoils acquired by the late wars and confis
cations. Of the spoils gathered on the field of Kinsale, £1800
were set apart for Trinity College library. This institu
tion, founded on the confiscated priory of All-Hallows,
ceded for that purpose by the corporation of the city,
opened in 1593 ; it first swallowed Cong Abbey, in
Mayo, and Abbey O'Dorney, in the Desmond country.
Other grants it had which were come at in the progress
of the conquest. Mountjoy, who affected the literary
character, and wrote commentaries after the manner of
Caesar, suggested the Kinsale contribution. His second
in command, Carew, afterwards Earl of Totness, another
author and actor of the same school, eagerly seconded
the suggestion.
We cannot wonder to find a university so founded
productive mainly of bigotry, and nurturing nationality
only through ignorance of its nature. James Usher,
nephew of the queen's Bishop of Armagh, was one of
its first scholars, and in his department, its greatest name.
He became the intellectual leader of Irish Protestantism ;
in 1615, drew its forty-two articles, which were super
seded by the thirty-nine articles of the Westminster
Confession in 1634. In his early career, he was distin
guished as the author of the theory that the early Irish
church was not in communion with Rome. Some bold
sentences in St. Columba's epistle to Pope Boniface,
the different days celebrated as Easter, and one or two
other points, gave this theory a color of truth, which had
8

86 attempts to establish THE
no substance. Notwithstanding, it was a useful fallacy,
and perhaps the Irish establishment would long since
have fallen, but for its supposed revival of earlier dogmas
and discipline.
Beside Usher, the prelate who strove most to natural
ize Protestanism in Ireland was William Daniel, or
O'Daniel, appointed Archbishop of Tuam in 1609. He
had been one of the first fellows of Trinity College, and
was celebrated for his attainments as a linguist. He
translated the English Book of Common Prayer and the
Greek Testament into Irish.* " He was also very know
ing in the Hebrew." He was not naturally a bigot,
though " early prejudice " seems to have made him some
times a persecutor of the ancient clergy. In 1628, he
died at Tuam, and was buried in the cathedral.
Sir James Ware, another early scholar of Trinity, was
of the school of Usher and O'Daniel. His favorite study
was Irish history;, and although he favors the Protes
tants' theory of the church of St. Patrick, he never
descends to the virulence of its modern defenders.
When we name these three men, we name all the natives
of Ireland, who, in the first century of Protestantism,
distinguished themselves in the controversial service of
the "reformation."
The death of Elizabeth had inspired the Catholics
with sanguine hopes. In the southern towns, the laity
rose, expelled the parsons, and restored the priesthood.
At Cork, an ecclesiastic, lately from Rome, was publicly
feted as the pope's legate. Religious processions filled
the streets, and friars resumed the habit of their order.
At Waterford, Father Peter White, an eminent Jesuit,
preached, with exultation, that Jezabel was dead.
The Catholics had every assurance of sympathy from
the agents and partisans of the new dynasty. The
Stuarts were no strangers in Ireland. The blood of
* In 1591, Queen Elizabeth provided Irish type for the university,
" in the hope that God in his mercy would raise up some to translate
the New Testament into their mother tongue." Copies of Tyndal's
Bible were placed in " the midst of the choir " of St. Patrick's Cathe
dral and Christ Church.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 87
Brian and of McMurrogh flowed in their veins, and anti
quaries loved to trace their remoter descent from Fleance,
who fled from Macbeth, the usurper, into Ireland. James
had himself boasted this pedigree, and declared his
ambition to become the pacificator of Ireland. By the
act of oblivion, in his first year, he promised protection
to all ; but the next year by " the commission of grace,"
he substituted the English for the Celtic law; vassalage
for tenant right ; primogeniture for tanistry ; rents and
taxes for " coigne and livery ; " tithes for termon lands ;
capital punishment for the eric and mutilation ; patented
earls for elective chiefs ; itinerant courts for local Bre-
haives ; and the policy of England for the traditions of
Ireland. Worn down by a long unequal war, and abandoned
by Spain, the Irish in Ireland submitted, while those
abroad kept up the cause, and even procured the consent
of Pope Clement VIII., that his nephew should assume
the title of " protector of Ireland," which he did accord
ingly. James, alarmed by the 'gunpowder plot and the publi
cations ofthe Irish exiles in Spain and Rome, and swayed,
moreover, by Cecil, his minister, in his third year, openly
declared against toleration. His proclamation ran as
follows : —
" Whereas we have been informed that our subjects
" in the kingdom of Ireland, since the death of our be-
" loved sister, have been deceived by a false rumor, to
" wit, that we would allow them liberty of conscience,
" contrary to the laws and statutes of that kingdom, and
" the religion which we profess. From this some have
" deemed us less zealous than we ought to be in the
" administration of the Irish church, as well as in that
" of the other churches over which it is our duty to
" watch ; and very many of our Irish subjects seem
" determined in persevering in their obstinate contu-
" macy. Jesuits, seminarists, priests, and bishops, who
" have received ordination at the hands of foreigners,
" thus emboldened, have lain concealed in various parts
" of that kingdom, and now emerging from their hiding-

88 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" places, exercise their functions and rights, despising us
" and our religion.
" Wherefore it hath seemed good to us to notify to
" our beloved subjects of Ireland, that we shall never
" tolerate such a state of things ; and notwithstanding
" the rumors so industriously circulated, we are firmly
" resolved never to allow any religion save that which is
" consonant to the word of God, established by our laws.
" By these presents, therefore, let all men know that we
" strictly order and command all and every of our sub-
" jects to frequent the parochial churches, to assist at
" the divine offices, and attend to the exposition of the
" word of God, on Sundays and festival days, according
" to the rule and spirit of the laws. They who will act
" contrariwise will incur the penalties provided, by the
" statutes which we noW order to be rigorously enforced.
" And as it has been notified to us that Jesuits, semi-
" nary priests, and many other priests, wander about the
" kingdom of Ireland, seducing our subjects to the ob-
" servance of their superstitious ceremonies, thus bring-
" ing our laws into contempt: We now order and com-
" mand that all such Jesuits, priests, seminarists, &c,
" &c, who have been ordained in foreign parts, or derive
" any authority from the Roman see, do, after the
" expiration of the last day of November, instant, with-
" draw from our kingdom of Ireland ; nor let any such
" persons after that date venture to return into the afore-
" said kingdom. Should they contravene this order, we
" strictly ordain, that they are to be punished to the
" utmost rigor of the laws in this case already speci-
" fied. We, moreover, strictly forbid all our subjects
" of Ireland to shelter or countenance any Jesuit, semi-
" nary priest, or other priest, who will dare to re-
" main in Ireland, or return thither after the 10th day
" of December, instant.
" But if any of the aforesaid Jesuits, seminary priests,
" or priests of any order, shall dare to remain in the
" kingdom of Ireland, or return thither after the 10th
" day of December, instant, and if any of our subjects
" shall dare to receive or shelter them, we strictly com-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 89
" mand all our mayors, constables, sheriffs, judges, &c,
" &c, to act as faithful subjects, and to seize the bodies
" or body of each and every Jesuit, seminary priest, and
" other priests who have received their ordination in
" foreign parts, and commit them to close confinement
" until our viceroy or his deputy shall have inflicted on
" them just and deserved punishment.
" But if any of the aforesaid Jesuits, seminary priests,
" or others shall, before the aforesaid 10th day of De-
" cember next, present himself before our viceroy, or any
" other of our officers of state, signifying his desire to
" frequent our churches, according to the spirit of our
" laws, we will give permission to such Jesuits, seminary
" priests, and others, to tarry in our kingdom, and return
" thereto as long as they shall continue faithful to the
" observances which we prescribe. Such persons shall
"have and enjoy all the privileges belonging to our
" faithful and loving subjects."
" Given at Westminster, July 4, 1605."
This proclamation was followed by an oath of abjura
tion, cast by the king's own hand, in which the pope's
power to depose the prince, or grant away any of his
territories, or absolve his subjects from allegiance, or
authorize them to bear arms, with other current charges
upon Catholics; was expressly repudiated. Pope Paul
V., then new in the chair of Peter, being consulted as to
the oath, issued his brief in 1606, declaring that Catho
lics " could not, with safety to their consciences or the
Catholic faith, take this oath." The authenticity of this
paper being questioned by certain pliant, conforming
Catholics, the same pontiff the following year confirmed
its edict by another. To these papers James put forth
an elaborate reply, quoting the fathers and canonists
with great confidence as being all on his side. Not con
tent with arguing the matter with Cardinal Bellarmine
and Father Suarez, he prepared to establish his opinions
by all the forces of the state.
. In his deputy, Arthur Chichester, he had a zealous
-agent of tyranny, the pleasures of whose life were two
fold, — hunting down priests and seizing confiscated
estates to his own use. 

90 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
In 1607, through the infamous Baron of Howth, this
deputy and Cecil charged the northern Irish chiefs as
intriguing with Spain and the pope. Cited to Dublin,
O Neil, O'Donnell, (Roderick,) and their nearest of kin
fled from Lough Swilly to Normandy, whence they
passed on" to Rome, never to return. In 1608, Cahir
O'Doherty of Innishowen, fearing the same fate, rose in
arms, and after a six months' war, died by assassination.
On these most insufficient grounds the six counties of
Derry, Donegal, Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, and Cavan
were declared confiscated to the crown, and James pre
pared to plant them with a population, which, in the
polity of Providence, became the mortal enemies of his
children. James I. brought in the race who drove James
IL out. As Kerry, Limerick, Waterford, and Cork had
been parcelled out twenty years before to the Kings,
Butlers, Boyles, and Raleighs, so the lands of the
O'Reillys now went to the Hamiltons, of the McGuires
to the Follibts and Gores, of the O'Donnells to the Cun
ninghams, of the O'Dohertys to Chichester, of the
O'Neils to Lindseys, Stewarts, and Brownlows, and the
city of Columbcille to the fishmongers of London.
Above eight hundred and eighty -five thousand acres of
arable land thus changed hands and lords, almost as
quickly as in the course of nature the summer stubble
is covered with the winter's frost.*
Not content with reducing Ulster to the fate of Munster,
Chichester, in James's name, issued, in July, 1610, the
following proclamation : —
" Whereas the peace of this kingdom has been im-
" perilled by seminarists and priests, who go beyond
" seas for the purposes of education, and on their return
" inculcate doctrines calculated to imbue the minds of
" the people with superstition and idolatry, we strictly
" prohibit all, save merchants and sailors, from passing
* For the security of his "Ulster plantation, James, in 1611, founded
the order of baronets, giving to each the ancient blazon of the O'Neils
— "a hand sinister, couped at the wrist " — as a distinctive crest. But
Derry and Enniskillen proved stronger against bis posterity than all the
baronets were for them.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 91
" over to other countries, on pain of incurring the royal
" indignation and the other penalties decreed against
" those who transgress the laws of this realm. Where-
" fore we command all noblemen, merchants, and others,
" whose children are abroad for educational purposes, to
" recall them within one year from date hereof; and, in
" case they refuse to return, all parents, friends, &c,
" sending them money, directly or indirectly, will be
" punished as severely as the law permits."
Ulster and Munster being put out of the contest,
and Connaught being rather remote from England for
immediate subjection, the Catholics of Leinster were
left alone to fight the battle of the church. In 1607, the
Baron of Devlin, one of their ablest men, was imprisoned
on charge of collusion with O'Neil; in 1608, he was
liberated, and from thenceforward his friends wisely
preferred parliamentary to armed opposition. The Par
liament convened in 1613 gave them an opportunity to
test this policy, which they very resolutely did. They
set up a candidate of their own for the speakership, and
cast ninety-seven votes for him ; the castle candidate, Sir
John Davies, had one hundred and twenty-seven. The
contest became so hot that James — fond arbitrator that
he was ! — summoned the heads of both parties to Eng
land. The " recusants," as the Catholics were called,
caught a terrible philippic in Whitehall, and for a session
seceded from the packed Parliament.* In the session of

* James, in his speech, accused them of having Peter Lombard
(" whom you call a doctor ") as their agent at Rome, and Dr. Hollywood
in Ireland; of giving their souls to the pope and their bodies to the
King of Spain ! He wanted to know whether they ever expected to
have " the kingdom of Ireland like to the kingdom of heaven ! " The
great Chief Justice Coke added, at the end of the royal speech, " May
God destroy this Irish people, who cause your crown to tremble on your
head ! " Preston, Plunkett, Talbot, and Gough were the Irish deputies.
At this time many of the Irish hierarchy were obhged for personal
safety to reside abroad. " But," writes O'Sullivan, " in order that there
may be priests in all parts of the kingdom to attend to the cure of souls,
a salutary plan has been set on foot ; for the better understanding of
which we are to recollect that in Ireland there are four archbishop
rics and a large number of bishoprics ; and that at the present day
(A. D. 1621) they are all held by ringleaders of heresy ; and that Catho-

92 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
1615, they again appeared, voted to legalize the con
fiscation of Ulster, and, in part, countenanced the with
drawal of military and civil commissions from all officers
professing the Roman Catholic religion. To some of
these " recusants," part of the spoils of the Celtic chiefs
was given, and thus a contention was bred between the
Norman and Milesian Catholics, which has not since
been entirely eradicated. It would, however, be against
the record to assert that the "recusant" party did not
do good service to the Catholic cause. They were a
protection to all the clergy who remained at home ; they
held in check bigoted executive and judicial officers,
and often at great risk to themselves. In 1622, the
policy of enforcing the oath of supremacy was again
introduced into Parliament. The " recusants " again
refused to take it, and were summoned by the Lord
Deputy Falkland to appear before him and the council
in the Star Chamber, on the 22d of November. " After
the judges had explained to them the nature, reason,
and equity of the oath, our bishop (Usher) delivered
himself in a grand speech on the occasion ; wherein he
demonstrated that the king was the supreme and only
governor within his dominions, distinguishing between
the power of the keys and of the sword, and showing
that they by no means clashed together ; that the juris
diction of a Roman pontiff over the universal church
was a usurped and unjust jurisdiction, and quite over
turned the foundation upon which it was built. Some
lie prelates are not appointed to their titles unless in some few instances,
for this reason, that without the ecclesiastical dues it seems that such a
number of bishops could not support their rank and consequence. For
which reason four archbishops, who have been consecrated by the Eoman
pontiff, appoint priests, or clerks, or persons of the religious orders, for
vicars-general in the suffragan bishoprics, with the sanction of the apos
tolic see. These latter again appoint others for the charge of the parish
churches. And Eugene Maemagauran, the Archbishop of Dublin, and
David O'Carney, of Cashel, encountering great perils and immense
labors, are personally feeding the sheep belonging to their archbishop
rics. While Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh, and Florence
O'Melconry, of Tuam, (who for many reasons is unable to live safe from
the English in Ireland,) have intrusted the care of their provinces ta
vicars."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 93
of those who were called to hear the sentence praemu
nire (transportation) pronounced against them, were
convinced by his reasons, and submitted willingly to take
the oath." * A printed copy of this discourse was pre
sented to the king, and Usher was soon after presented
to the primacy. Whether his logic, or the praemunire,
convinced those who took the oath the reader may con
jecture. In 1625, Charles I. succeeded his father. The same
year he married Harrietta Maria of France, a sincere
and practical Catholic. The Catholics, ever hopeful of
deliverance, saw in this event new promises of relief and
protection ; in entertaining which they were again dis
appointed. The first Parliament called by Charles, in 1626, re-
enacted James's abjuration oath of 1605, and even
added a supplement draughted by one Berkely, which
required them to deny the pope's supremacy " over the
Catholic church in general, and myself [the swearer] in
particular." Nor was this test theoretical. In 1629, while
the Catholics were celebrating.mass in Cork Street, Dub
lin, the Protestant archbishop, with the mayor and a
file of musketeers, were sent to disperse them ; " which
they did, taking away the crucifixes and ornaments of
the altar, the soldiers hewing down the image of St.
Francis." The priests and friars being captured, the
people assailed the pursuivants with stones and clubs,
and a reenforcement had to be sent to secure the prison
ers. Under the same deputy, (Falkland,) " eight Popish
aldermen of Dublin were clapped by the heels for not
assisting the mayor;" the revenues of the corporation
of Waterford were escheated for " obstinately choosing
a succession of ' recusants ' for their chief magistrates ; "f
and a proclamation issued, forbidding, on pain of im
prisonment, all friars and priests "to teach, preach, or
celebrate their service in any church, chapel, or other
public oratory, or place, or to teach any school in any

* Ware's Irish Bishops, vol. i. p. 102.
t Leland's History of Ireland, vol. ii., reign of Charges.

94 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
place or places whatsoever .within the kingdom."*
Fifteen religious houses in Dublin were seized to the
king's use, and the college, or seminary, founded in the
fourteenth century by Archbishop De Bicknor, was con
fiscated, and added to the endowments of Trinity Col
lege. The second deputy who ruled Ireland for King Charles
confirmed all the fears of the Catholics, especially of
such as kept possession of property. Wentworth, Earl of
Strafford, not excepting Mountjoy, was the ablest of all
Irish viceroys — a man of great foresight, perfect hypoc
risy, a sonorous, military eloquence, both in writing and
speaking, and an iron resolution. Money being the imme
diate want of his master, he offered to the Catholics, on
his arrival, in 1633, for and in consideration of £150,000,
certain " royal graces," or restrictions of the penalties on
"recusants." The principal concession was, that the
crown should advance no claim to estates not forfeited
within the previous sixty years — a proviso which covered
all the remaining titles of the "recusants" in Leinster
and Connaught. They consented ; but he continued to
keep the details in debate, while he drew the money in
advance ; and then, having raised a regular standing
army, — an institution at the time unknown in either
island, — he proceeded "to inquire into defective titles"
in Connaught. Having created sixty new boroughs and
got a Parliament to do his bidding, he began in 1634
with Roscommon. The grand jury of that county, re
fusing to find defective titles, were imprisoned and heavily
fined ; another was impanelled, and found for the crown.
The Galway jury resisted, and was served in like man
ner ; Mayo and Sligo were yielded without a struggle ;
£40,000, in fines, were wrung from jurors in this cam
paign, and a great part of the estates of Connaught were
seized and sold as crown land. In the seven years of -
his viceroyalty, this able despot not only contrived to
acquire large possessions for himself, to build his "folly"
at Naas and "park" in Wicklow, to expend over
. * Eushworth's Collections, vol. ii. p. 21.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 95
£100,000 of public money in Ireland, but also to make
the island the chief source of the king's revenue.
To Wentworth belongs the first systematic attempt
at proselytizing Irish children. The schools of " King's
Wards," in London, Canterbury, and Dublin, originally
designed for the heirs and hostages of suspected chiefs,
had become thoroughly Protestant institutions. The
Court of Wards, in 1617, decided that all minors claim
ing property should attend these schools. Lord Orrery
complains that frequently these unfortunates were " sold
like cattle in the market ; " Sir Edward Coke's infamous
argument for their perpetual imprisonment in the Tower
remains in irrevocable type ; the Catholics of Ireland, in
their remonstrance, dated Trim, 17th March, 1642, assert
that " the heirs of Catholic noblemen and other Catholics
were most inhumanly dealt with " by the Court of Wards.
Male and female, the king " disposed of them in mar
riage as he thought fit." Indeed, whenever we find an
Irish apostate or renegade during the rest of the cen
tury, we may be almost certain that he graduated in
"the School of Wards."*
Among his various oppressions, Strafford had trodden
hard on several of the Scotch planters at the north.
They, as Presbyterians and Scots, appealed to their
brethren in England and Scotland ; their murmurs were
soon lost in the sterner accents of their co-religionists,
who, when they drove the viceroy to the scaffold', felt the
terrible reality of the power they had so long sought.
The Puritans, as this party were called, deserve our
special attention.
Beginning under King Edward, this sect was fostered
by the example of Hooper, Jewell, and Grindall, among
the reformed bishops. They had active principals in
Tyndal^ Coverdale, Fox, White, and Robert Browne,
who all taught that the Bible was not only the revela
tion of God, but the strict law of civil and religious
government; that the king's headship, bishops, holy

* On the School and Court of Wards, see Burnet's History of his
Own Times, vol. i., or Carte's Ormond, vol. i-

96 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
orders, saints' days and ceremonies, were an abomina
tion and a hissing, odious to the Lord. Their formal
existence dates from the year 1566, and their action, as a
political party, from the violence with which, twenty
years later, Elizabeth's archbishop, Whitgift, assailed
their conventicles. Thenceforth every Parliament was full
of their petitions, and every prison had some of their
preachers. On arriving in England, in 1603, James
invited their chief men to dispute with his bishops, and
decided, if they did not conform, to " harrie them out o'
the land ; " their opinions soon after began to get into
the press, and their brother Protestants found it impossi
ble to defeat arguments based upon the -radical princi
ples of the reformation. The churchmen became more
prelatic, and the Puritans more fanatic; the one con
tending that the Episcopal order was innately inde
pendent of the priesthood, and the others warring on
love locks and archery sports, as vehemently as on
church music and vestments. The weak King James
published his Book of Sports and Orders in Council to
encourage Whitsun ales and Morris dances of Sundays;
Laud, Charles's Archbishop of Canterbury, strove to
make " thorough " riddance of the crop-eared knaves ;
still the party spread through the rural districts, em
bracing in its circles not only artisans and country folk,
but many distinguished scholars, able commoners, and
even some of the peerage.
The two first Stuarts, by pushing obedience into strict
conformity, had forced a junction between republicanism
and Puritanism. At James's accession, the Puritans were
among the most loyal in England ; yet that same gener
ation lived to take off hisson's head, and to change the
whole fabric of the government. Scotch Presbyterian
ism excited and aided this change, Henderson and Gil
lespie being the natural allies of Calamy, Selden, and
the Vanes. A common policy and a common heresy
bound England and Scotland in as close unity as the
nature of the two nations allowed.
To both parties Ireland was a hateful name. Noth
ing good, in their eyes, could come out of that Nazareth.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 97
In Scotland, there were many, who, " foreseeing that Ire
land must be the stage to act upon, it being unsettled,
and many forfeited lands therein altogether wasted,
proceeded to push for fortunes in that kingdom." * The
Puritans of England, with their brethren in America,
exclaimed, " Cursed be he that holdeth back his sword
from blood! yea, cursed be he that maketh not his sword
drunk with Irish blood ! " f
In this spirit the plantation of the northern lands was
undertaken by the Scotch ; in this spirit war was made
by the Puritans. It may be conjectured how the natives
were to fare at the hands of both.
Charles's licentious court and excessive taxation gave
his enemies texts enough for seditious sermons. From
his accession till his forced flight from London to throw
himself on the country, he was unhappy in his favorites,
his measures, and his temper. The ship money and the
property tax, though not the causes, were the fuel of the
faction which, in truth, began with the Puritan preachers.
The king, as head of the church and patron of the
bishops, was from the first their chief target, and their
followers were only logical in extending hostility to his
temporal, as included in his spiritual supremacy. The
Irish Catholic leaders saw clearly into the king's dangers,
and when we find them overlooking his duplicity, excus
ing his dishonor, and going three fourths of the way to
patch up broken covenants with him, we should remem
ber that they did not yield so much from servility as
because, at bottom, his cause was their own. His deliv
erance was their hope, as his prostration would inevitably
let in the accumulated Puritan deluge upon them and
their people.
Events in England hurried rapidly on ; the controversy
between the king and his Parliament was daily becom-
* The Simple Cobbler of Agawam, in America. London reprint, 1647.
This work was written by Rev. Nathaniel Ward, pastor of Agawam,
near Plymouth, Massachusetts. Ward also drew the first charter of
that colony He returned to England, and died there in 1653.
t Montgomery Manuscript, quoted in McNevin's Confiscation of
Ulster. 9 

98 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
ing more imbittered, and kish affairs more frequent
subjects of debate. ¦ In 1642, the king suddenly fled from
London, and sent his heir and queen, for safety, to Hol
land. The Parliament proceeded to raise an army, and
to remodel the Reformed Church on Puritan principles.
Presbyterianism, recognized as the church of Scotland in
1580, was now declared to be the church of England.
In June, 1643, the Westminster Assembly of Divines
met in Henry VII.'s Chapel. The parliamentary or
dinance had summoned one hundred and fifty-One per
sons by name to this convocation — ten lords and twenty
commoners, one hundred and twenty-one divines. Scot
land was represented by four divines and two laymen ;
from Ireland, Archbishop Usher and " Joshua Hoyle, D.
D., " of Dublin, were invited. Neither of these persons an
swered the summons. For four years this assembly sat,
and besides " the Westminster Confession of Faith," it
originated " the solemn league and covenant," which was
ratified by the English Parliament in 1643, and the
Scotch Parliament in 1644.* This memorable treaty
bound its signers to attempt " the reformation and defence
of religion, the honor and happiness ofthe king, and
the peace and safety of the three kingdoms of Scotland,
England, and Ireland;" "the preservation of the reformed
religion in the church of Scotland ; " to endeavor " to
bring the churches of God in the three kingdoms to the
nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion;" and "in
like manner, without respect of persons, [to] endeavor
the extirpation of Popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy,
schism, profaneness," " in the three kingdoms." f Further,
" to endeavor the discovery of all such as have been, or
shall be, incendiaries, malignants, or evil instruments by
hindering the reformation of religion,' dividing the king
from his people, or one of the kingdoms from one an
other"— that is, all Irish Catholics, lay and clerical,
were to be so " discovered " and brought " to condign
punishment." "And this covenant we make " — so it

* King Charles n. was constrained, when in custody of the Scottish
Covenanters, to sign " the solemn league " at Spey, June 23, 1650, and
again to re-sign it at Scone, January 1, 1651.
t Hetherington's History of the Westminster Assembly, p 118

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 99
concluded — "in the presence of Almighty God, the
searcher of all hearts, with a true intention to perform
the same, as we shall answer at that great day when the
secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed; most humbly
beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by his Holy Spirit
for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings
with such success as may be deliverance and safety to
his people." Such was the declaration of war against
Catholics, issued by the learned Assembly of Westmin
ster, and confirmed by the two Parliaments of England
and Scotland. Under this covenant the united forces of
Britain were to march against all who could not call
God to witness their adoption of " the solemn league
and covenant."
Charles I., as soon as the covenant appeared, issued
his condemnation of it; all the reformed prelates, of
course, did likewise; but the Presbyterians, Independents,
and Brownists, of the Long Parliament, armed in its de
fence, and their Scottish colleagues did likewise. Then
came the civil war; the king a-field, and the rebels in
possession ofthe capital; Strafford beheaded, and Crom
well lieutenant general of the army.

CHAPTER VI.
THE PRESBYTERIANS AND PDRITANS IN IRELAND. — EXTERMINA
TION THEIR POLICY. — ULSTER RISING OF 1641. — NEW CATHOLIC
CONFEDERACY FOUNDED BY RORY O'MOORE. — OATH OF CON
FEDERATION.— GENERAL INSURRECTION. — CATHOLIC LEGISLA
TION.— PETERS AND JEROME. — OWEN ROB O'NEIL — ORMOND.—
CROMWELL IN IRELAND. — THE PURITAN PENAL LAWS. -
DEATH OF CROMWELL.
Presbyterianism, in Scotland, dates from 1572 — the
era of Knox's Book of Discipline; in Ireland, it may
be properly dated from the Montgomery plantation, in
Down ; that is, from 1606. Montgomery originally
obtained his title to a large tract in that county from

100 ATTEMPTS to establish THE
O'Neil; James I. confirmed it, with the proviso "that
the lands should be planted with British Protestants,
and that no grant of fee farm should be made to any
person of mere . Irish extraction. " Accordingly we
find for years afterwards a steady importation of Protes
tant tenants, Shaws, Boyds, Keiths, Maxwells, and Bay-
leys, all from Scotland. In the vaults of Grey Abbey,
and the "stump of an old castle" at Newtown, the pio
neers of • this emigration had to abide until they erected
fitter homesteads ; the Montgomery family spent their
first year in an old priory, roofed in for their service. In
1609, on the plea of a ptot, which was never proved to
exist, the six counties of Ulster were declared to be
vested in the crown, and by the crown, in a subsequent
proclamation, were offered to adventurers "well affected in
religion." The rules ofthe plantation were simply four: —
" I. That the proportion of land to be distributed to
" undertakers may be of three different quantities. The
" first and least may consist of so many parcels of land
" as will make a thousand English acres, or thereabouts ;
" the second or middle proportion, of so many parcels as
" will make fifteen hundred English acres, or thereabouts ;
" the third, and greatest, of so many parcels as will make
" two thousand English acres, or thereabouts. '
" II. That all lands escheated in every county may be
" divided, into four parts, whereof two parts may be di-
" vided into proportions consisting of a thousand acres
" apiece, a third part into proportions of fifteen hundred
" acres, and the fourth part into proportions of two thou-
" sand acres.
" III. That every proportion be made a parish, and a
" parish church be erected thereon ; and the incumbents
" be endowed with glebes of several quantities, viz. : An
" incumbent of a parish of a thousand acres to have
" sixty acres, of a parish of fifteen hundred acres to have
" ninety acres, and of a parish of two thousand acres to
" have one hundred and twenty acres; and that the
" whole tithes, and the duties of every parish, be allotted
" to every incumbent, besides the glebes aforesaid.
" IV. That the undertakers of these lands be of sev-
" eral sorts — first, English and Scottish, who are to

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 101
" plant their proportions with English and Scottish ten-
" ants ; second, servitors in Ireland, who may take
" English or Irish tenants at their choice ; third, natives
" of those counties, who are to be freeholders.
" Following these four general principles of division
'^ were special directions for each county, based upon
" their relative statistics. But, before stating these
" special directions, it will be well to consider those ap-
" plicable to the whole scheme of the plantation.
" In each county, the authors of this project divided
" the lands escheated into two divisions, one the portion
" of the church, and the other the portion of the under-
" takers. The first was composed of termon, monas-
" tery, and mensall or demesne lands ; the second, of
" the escheated territories of the 'late traitors.' " *
The established clergy was thus provided for by the
king, while the Presbyterian laity were enriched by the
same despotic exercise of power. These latter naturally
organized their presbyteries on the Scottish plan, and im
ported their ministers from Scotland. For some time the
connection was intimate and cordial; but after a genera
tion or two, " the church of Scotland " ceased to control
" the church of Ulster," and there was not a believer or
elder left who considered himself bound, by the decrees
of the General Assembly of Scotland.
While this new form of Protestantism was expanding
in the north, the "recusant" Catholics were again trying
the Parliament to secede, a second time, in 1623. This
time they did not return; but each one, sullen or active
according to his humor, agitated for resistance or re
mained quietly on his estate. The common people were
* The actual division throughout Ulster may be judged from this sam
ple : " Tyrowen contained of ' available land,' including the ecclesi
astical possessions, 1571 ballyboes, or 98,187 acres ; Coleraine, otherwise
O'Cahan's country, contained 547 ballyboes, or 34,187 acres, of which
the Bishop of Derry claimed termon lands to the amount of 6343 acres ;
Donegal contained 110,700 acres, of which 9000 acres were claimed
as termon lands; Fermanagh, commonly called McGwire's country,
contained 1070 tathes, or 33,437 acres, with 46 islands ; Cavan, O'Reilly's
country, contained 620 polls, or 40,500 acres ; and Armagh contained 77,-
800 acres, of which the primate's share was to be 2400 acres, and the in
cumbents' glebes were to enjoy 4650 acres."
9*

102 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
as devoted as ever to their old faith and pastors. A
thousand clergymen still remained in the country, secretly
or openly, while as many more, from the colleges of
France, Spain, and Italy, waited but opportunities to
return. A man was wanting to combine and give heart to
the dispersed believers. Thiss man appeared in Roger, or
Rory, O' Moore, the heir of a line of brave ancestors;
whose father and grandfather had both died in defence
of the church and country. Carried into Spain when a
child, he returned soon after Charles's accession. Edu
cated in all the science of that age, with the son of
Hugh O'Neil as his friend arid fellow-student, he grew
in patriotism as in years.* His favorite project was to
unite the Milesian . and Norman Catholics in one holy
brotherhood. To this end he gave up his natural right
to the lands of Leix, and with his brother Lysagh, made
a home at Ballynagh, " near the Boyne." He rode from
castle to castle, reasoning and 'exhorting with men of
various minds. So clearly did the people understand his
labors, that this was their watchword — " Our trust is in
God andour Lady and Rory O' Moore." He was equally
successful with the noble in his hall and the farmer in
his bawn. Who, indeed, could resist this self-denying
man, as he begged the very holders of his own acres
to unite with him for their joint preservation ? " Keep
my lands," said he, "but help me to preserve our altars."
He renounced with all solemnity just claims to a restora
tion of his estates, and urged only unity for the common
faith and common defence. Could heroism rise higher
above the earth ? f
In 1640, O'Moore saw that his patient projects began
to operate. Every remonstrance, as he expected, was a
failure ; the lords of the Pale were rudely repulsed from
* Young O'Neil was found strangled in his bed at Brussels ; foul
play was suspected on the part of the British agents there.
t Parnell's sketch of O'Moore is the best and briefest I have met :
" Roger O'Moore possessed all the qualities of the heroic — character,
talents, promptitude, courage, and love of country ; his person was re
markably graceful, his aspect dignified, his manners courteous." — Penal
Laws, p. 113. — O'Moore's daughter Anna was the mother of Patrick
Sarsfield.

' PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 103
the castle, and ordered to quit Dublin ; an intercepted
letter from the Earl of Essex to the deputy, advising their
transportation to the West Indies, was printed ; and lastly,
three hundred and eighty-five thousand acres of their land
in Leinster was declared to be confiscated. Driven on
by these incentives, Preston, Lord Gormanstown, on
the part of the Norman aristocracy, met Roger O'Moore,
on the hill of Knoc-Crofty, near Tara, and assured him
of their desire for union and cooperation. This was the^
beginning of the second Catholic confederation. Oh
the 23d October, 1641, impatient, perhaps, of O'Moore's
slower policy, Sir Phelim O'Neil appeared in arms in
the north.* Appointing four captains, and dividing his
forces into four divisions, he assailed simultaneously the
chief garrisons of the English. Dungannon, the home
of his ancestors, Strabane, Armagh, Portadown, Cavan,
and Newry were before three months in his keeping.
Except the posts of Derry, Coleraine, and Carrickfergus,
the English retained no strongholds in Ulster. In De
cember, the Leinster lords equipped a confederate force,
and Kilkenny, Wexford, Ross", and Waterford opened
their gates to Lord Mountgarrett and his subordinate
officers. The last day of the same month, the Irish of
Tipperafy, under Philip O'Dwyer, took Cashel, and about
the same time, Limerick, Clare, and the Catholics of
Connaught joined in the general insurrection.
At Lurgan and Portadown, O'Neil certainly showed
a revengeful and merciless spirit in refusing quarter.
This conduct contrasts strongly with the clemency he
exhibited at the capture of Ballaghie, where they allowed
the defender, Conway, " to march out with his men, and
to carry away trunks, with plate and money, to Antrim." f
* The pretended discovery by Clotworthy's servant, O' Connally, of a
general massacre of %ixe Protestants, is admirably analyzed by Matthew
Carey, of Philadelphia, to whose memory I offer my humble tribute
of homage. (Por this analysis, see Appendix, p. 371.) Lord Conor
McGuire and Colonel Hugh McMahon were arrested- in Dublin, on the
23d of October, on that scoundrel's testimony. McMahon was dreadfully
racked, but made no confession ; Lord McGuire died on the scaffold, at
Tyburn, in 1644, declaring his unalterable adhesion to the Catholic
faith. McMahon was afterwards one of the supreme council of the
Catholic confederacy.
t Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. i. p. 188.

104 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
We must remember that in this interval of a fortnight
occurred the terrible massacre, on Island Magee, by the
Presbyterian garrison of Carrickfergus. Upon this islet,
accessible on the land side at low water, dwelt three
thousand souls. On the night, some say of the 1st, some
of the 6th of November, the Covenanters surrounded
the island on three sides, driving the entire population,
with sword and bayonet, towards the clefts of the high,
rocky sea-coast. The entire population, " men, women,
and children, were cruelly massacred," says Carte ; some
were killed on the shore, the rest drowned in the tumultu
ous waves of the North Channel. We hear much of Sicil
ian Vespers, of St. Bartholomew's day, of Albigensian
massacres ; but what English book mentions the slaughter
of the three thousand Catholics at Island Magee ? *
So closed the year 1641, than which no poor year was
ever more slandered. The "great Popish massacre" was
an invention of the Puritans to inculpate the queen and
i her friends, to throw discredit on the king's " graces," and
to justify their own military preparations. The credu
lity of that age, in which Oates, Bedlow, and Danger-
field were educated, was easily imposed on. Even grave
historians have adopted the inventions of the Puritan
broadsheets of 1641 and 1642. The Earl of Warwick
sets down the number massacred at two hundred thousand
souls; Sir John Temple at three hundred thousand; tbe
historian Rapin, at one hundred and fifty-four thou
sand ; Clarendon, at forty or fifty thousand ; Milton
at eighty thousand; Hume at forty thousand ; Carte at
twelve thousand; Dr. Warner at four thousand and
twenty-eight, which "in his conscience," he takes to be
an exaggeration ! Such are the discrepancies of the
strictly Protestant historians. Let us consider the true
basis of calculation — the then population of Ireland.f In
1641, the total was but one millon four hundred and
* The tradition of Ulster relates that three of the male inhabitants
only escaped, and that from them the Catholic McGees of the north of
Ireland are all descended. It is a source of pride to the present writer
that the blood of that martyr clan flows in his veins.
t Sir William Petty's Survey, in Dublin Society's Library. Dr. Lin
gard has proved that there is no mention whatever of a Protestant raas-
sasre in the stf.te papers of 1641 !

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 105
forty-six thousand ; of which, by Protestant computation,
the Protestants were as two in eleven, or two hundred and
twenty-five thousand in all the four provinces. Of these
fully one half lived in Dublin and other walled towns,
which the English never lost, and, at most, but twenty
thousand were residents in Ulster. We are told by a
contemporary that six thousand, out of the single county
of Fermanagh, were saved, notwithstanding that it was
the county of Lord McGuire, whose recent seizure must
have excited the indignation of his wide-spread clans
men. But why argue upon it ? Whoever will examine
candidly the evidence of the pretended massacre will
find that it has no wide foundation. Instances of indi
vidual revenge, of unnecessary bloodshed, no doubt there
were ; the old proprietors, in some cases, washed out the
title deeds of the Puritan farmers in their blood, and
some of the inhabitants of Portadown, Monaghan, and
other towns, were butchered by the conquerors; but a
general or even local " massacre " never occurred. With
Warner we assert, "it is easy enough to demonstrate the
falsehood of the relation of every Protestant historian of
the rebellion," * and with Edmund Burke, who examined,
with Dr. Leland, the entire evidence, we must express
our utter astonishment that writers of " pleasant his
tories " should yet venture to reprint the fifty times
refuted lies of the Puritan " broad sheets." f
During the winter of 1641, O'Moore and his coadju
tors were not idle. In March, the lords of " the Pale,"
for the sake of peace, tried one last remonstrance, which
took its name from Trim, where it was agreed on. This
document recites the grievances of the body, protests
their loyalty, and prays for relief. It was received by
the king's commissioners, but no answer was returned.
At Kells, in the same neighborhood, a provincial synod
for Ulster, summoned by the primate, Hugh O'Neil,
assembled. With a politic motive this synod suggested
a national council, and adjourned to meet it at Kil
kenny, on the 10th of May following. On the 8th
of April, King Charles, in his speech to Parliament,
* Warner's History of Ireland, reign of Charles I.
t Prior's Life of Burke.

106 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
declared that he " would never consent to the toleration
of the Popish profession, or the abolition of the laws then
in force against Popish recusants." He expressed his
determination of crossing the channel personally to head
the forces against " the detestable rebels." The Puritan
Parliament, however, withheld his supplies for their own
reasons, and at the same time induced the Scotch Par
liament to send over two thousand five hundred men,
under General Monroe, who landed at Carrickfergus, on
the 15th of April, one week after the king's speech was
delivered. Under these circumstances, the Irish hierarchy assem
bled at Kilkenny, on the 10th of May, and proceeded to
deliberate on the state of the kingdom. The archbishops
of Armagh, Tuam, and Cashel, six bishops and five
proxies, were present. As the only remaining estate of
the Celtic constitution, as members of an order which
in that age possessed throughout Europe legislative
powers, and as the actual guides of the body of the
people, their right to do so is indisputable. This august
council issued a manifesto to the Catholics of Ireland,
calling on them to confederate for the common defence.
They then ordained the following basis of confedera
tion : —
" I. Whereas the war which now in Ireland the
" Catholics do maintain against sectaries, and chiefly
" against Puritans, for the defence of the Catholic reli-
" gion, — for the maintenance of the prerogative and
"royal rights of our gracious King Charles, — for our
" gracious queen, so unworthily abused by the Puritans,
" — for the honor, safety, and health of their royal issue,
" — for to avert and repair the injuries done to them, —
" for the conversion of the just and lawful safeguard,
" liberties, and rights of Ireland, — and, lastly, for the
" defence of their own lives, fortunes, lands, and posses-
" sions ; — whereas this war is undertaken for the foresaid
" causes against unlawful usurpers, oppressors, and the
" enemies of the Catholics, chiefly Puritans, and that
" hereof we are informed, as well by divers and true re-
" monstrances of divers provinces, counties, and noble-
" men, as also by the unanimous consent and agreement

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 107
" of almost the whole kingdom in this war and union, 
" we therefore declare that war, openly Catholic, to be
" lawful and just ; in which war, if some of the Catholics
" be found to proceed out of some particular and unjust
" title, — covetousness, cruelty, revenge, or hatred, or any
" such unlawful private intentions, — we declare them
" therein grievously to sin, and therefore worthy to be
" punished and restrained with ecclesiastical censures, if,
" advised thereof, they do not amend.
" II. Whereas the adversaries do spread divers ru-
" mors, do write divers , letters, and, under the king's
" name, do print proclamations, which are not the king's,
" by which means divers plots and dangers may ensue
" unto our nation ; we therefore, to stop the way of un-
" truth, and forgeries of political adversaries, do will and
" command that no such rumors, letters, or proclama-
" tions may have place or belief until it be known in
" a" national conncil, whether they truly proceed from
" the king, left to his own freedom, and until agents of
" this kingdom, hereafter to be appointed by the National
" Council, have free passage to his majesty, whereby the
" kingdom may be certainly informed of his majesty's
" intention and will.
" ' III. We straightly command all our inferiors, as
" well churchmen as laymen, to make no alienation,
" comparison, or difference between provinces, cities,
" towns, or families ; and lastly, not to begin or forward
" any emulations or comparisons whatsoever.
" ' IV. That in every province of Ireland there be a
" council made up, both of clergy and nobility, in which
" council shall be so many persons, at least, as are coun-
" ties in the province, and out of every city or notable
" town two persons.
" ' V. Let one general council of the whole kingdom
" be made, both of the clergy, nobility, cities, and nota-
" ble towns, in which council there shall be three out of
" every province, and out of every city one ; or where
" cities are not, out of the chiefest towns. To this
" council the provincial councils shall have subordi-
" nation, and from thence to it may be appealed, until

108 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" this National council shall have opportunity to sit
" together. " ' VI. Let a faithful inventory be made, in every
" province, of the murders, burnings, and other cruelties
" which are permitted by the Puritan enemies, with a
" quotation of the place, day, cause, manner, and per-
" sons, and other circumstances, subscribed by one of
" public authority.
" ' VII. We do declare and judge all and every
" such as do forsake this union, fight for our enemies,
" accompany them in their war, defend or in any way
" assist them, to be excommunicated, and by these
" presents do excommunicate them.
" ' VIII. We will and declare all those that murder,
" dismember, or grievously strike, all thieves, unlawful
" spoilers, robbers of any goods, to be excommunicated,
" and so to remain till they completely amend and sat-
" isfy, no less than if they were namely proclaimed ex-
" communicated.' "'
Before admission into this confederacy, the following
oath was prescribed to be publicly taken on the holy
evangelists, before the altar of a church : —
" ' I, A. B., do profess, swear, and protest before God
" and his saints and angels, that I will, during my life,
" bear true faith and allegiance to my sovereign lord,
" Charles, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain,
" France, and Ireland, and to his heirs and lawful succes-
" sors ; and that I will, to my power, during my life, de-
" fend, uphold, and maintain, all his and their just pre-
" rogatives, estates, and rights, the power and privilege of
" the Parliament of this realm, the fun.damenta.1 laws of
" Ireland, the free exercise ofthe Roman Catholicfaith and
" religion throughout this land, and the lives, just liberties,
" possessions, estates, and rights of all those that have
" taken, or that shall take, this- oath, and perform the con-
" tents thereof; and that I will obey and ratify all the
" orders and decrees made, and to be made, by the su-
" preme Council of the Confederate Catholics of this
" kingdom, concerning the said public cause; and I will
" not seek, directly or indirectly, any pardon or protec-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 109
" tion for any act done, or to be done, touching this
" general cause, without the consent of the major part of
" the said council ; and that I will not, directly or indi-
" rectly, do any act or acts that- shall prejudice the said
" cause, but will, to the hazard of my life and estate,
" assist, prosecute, and maintain the same.
" ' Moreover, I do further swear, that I will not accept
" of or submit unto any peace, made, or to be made,
" with the said Confederate Catholics, without the con-
'' sent and approbation of the general assembly of the
" said Confederate Catholics, and for the preservation
" and strengthening of the association and union of the
" kingdom. That upon any peace or accommodation to
" be made or concluded with the said Confederate Cath-
'' olics, as aforesaid, I will, to the utmost of my power,
" insist upon and maintain the ensuing propositions,
" until a peace, as aforesaid, be made, and the matters
" to be agreed upon in the articles of peace be estab-
" fished and secured by Parliament. So help me God,
" and his holy gospel.' "
To cover the assembling and sitting of this council,
the Leinster confederates, so far as armed, under Mount-
garrett and O'Moore, had formed their camp in Kildare,
between Dublin and Kilkenny. On the 15th of April,
they were attacked and defeated, near the town of Athy,
by the English forces under Lord Ormond.* Sir Morgan
Cavanagh, one of the leading confederates, was slain,
and his head carried to Dublin, where it was impaled.
O'Moore fell back on his own district, and Mountgarrett
on his, to recruit a stronger force. From this day, Roger
O'Moore disappears from the scene, and we hear of him
next as dying at Kilkenny, during the ensuing winter, f
Nothing discouraged, the council called a general as
sembly of the Catholics of the kingdom for the follow-
* This affair is sometimes called the " battle of Kilrush," and some
times the " battle of Blackhall Heath."
f Carte's Life of Ormond. The statement in McNevin's Confiscation
of Ulster, that he retired to the Pews in Armagh, and ended his days
in peace, in the bosom of his family, must be an error. Cromwell and
Ormond never could tolerate such a man.
10

110 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
ing 23d of October, the anniversary of Sir Phelirn
O'Neil's rising, and despatched agents to France, Spain,
and Rome, to procure experienced officers, arms, and
alliance. During the spring and summer, the rising pro
ceeded with great spirit. Limerick was taken by the
confederates, under Lord Muskerry and General Barry ;
Galway was seized on by the young men of the city,
who, having captured an English ship, laden with arms,
then in port, shut the gates, entered a church, and took
the oath of confederation ; Liscarroll, one of the strongest
places in Munster, was taken, after a siege of thirteen
days ; only Cork and Youghal, of the southern towns,
remained with the English. The garrison of Dublin,
reenforced by a thousand horse, under Lord Lisle, had
taken Trim, and relieved Birr and some other forts in
Kildare and Queen's counties. Lord Leven had reen
forced Munroe, in Ulster, and their joint forces amounted
to 10,000 men ; but they did not move from their gar
rison. The campaign of 1642 was, on the whole, un
favorable to the Puritan cause, although no national
trial of strength had yet taken place.
In the summer of 1642, the distinguished Irish gen
eral Owen Roe O'Neil, leaving the Spanish service, in
which he had won an enviable reputation by his defence
of Arras and other exploits, arrived at Doo Castle, on the
Mayo coast, and proceeded to Leitrim. Sir Phelim's insur
rection had, by this time, begun to flag, and confidence
in his military capacity was much shaken. A graduate
of the King's Inns, his purely legal education did not
well suit him for military life. Owen gathered the frag
ments of his cousin's army, and in the fastnesses of Lei
trim, " nursed them " into discipline. He fixed his head- ,
quarters at Charlemont, and was cheerfully recognized
as general-in-chief of the northern confederates. A wiser
choice could not have been made. He was every way
worthy of the old sword of Hugh O'Neil, which he
carried. Young Preston, of Gormanstown, who had
served with some distinction in France, and in defence
of Louvain, returned at the same time, and was made
general-in-chief of the Leinster confederates ; Richard

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. Ill
O'Farrell, Oliver Synnott, and other Catholic officers
from abroad, also arrived and took service.
Muskerry and Barry commanded in the south, and
Lieutenant Colonel Burke and the three Teige O'Kelleys
headed the confederates in Connaught. The confed
eracy might now be considered complete.
Our concern is rather with the policy of this holy
war than with the military men or battles. These we
leave to the national writers, while we proceed to ex
plain the designs and objects of the dignified assem
bly, which, at the call of the hierarchy, met at Kilkenny,
in October, 1642.
The Puritan lords justices Parsons arid Borlase con
tinued to act under sanction of the Long Parliament,
against the Catholics; under them, Ormond commanded
in Leinster, the Earl of Cork in Munster, Clanrickarde
in the west, and Munroe in the north. Their express
orders in council were " to spare no Irishman." In Eng
land, the civil war had begun, and the parliamentarain
party, under Essex, were ordered to besiege the king in
Nottingham. The " general assembly " at Kilkenny was composed
of 11 bishops, 14 temporal peers, and 226 duly elected
commoners. The extensive mansion of Sir Robert Shea,
near the market-place, was their Senate, where, after
hearing mass at the cathedral, they gathered for consul
tation.* Peers, bishops, and commoners sat in one cham
ber, the dining hall of the mansion. Patrick Darcy, the
most eminent Catholic lawyer ofthe time, acted as chan
cellor ; Nicholas Plunkett was speaker ; Cusack, attorney
general; and Father Thomas O'Quirke, of the Domin
ican convent at Tralee, was chaplain. This assembly
resolved that their office was " to consult of an order for
their own affairs till his majesty's wisdom had settled the
present troubles." They then spent a week enrolling con
federates. After that, a committee to draw up a form
of provisional government was chosen, of which Lords
* In 1S47, the present writer, in company with Mr. Gavan Duffy and
0r. Cane, of Kilkenny, visited this fine old building, which yet stands.

112 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Gormanstown and Castlehaven, Sir Phelim O'Neil, and
Patrick Darcy were members. They reported the fol
lowing project of law : . —
" ' Magna Charta and the common and statute laws of
" England, in all points not contrary to the Roman
" Catholic religion, or inconsistent with the liberty of
" Ireland, were acknowledged as fhe basis of the new
" government. " ' They resolved that each county should have its
" council, consisting of one or two deputies out of each
" barony, and. where there was no barony, of twelve
" persons elected by the county in general, with powers
" to adjudicate on all matters cognizable by justices of
" the peace, pleas of the crown, suits for debts, and per-
" sonal actions, and to restore possessions usurped since
" the war ; to name all the county officers, saving the
" high sherriff, who Was to be elected by the supreme
" council, out of three whom the council of the county
¦ " were to recommend. From these there was an appeal
" to the provincial councils, which were to consist of
" two deputies out of each county, and were to meet
" four times a year, or oftener, if there was occasion, to
" examine the decisions of the county councils, to decide
" all suits like judges of assize, to establish recent pos-
" sessions, but not to interfere with other suits about
" lands except in cases of dower.*
" ' From these there lay a further appeal to the supreme
" council, of twenty-four persons, who were to be elected
" by the general assembly, of which twelve were to be
" constantly resident in Kilkenny, or wherever else they
" should judge it to be most expedient, with equal voices,
" but two thirds to conclude the rest ; never fewer than
" nine to sit in council, and seven to concur in the same
" opinion : out of these twenty-four a president was to
" be named by the assembly, and was to be always one
" of the twelve resident, and, in case of death or any
" other serious .impediment, the other residents out of
" twenty-four were to select a president.'
* Carte's Ormond.

• PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 113
" It was also enacted, ' That the council should be
" vested with power over all generals, military officers,
" and civil magistrates, who were to obey their orders,
" and send an account duly of their actions and pro-
" ceedings ; to determine all matters left undecided by
" the general assembly. Their acts to be of force till
" rescinded by the next assembly; to command and
" punish all commanders of forces, magistrates, and all
" others of what rank and condition soever ; to hear and
" judge all capital and criminal causes, (saving titles to
" lands,) and to do all kinds of acts for promoting the
" common cause of the confederacy and the good of the
" kingdom, and relating to the support and management
" of the war* j
" And as the administrative authority was to be vested
" in the supreme council, it was decreed that, at the end
" of every general assembly, the supreme council should
" be confirmed or changed, as the general body thought
"fit." They then proceeded to elect their supreme council, con
sisting of the three archbishops, (Cashel was at the time
vacant,) the Bishops of Down and Clonfert, and 23 lay
men, half Milesians, half Normans. They adopted as
a seal a great cross resting on a flaming heart, and
crowned with the wings of a dove, on the left the harp,
on the right the crown. The motto was, "Pro Deo,
Rege, et Patria, Hiberni Unanimes." The provincial com
manders were formally reappointed, and each county
assessed for men and money, according to its means.
A mint was established,, and copper and silver coins were
struck. They" issued letters of marque, and equipped
several light ships under their own flag, Which were
commanded by Oliver Synnott, Francis Oliver, and
others. An official press was established, which worked
night and day on pamphlets and proclamations.
The legislation of this assembly was equally judicious.
They enacted that all duties on grain and corn coming
into Irish ports, should be suspended; they abolished
* Cox ; Carte's Ormond.
10*

114 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE •
duties on imported iron, arms, and ammunition ; they
guarantied "the liberties and privileges of free denizens
to all ship builders and masters " who would settle in
the kingdom. They decreed the restoration of all church
property " as fully as held by the Protestant clergy on
the 1st of October," but reserved to the laity "their
rights by the laws of the land ; " they, moreover, fixed a
percentage to be paid to the treasury by the restored
property during the continuance of the war. Lastly,
they appointed and authorized foreign agents, or ambas
sadors, and so adjourned early in January, to meet again
in May*
The Catholic courts received their agents with cordial
ity. Father Luke Wadding procured, at Rome, 26,000
dollars, 2000 muskets, the appointment of a nuncio to
Ireland, and the Papal benediction for the war. Father
Peter Talbot procured, at Madrid, 20,000 dollars, and at
Paris, " two great guns, casting balls of 24 pounds'
weight." In addition to these gifts, many Spanish and
French officers volunteered, some of whom, no doubt,
had diplomatic directions from Olivarez and Richelieu.
After the adjournment, the supreme council proceeded
on a progress through the south, accompanied by a
guard of 500 foot and 200 horse. In Wexford, Water
ford, Tipperary, Cork, and Limerick, they healed local
dissensions, and enrolled confederates. Their progress
had all the appearance and effect of a royal visit. In
the spring, Preston and Barry felt its good effects in re
cruits and new munitions.
The European governments had not been insensible
to the state of Ireland. In the spring of 1643, M. La
Monaire represented France, M. Fuysot Spain, M. Over-
mere Holland, and Father Scarampi represented Rome,
at Kilkenny. Kilkenny was then, de facto, a capital.
* Before separating, they promulgated this formal declaration of their
independence : " It is hereby declared that no temporal government or
jurisdiction- shall be assumed, kept, or exercised in this kingdom, or
within any county or province thereof, during these troubles, other than
is before expressed, except such jurisdiction or government as is, or shall
be, approved by the general assembly, or supreme council of the con
federate Catholics of Ireland." The shadow of a " Long Parliament,"
sitting in Dublin, is particularly aimed at in this declaration.

Protestant reformation in Ireland. 115
Every thing, looked well for the Catholic cause. In
the north, O'Neil had taken Charlemont, and, though
checked at Clonish, had advanced to victory at Portles-
ter; in the west, Willoughby had surrendered Galway
and Oranmore to Burke; in the south, Vavasor had
surrendered to Castlehaven; and in Leinster, Preston's
troops invested Dublin, where the forces with Ormond
and Monk were pining for lack of provisions.
It was at this point that the artful and unscrupulous
diplomacy of Ormond rescued the cause of Protestantism
from its jeopardy. In Dublin, he placed the justices
Borlase and Parsons under arrest, while he was secretly
in alliance with Munroe, the Covenanter general, at Car
rickfergus. Simultaneous proposals to unite the royal
and Catholic forces were presented at Kilkenny. Thus
Ormond kept two doors open, and stood between them,
"speaking, with a double tongue, contradictory lan
guages." The1 Catholics were divided' as to a junction with the
royal forces ; the majority of the supreme council, how
ever, favored it, and nine commissioners were appointed
to meet Ormond. In November, a year's truce was con
cluded at Sigginstown, in Kildare, which was renewed
in 1644, for another year, and terminated only in 1645,
by the strenuous efforts of the hew nuncio, Rinuncini,
Archbishop of Fermo.
O'Neil, with a firm minority, had opposed the peace
from the first. He and his friends believed that Ireland
could stand best unencumbered with any foreign royalty.
When it was asked if they would consent to invite over
a continental prince, he distinctly declared himself op
posed to giving any foreign power " an interest in Ire
land." After the first truce, he was accused of interested
ulterior motives, and Castlehaven was appointed over his
head to the command of the north. Still he did not de
sert the army, but continued to serve in a subordinate
position, though the troops he raised, according to Cas
tlehaven, were "like men half changed." In 1645, he
was not only restored to his former rank, but the com
mand in chief of Connaught was added. His forces

116 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
were then dignified wit^i the title of the " Catholic army,"
and he quartered the cross and keys with the red hand
of Ulster on his banner.
The royal cause derived from this two years' truce
3000 men, with 2400 pounds of powder, forwarded under
Alexander McDonald, Marquis of Antrim, (called " Col-
kitto," or the left-handed,) to the succor of the Marquis
of Montrose ; £30,000 in money, paid to the king at
Oxford ; the possession of Dublin, Kilkenny and other
Irish towns for the king, and the consequent strength
ening of his cause. When, however, after two years of
delusive diplomacy on the one hand, and of generous
confidence on the other, the Catholics resolved to termi
nate a truce by which they lost their means and forces
without receiving any return, Ormond renewed his
secret negotiations with the Puritans; his son and two
others of his adherents went over to the Parliament,
and in November, 1646, finding himself hard pressed
again in Dublin, by O'Neil and Preston, he surrendered
that city and Drogheda to the Puritan fleet, and passed
over to , Holland, leaving his marchioness, sons, and
estates under the protection of his new allies.
General O'Neil, with his Catholic army, met the Cov
enantors under Munroe, at Benburb. They were ten
thousand strong, of whom three thousand two hundred
and forty-three were killed upon the spot. All their
tents, stores, guns, and fifteen hundred draught horses
were captured. Their colors were forwarded to the
Papal nuncio, and by him sent to Rome, where a Te
Deum was sung for the happy issue of that day — June
4, 1646. It was from Benburb that O'Neil advanced
by way of Mullingar, (which he retook,) to support
Preston, before Dublin.
Another royal treaty was now proposed at Kilkenny,
the negotiator being the Earl of Glamorgan, son of the
Marquis of Worcester. This proposal came directly
from the king, and contained thirty articles ; the chief
are the first fifteen which follow : —
1. " That the professors of the Roman Catholic reli-
" gion in the kingdom of Ireland, or any of them, be not

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 117
" bound or obliged to take the' oath of supremacy,
" expressed in the second of Q,ueen Elizabeth, com-
" monly called the oath of supremacy."
2. " That a Parliament may be held on or before the
" last day of November next ; and that these articles
" agreed on may be transmitted into England, according
" to the usual form, and passed, provided that nothing
" may be biased to the prejudice of either Protestant or
" Catholic party, other than such things as upon this
" treaty shall be concluded."
3. " That all acts made by both or either house of
" Parliament, to the blemish or prejudice of his majesty's
" Roman Catholic subjects, since the 7th of August,
" 1641, shall be vacated by acts of Parliament."
4. " That no action of law shall be removed before
" the said Parliament, in case it be sooner called than
" the last of November ; and that all impediments which
" may hinder the Roman Catholics to sit in the next
" Parliament shall be removed before the Parliament
" sit." 5. " That all debts do stand in state, as they were in
" the beginning of these troubles."
6. " That the plantations in Connaught, Kilkenny,
" Clare, Thomond, Tipperary, Limerick, and Wicklow
" may be revoked by act of Parliament, and their estates
" secured in the next sessions."
7. " That the natives may erect one or more inns of
" court in or near the city of Dublin, they taking an
" oath; as also one or more universities, to be governed
" as his majesty shall appoint ; as also to have schools
" for education of youth in the kingdom."
8. " That places of command, of forts, castles, garri-
" sons, towns, and other places of importance, and all
" places of honor, profit, and trust, shall be conferred with
" equal indifferency upon the Catholics, as his majesty's
" other subjects, according to their respective merits
" and abilities."
9. "That .£12,000 sterling be, paid the king yearly
" for the court of wards."
10. " That no peer may be capable of more proxies.

118 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" than two ; and that no lords vote in Parliament,
" unless, in five years, a lord baron purchase in Ireland
" £200 per annum, a viscount £400, and an earl £600,
" or lose their votes till they purchase."
11. " That the independency of the Parliament of
" Ireland on the kingdom of England shall be decided
" by declaration of both houses, agreeable to the laws of
" the kingdom of Ireland."
12. " That the council table shall contain itself within
" its bounds in handling matters of state, as patent of
" plantations, offices, &c, and not meddle with matter
" betwixt party and party."
13. " That all acts concerning staple or native com-
" modifies of this kingdom shall be repealed, except
" wooll and woollfels ; and that the commissioners, the
" Lord Mountgarret, named in the twenty-sixth article,
" shall be authorized, under the great seal, to moderate
" arid ascertain the rates of merchandise to be exported
" and imported."
14. " That no governor be longer resident than his
" majesty shall find for the good of his people, and that
" they make no purchase other than by lease, for the
" provision of their houses."
15. " That an act of oblivion may be passed, with-
" out extending to any who will not accept of this
" peace." This explicit concession of every Catholic demand
would have been quite satisfactory, if the king retained
the power to put it into operation. But his was already
a doubtful cause. He required ten thousand men from
Ireland — a requisition which, when it was known,
injured him still further in England. The Scottish
loyalists were falling off from him, at Newcastle, while
the Parliament were apparently negotiating, but actu
ally preparing to push him to extremities. Yet, withal,
an influential party at Kilkenny — though a minority this
time — favored the new treaty. The bishops proved
themselves the best statesmen, by their decided opposi
tion to it ; O'Neil, as usual, acted with them. Neither
party yielding, a division ensued, which was never

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 119
healed* The anti-peace party removed their council
to Waterford, whence the nuncio issued his excom
munication against all foresworn confederates who
should accept the peace. From Waterford, the bishops
removed to Jamestown, in ^Roscommon, and finally to
Galway. Rinuncini parted with tears from O'Neil,
at Maryborough, and returned to Rome, where he had
the additional affliction of being coldly received by the
new pope.
O'Neil, thus left almost alone, was not unequal to
the position. He was somewhat beyond middle age,
pious, skilful, eloquent, and brave. Beloved by his men,
and entirely confided in by the Council of Bishops, he
took, from time to time, such measures as the new state
of affairs required. In 1647 and 1648, he occupied
positions covering the north-west and the valley of the
Shannon, thus protecting the council in its western
retreat. His successes won new help from abroad. Pope
Innocent and Cardinal Mazarin sent supplies ; the new
Spanish envoy, De la Torre, advanced £9000, and the
Duke of Lorraine £5000. In 1649, we find O'Neil at
Tandaragee, with ten thousand foot and twenty-one
troops of horse. That summer he had a truce with
Monk and Coote, probably to give time for the cultiva
tion of the land ; in October, it expired, and Cromwell
having arrived at Dublin the previous month, Owen
agrees to an alliance with Ormond, some time returned
from Holland, and at the head of an army, in Water
ford. Lieutenant General O'Farrell, with three,thousand
men, was despatched to ree'nforce the marquis in conse
quence of this coalition.
.O'Neil prepared to follow, and forming a junction
with Ormond, to give battle to Cromwell. He moved
through Monaghan and Tyrone, in great bodily pain,
from an issue of blood, probably caused by some old
wound. Carried in a litter, he gave his orders, and

* The fable of the " Kilkenny cats," who devoured each other, leav
ing but the tails behind, is supposed to have originated with some Me-
nenius of those days.

120 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
hastened his troops. " A pair of russet leather boots,"
supposed to be poisoned,* were given him on the way,
and are traditionally believed to be the occasion of his
death. Standing as a sentinel on the pleasant borders
of Meath and Cavan, Lough Oughter Castle received
the dying soldier. On the 6th of November, 1649, he
breathed his last, leaving the faithful " Catholic army "
" Like sheep without a shepherd when the snow shuts out the sky."
Very few names in any history are more worthy of
our honorable and pious remembrance.f
The last effort made to maintain the Catholic contest
in this generation was by Bishop French, and the three
cities, Clonmel, Limerick, and Galway. Of these we
will have to speak farther on.
The nuncio, Rinuncini, somewhat censured at Rome,
retired to his palace at Fermo, and adorned its walls
with cartoons of the confederate war. Luke Wadding
did not live to hear the sorrowful end of his efforts.
After declining the well-deserved dignity of cardinal, he
died a Friar Minor, in 1657, and was buried near Hugh
O'Neil, on St. Peter's Mount.
The Protestant side of this narrative is now in turn.
We have seen the Presbyterians in Ireland in 1610,
and the Puritans in 1640. The- solemn league and
covenant fused and held them together, in all Irish
enterprises, whatever differences might arise between
them in England or Scotland.
In the beginning they had the king on their side-; for
nearly twenty years, the English Parliament was their
willing "instrument. This gave them great power, and
their many years' possession of the island gave them
every earthly opportunity to implant their species of
reformation all over the defeated country. To aid
them, the early Irish Protestants, Calvinists in creed,

# Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. ii, p. 83.
t Napoleon, whose chief study was military history, thought that,
had O'Neil lived, he would have overmatched Cromwell. Vide Voice
from St. Helena.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 121
were Episcopalians only in form. Usher's articles were
condemned by King James, and finally rejected by
" the Irish Church," as savoring too strongly of Calvin
There was always a Presbyterian leaven in Dublin,
though it was not till the Scotch plantation of the north
that there came to be a sect of them, nor till the arrival
of General Munroe and his Covenanters, in 1642, that
this sect was formidable- enough to assume the offensive.
Munroe's defeat diminished their numbers and confi
dence,, which only revived with the landing of their
English brethren under Cornwell.
The Puritanism exhibited in Ireland is English, rather
than Scotch, and military rather than immigrant. The
Scottish Puritan entered the field with the spade, his
English brother entered it with the firelock ; the Scot
would fight for his fields and faith, the Saxon for
Oliver and the spoils of Amalek. The one was in
search of a foreign settlement having little to entice
him back to his own country ; the Saxon was in
search of plunder with which he intended to enrich and
enlarge his native inheritance.
The history of both sections of the sect illustrates a
different mind.
The first Puritan chiefs in Ireland were the defeated
Munroe, Sir Charles Coote, (second of the name,)
Sir Henry Tichbourne, and Colonel Jones, to whom
Ormond had surrendered Dublin. All but the first-
named officer formed, in August, 1647, a junction in
Meath, for the purpose of driving the Leinster con
federate army from the neighborhood of their garrisons-
of Drogheda and Dublin. At Dungan Hill, the two
armies met, and the Puritans won a bloody victory.
Preston and Colkitto McDonnell, (the ally of Montrose,)
were defeated, and five thousand four hundred and
seventy confederates left dead upon the field. Jones,
after his victory, returned to Dublin, where he found
large supplies from the Long Parliament, and £1000 to
be distributed among his men, as a reward for their
valorous conduct.
Dublin, at this time, was the theatre of active Puritan
11

122 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
teaching. Stephen Jerome and Hugh Peters, two
'-' preachers of the word," vied with each other in the
violence of their invectives against the Catholics. Their
favorite precedents were taken from the wars of Joshua ;
awful were their imprecations on those who did " the
work of the Lord negligently." These apostles of ex
termination accompanied the army, and sailed in the
fleet to points of 'attack, discoursing of Phineas, and
Agag, and Gideon ; their texts from the New Testament
being confined to Antichrist, Armageddon,' and the
seventh seal. From the pulpit of the castle chapel,
Jerome cursed, in the name of the Lord, the time-
server who gave quarter to any son of Belial ; in the
fleet at Galway and Kinsale, Peters exhorted the fanat
ical Lord Forbes to follow the example of the captors
of Jericho and Hai, by " killing all that were there,
young men and old, children and maidens."
The exhorters of this school were quite successful
in keeping alive the merciless dispositions of the Par
liamentarians. Abubeker and Omar did not more
thoroughly inspire cruelty into their followers than these
Puritan chaplains into their attendants. During the
years 1647 and 1648, they beat the iron souls of men,
already fanatical enough, to the white heat, which,
under Cromwell's eye, wrought such devastations the
year following.
The king executed, his surviving friends in exile,
Scotland subsidized for the time, there remained but
one work for. Oliver Cromwell to do, to entitle him to
the sovereignty he aimed at ; and this work was, the
utter subjection of the Irish Catholics. Accordingly, he
procured from the Parliament the title of Lord General
and Lord Governor of Ireland, and at the head of the
veterans of Naseby and Marston Moor, reached Dublin,
August .15, 1649. Standing up bareheaded in his
carriage, he promised the citizens, as he entered, an early
triumph over their enemies. Oliver had sworn to make
short work of it : he was now entered on his fiftieth year.
The long self-denial and incessant plots of a quarter of a
century had at last placed him within two steps of abso-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 123
lute power. One of these steps was the conquest of
Ireland, the other the dissolution of the Long Parlia
ment, which had lately constituted itself an oligarchy.
To take the last step in time, Ireland should be over
powered quickly. A murderous despatch in the Irish
campaign, he knew, would strike. terror into' the English
royalists, and give a revengeful joy to men of the Cov
enant. For a. century Ireland's constancy had been
England's abhorrence, while Ireland's valor at home and
credit abroad, had of late alarmed England's passion
for supremacy.
As Catholics, as royalists, as a rival race, it was safe to
slaughter them. Besides, more than two years' absence
from England might permit other influences to take root
too deeply. It was, consequently, no heat of the hour,
no retaliation for Irish excesses, but a deliberately chosen
policy in Cromwell, to doom all who opposed his arms
or his theology in Ireland to instantaneous death. In
his own closet, or in the cabin of his ship, amid the
waves of the Channel, this Gothic resolution was formed,
not upon the field, nor under fhe excitement of actual
battle. Cromwell brought from England eight thousand foot,
four thousand horse, an unusually large train of artil
lery, and twenty thousand pounds in money. The
Puritan army previously there was more 4han equal in
numbers to the reenforcement. Ireton, Jones, Ludlow,
Coote, Waller, and other able officers served under
him, and the majority of the Long Parliament were his
obedient servants. -His plan of campaign was to
strike rapidly with his whole force on the walled
towns, still possessed by the Catholics. He began with
Drogheda, the northern town, most formidable to his
party. Twice repulsed by the garrison under Colonels Wall
and Byrne, a breach was at ' last effected, quarter
offered, and the town taken. In his letter to the
speaker of the Parliament, Oliver writes, " We refused
them quarter, having the day before summoned the
town. I do not think thirty of the whole escaped,

124 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
and those that did are in safe custody for the Barba
does." *
Marching south, Wexford was next invested and
cannonaded. By the treachery of a Captain Stafford,
one of the flankers of the town wall was yielded at v
night to the enemy. The brave governor, Colonel
David Synnott, proposed terms, and commissioners
were abtually exchanged, when Cromwell entered by
Stafford's connivance, and slew two thousand of the
soldiery and people. The women of the town, flying
to the market cross, huddled together in hope of
mercy ; but, like the captors of Hai, the leader of the
Puritans spared neither " children nor maidens." Two
barges full of fugitives, in attempting to put to sea,
sunk in the harbor, and three hundred of those in
them were drowned.
" This town," writes Cromwell to Speaker Lenthall,
is now so in your power, that of the former inhabit
ants I believe scarce one in twenty can challenge
any property in their own houses. Most of them are
run away, and many of them killed in the service."
Gallant Wexford!
Waterford made a gallant defence, and during Crom
well's time did not surrender. Dtingannon Fort, Passage,
and Ross were, however, taken, and the Puritans pro
ceeded into Munster.
Cionmel, Limerick, and Galway, warned by the
fugitives from Leinster what they had to expect,
made memorable resistance. These three cities held
out for nearly two years against the entire force which
conquered the Cavaliers in a campaign, and overran
Scotland in six months.
In the winter of 1649, with an augmented force,
Oliver invested Cionmel, defended by Hugh O'Neil,
nephew of Owen, and a garrison of one thousand two

* In the same letter he states the Irish garrison at three thousand,
so that two thousand nine hundred and seventy must haye been put
to death at Drogheda.' Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, edited by
Carlyle. London, 1846.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 125
hundred men. Neither the place nor its works was of
much strength. Yet every assault on it failed. In
April, 1650, the garrison began to starve for food.
No practical attempt was made by Lord Ormond, now
the royalist general-in-chief, for their relief, and O'Neil,
after a six months siege, was obliged to retreat. Even
from the fierce and bitter Puritans, the defence of
Cionmel, extorted admiration. They declared, " that
they found in Cionmel the stoutest enemy this army
had ever encountered in Ireland ; and that there was
never seen so hot a storm of so long continuance, and
so gallantly defended either in England or Ireland." *
O'Neil retreated skilfully, bringing all his men with
him, and safely conducting them to Limerick, where the
municipality at once chose him governor of that old city,
so memorable in this and another similar war. In July,
Sir Hardress Waller, at the head of a Puritan division,
after attempting it in vain, raised the siege. Early in
1651, Ireton, Cromwell's lieutenant general, (Oliver was
in London dissolving the Long Parliament,) renewed the
siege. For nine months he pressed the place with can
non, with famine, and with spectacles of horror. Every
prisoner who fell into his hands was publicly put to
death, in sight of the city. Sedition also was fomented,
and a party of the magistrates induced to surrender.
O'Neil resisted this proposal with all his might, and
found in Terence Albert O'Brien, Bishop of Emly, and
Edmund O'Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, heroic coadjutors.
In vain the prelate and the soldier exhorted, argued,
and denounced the surrender ; a majority of tbe muni
cipal council carried it. The terms, however, were
disputed by Ireton. The siege went on, and sedition
grew warmer and more virulent. A Captain French, in
the interest of the submissionists, yielded St. John's
gate to Ireton, and then the brave governor and the
bishops, to save, as they hoped, the lives of the people,
agreed to terms, which exempted themselves, and fifteen
of their friends, from the list of the pardoned. When
* Whitelock's History, p. 411.
11*

126 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
the town was once in the hands of the Puritans, O'Neil
was tried, and by one vote only his life was saved.
General Purcel, Sir Geoffrey Galway, Bishop O'Brien,
two friars, and two of the aldermen, on the Eve of A1J
Saints, were hanged and beheaded.* Bishop O'Dwyer
escaped in the disguise of a. trooper to Brussels, and,
like his brave friend O'Neil, who spent a long interval
in London Tower, he ended his days in exile.
In August, 1651, the Puritans appeared before that
city called — Galloway, rebellium et Gallorum permlti-
mum refugium — "Galway, the refuge of rebels and
Frenchmen." f General Preston commanded there, and
the remnant of the onee powerful confederate council,
presided over by Nicholas French, still deliberated
within its walls. Altered, indeed, was the condition of
that synod, but not unworthy of its heroic past was
the end. Driven from Kilkenny to Waterford, thence
to Cionmel, thence to Limerick, to Loughrea, and to
Jamestown, they finally removed to Galway, their " city
of refuge." Diminished in numbers, but not in spirit,
the empty chairs of their martyred colleagues elevated
rather than appalled their courage. Bishop French was
the soul and bond of these last mournful sessions. He
endeavored to get the Marquis of Clanrickarde, Charles's
only recognized representative, after Ormond's emigra
tion, to take the captaincy of the war. Clanrickarde
temporized and equivocated. It was then proposed
to make peace with Cromwell. The bistibp stoutly
opposed the suggestion, and advocated the revival of
the old oath of confederation, suffered to lapse at the
peace of 1648, and the open invitation of foreign aid,
" without any regard to King Charles's authority." J
Against every opposition he carried this motion, and he
himself, with Rochfort, Browne, and Plunkett, leading

* At his execution, Bishop O'Brierl solemnly summoned Ireton to
follow him to the judgment seat of God. In nine days after, that mer
ciless general died of the plague.
t Inscription of a medal struck by William LU.
j Clarendon's Civil Wars, p. 186.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 127
commoners, were sent out instructed by the council, "to
treat and agree with any Catholic prince, state, republic,
or person, as they might deem expedient for the pres
ervation of the Catholic religion and nation," the
council promising " to ratify the same." These en
voys — this forlorn diplomatic hope — landed at Am
sterdam and proceeded to Brussels. The Duke of
Lorrain, a descendant of Godfrey, the crusader, enter
tained their propositions, and sent De Henin, canon of
St. Catharine's, with five thousand pounds, and two
small ships laden with military stores, to the assembly
at Galway. De Henin's instructions were to make
a treaty securing the towns yet possessed by the
Catholics, with the title of " lord protector," to his
master. Clanrickarde refusing to even entertain their
terms, time and the alliance were lost forever.
During this negotiation, the siege of Galway went
on. In October, 1651, Ireton prepared to march on "it,
but before he could leave Limerick he died. Ludlow,
his successor, allowed Coote to carry on the siege. In
the winter it slacked, but in the spring it was renewed.
On the 12th of April, 1652, Galway, having made
tolerable terms, opened her marble gates to the con
querors. Preston, the general, and the other more
active confederates immediately sailed for France.*

* In the Life of the Bishop of Killala, (Prancis Kirwan,) who was in
Galway during the siege, by Bishop Lynch, also of Galway, this inter
esting passage respecting the event occurs : —
" While the. Bishop of Killala was intent on tljese pious undertakings,
the hostile army marched into Connaught, laying the1 province waste
with fire and sword, and on the 8th of July, 1651, laid that siege to
Galway which continued to the ninth month. Meantime, the bishop
labored with all his energies to drive the besiegers from before the city
— and this at a moment when the Catholic troops, either owing to their
paucity or non-payment of their arrears, were unwilling to march. He
caused a priest to precede him, carrying a cross, and in this fasMon
passed through his entire diocese, beseeching the people not to hesitate
to do battle for their king, altars, and country, and contribute money
for the supply of the soldiery ; for he hoped, by means of additional
subsidies, the Catholics would raise the siege of Galway, and save them
selves from impending ruin.
" You might justly style him another Bernard, inspiriting men, by

128 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Nicholas French, the last heroic name of this ten
years' crusade, died where he was educated, at Louvain
College, in 1678, equally proscribed by Cromwell and
by Charles. During his exile he was coadjutor in turn
to the Archbishops of St. Jago, in Spain, of Ghent, and
of Paris. The cardinal's hat is sculptured on his
tomb, in the chapel of St. Anthony; but whether that
dignity was ever conferred on him is,.to us, not known.
His writings are the best contemporary record of the

his eloquence, to rally in masses for the prosecution of the holy war,
and sustain it with augmented contributions ; or another St. Lorchan,
gathering forces by money and entreaty, to snatch his Dublin from the
enemy's hands. Yet, though the efforts of those three men proved
unavailing, to the end that, by long endurance of calamities, crimes
might be expiated, and deserts increased, nevertheless they are to be
regarded as divinely inspired ; for God sometimes inflames men's minds
for war, which does not invariably bring about the result desiderated.
" When it came to be known in Europe that the Christians were
overwhelmed in Palestine, then did the rabble whet their tongues
against St. Bernard, and cast upon him the blame of all the slaughter ; •
for he, by his preaching, caused an infinite multitude of men to enroll
themselves among the crusaders. Whilst Bernard was br6oking all this
ignominy, a certain parent earnestly entreated bi-m to obtain, by his
prayers from God, the restoration of signt for his son, who had been
stricken blind. At first, the saint positively denied that he had any such
power ; but, urged by the incessant expostulations of the bystanders,
he flung himself upon his knees, and implored God ' that if the word
of his preaching had come from Him, or if his Holy Spirit was with
him, he would deign to evidence it by restoring vision to the blind one ; '
thereon the boy saw all objects before him clearly, and the calumniators,
converted into admirers by this miracle, renounced their objurgations, and
Spoke aloud in St. Bernard's praise.
" At length on the 12th of April, 1652, Galway yielded to the besieg
ers on certain conditions, which were far from being fulfilled ; and a few
months after, the whole province of Connaught passed into the hands of
the enemy, who, now being the dominant party, bestowed the episcopal
residence of Killala on Walter Sesevola de Burgo, a noble Catholic,
ejected from his castle in the month of July. By this transfer, the suc
cessful party fancied they made ample reparation to the foresaid noble
man for the losses he had sustained. This Scsevola de Burgo not only
gave permission to our bishop to conceal himself in his house, but
rejoiced exceedingly at the opportunity. The prelate, therefore, bid
himself within the limits of a cooped-up sleeping room, which contained
two beds, for himself and chaplain. This apartment was feebly lighted
by a window, and was large enough to hold a chest. The room was
infested by mice, which kept continually running over the heads of the
sleepers, and frequently made away with their candle."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 129
Catholic confederation of 1641-1651.* His life is one
of the most inspiring in all the annals of his country.
The Puritan legislation was as merciless as the Puritan
army. It extends in time from the dispersion of the last
Catholic council, in 1651, till the restoration of 'King
Charles, nine years later. After " the peace," the Puri
tan officers met, in their usual fashion, to consider how
the soldiers of the Parliament, and the adventurers of
money to carry on the war, were to be indemnified.
" Lord Broghill proposed," at this council, " that the
whole kingdom might be surveyed, and the number of
. acres taken, with the quality of them ; and then all the
soldiers to bring in their arrears, and so to give every
man, by lot, as many acres of ground as might answer
the value of his arrears. This was agreed on ; and all
Ireland being surveyed, and the value of acres given in,
the highest was valued at only four shillings the acre, and
some only at a penny. Accordingly they took the names
of all that were in arrear, who drew lots in which part of
the kingdom their portion should be ; and in this manner
the whole kingdom was divided among the conquerors
and adventurers of money." f Finding this scheme im
practicable, an alternative was opened to the Catholic
population. A large part of the province of Connaught
and county of Clare had become depopulated during the
war, and to Connaught, or Barbadoes, was the alterna
tive offered to the vanquished. Twenty thousand were
transported beyond seas to fhe West India colonies and
the tobacco plantations ; " thousands, principally fe
males, to the colonies in America." Hundreds of thou
sands more were crowded over the Shannon. A tribunal
"to ascertain and settle claims to lands and houses in
Ireland," in tbe years 1655, 6, and 7, was daily employed
in parcelling out the island, while the most horrid re
strictions were imposed on the remnant of the dispos
sessed natives. If a Catholic moved out of- his district
without a license, he was to be shot ; to keep a musket;
* Dublin, reprinted by James Duffy, 1847, (two volumes.)
t Orrery's (BroghilTs) liemoirs, vol. i. p. 39.

130 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
sword, or any other weapon, was punishable with death ;
no Catholic could reside in certain chief towns, nor within
three miles of their walls ; to receive or harbor a priest
was present death." * Most rigorously was this barba
rous code executed, in every detail. The population sunk
below what it had been even after the Danish wars, and
the spirit of the nation decayed quicker than the num
bers. The ruin of the Catholic gentry was absolute, and
by all human calculations the Catholic religion was at
the very point of expiration. Upon the dewy pastures
of Erin Puritan cattle fatten, while in the swamps of
Barbadoes the Irish cry goes up to Heaven. But all do
i.not live to reach Barbadoes. Thousands perished at sea.
Emir McMahon, Bishop of Clogher, was beheaded
and embowelled at Enniskillen ; Arthur Maginnis, Bishop
of Down, died at sea, flying into exile ; the Archbishop
of Cashel, and the Bishop of Leighlin, were fugitives in
Spain ; the Bishops of Limerick, Raphoe, and Ferns, in
the Netherlands ; the Archbishop of Tuam, the Bishops
of Cork, Cloyne, Ross, Waterford, Killalo; and Kilfenora,
in different parts of France, The. Bishop of Kilmacduah
was concealed among his friends in England. Of the
twenty-six Irish prelates, only three were suffered in
Ireland, the Primate O'Reilly, McGeoghegan, Bishop of
Meath, and the bedrid Bishop of Kilmore. Of the bish
ops, who, in the victorious days of the confederation,
filled their sees, administering orders and governing the
churches, twelve died in exile, and four suffered martyr
dom. The sufferings of those who lay in concealment
year after year' were almost beyond the endurance of
fortitude even such as theirs. The adventures of one —
the Bishop of Killalo — is illustrative of those of all' his
contemporaries. His biographer says :
" He then proceeded, by short marches, to Galway,
" and finally entered the city about eventide, in disguise.
*' Here he remained safe for a long time, protected by hia
" friends ; but a rumor was soon spread that he was con-
* Clarendon's Life, vol. ii. p. 116. Laws of the Protectorate, A. D.
1655 and 6. Mr. Carlyle, with his usual fanaticism, attempts to justify
this wholesale plunder. — Life and Letters of CromwelT, vol. i.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 131
" cealed in the city; -whereon the soldiers of the garrison
" expended and squandered much time searching for
" him. They had been certified by informers of- the
" houses which the bishop was wont to frequent, and then
" searched their inmost recesses ; but as the search was
" instituted, 'generally speaking, about three days after
" the bishop had retired thence, they did not arrest him.
" So keen, however, was their pursuit of him, that he was
" obliged to take refuge in the" topmost stories of the
" houses, aneath the tiles, and this, too, at midwinter
" without a spark of fire. Sometimes he was forced to
" go out on the roof, and, whilst his -pursuers were gaining
" on him, to descend into a neighboring house by the
" dormant window. For, as most of the houses in Gal-
" way are connected, a person can safely walk on the
" roofs, and thus pass from one house to another ; and,
" as the interior walls support the roof, parapets rise on
" the outside, under cover of which it is easy to find
" shelter. " At length, after the bishop had eluded the various
" snares set for him, he was joyously received by a cer-
" tain friend who was not very rich. Little did this man
" care for the loss of his property, which was inconsidera-
" ble, but greatly was he concerned for the safety of his
" prelate. Here, in midwinter, on the floor, right under
" the roof, without a fire, was he obliged to lurk as long
" as his health permitted him, nor did he descend to the
" lower chamber till nighttime, when he required sleep.
" Owing to this irksome, sedentary habit and unhealthy
" position, together with all his former sufferings, he was
" seized with a most grievous malady, and compelled to
" betake him to his bed, nor could he much longer escape
" the soldiers, who licentiously visited every house ; where-
" fore, td protect him from their ruffian assaults, he was
" advised by some friends to surrender himself to the
" governor, who, seeing that the virulence of his disease
"was killing htm, forbade the soldiers to give him any
" trouble, as soon as some of the richer citizens had en-
" tered into security for his appearance in the governor's
" court, provided he survived."

132 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
At home the priesthood fared full worse. In 1652, the
Puritan commissioner proclaimed the 27th of Elizabeth
to be "the law of the commonwealth," as to priests and
Jesuits. Twenty-eight days only were given all such
persons to depart the kingdom, A great number emi
grated, but about an equal number remained. A thou^
sand victims dared to remain to be captured and executed,
and the cruel perseverance with which they were hunted
down resembles more the revengeful horrors of romance
than the truths of history. " Some of them were burned
before a slow fire ; some were put on the rack, and tor
tured to death ; whilst others, like Ambrose Cahill and
James O'Reilly, were not only slain with the greatest
cruelty, but their inanimate bodies were torn into frag
ments, and scattered before the wind." * The Dominican
order counts thirty Irish martyrs within its decade ; the
Augustinians an equal number; the Franciscans^ still
more; the losses of the Jesuits must have been great.
Of the destruction of the secular clergy there is no rec
ord, but of near a thousand who remained in Ireland
after the proclamation of 1652, it is certain not one half
outlived Oliver Cromwell.
Fearful as was the persecution ¦ of the clergy, nobles,
and peasants, the afflictions of those who lived in gar
risoned districts were scarce less; Upon these the soldiery
were billeted at free quarters, and from them their pay
was collected weekly.
" Along with the three scourges of God," says an
eye-witness, — "famine, plague, and war, there was
" another, which some called the fourth scourge, to wit,
" the weekly exaction of the soldiers' pay, which was
" extorted, with incredible atrocity, each Saturday, —
" bugles sounding and drums beating. On these occa-
" sions the soldiers entered the various houses, and
" pointing their muskets to the breasts of • men and
" women, threatened them with instant death if the
" sum demanded was not immediately given. Should it
* Croly's Life of Archbishop Plunket, Dublin, 1850, O'Daly's Geral-
dine, Dr. French's Tracts, and Peter Walsh's History of the Remon
strance, are the best contemporary authorities.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 133
" have so happened, that the continual payment of
" these pensions had exhausted the means of the people,
" bed, bedding, sheets, table cloths, dishes, • and every
" description of furniture, nay, the very garments of the
" women, torn off their persons, were carried to the
" market-place and sold for a small sum ; so much so,
" that each recurring Saturday, bore a resemblance to
" the day of judgment, and the clangor of the trumpet
" smote the people with terror almost equal to that of
" doomsday." *
Domiciliary visits were made at all hours of the night
and day, and the godly soldiers of the Covenant, like
other rigid theorists, showed, by the licentiousness of
their lives, how very far an affected austerity is from real
piety and purity.
Moreover, the " navigation act," passed by the Pro
tector ostensibly against the Dutch, struck still more
severely at the Irish* seaports. From them, nominally
under the same government, all direct trade with the
colonies was cut off. By securing the monopoly of the
" carrying trade " to " British bottoms," Ireland was
ordered off the ocean as a trespasser ; nor has she ever
yet recovered what she lost during the long continuance
of that most partial and unjust statute.-)- This ahd
other laws of the commonwealth were enacted in
London, the two kingdoms being placed by the Pro
tector under one general legislature.
Oliver died in September, 1658, to the great delight
of the Catholics. Immediately a presentiment of King
Charles's return filled the minds of men. Though
Richard Cromwell was proclaimed Protector, at London
and Dublin, no one expected him to hold power. Im
itating the adroit policy of General Monk, Broghill,
Coote, Inchiquin, and other Irish Puritans, besieged
Athlone, Limerick, Cionmel, and Waterford, and de-
* Lynch's Life of Bishop Kirwan.
t Cromwell's navigation act, the basis of the maritime code of
England, was reSnacted by Charles n.'s first Parliament ; repealed by
the Irish Parliament in 1779, after' operating above a century. It has
been finally abolished in England, in 1849.
12

134 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
clared for the king. At the restoration, next year,
Broghill was made Earl of Orrery, Coote Earl of
Mountrath, and the rest confirmed in their parliamenta
rian grants. Though the greater part of their spoils
were also secured to them, the Dublin Puritans, in
common with their English brethren, never relished
the restoration. In 1665, under Colonel Blood, they
attempted to seize the Castle of Dublin but the plot
failed. Twenty years later we find them active against
James, and devoted to. William. A leaven of the old
spirit of Hugh Peters and Stephen Jerome has always
lingered in the Irish capital, but its activity has been
only an irritant to the more powerful and better dis
posed classes of that population. Presbyterian Derry
submitted to the restoration with similar insincerity.
The Puritan and Presbyterian powers had Ireland,
as we have seen, at their mercy for a dozen years.
They succeeded in destroying many, in converting
none. They fought bravely, giving no quarter to " the
uncircumcised." They rooted out the Irish gentry, and
exiled or martyred the clergy. They had imported into
Ireland the seeds of every kindred sect, but not one of
them took root.* They had violated shrines, defaced
tombs, defiled altars, and beheaded priests ; but they had
not made twenty Puritans in all broad Ireland ! It is
recorded with wonderment in the records of Galway
that in that populous city they had a solitary convert,
one ' Lynch Fitz-Thomas, who, it is added, died of
remorse and a broken heart. They were less successful
even than Browne and St. Leger, than Strafford and
Usher. These first reformer's could fill a pew, at a
"pinch, but as for the poor Puritans, all their Irish con
verts might have been stowed into Hugh Peters's pulpit.
Of the chief of the ferocious sect, Oliver Cromwell,
we need say but little. The perverse spirit of a litera-

* " Independents, Anabaptists, Seceders, Brownists, Socinians, Mil-
lenarians, and Dissenters of every description " formed " this new
colony." — Speech of Lord Chancellor Clare, on the Irish Union, 1800.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 135
ture whose boast is to glorify success and worship
mere strength, has striven to exalt him into a hero.
It entirely depends on the standard, whether or not you
find him to be a hero. If candor, bravery, gentleness,
justice, generosity, and unostentatious devotion be
heroic attributes, Oliver was none. If craft, courage,
hypocrisy, and slaughter make a hero, he was self-
made. Irish tradition has kept his memory in a proverb
which makes his name synonymous with hunger and
rapine. History, informed by the spirit of our holy
religion, condemns him as one o'f the most wicked and
detestable of the fallen children of Adam.

BOOK II.

A. D. 1660 to 1727.

FROM THE

RESTORATION OP CHARLES II.

UNTIL THE

DEATH OF GEORGE I.
12*

CHAPTER I.
RESTORATION OF CHARLES H. — ACT OF SETTLEMENT. — ORMOND'S
ATTEMPT TO GALLICANIZE THE IRISH CHURCH. —SYNOD OF 1666.
— LORD BERKELEY'S VICEROYALTY. — THE NEW TEST ACT.—
"THE POPISH PLOT." — MARTYRDOM OF PRIMATE PLTjNKETT.—
ASSASSINATION OF COUNT REDMOND O'HANLON.
After ten years of exile, Charles II. was restored to
the throne of England, in the spring of 1660. His min
isters were chosen from among the companions of his
banishment — the principal being Lord Clarendon, for
chancellor, and the Marquis, now Duke of Ormond, for
lord lieutenant of Ireland. Ormond brought with him
to Dublin a lively recollection of the opposition given to
his designs, twenty years before, by the bishops, and pow
ers of intrigue which the shifts of exile had practised to
perfection. .
The king, in his declaration, signed and sealed at
Breda, the year before his restoration, had pledged- him
self against persecution. " We do declare," he said, " a
liberty to tender consciences ; and that no man shall be
disquieted, or called in question for matters of religion
which'do not disturb the peace of the kingdom ; and that
we shall be ready to consent to such an act of Parlia
ment, as, upon mature deliberation, shall be offered to us
for the full granting of that indulgence." The year of his
restoration, in his speech to the new Parliament, he had
also said, " I hope I need say nothing of Ireland, and
that they alone shall not be without the full benefit of
my mercy; they have showed much affection to me
abroad, and you will have a care of my honor and of
what I have promised them." Such, was Charles's per
sonal relation to the Irish Catholics.
Respect for the king's pledges, as well as his natural
turn of mind, led Ormond again to temporize with the Irish

14G\ ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
bishops. In this case, he employed Father Peter Walsh,
a native of Kildare, and graduate of Louvain, a Francis
can by profession, but a Gallican and a tuft-hunter..
Early in 1661, Father Walsh procured, from the Irish prel- '
ates on the continent, a power of attorney to act as their
" procurator," within certain limits. " You must humble
yourselves more," wrote Walsh to his principals ; " I dare
not show your letters to the duke." Bishop French,
" seeing he could not satisfy God and his grace, together,"
refussd a more complete submission, and Walsh, having
drawn up " a remonstrance," or protestation of Catholic
loyalty, could obtain only the signature of the bedrid
Bishop of Kilmore, about seven of the Catholic gentry, a
few of the priesthood, and the townsmen of Wexford.
With these names it was presented to King Charles, " who
reserved a clean copy of it- for his own use." The same
year the statute of uniformity was reenacted at West
minster. . The Catholic gentry fared almost as ill as the exiled
prelacy. The Irish Puritan proprietors kept as their agents
at court Sir James Shean and Sir John Clotworthy, at
whose disposal they placed between twenty and thirty
thousand pounds, to " dispose of it properly," in " making
presents." Shean assures his chief employer, Orrery, that
he made a good use of it, being so " wary as to pay the
money by other hands " than his own. In Ormond and
Clarendon these agents had powerful friends, and by them
the act of settlement was obtained, by which all who had
not gone over to Ormond in the confederate war, or who
had " resided in the enemies' " quarters, were declared dis
entitled to their estates. In vain eight thousand old pro
prietors appealed to the king's mercy and to his honor..
Out of that number less than a thousand were heard, and
about a score were successful. In Ulster Lord Antrim
and Sir Henry O'Neil, in Connaught Lord Clanrickarde,
Lord Mayo, Colonel O' Kelly, and Colonel Moore only
were restored. The act of explanation, formally indorsing
the new arrangement of Irish titles, was passed in 1665,
and received the king's sanction. For their services in
procuring its enactment, Clarendon had eight thousand

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 141
pounds, Sir Heneage Finch, the king's solicitor, six thou
sand pounds, and Ormond over sixty thousand pounds,
besides the fee simple of Kilkenny city, procured for him
by the Puritan lords. The Cromwellians by this act
had seven million eight hundred thousand Irish acres con
firmed to them. The situation of the old Irish proprie
tors, hangers-on at the court of Charles, was miserable
in the extreme. In vain Lord Castlemaine (or whoever
wrote, in 1666, the memorial called " Castlemaine's
Apology for the Catholics") represented their case in
most moving terms. " Consider, we beseech you," he
said, "the sad condition of the Irish soldiers now in
England; the worst of which nation could be but in
tentionally so wicked, as the acted villany of many
English, whom your admired clemency pardoned. Re
member how they left the Spanish service when they
heard their king was in France, and how they forsook
the employment of that unnatural prince, after he had
committed the never-to-be-forgotten act of banishing
his distressed kinsman out of his kingdom. These men
left all again to bring their monarch to his home : and
shall they then be forgotten by you ? " All in vain !
No eloquence could reach the Parliament, still largely
tinctured with Puritanism. Their fanaticism may be
judged from the fact of their attributing the great fire
of London, in 1666, to the Papists, instead of to narrow
streets and wooden houses.
The claims of the Catholic gentry being successfully
resisted, Ormond lent his hand anew to overreaching
the episcopacy. Seeing the king so weak, and the
Parliament so strong, the bishops were willing tojwaive
some of the claims advanced at the restoration. All
Europe had remarked on the breach of the royal faith
plighted to . them, and it was deemed politic' by the
king's ministers to show some desire to redeem the
pledges of Breda. In this spirit the duke proposed a
synod of such of the surviving bishops, abroad, as
he should grant passes to for that purpose. Father
Walsh's remonstrance, the propositions adopted by the
University of Paris in 1663, and some Irish books, pub-

142 ATTEMPTS to establish THE
lished at Lisbon, advocating the abstract right of
Ireland forcibly to separate from England, were to be
submitted to them — the first two for approval, these
last for formal condemnation. On these topics, the
lieutenant anticipated either division or disagreement :
" Set them at open difference," wrote the Earl of Cork,
" that we may reap some practical advantage thereby."
" My object," responded Ormond, " was to work a divi
sion among the Romish clergy." *
No subjects of debate could be better chosen for the
purpose than Gallican and Ultramontane principles.
This memorable synod, which tested so severely the
fortitude of the outlawed bishops, met in Dublin, on the
11th of June, 1666, and sat fifteen days. The primate,
O'Reilly, the Bishop of Meath, the vicars of four other
bishops, (all who then remained alive,) and the superiors
of the regular orders attended. The regular clergy at
the time, in Ireland, amounted to eleven hundred,
and the seculars to seven hundred and eighty. By
these, through, their representatives, the propositions
of Paris were formally repudiated, and "the remon
strance " set aside as of questionable orthodoxy. They
condemned the books advocating separation from Eng
land, and presented a succinct declaration of their
own loyalty. Wherever the propositions' or the remon
strance had trenched on the Papal supremacy, they
courageously condemned both.f On the 25th, the synod
was ordered to disperse, the bishops and vicars fled, and
all seminaries and convents were closed by proclama
tion. Primate O'Reilly, after being imprisoned in
England, was allowed to exile himself. In 1669, he
died at Brussels, and Dr. Oliver Plunkett, a professor
in the College de Propaganda Fide was sent from
Rome to fill his place.
* Curry's Civil Wars, book ix. c. 14. — Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. ii.
'Appendix, p. 10. The letter of the duke to Lord Orrery is given in
Curry's Civil Wars.
t Walsh's History of the Remonstrance. Charles Butler's Memoirs
of the Catholics, vol. iii. p. 420.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 143
The Catholic exiles abroad filled Europe with their
denunciations of Ormond's persecution, which was
almost as severe as Cromwell's. The pope and the
King of Spain joined in reproaching Charles. His
court was divided into factions, and he himself seems
only to have hoped that the monarchy might outlast his
day. In 1669, however, Ormond was removed from the
viceroyalty, and after a few months of Lord Roberts,
Lord Berkeley, a pro-Catholic, was appointed, through
the influence of the Duke of York, afterwards James II.
Lord Berkeley's administration was a blessed calm to the
Irish Catholics. Primate Plunkett openly visited his
diocese, confirming children, consecrating churches, and
ordaining priests. A synod was allowed to sit in
Dublin, without interference of the state. Peter Talbot,
archbishop of the city, was received in his robes at the
castle! Chapels were connived at in every ward ; new
priests arrived by every ship; Catholic aldermen were
admitted to the municipal councils, and some Catholic
commoners were elected to Parliament.
Emboldened by these signs, the Catholic gentry,
disinherited by the act of settlement, appointed Colonel
Richard Talbot, one of the Duke of York's favorites,
special agent to promote their claims at London. In
August, 1671, notwithstanding the rigorous opposition
of Ormond, Orrery, and Finch, a royal commission was
issued, during the recess of Parliament, to inquire into
the allegations of the petitioners. A regular storm arose
in consequence, and the Puritan "majority of the new
House of Commons, in 1673, compelled the king to recall
Lord Berkeley, and to rescind " the declaration of indul
gence to dissenters," 'granted three years before. They
did not stop here : they proceeded, in the infamous " test
act," to declare every person incapable of civil or mili- .
tary employment who did not take the oath of su
premacy, renounce transubstantiation, and "receive the
sacrament" according to their, heretical' form.; they de
manded that all convents and seminaries should be
closed, that all Catholics should be expelled from cor
porate towns, and that Colonel Talbot should be

144 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
arrested. . The king, to whom the very name of a Parlia
ment was terrible, yielded on every point. Archbishop
Talbot, with his brother, .being specially named in the
parliamentary address, had to fly into France for present
safety. After, three years of truce or toleration, the war was
thus renewed on the Irish church. In these years she
had undergone such reparation as enabled her to sur
vive the terrible storms then approaching. The primate,
Oliver Plunkett, a man of rare sagacity, goodness, and
energy, had increased the secular clergy from eleven
hundred to above two thousand ; healed the breaches
between the Dominicans and Franciscans, and while
maintaining the dignity of his own see, had aided
in the restoration of several others. His astonishing
labors were the best proof that he was the worthiest of
all the Irish church to fill the see which St. Patrick
had founded, and which St. Malachy had, under simi
lar circumstances, repaired.
• Lord Essex, Berkeley's successor, continued viceroy in
Ireland till 1677, when hewas succeeded by old Ormond.
He permitted the secret exercise of Catholic worship,
which Ormond, now that the war bishops were all dead,
would probably have continued to allow, had not " the
Popish Plot " suddenly broke out in London. News of
the discovery reached him in his castle at Kilkenny in
October, 1678, and though in private he ridiculed the
clumsy inventions, of Oates and Bedloe,* he publicly
affected great anxiety and activity in bringing the ac
cused parties to justice.
This horrible delusion, known as "the Popish Plot,"
was one of those periodical paroxysms of superstition
and bigotry to which the English popuiar mind has,
since the reformation, been subject. Its author was
Titus Oates, " a drunken and disorderly minister " of
the establishment ; a wretch who had left his charactei
in the stews, and his ears in the pillory; yet was he
implicitily believed, not only against priests and Jesuits,
* Carte's Life of Ormond.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND.- 145
but against peers of the realm, and even the king's con-
soit and brother. His success excited rivals ; Bedloe,
Castairs, and Dangerfield appeared in quick succession,
and the wildest inventions of romance were probable,
compared to their narratives. Yet, on such testimony,
scores of innocent lives were taken, and the fatal prison
cells, throughout both kingdoms, were crowded with the
" suspected." This reign of terror was made the pretext for ex
tending the test act to the peers of the realm. James,
Duke or York, and seven others, in the House of Lords,
protested against a measure to that effect ; but the meas
ure passed. The duke was next driven from the privy
council, and an attempt made to exclude him and
his issue fsom the throne ; but after a protracted contest,
and two dissolutions of Parliament, it failed, and the
duke's friends increased as the credit of the plot and
the health of Charles declined. James's conduct at this
juncture, as well as his marriage with Mary of Modena,
a Catholic, caused him to be regarded as the head and
hope of the Catholics of both islands.
While " the plot " raged, Ormond adopted the most
severe measures against the Irish Catholics. He seized
Archbishop Talbot of Dublin, " then in a dying way,"
and threw him into the castle prison, where, in 1681,
he expired. He issued a proclamation, dated October 16,
ordering all bishops, priests, and Jesuits to depart the
kingdom by the 20th of November. Another proclama
tion commanded all ship masters, outward bound, to
Carry them away ; another offered large rewards for
every officer and soldier who might be found attending
mass ; another banished all Catholics from the principal
walled town~end cities. An earlier proclamation, in 1679,
ordered "the kindred and friends" of all recusants, or
" persons out on their keeping," to be seized and impris
oned till the said persons were "either killed or taken;"
also, that whenever a murder was committed, and the
murderer not discovered, " the pretended Popish parish
priest " (if any) should be transported beyond the seas
till the murderer was " either killed or taken." " Vast
13

146 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
numbers of priests were shipped off," on these and other
pretences, " and the rest lurked in holes and corners."
Some, for their heroic devotion to their missions, paid
the final penalty of death on the scaffold.
Among the martyrs of this age, the most illustrious in
rank and virtues was the primate. On the issuing of
the proclamation,' he left his usual residence, and went
secretly to lodge in a village called Castletown Bellew.
Here he held a last ordination, and here, on the 6th of
December, 1679, he was arrested, on a charge of exer
cising ecclesiastical authority contrary to law. The
next year this charge was dropped, and the more tangible
one of high treason taken up. One Hetherington, an
accomplished English " discoverer " of the Oates school,
was sent over by Shaftesbury "to obtain information;"
and by him a score of good swearers were readily en
listed. These wretches, and those they accused, were
ordered to London for the trial. Lord Burke of Brittas,
and some others, arrested on the same evidence, escaped
by the glaring contradiction of the witnesses ; but the
primate was not equally fortunate, though the witnesses
against him were also ¦ contradictory. In 1680, he had
been lodged in Newgate, London, "where for six
months no Christian came near him, nor did he know
how things stood in the world." His trial, brought on
in May, and postponed till June, was had before a
bench that knew neither justice nor good manners.
Jeffreys, then a sergeant, was the chief prosecutor. The
principal witnesses were Duffy and McMoyer, two
friars, whom he had been forced to degrade for their
vices. The charge was, that he had conspired to bring
in the French at Carlingford, and to raise another Irish
rebellion. The " discoverers " of course swore roundly.
The primate, who made his own defence, contended,
I. That, by law, he should have been tried in Ireland.
II. That, a copy of the indictment being refused him, he
could have no defence ready. III. That at least he
should be allowed time to bring his witnesses over from
Ireland. After his clear and able demonstration of the
legality of the trial, the following remarkable scene
took place : — ¦

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 147
" Lord Chief Justice. Well, you have nothing fur
ther to say in bar of judgment: you have said all
you can V
" Plunkett. I have nothing further to say but what I
" have said.
" [Then proclamation was made for silence, while
" judgment was passing upon the prisoner.]
" Lord Chief Justice. Look you: Mr. Plunkett, you
" have been here indicted of a very great and heinous
" crime — the greatest and most heinous of all crimes;
" and that is high treason ; and truly yours is treason of
" the highest nature ; it is a treason, in truth, against God
" and your king, and the country where you lived. You
" have done as much as you could to dishonor God in
" this case ; for the bottom of your treason was your
" setting up your false religion, than -which there is not
" any thing more displeasing to God or more pernicious
" to mankind in the world — a religion that is ten times
" worse than all the heathenish superstitions ; the most
" dishonorable and derogatory to God and his glory of
" all religions or pretended religions whatsoever; for it
" undertakes to dispense with God's laws, and to pardon
" the breach of them. So that certainly a greater crime
" there cannbt be committed against God than for a man
" to endeavor the propagation of that religion : but you,
" to effect this, have designed the death of our lawful
" prince and king ; and then your design of blood in the
" kingdom where you lived, to set all together by the
" ears, to destroy poor innocent people, to prostitute their
" lives and liberties, and all that is dear to them, to the
" tyranny of Rome and France, and that by introducing
" a French army. What greater evil can be designed
" by any man ? I mention these things because they
" have all been proved against you, and that you may
" take notice and repent of them, and make your peace
'¦ with God by a particular application for mercy for all
" these faults ; for it seems to me that against God, your
" prince, and fellow-subjects, you have behaved yourself
" very ill, designing very great evil to all these ; and now
" it hath pleased God to bring you to judgment. I must

148 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" tell you, peradventure, what you urge for yourself might
" induce pity if it were to be believed ; that is, that you
" are innocent, and had witnesses to prove it: but we
" cannot suppose any man innocent that hath bad a legal
" and fair trial, and a trial with as much' candor to you
" as your case could bear, or as, perhaps, any man in
" such a case ever had. You had time, upon your re-
" quest, to send for your witnesses to help you in your
" defence, and to prove your innocence, if you could have
" done it; time long enough to your own content; you
" yourself thought it so at the time it was given. To
" give a prisoner, under your circumstances, five or six
" weeks' time to send for witnesses, is not usual ; we
" could have put you upon a present defence, and hurried
" you out of the world by a sudden trial, if we had had
" any design against you ; but we go on in a fair way,
" and with legal proceedings, and with such a respect to
" you as in such a case could be used, for we gave you
" all the fair hearing and liberty that you desired to have.
" Look you, as to what you urge, that your trial was in
" this kingdom, whereas your defence was in another;
" that is a thing that does not become you by any means
" to object, for you have had a trial here by honest per-
" sons, and that according to the laws which obtain in
" this kingdom, and that, too, in Ireland, which is by a
" statute not made on purpose to bring you into a snare,
" but an ancient statute, and not without precedence of
" having been put in execution before your time; for
" your own country will afford you several precedents in
" this case, as O'Rourk, and several others that have been
" arraigned and condemned for treason done here. So
" that you have no reason to except against the legality
" of your trial. You say, now you have witnesses that
" could prove all this matter ; why, that lies in the mouth
" of every man that is condemned to say; but pray con-
" sider with yourself what regard ought to be given to
" this. We cannot help it if your witnesses do not
" come; you may remember they wanted not time nor
" opportunity to come over; but you told us they would
" not come, unless they had a passport.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 149
" Plunkett. My lord, they got a pass to come over
" afterwards, and so in eight days they came hither.
" Lord Chief Justice. You might have provided your-
" self if they wanted such a thing. In the first place,
" nobody is bound to give it them, much less could you
" expect it for them without asking.
" Plunkett. I could not get the copies of the records,
" neither, by any means, unless I had an order from the
" council ; and they would not give that order, unless
" your lordship appointed it.
" Lord Chief Justice. We cannot tell that ; you should
" have petitioned in time.
" Plunkett. How could any one foresee, unless he was
" God Almighty, that they would deny it, or that he
" could not get out a copy of a record, paying for it,
" without a petition. All the friends I had told me, upon
" motion there, it might be had ; but here I have it under
" the lieutenant's and council's hands that they would
" give no copy of records without order from home,
" which, before I could know it, it was impossible for me
" to have them ready against my trial.
" Lord Chief Justice. Look you, sir, I do speak this
" to you, to show you that those objections which you
" mean to make against your trial have no weight at
" all; but in this case it is not the jury that are so ma-
" terial as the witnesses themselves. I appeal to all
" that heard your trial, if they could so much as doubt
" but that you were guilty of what you were charged
" with. For, consider, here were persons of your own
" religion, the most of them priests, I think almost all of
" them in orders.
" Plunkett. There were two friars and a priest, whom
" I have endeavored to correct seven years, and they were
" renegades from your religion, and dastard apostates.
" Lord Chief Justice. Look you, sir ; they gave an evi-
" dence very home to your matter ; you had liberty to ex-
" amine them, and they gave you a rational account of
" any thing you asked. Let me put you in mind of one
" thing. You made, exceptions to one's evidence, (and
" indeed that was very much of your exceptions to all,)

150 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" why he did not reveal this in all that time. Truly he
" told you he was of your mind till he went into France,
" and saw what slavery and mischief you endeavored to-
" introduce upon his and your countrymen ; and this his
" spirit rose against, to see what a condition Ireland was
" like to be brought into. And pray, did he not give you
" a full answer to your question ?
" Plunkett. I had sufficient witnesses to prove he was
" an apostate, and was chastised by me, and therefore
" had prepensed malice against me.
" Lord Chief Justicq. Therefore I have spoken this to
" the satisfaction, I hd^e, of yourself and all that hear it.
" I do now wish you to consider you are near your end,
" It seems you have lived in a false religion hitherto : it
" is not too late at any time to repent \ I wish you may
" have the grace to do so. In the mean time, there is
" no time for us here to grant you any kind of mercy,
" though I'll tell you we are inclined to pity all malefac-
" tors ; whoever have done evil, we are inclined to pity
" them, and wish heartily that they may repent, as we do
" that you may of what you have done. But all we can
" do now is to say what the law says, and that is, to pass
" judgment upon you.
" Plunkett. May it please your lordship to give me
" leave to speak one word. If I were a man that had no
" care of my conscience in this matter, and did not think
" of God Almighty, or conscience, or heaven, or hell, I
" might have saved my life, for I was offered it by divers
" people here, so I would but confess my own guilt, and
" accuse others. But, my lord, I had rather die ten thou-
" sand deaths than wrongfully accuse any body. And the
" time will come when your lordship will see what those
" witnesses are that have come in against me. I do as-
" sure your lordship, if I were a man that had not good
" principles, I might easily have saved my life ; but I
" had rather die ten thousand deaths than wrongfully to
" take away one farthing of any man's goods, one day of
" his liberty, or one minute of his life.
" Lord Chief Justice. I am sorry to see you persist in
" the principles of that religion.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 151
" Plunkett. They are those principles that even God
" Almighty cannot dispense withal.
" Lord Chief Justice. Well, however, the judgment
" which we must give you is that which the law says
" and speaks. And therefore you must go from hence
" to the place from whence you came, that is, to New-
" gate, and from thence you shall be drawn through the
" city of London to Tyburn ; there you shall be hanged
" by the neck, but cut down before you are dead, your
" bowels shall be taken out and burned before your face,
" your head shall be cut off, and your body be divided
" into four quarters, to be disposed of as his majesty
" pleases ; and I pray God to have mercy upon your soul.
" Plunkett. My lord, I hope I may have this favor, of
" leave for a servant and some few friends I have to come
" to me.
" Lord Chief Justice. I think you may have liberty for
" any servant to eome to you. I know nothing to the
" contrary. " Plunkett. And some few friends that I have in town.
" Lord Chief Justice. But I would advise you to
" have -some minister to come to you, some Protestant
" minister. " Plunkett. My lord, if you please, there are some in
" prison that never were indicted on account of any
" crime, and they will do my business very well ; for they
" will do it according to the rites of our own church,
" which is the ancient usage ; they cannot do it better,
" and I will not alter it now.
" Lord Chief Justice. Mr. Richardson, you may let
" his servant come to him, and any friend, in your pres-
" ence, to see there be no evil done, nor any contrivances
" that may hereafter have an influence upon affairs.
" Justice Jones. Be you present, or somebody.
" Plunkett. My servant, I hope, may come without
" his being present.
" Lord Chief Justice. Yes, yes ; his servant may be
" with him. Well, sir, we wish better to you than you
" do to yourself.
" Plunkett. God Almighty bless your lordship. And

152 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" now, my lord, as I am a dead man to this world, and
" as I hope for mercy in the other world, I was never
" guilty of any of the* treasons laid to my charge, as you
" will hear in time ; and my character you may receive
" from my lord chancellor of Ireland, my Lord Berkeley,
" my Lord Essex, and my Lord Ormond."
Prepared for death by Father Corker, one of his fellow-
prisoners, he went cheerfully to execution, on the 1st of
July, 1681, and was beheaded, embowelled, and quar
tered " according to law," on Tyburn green. Some relics
of this holy martyr are now preserved at the Sienna
convent, in Drogheda. His betrayers, one after another
perished miserably.*
About the time of the primate's execution, one whose
life was often attempted in vain, by the same suborned
set who brought Dr. Plunkett to the block, perished by
a treacherous device of the lord lieutenant. The duke,
having by some means got into the secret of this gentle
man's private affairs, employed one William Lucas, " to
whom he gave such private instructions " as procured
him an interview with his victim on the 25th of April,
1681. Lucas, seizing the opportunity, shot him through
the heart.
Redmond O'Hanlon, or Count O'Hanlon, (such was
the title of the murdered man,) was the representative of
a noble Irish family. Educated abroad, he was a soldier
by disposition and training, an accomplished musician,
and a poet. From his camp, amid the Mourne Moun
tains, he governed Louth and Down, and commanded
the passes from Dublin to the north. His passport was
better obeyed than a royal writ, and his laws were more
respected than the acts of the Parliament. He is remem
bered still, in the traditions of Ulster, as the Cromwellians'
scourge, the protector of the poor, and a gallant, finished
gentleman. His assassination is the last consummate
* See his Life, by Rev. Dr. Croly of Maynooth, Dublin, published
by James Duffy. Dr. Plunkett is stated by his biographer and by Bishop
Challoner to be the last martyr who publicly suffered for the faith in
Great Britain. This is incorrect. Father Maloney, or Father Nicholas
Sheehy, of Cionmel, was, probably, the last.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 153
crime that we shall have to record against the memory
of Ormond.*
Other men and other councils, were to prevail for a
season in both kingdoms, and this old but not venerable
viceroy was to drain beside his grave, the bitter cup of
exile, administered so often by his hand to other and
better men.

CHAPTER II.
ACCESSION OF JAMES II. —TALBOT, LORD DEPUTY. — IRISH SOL
DIERS IN ENGLAND. —INVASION OF WILLIAM III. — IRISH PAR
LIAMENT OF 1686.— "NO POPERY" RIOTS IN LONDON.— "THE
IRISH NIGHT." — THE WAR IN IRELAND.
King Charles, died and was succeeded by his brother,
James, in 1685. Uplike the rest of his house, James
had'given hostages to the Catholics. To be their friend
he had forfeited the confidence of a powerful party in
England, and his constancy to principle during the last
stormy years of his brother's reign had deservedly earned
him their confidence and gratitude.
Though secretly a Catholic, the king was compelled
by the circumstances of his country to moderate his
zeal. From the beginning, his reign is remarkable for a
divided policy. In a speech to the privy council, after
his coronation, he declared his confidence in the loyalty
of the established church. Soon after, he avowed to
Louis and the Pope his design speedily to restore the
Catholic religion. He sent the younger Clarendon,
* Attempts have been made under English influences to degrade the
historical character of Count O'Hanlon. In such accounts he is repre
sented as aa«earlier Rob Roy, or Freney. No he could be much farther
from the truth than this. He was, of course, adjudged an " outlaw" by
EngUsh tribunals, but was so in the sense that partisan chiefs, like
.Zamalacaraguia and Cabrera, were "outlawed" by the ruling power in
Spain. Hereward le Wake, William Wallace, and the American Gen
eral Marion, were just such outlaws as Redmond O'Hanlon.

154 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
brother of his first wife, as viceroy to Dublin, and ap
pointed Richard Talbot, agent of the Irish Catholics
twenty years before, commander of the forces in Ireland.
These half measures abated the confidence of the pope,
of France, and the Irish Catholics. At the same time
they revived a Protestant party, and kept it alive,. His
first course was to temporize ; but neither friends nor
enemies could permit this. Committed by his own
agents, encouraged by Louis, and drawn on by the oppo
sition, he was soon obliged to adopt more decided
measures, and to face the armed apprehensions he had
prematurely aroused. His coronation, with its first flush
of popularity, was hardly over, when he came to sterner
work. In 1686, Clarendon was recalled, and with his
elder brother, Rochester, dismissed the privy council.
Lords Dover, Belayses, Arundel, and Powis, all Catho
lics, were appointed to the first offices in England, and
Richard Talbot, created Earl of Tyrconnel, was ap
pointed lord deputy of Ireland.
Talbot, a titular Catholic of ancient family, was not
deficient in talents. He had been a hard liver in his
youth, and had seen many changes of fortune. In a
proverbially corrupt court, he had lived in intrigue, and
had earned an evil notoriety. He brought to the govern
ment of Ireland the swaggering hardihood of the Cava
liers, an exhausted constitution, a diplomatic intellect,
and a hearty detestation of the Puritans. The experi
ence of nearly half a century had convinced him that
the only hope of the king and the Catholics was in a
remodelled army, and a determined policy. If James
had been as resolute a king as Tyrconnel-was a viceroy,
the revolution would have begun with very different
odds, if it ever did begin.
James, as an Englishman, was doubtful of the native
Irish ; and as a Stuart, he was mortally afraid of a Par
liament. Without Tyrconnel's inbred audacity, he
agreed with all his arguments, but adopted not one of
his conclusions. In this way, by hesitation and timidity,
he defeated the most zealous, and, up to a certain point,
the most useful of his ministers.

"WUrtRMATION IN IRELAND.

155

, It has been a traditional policy at Dublin Castle to
make the Irish viceroyalty a fulcrum of operations in
British politics. This policy was tried in the wars of
the Roses, by Richard, duke of York, and by Margaret
^of Burgundy ; it was imitated by Strafford, and by
•v>romwell, and was now taken up by King James. The
present object was to raise in Ireland the standing
army, which England jealously resisted, and to send the
companies, as they were drilled, across the Channel. Ac
cordingly, Tyrconnel, in 1685, commenced remodelling
the army, filling the ranks, and giving commissions to
Irish officers. A thousand Puritan families, taking
alarm at this prospect, fled from Dublin; but the older
Protestants remained undisturbed, and the panic of the
*.*"Cromwellians was found to be entirely groundless. The
Irish Catholics were not less tolerant in the reign of
James — with the accumulated wrongs of a century to
avenge — than they had been in the reign of Philip and
Mary. The voluminous memoirs of those times do not
record a single outrage upon Protestant life or property
during the time the king, the viceroy, and the army were
Catholic. On one point alone was there any ground for Protes
tant apprehension — a repeal of the act of settlement of
1660. A majority of those plundered under this law,
and of those who received the spoils, were still alive.
The wrong was not beyond remedy, and many enter
tained hopes of recovering part, or all, their ancient pos
sessions. When Tyrconnel first arrived, he declared
the settlement unalterable ; but as the party breach grew
wider between the king's friends and enemies, he began
to hint at inquiry and restoration. No such intention
was really cherished by James : like all his family, he
preferred English to Irish interests, and the English
Roman Catholics, in his ministry, " were unanimous in
favor of the act of settlement."* In this state of agi
tation were both parties kept, during Monmouth's inva
sion and the subsequent years, until the Irish Catholic
* Macaulay's History of England, vol. ii. p. 113, (Boston edition.)

Parliament of 1689 finally disposed of the question by
rejecting a proposal to amend or alter the act of set
tlement. In the battle of Sedgemoor, in 1685, Patrick Sarsfield,
a gallant cavalry officer, and others of his countrymen^
appeared on the king's side, and aided inthe suppression
of Monmouth's insurrection. From that period forth,
Irish recruits were sought after to fill vacancies in the
English ranks. The political events of 1686 and 1687,
urged the king to still further military preparations. In
the latter year, he ordered entire Irish companies to be
landed at Chester and Bristol, and quartered in different
garrison towns. This measure alarmed all the worst
passions of the English. The vilest lies of 1641 were g
reprinted from the Puritan broadsheets, and scattered"*
through London and the country. The doggerel lines,
known as " Lillibulero ! " which attributed all manner of
vices to the Irish character, were sung in all directions.
British officers made the most offensive distinctions be
tween the soldiers of the different nations, and, when
called to account for their conduct, openly or secretly
sold themselves to William, Prince of Orange.
This prince, married to Mary, James's daughter, inher
ited the ability of an able house, with an accumulation
of its unscrupulous ambition. At the age of manhood
he was distinguished as a captain and statesman. Not
only had he preserved Plolland against all the power of
Louis XIV., but he cherished a far weightier design — the
conquest of England. His court was, for many years,
the refuge of all the malecontents of his father-in-law's
government. Monmouth, Argyle, Burnet, and Sunder
land successively found patronage and protection at the
Hague. His passive wife, an accomplice to the dishonor
of her own bed, allowed her name to be freely used in
promoting the interests of her husband, even to the ruin
of her father. In 1688, when the scheme of the Dutch
invasion was ripe, William was in his thirty-eighth year,
and one of the most famous public characters in Europe.
In October of that year he sailed from Helvoetsluys,
and on the 5th of November, landed at Torbay, with a

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND.

15>

chosen army of nearly thirty thousand men, ample mir
nitions and funds, and some of the best officers in th<*
world. Strange tendency of history to repeat itself! Sb
hundred years before, another William crossed the same
strait, with the same design, and Was equally successful
in the conquest of Britain! Four hundred years before,
the founder of the Tudor dynasty took the same course,
with the same purpose and equal good fortune !
From William's voyage downwards, we find a Jac
obite and a Williamite party in British politics. In
William's army were the Earls of Macclesfield, Shrews
bury, Danby, and Clarendon, of the British peerage;
Churchill, Kirke, Grafton, and other officers deserted to
him on his march from Torbay to London ; the other
son-in-law of the king, Prince George of Denmark, and
his wife, the Princess Anne, joined the invaders, and
abandoned their father. The bishops of the established
church went with the peerage ; and so William the Con
queror reached the capital without other military oppo
sition than a skirmish or two by the way.
William's first success was due to James's irresolution.
He could not bring himself to distrust his enemy, nor to
trust his friends. He negotiated, while William ad
vanced, under shelter of the negotiation, from post to post.
Despairing of a successful resistance, he decided on sav
ing his family. Two French and three Irish officers vol
unteered to conduct the queen and the young prince
(afterwards called James III.) to France. They suc
ceeded in their design, and on the 11th day of December,
James himself fled in disguise from London, after
throwing the great seal into the Thames. At Christmas,
he rejoined his family in France.
The Catholic nobles, people, and soldiery, especially
those of Irish origin, were now left in a critical position.
Orange ribbons (first used to decorate the High Street,
of Oxford, for William's entrance) flaunted from every
window which let in light to loyalty ; " Lillibulero,"
was the chant of the revolution ; " tory" (the Irish for
robber) was the contemptuous term applied to the
14

',58 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE

-if*

p racobites, who. retorted on their opponents the Scottish
¦lickname of " whig."
+ie The night of the king's escape, the fanatical spirit of
Oates's time broke out at London. The cry of " No
Popery " was raised in the streets and courts, " on the
ailongest night, as it chanced, of the year." The rabble
0.of the slums and mews came forth to plunder and kill,
-r while the bigots of better condition joined in and di-
t rected the work of outrage. The ambassadors of Spain
and Venice, had their houses and chapels burned to the
x ground ; the French ambassador had obtained a strong
i guard, and protected himself. The Catholic churches
were rifled and set on fire. The ornaments of the altar,
' the vestments of the priests, and " a great mountain
of books," were made into a bonfire at Clerkenwell,
round which men and women, drunk and blackened
with smoke, danced and shrieked out blasphemy. The
first fury of " the reformation " had hardly produced
such a scene.
A panic as abject as the riot was cowardly suc
ceeded. General Feversham, false to his royal master
and his own honor, had disbanded the Irish soldiers pre
vious to going over to the invaders. A rumor was
spread through London, as the riot flagged, that these
soldiers were marching upon the city. The Londoners
continued under arms, to the number of twenty thou
sand. The night of the 13th of December was long re
membered by them as " the Irish night," during which
it was expected the disbanded soldiers were to sack the
city, murder the men, ravish the women, and eat up the
children alive.
" No Popery " riots spread through England. " The
houses of many Roman Catholic gentlemen were at
tacked. Parks were ravaged ; deer were slain and
stolen." A self-appointed police rendered the roads im
passable to Papists. The bigotry of the days of Eliza
beth was revived in shire towns and among the country
gentry. The Catholics of Lancashire, were especially
persecuted. Lord Powis and other Catholic nobles fled
for safety into France. Bishops Leybutn and Gillis,

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 159
and a great number of clergymen, were flung into the
Tower and the provincial prisons. The pope's nuncio
escaped disguised as a servant, in the train of the Duke
of Savoy's ambassador.
The Irish Catholic soldiers, dispersed in various coun
ties, were deprived of leaders and of efficiency. They
refused, however, to surrender tamely. At Tilbury,
headed by one of their own number, they resisted the Wil-
liamites commanded by the Duke of Grafton, but were
overpowered, and their brave leader shot. At Wincan-
ton, Sarsfield's cavalry gave a severe handling to Gen
eral Mackay's advance guard. At Reading, in a con
test with some Dutch troops and the inhabitants, an
Irish regiment lost fifty men and their colors. Two hun
dred Irish soldiers, having seized an East Indiaman in
the Thames, but unable to find a pilot, were driven
ashore at Gravesend, and gallantly defended themselves ;
after a heavy loss, the remnant surrendered. Other
groups, more fortunate, found their way, through many
dangers and hardships, to the Irish Sea, and procured
passage to their own country. The majority, however,
were transferred to the Austrian service, through the
politic arrangements of King William. Surely it is a
contrast on which history will not fail to dwell — the
heroic constancy and devotion of these men to their
colors, as contrasted with the perjury, treason, and in
gratitude of the English peerage, and the bishops of the
establishment. While the "No Popery" riots were raging in Eng
land, and William debated at London whether he would
claim the crown by " right of conquest," or receive it at
the hands of a convention of the estates, the partisans
of James, at Dublin, -were neither in despair nor idle.
The convention at London was "making title" for
William ; the Duke of Perth, and other Scotch Jacobites,
had abandoned Scotland to the prince ; but Ireland stiff
held out for her king. True, he had been no very zeal
ous friend to her interest ; true, his family had confiscat
ed, within a century, two thirds of the island, to enrich
those very English and Scotch who now deposed him.

160 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Still he was a Stuart, descended through Fleance, Fer
gus, and Malcom, from Milesius himself; he was a
Catholic, and was suffering for his faith ; he was a
friend of France, the friend of Ireland ; he was a king,
and in exile ; his queen and heir had been intrusted to
Irish fidelity, and his army had been principally recruited
by Irishmen. These reasons, the policy of Tyrconnel,
the assurances from France, and the fame of Sarsfield,
constituted James's popularity in Ireland.
On the 13th of February, 1689, William and Mary
were declared King and Queen of " England, France, and
Ireland," at Whitehall. On the 12th of March, James
landed from France, at Kinsale, with about one hundred
French officers, and twelve hundred English and Irish
refugees. In June, William despatched Kirke, with six
thousand men, to Derry, and Schomberg, with fourteen
thousand, to Carrickfergus. Thus this memorable con
test was transferred to Ireland by both the parties.
James began his career in Ireland with a Parliament.
Since the great court which elected Henry, in 1541, the
Parliaments at Dublin were called at the king's pleasure ;
but after the expulsion of the recusants, in 1620, there
was no free representation of the people, through the
seventeenth century. In 1644, the Irish Commons had
shown some independence in the impeachment of Straf
ford, and had ordered Chancellor Bolton to answer Ser
geant Maynard's book, contending for the supremacy of
the Parliament of England. The same year, it passed
an act naturalizing the Scots, in Ulster. During Crom
well's time, the Long Parliament legislated for the three
kingdoms ; but after the restoration, the Irish Parliament
was revived. In 1661, it was engaged in reversing cer
tain outlawries, and in 1662, it ratified the English " act
of settlement," prepared by Sir Heneage Finch. In
1663, it voted £30,000 to the Duke of Ormond, — a
bonus on the act of settlement, — and adjourned. In
1676, there was a partial national representation, but it
was overpowered by the Puritan party.
As soon as James reached Dublin, writs" were issued
for a new Parliament. A fortnight from his landing,

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 161
there assembled at the inns of court, in that city, the
most national assembly which had been convoked since
the days of the good old recusants. For boroughs and
counties, O'Neils, O'Connors, O'Kellys, O'Briens, and
0' Moores sat, with the children of the Barnwalls, Plun
kett*, Butlers, and Fitzgeralds. TA king's cabinet was
in harmony with the legislature. Tyrconnel, viceroy,
Chief Justice Nugent, Baron Rice, Attorney General
Nagle, Solicitor Henry O'Reilly, and the principal
French officers, with a few of the English nobility, sat in
this council. Advised by these, and aided by the Par
liament, he adopted a policy which thirty' thousand
Irish soldiers were prepared to defend. Among the
laws of this legislature — all passed during April and
May — were an act declaring the Parliament of Ireland
independent of that of England ; an act to annul pat
ents for life ; an act concerning martial law ; an act
taxing absentees ; an act regulating tithes ; and other
useful and substantial laws.*
. An act introduced by Chief Justice Nugent, for the
amendment of the act of settlement, was rejected by a
large majority-!
During the sitting of Parliament, James made several
Irish peers. Tyrconnel was raised to the rank of a
duke, Justin McCarthy was made Lord Mountcashel,
and Patrick Sarsfield Earl of Lucan.
The military preparations, in the interim, went on.
The principal Irish proprietors had raised regiments of
their own tenants, and equipped them; some better, some
worse. There were-four regiments of O'Neil's tenants,
two of O'Brien's, two of O' Kelly's, and one each of
O'Donnell's, McMahon's, Magennis's, Fitzgerald's, De
Courcey's,0'More's, Nugent's, St. Lawrence's, Maguire's,

* James was supported by a great body of Catholics, who, .though
they were called Catholics, were not slaves ; for they obtained a consti
tution from him before they accompanied him to the field. — Grattan' s. Me
moirs, vol. i. p. 12.
t Proceedings of the Parliament in Ireland, beginning March 25,
1689, and ending June following. London, 1689. In the British
Museum. 14*

162 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
and Sarsfield's. The French and English officers, De Ro
sen, Pusignan, Boisselleau, and Lauzan, as well as, Shel
don, Hamilton, and other English or Scotch gentlemen,
had high command in the new- army, but, not to the
exclusion of native officers, where they could be obtained,
and were qualified by service.
At^ the- opening of the first campaign, in 1689, the
military position each party occupied was this : All
the west was in the hands of James's adherents ; Ul
ster, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Derry, and the fort of
Culmore, were held by the " Scotch-Irish," for William;
in Leinster and Munster, the principal places had de
clared for King James. When, therefore, William landed
at Carrickfergus, the line of his first operations might
-be drawn from Lough Erin to the mouth of the Boyne ;
that is, from Enniskillen, through Cavan and Meath, to
Drogheda. Lieutenant General Hamilton, James's commander in
Ulster, after beating the enemy, under Montgomery and
Lundy, at Dromore and Cladysfort, had taken posses
sion of Coleraine, and placed a garrison there under
Colonel O'More; Charlemont was garrisoned and com
manded by Captain O' Regan; Colonel Dundee aban
doned Culmore, and sailed to England ; and Derry had
sent to propose terms, when James, on coming to the
camp, refusedrto listen to "his rebels," and thus drove
Derry to its desperate and gallant defence. The siege
was undertaken without a siege train, and Derry, natu
rally and artificially strong, held out until the Williamite
General Kirke entered the harbor with six thousand
men, and abundant stores, and relieved the brave in
habitants. After James reached Hamilton's camp, every thing
went wrong. Near Dundalk, after raising the siege of
Derry, he came up with Marshal Schomberg, who had
got enclosed in an unfavorable position, with pestilence
decimating his men. Instead of attacking him, James
manoeuvred, and in October went into winter quarters.
On this occasion, De Rosen exclaimed, " If your majes
ty had a hundred kingdoms, you would lose them all."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 163
He sent a cavalry detachment to Cavan to dislodge four
times their number, and was surprised to hear they were
beaten ; being told that the pass pf Slane was an im
portant place, he ordered " fifty dragoons " to be sent
"towards it," and committed a hundred other errors.
Misfortunes, and the vile ingratitude of his children and
nobles, had, besides, made him so irritable, that he would
hear no reason till the mischief was past, and then he
would blame every one but himself.
Having virtually ' abandoned the northern line of de
fence, (formed by Lough Erin, the Cavan lakes, and
the Boyne,) De Rosen advised the king to fall back on
the line of the Shannon as his base of operations. James
rejected this advice, and prepared for another northern
campaign the following spring.
In June, 1690, William, in person, took the command
of his troops in Ulster, and began his march towards
Dublin. James marched northward to meet him, re
solved, at the wrong moment, to fight. In war, as in
politics, indecision was his ruin. He again hesitated to
send forward a detachment to defend the passes beyond
the Boyne ; and when, at last, he consented to do battle,
his adversary had thirty-six thousand veterans and a
powerful artillery against his twenty thousand raw re
cruits, six thousand French, and three or four field
pieces. Against these odds, and the greater military
disparity _of the leaders, the battle of the Boyne was
fought, and lost. On the evening of that hard-fought
but sorrowful day, well might the veteran Captain
O' Regan exclaim to the Williamites, " Change kings,
and we'll fight it over again ! "
At the Boyne, William lost Schomberg, Caillemote,
and other distinguished officers, and five thousand men.
James suffered an equal loss in rank and file, three
colors, and one cannon. General Hamilton was among
William's prisoners. James only remained long enr -icd
in Dublin to vent his ill humor, and appoint Tv-°l0n as
lord lieutenant. He then proceeded in haste, . e^,.e,
terford, and embarked for France, to return i ' thls artlcle
Dublin was abandoned by the viceroy

164 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
by the king. The line of the Shannon was fallen back
upon, and Limerick and Athlone became the chief ob
jects of attack and defence. The former successfully
resisted a first siege directed by William himself, in
August of this year. By a brilliant countermarch, Sars
field surprised his siege train at Cullin, and destroyed
the guns. This obliged the raising of the siege, which
was abandoned till the next year. At Athlone, General
Douglas was also compelled to abandon the first siege.
William returned to England, and despatched Chur
chill, Earl of Marlborough, with additional forces and
artillery, into Munster. Cork and Kinsale were taken ;
but in the winter operations in Kerry and Clare, De
Ginlde was defeated, with heavy loss.
The third campaign opened very differently from the
first. The whole north and east of Ireland was now
in William's hands, and all the resources of Holland
and England at his back. From Lough Foyle to Kin
sale, the eastern coast was in his keeping ; and his
powerful army wanted no supply necessary to soldiers.
Tyrconnel and De Lausan, on James's side, had visited
France for instructions, as had the agents of the Irish
officers, dissatisfied with the plan of the previous cam
paigns. To remove all difficulties, General St. Ruth
was sent by Louis and James as commander-in-chief of
the army in Ireland.
The Protestant army commenced operations in June,
under De Ginkle, and took by storm Ballymore and
Athlone, both of which were bravely defended. On the
12th of July, both armies met at Aughrim, and again
William triumphed. St. Ruth, who had refused to
communicate the plan of the battle to a council of
war, fell ; every Irish regiment left more than half of its
numbers among the dead. Galway and Sligo, alarmed
at this intelligence, surrendered <at discretion. Limerick
Qv"* again besieged on the 5th of August; and on the
mana..v,e famous capitulation called "the treaty of
On this oj was agreed to by the commissioners of both
ty had a hi *. of the articles of this treaty related to

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 165
the military. They were to have permission to emigrate
to France, or to cellist with William. Almost to a man,
they preferred exile to treason. With Sarsfield, four
thousand five hundred sailed from Cork ; with D'Usson,
four thousand seven hundred and thirty-six from Lim
erick ; with Wauchop, about three thousand from the
same place. Other regiments, under their own com
manders, as Burke's, Dillon's, and O'Brien's, also emi
grated. In all, nineteen thousand and fifty-six fighting
men arrived that year in France. They were formed
into twelve French regiments, and retained their own
officers, where their after career can be traced in a blaze
of victory. In process of time, their exploits, as we
shall see, exercised a decided influence on the fortunes
of those they left behind.
Thus was dispersed the last Catholic army of Ireland,
and with it the military defence of the church of St.
Patrick. A century and a half of warfare closes with
the fall of Limerick ; the direct succession of the Cath
olic soldiers ends with Sarsfield. The lawyers who
debated and the delegates who signed "the treaty of
Limerick " are the pale forerunners of a new day and a
new order. The pen, and voice, and human learning
are to be the only visible defences of the church in
Ireland, through many an age of trial, reserved for its
faithful children.

CHAPTER IH.

REIGN OF WILLIAM III. — VIOLATION OF THE TREATY OF LIM
ERICK. — PROSCRIPTION OF THE BISHOPS AND CLERGY. —FUR
THER CONFISCATIONS OF CATHOLIC PROPERTY.
The civil articles of the treaty of Limerick were in
relation to the rights of Catholics. Art. i. guarantied
them " such privileges in the exercise of their religion as
are consistent with the law of Ireland, or as they en
joyed in the reign of King'Charles II. ; " also, this article

166 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
undertook that " their majesties, as soon as their affairs
will permit them to summon a Parliament in this king
dom, will endeavor to procure the said Roman Catholics
such further security in that particular as may preserve
them from any disturbance on account of their said re
ligion." Art. ii. guarantied pardon and protection to all
who had served King James, on taking the oath of alle
giance prescribed in art. ix., as follows : —
" I, A. B., do solemnly promise and swear that I will
be faithful and bear true allegiance to their majesties,
King William and Queen Mary ; so help me God."
Arts, iii., iv., v., and vi. extended the provisions of
arts. i. and ii. to merchants and other classes of men.
Art. vii. permits " every nobleman and gentleman com
promised in the said articles " to carry side arms, and
keep " a gun in their houses." Art. viii. gives the right
of removing goods and chattels without search. Art.
ix. is as follows : — '
" The oath to be administered to such Roman Catho
lics as submit to their majesties' government shall be
the oath aforesaid, and no other."
Art. x. guaranties that " no person or persons who
shall, at any time hereafter, break these articles, or any
of them, shall thereby make or cause any other person or
persons to forfeit or lose the benefit of them." Arts. xi. and
xiit relate to the ratification of the articles " within eight
months or sooner." Art. xiii. refers to the debts of
" Colonel John Brown to several Protestants," and ar
ranges for their satisfaction.
On King William's part, the treaty is signed by Lord
Scravenmore, Generals Mackay, Talmash, and De Gin-
kle, and the Lords Justices Porter and Coningsby.
On the Irish side, the signers are Sarsfield, Earl of
Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, Sir Toby Butler, and Colonels
Puree], Cusack, Dillon, and Brown.
The date is October 3, 1691.*

* " And whereas the said city of Limerick hath been since, in pursu
ance of the said articles, surrendered unto us : Now, know ye, that
we, having considered of the said articles, are graciously pleased hereby

' PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 167
A few days after the signing of the treaty, and before
the English or outer town was delivered, a French fleet
entered the Shannon, "with thirty thousand arms, one
thousand men, two hundred officers, ammunition and pro
vision ; " but Irish honor was proof against the trial
thus put upon it. In Dublin, the terms of the treaty
were displeasing to the Puritans ; but William received
them with evident pleasure. De Ginkle had three earl
doms given him, and a medal was struck, commemo
rating the event, with the motto, ." Limerica capta, Hi
bernia subacta, Octobris, 1691."
to declare, that we do for us, our heirs, and successors, as far as in us
Ues, ratify and confirm the same, and every clause, matter, and thing
therein contained. And as to such parts thereof, for which an act of
Parliament shall be found to be necessary, we shall recommend the
same to be made good by Parliament, and shall give our royal assent to
any bill or bills that shall be passed by our two houses of Parliament to
that purpose. And whereas it appears unto us, that it was agreed
between the parties to the said articles, that after the woids Limerick,
Clare, Kerry, Cork, Mayo, or any of them, in the second of the said
articles ; which words having been casually omitted by the writer, the
articles, the words following, viz. 'And all such as are under their pro
tection in the said counties,' should be inserted, and be part of the said
omission, was not discovered till after the said articles were signed, but
was taken notice of before the second town was surrendered, and that
our said justices and general, or one of them, did promise that the said
clause should be made good, it being within the intention of the capitu
lation, and inserted in the foul draft thereof : Our further will and
pleasure is, and we do hereby ratify and confirm the said omitted words,
viz., ' And all such as are under their protection in the said counties,'
hereby for us, our heirs and successors, ordaining and declaring that all
and every person and persons therein concerned shall and may have,
receive, and enjoy the benefit thereof, in such and the same manner as
if the said words had been inserted in their proper place in the said
second article, any omission, defect, or mistake in the said second article
in any wise notwithstanding. Provided always, and our will and pleas
ure is, that these our letters patents shall be enrolled in our court of
chancery, in our said kingdom of Ireland, within the space of one year
next ensuing. In. witness, &c, witness ourself at Westminster, the
twenty-fourth day of February, anno regni regis et reginae Gulielmi &
Marise quarto per breve de privato sigillo. Nos autem tenorem premissor.
predict. Ad requisitioncm attornat. general, domini regis et domina?
regina; pro regno Hibernise. Duximus exemplificand. per presentes. In
cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Testibus
nobis ipsis apud Westmon quinto die Aprilis, annoq. regni eorum quarto.
Bridges.
Examinat. ( S. Keck. ) In Cancel.
per nos, { Lacon Wm. Childe. J Magistros."

168 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
The Catholic army once well away from the Irish
shore, the sovereigns and the Parliament began to tam
per with the treaty. The following year, an oath of
allegiance, altogether different from that prescribed • by
art. ix., was enacted by Parliament, and approved
by William. In this oath, the Catholic was called on
to swear he did not believe " that in the sacrament of
the Lord's supper there is any transubstantiation of the
elements;" "that the invocation or adoration of the
Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and the sacrifice of the
mass, as they are now used in the church of Rome, are
damnable and idolatrous." An " oath of abjuration " was
framed in the following session, binding Catholics " to
abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that
damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommu
nicated or deposed by the pope, or any authority of the
see of Rome, may be deposed and murdered by their
subjects ; " furthermore, obliging them to swear that no
foreign prince, person, or prelate " hath any jurisdic
tion, power, superiority, preeminence, or authority, eccle
siastical or spiritual, within this realm." Here were
two flagrant violations of the second and ninth articles,
and, indeed, of the whole treaty.
But bad faith did not stop even here. The Dublin
Parliament, made up chiefly of bigots and mere adven
turers, settled after the late war, passed an act, in
1694, " for the confirmation of articles made- at the sur
render of Limerick," which actually abolished those arti
cles altogether. This act did not recite the articles, in
whole or part, but, in the words of the lords' protest,
"altered both their sense and meaning," and left "those
in whose favor they were granted in a worse position
than before." This protest was signed by the Lords
Londonderry, Tyrone, and Duncannon, by the Protes
tant Bishops of Elphin, Derry, Clonfert, Killala, and the
Barons of Ossory, Limerick, Killaloe, Kerry, Howth,
Kingston, and Strabane. Still the act passed, and re
ceived the seal and signature of William and Mary.
That ancient instrument of oppression, a commission
to inquire into defective titles, shortly issued, and decreed

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 169
that 1,060,792 acres were forfeited to the crown. This
was the last fragment of the patrimony of the faithful
Catholic inhabitants. When King William died, there
did not remain to the class which, a century before,
owned three fourths of the Irish soil, above " one sixth
part " of what their grandfathers held in fee.*
The penal code of Elizabeth and the Stuarts was
revived, and new and worse disabilities enacted in addi
tion. By the 7th of William III. cap. 4, no Papist
could keep a school, or teach in private families, except
the children of the family ; no Papist could bear arms,
contrary to the express terms of art. vii. of the treaty ;
by the same statute, to send a child beyond seas was a
felony, the case to be tried by a justice, not by a jury,
and the burden of proof to fall on the accused. By the
9th William III. cap. 3, mixed marriages were forbid
den, and, if either parent were a Protestant, " the chil
dren could be taken from the other to be reared in that
faith." No Papist could be a legal guardian — the
court of chancery to appoint one, and educate the ward
a Protestant. By the same statute, rewards were fixed
for informers against the violators of those laws, the
amount to " be levied on the Papist inhabitants of the
county." Such was the way in which King William,
of pious and immortal memory, perjured his own soul,
and avenged himself on a gallant, defeated enemy.f
The condition of the Irish church at William's death

* Bedford's Compendious and Impartial View of the Laws affecting
Roman Catholics. London, 1829, p. 15.
t In defence of the intentions of William, it has been stated that he
persecuted less from zeal or temper than to propitiate the native bigotry
of his new kingdom. At one time he had a proclamation prepared, and
even printed, guarantying the Irish Catholics " the free exercise of their
religion, half the church establishment, and the moiety of their ancient
properties." This document, called " the secret proclamation," was
" suppressed on the first intelligence of the treaty of Limerick." — Moore's
Captain Rock, p. 118, where John Dryden is quoted, as a contemporary
witness, that William " was most unwilling to persecute," but was driven
to do so by the ultra Protestants, headecj by Dr. Tennisoji, Archbishop
of Canterbury. His resistance to the bigots does not seefn to have been
very vigorous or protracted, and we see nq good reason to relieve his
memory of the odium that must attach to it on account of Ireland.
15

170 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
was truly lamentable. In 1688 and 1689, it had received
a great accession of pastors and religious from abroad.
In Dublin, Limerick, and other cities, monasteries had
been restored, and churches reedified. When the mili
tary emigration took place, a few of the clergy accom
panied it ; but the rest remained, trusting to the treaty
for protection. Between 1696 and 1699, four hundred
and ninety-five secular and four hundred and twenty-
four regular clergymen were banished the kingdom, and
even the poor nuns had to fly. At Ypres, Lisbon, and
Antwerp, they gathered themselves again into commu
nity, adding the sorrow of exile to the other mortifica
tions of their lives. Two or three hundred ofthe clergy
only remained, and they were hidden in " holes and
corners." The majorities of the sees were administered
by vicars, and remained for years without bishops.
But not alone did ecclesiastics feel the practical effects
of the violation of the treaty. There was still enough
of property left among the Catholics to repay the labors
of the new commissioners. " From the report made by
the commissioners appointed by the Parliament of Eng-
. land in 1698," says Lord Clare, " it appears that the Irish
subjects outlawed for the rebellion of 1688 amounted to
3978 ; and that their Irish possessions, as far as could be
computed, were of the annual value of £211,623, com
prising one million sixty thousand seven hundred and
ninety-two acres. This fund was sold under the author
ity of an English act of Parliament, to defray the ex
penses incurred by England in reducing the rebels in
1688 ; and the sale introduced into Ireland a new set of
adventurers." * These new adventurers were chiefly Ger
man Protestants, whose descendants in Munster are
known as " Palatines " until this day.
We need not wonder that among the few Catholics
of property mentioned in the next two reigns, scarce any
(if we except Sir Toby Butler) ventured to protest against
the last acts of this national perfidy.

* Lord Chancellor Clare's speech on the Union. Dublin, (pamphlet,)
1800.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 171

CHAPTER IV.
QUEEN ANNE'S REIGN. — "ACT TO DISCOURAGE THE GROWTH OF
POPERY." — SIR TOBY BUTLER HEARD AT THE BAR OF THE
HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. — HIS CHARACTER. — IMMENSE EMI
GRATION. — PRIEST HUSHING.— PRIMATE MCMAHON.
Queen Anne succeeded William in 1702. In the next
year, according to the law of Poynings, " the heads of
bills " were prepared by the Irish Parliament, to be sent
over to England. Among those was the infamous " act
to prevent the further growth of Popery," which pro
vided that the eldest son of a Catholic, on becoming an
apostate, might turn his father's estate into a tenantry
for life, and take the fee simple and rental to himself.
By the same statute, if a Catholic inherited property, he
should conform within six months from the date the
title accrued, or the estate be forfeited to the next " Prot
estant heir." By statute of the same year, (2 Anne, cap.
3, sec. 7,) if an unregistered priest was detected, a
heavy fine was to be levied on the county in which he
was found, and the proceeds paid over to the informer
or detective. Against this bill, when first proposed at
Dublin, the few remaining Catholics of influence, head
ed by Viscount Kingsland, Colonels Brown, Burke, and
Nugent, Major Pat, Allen, and Arthur French, peti
tioned. The Parliament proceeded, and the bill was
returned from London with the approval of the queen
and her council. The Catholics, advised by Sir Toby
Butler, who, with a few others, had been tolerated in
the profession of law through family interest, renewed
their opposition to it.
On the 22d of February, 1703, Sir Toby, with whom
were Sir Stephen Rice and Counsellor Malone, appeared
at the bar of the Irish House of Commons, against
the bill " to prevent . the further growth of Popery."
The abstract of his speech on that occasion is one of
the most remarkable documents of the age. It is full
of interest and information. We copy from it at length:

172 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" Sir Theobald Butler first moved and acquainted the
house, that, ' by the permission of that house, he was
come thither in behalf of himself, and the rest of the
Roman Catholics of Ireland comprised in the articles
of Limerick and Galway, to offer some reasons, which
he and the rest of the petitioners judged very material*
against passing the bill, entitled An act to prevent the
further growth of Popery ; that, by leave of the house,
he had taken a copy of , the said bill, (which he had
there in his hand,) and, with submission, looked upon
it to tend to the destroying of the said articles, granted
upon the most valuable considerations of surrendering
the said garrisons, at a time when they had the sword
in their hands ; and, for any thing that appeared to the
contrary, might have been in a condition to hold out
much longer, and when it was in their power to de
mand, and make for themselves, such terms as might
be for their then future liberty, safety, and security ;
and that, too, when the allowing such terms were
highly advantageous to the government to which they
submitted ; as well for uniting the people that were
then divided, quieting and settling the distractions and
disorders of this then miserable kingdom, as for the
other advantages the government would thereby reap
in its own affairs,, both at home and abroad ; when its
enemies were so powerful, both by sea and land, as to
give doubt of interruption to its peace and settle
ment.' " That, by such their power, those of Limerick did,
for themselves, and others comprised, obtain and
' make such articles, as by which all the Irish inhabit-
1 ants in the city and county of Limerick, and in the
' counties of Clare, Kerry, Cork, Sligo, and Mayo, had
' full and free pardon of and for all attainders, outlaw-
1 ries, treasons, misprision of treasons, felonies, tres-
' passes, and other crimes whatever, which at any time
' from the beginning of King James II, to the 3d of
' October, 1691, had been acted, committed, or done
' by them, or any of them ; and by which they and
' their heirs were to be forthwith put in possession of,

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 173
" and forever possess and enjoy, all and every of their
" freeholds and inheritance ; and all their rights, titles,
" and interests, privileges and immunities, which they
" and every of them held and enjoyed, and by the laws
" in force were entitled unto, in the reign of King
". Charles IL, or at any time since, by the laws and
" statutes that were in force in that reign, &c. ; and
" thereupon read so much of the second article of Lim-
" erick, as tended to that purpose.
" That, in the reign of King Charles IL, the petitioners,
" and all that were entitled to the benefit of those articles,
" were in such full and free possession of their estates,
" and had the same power to sell, or- otherwise to dis-
" pose, or convey them, or any other thing they enjoyed ;
" and were as rightfully entitled to all the privileges, im-
" muuities, and other advantages whatever, according
" to the laws then in force, as any other subjects what-
" soever, and which, therefore, without the highest in-
" justice, could not be taken from them, unless they had
" forfeited them themselves.
" That if they had made any such forfeiture, it was
" either before or after the making of the said articles :
" if before, they had a full and free pardon for that
" by the said articles, &c, and, therefore, are not ac-
" countable by any law now in force for the same, and
" for that reason not now to be charged with it ; and
" since they cannot be charged with any general forfeit-
" ure of those articles since, they at the same time re-
" mained as absolutely entitled to all the privileges, ad-
" vantages, and benefits of the laws, both already made
•" and hereafter to be made, as any other of her majesty's
" subjects whatsoever.
" That among all societies there were some ill peo-
" pie ; but that, by the 10th article of Limerick, the whole
" community is not to be charged with, nor forfeit by, the
" crimes of particular persons.
" That there were, already wholesome laws in force
" sufficient, and if not, such as were wanting might be
" made, to punish every offender according to the nature
" of the crime : and in the name of God let the guilty
15*

174 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" suffer for their own faults; but the innocent ought not
" to suffer for the guilty, nor the whole for any particu-
" Iar. That surely they would not now (they had
" tamely got the sword out of their hands) rob them of
" what was in their power to have kept ; for that would
" be unjust, and not according to that golden rule, to do
" as they would be done by, was the case reversed, and
" the contrary side their own.
" That the said articles were first granted them by the
" general of the English army, upon the most important
" consideration of getting the city of Limerick into his
" hands, (when it was in a condition to have held out
" till it might have been relieved by the succors then com-
" ing to it from France,) and for preventing the further
" effusion of blood, and the other ill consequences which
" (by reason of the then divisions and disorders) the
" nation then labored under ; and for reducing those in
" arms against the English government to its obedience.
" That the said articles were signed and perfected by
" the said general, and the then lords justices of this
" kingdom ; and afterwards ratified by their late majes-
" ties, for themselves, their heirs, and successors ; and
" have been since confirmed by an act of Parliament in
" this kingdom, viz., stat. 9 Guil. 3, ses. 4, cap. 27,
" (which he there produced and pleaded,) and said could
" not be avoided without breaking the said articles, and
" the public faith thereby plighted to all those comprised
" under the said articles, in the most solemn and enga-
" ging manner it is possible for any people to lay them-
" selves under, and than which nothing could be more
" sacred and binding. That, therefore, to violate, or
" break those articles, would, on the contrary, be the
" greatest injustice possible for any one people of the
" whole world to inflict upon another, and which is con-
" trary to both the laws of God and man.
" That, pursuant to these articles, all those Irish then
" in arms against the government did submit thereunto,
" and surrendered the said city of Limerick, and all
" other garrisons then remaining in their possession ;
" and did take such oaths of fidelity to the king and

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 175
" queen, &c, as by the said articles they were obliged
" to, and were put into possession of their estates, &c.
" That such their submissions was upon such terms
" as ought now, and at all times, to be made good to
" them ; but that if the bill then before the house, enti-
" tied An act to prevent the further growth of Popery,
" should pass into a law, (which, said he, God forbid !)
" it would be not only a violation of those articles, but
" also a manifest breach of the public faith, of which
" the English had always' been most tender in many in-
" stances, some of which he there quoted ; and that, in
" particular, in the preamble of the act before mentioned,
"made for confirmation of these articles, wherein there
" is a particular regard and respect had to the public
" faith. " That since the said articles were thus under the
" most solemn ties, and for such valuable considerations
" granted the petitioners, by nothing less than the gen-
" eral of the army, the lords justices of the kingdom, the
" king, queen, and Parliament, the public faith of the
" nation wras therein concerned, obliged, bound, and
" engaged, as fully and firmly as was possible for one
" people to pledge faith to another; that, therefore, this
" Parliament could not pass such a bill as that entitled
" An act to prevent the further growth of Popery, then
" before the house, into a law, without infringing those
" articles, and a manifest breach of the public faith ; of
" which he hoped that house would be no less regardful
" and tender than their predecessors, who made the act
" for confirming those articles, had been.
" That the case of the Gibeonites (2 Sam. xxi. 1) was
" a fearful example of breaking of public faith, which,
" above one hundred years after, brought nothing less
" than a three years' famine upon the land, and stayed
" not till th% lives, of all Saul's family atoned for it.
" That even among the heathens, and most barbarous
" of nations all the world over, the public faith had al-
" ways been held most sacred and binding ; that surely it
" would find no less a regard in that august assembly.
" That, if he proved that the passing that act was such

176 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" a manifest breach of those articles, and, consequently,
" of the public faith, he hoped that honorable house
" would be very tender how they passed the said bill be-
" fore them into a law, to the apparent prejudice of the
¦' petitioners, and the hazard of bringing upon them-
" selves and posterity such evils, reproach, and infamy,
" as the doing the like had brought upon other nations
" and people.
" Now, that the passing such a bill as that then before
" the house, to prevent the further growth of Popery will
" be a breach of those articles, and, consequently, of the
" public faith, I prove (said he) by the following argu-
" ment." Upon all these propositions the great orator was full
and cogent, but especially upon the clause which held
out to the sons of Catholics the estates of their fathers,
as a reward for apostasy.
" By the first of these clauses, (which is the third of the
' bill,) I, that am the Popish father, without committing
' any crime against the state, or the laws of the land,
' (by which only I ought to be governed,) or any other
' fault, but merely for being of the religion of my fore-
' fathers, and that which, till of late years, was the
'.ancient religion of these kingdoms, contrary to the
express words of the second article of Limerick, and
' the public faith plighted as aforesaid for their perform
ance, am deprived of my inheritance, freehold, &c.,
and of all other advantages, which, by those arti
cles, and the laws of the land, I am entitled to en-
' joy, equally with every other of my fellow-subjects,
' whether Protestant or Popish. And though such my
' estate be even the purchase of my own hard labor and
' industry, yet I shall not (though my occasions be
' never so pressing) have liberty (after my eldest son or
' other heir becomes a Protestant) to sell, mortgage, or
' otherwise dispose of, or charge it for payment of my
' debts ; or have leave, out of my own estate, to order
' portions for my other children ; or leave a legacy,
' though never so small, to my poor father or mother, or
' other poor relations ; but during my own life, my estate

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 177
" shall.be given to my son or other heir, being a Protes-
" tant, though never so undutiful, profligate, extravagant,
" or otherwise undeserving; and I, that am tbe purchas-
" ing father, shall become tenant, for life only, to my own
" purchase, inheritance, and freehold, which I purchased
" with my own money ; and such my son or other heir,
" by this act, shall be at liberty to sell or otherwise at
" pleasure to dispose of my estate, the sweat of my
" brows, before my face ; and I, that am the purchaser,
" shall not have liberty to raise one farthing upon the
" estate of my own purchase, either to pay my debts or
" portion my daughters, (if any I have,) or make pro-
" visions for my other male children, though never so
" deserving and dutiful : but my estate, and the issues
" and profits of it, shall, before my face, be at the dis-
" posal of another, who cannot possibly know how to
" distinguish between the dutiful and undutiful, de-
" serving or undeserving. Is not tbis, gentlemen, (said
" he,) a hard ease? I beseech you, gentlemen, to con-
" sider, whether you would not think so, if the scale
" was changed, and the case your own, as it is like to be
" ours, if this bill pass into a law.
" It is natural for the father to love the child ; but we
" all know (says he) that children are but too apt and
" subject, without any such liberty as this bill gives, to
"slight and neglect their duty to their parents; and
" surely such an act as this will not be an instrument of
"restraint, but rather encourage them more to it.
" It is but too common with the son, who "has a pros-
" peet of an estate, when once he arrives at the age of
" one and twenty, to think the old father too long in the
" way between him and it; and how much more will he
" be subject to it, when, by this act, he shall have lib-
" erty, before he comes to that age, to compel and force
" my estate from me, without asking my leave, or being
" liable to account with me for it, or out of his share
" thereof, to a moiety of the debts, portions, or other en-
" cumbrances, with which the estate might have been
" charged before the passing this act !
" Is not this against the laws of God and man ?

178 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" against the rules of reason and justice, by which all
" men ought to be governed ? Is not this the only way
" in the world to make children become undutiful ? and
" to bring the gray head of the parent to the grave with
" grief and tears ?
" It would be hard from any man ; but from a son, a
" child, the fruit of my body, whom I have nursed in,my
" bosom, and tendered more dearly than my own life, to
" become my plunderer, to rob me of my estate, to cut
" my throat, and to take away my bread, is much more
" grievous than from any other, and enough to make
" the most flinty of hearts to bleed to think on it. And
" yet this will be the case if this bill pass into a law;
" which I hope this honorable assembly will not think
" of, when they shall more seriously consider, and have
" weighed these matters.
" For God's sake, gentlemen, will you consider
" whether this is according to the golden rule, to do
" as you would be done unto ? And if not, surely you
" will not, nay, you cannot, without being liable to be
" charged with the most manifest injustice imaginable,
" take from us our birthrights, and invest them in others
" before our faces."
Further, he arraigned the bill, as contrary to all the
laws of nations, in this close logical style.
" Surely, gentlemen, this is such a law as was never
" heard of before, and against the law of right, and the
" law of nations ; and therefore a law which is not in the
" power of mankind to make, without breaking through
" the laws which our wise ancestors prudently provided
" for the security of posterity, and which you cannot
" infringe without hazarding the undermining the whole
" legislature, and encroaching upon the privileges of
" your neighboring nations, which it is not reasonable to
" believe they will allow.
" It has indeed been known that there have been
" laws made in England that have been binding in Ire-
" land ; but surely it never was known that any law
" made in Ireland could affect England or any other
" country. But, by this act, a person committing matri-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 179
" mony (an ordinance of the Almighty) in England, or
" any other part beyond the seas, (where it is lawful
" both by the laws of God and man so to do,) if ever
" they come to live in Ireland, and have an inheritance
" or title to any interest to the value of ,£500, they shall
" be punished for a fact consonant with the laws of the
" land where it was committed. But, gentlemen, by
" your favor, this is what, with submission, is not in
" your power to do ; for no law that either now is, or
" that hereafter shall be in force in this kingdom, shall
" be able to take cognizance of any fact committed in
" another nation ; nor can any one nation make laws for
" any other nation, but what is subordinate to it, as Ire-
" land is to England ; but no other nation is subordinate
" to Ireland, and therefore any laws made in Ireland
" cannot punish me for any fact committed in any other
" nation, but more especially England, to whom Lre-
" land is subordinate. And the reason is, every free
" nation, such as all our neighboring nations are, by the
" great law of nature, and the universal privileges of all
" nations, have an undoubted right to make, and be
" ruled and governed by laws of their own making ;
" for that to submit to any other would be to give away
" their own birthright and native freedom, and become
" subordinate to their neighbors, as we of this kingdom,
" since the making of Poynings's act, have been and are
" to England — a right which England would never so
" much as endure to hear of, much less to submit to.
" We see how careful our forefathers have been to
" provide that no man shall be punished in one county
" (even of the same nation) for crimes committed in
" another county ; and surely it would be highly unrea-
" sonable, and contrary to the laws of all nations in the
" whole world, to punish me in this kingdom for a fact
" committed in England, or any other nation, which was
" not against, but consistent with, the laws of the nation
" where it was committed. I am sure there is not
" any law in any other nation of the world that would
" do it."
In conclusion, Sir Toby contended, —

180 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" The ninth clause of this act is another manifest
" breach of the articles of Limerick ; for, by the ninth
" of those articles, no oath is to be administered to, nor
" imposed upon, such Roman Catholics as should sub-
" mit to the government, but the oath of allegiance,
" appointed by an act of Parliament made in England,
" in the first year of the reign of their late majesties, King
" William and Queen Mary, (which is the same with
" the first of those appointed by the tenth clause of this
" act ;) but by this clause, none shall have the benefit of
" this act that shall not conform to the church of Ire-
" land, subscribe the declaration, and take and subscribe
" the oath of abjuration, appointed by the ninth clause
" of this act; and therefore this act is a manifest breach
" of those articles, &c, and a force upon all the Roman
" Catholics therein comprised, either to abjure their reli-
" gion, or part with their birthrights ; which, by those
" articles, they were, and are, as fully and as rightfully en-
" titled to as any other subjects whatever.
" The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and four-
" teenth clauses of this bill (said he) relate to offices
" and employments which the Papists of Ireland cannot
" hope for the enjoyment of, otherwise than by grace
" and favor extraordinary ; and therefore do not so much
" affect them as it does the Protestant dissenters, who
" (if this bill pass into a law) are equally with the
" Papists deprived of bearing any office, civil or military,
" under the government, to which by right of birth, and
" the laws of the land, they are as indisputably entitled as
" any other their Protestant brethren. And if what the
" Irish did in the late disorders of this kingdom made
" them rebels, (which the presence of a king they had
" before been obliged to own, and swear obedience to,
" gave them a reasonable color of concluding it did not,)
" yet surely the dissenters did not do any thing to
" make them so, or to deserve worse at the hands of
" the government than other Protestants ; but, on the
" contrary, it is more than probable that if they (I mean
" the dissenters) had not put a stop to the career of the
" Irish army at Enniskillen and Londonderry, the settle-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 181
ment of the government, both in England and Scot
land, might not have proved so easy as it thereby did ;
for if that army had got to Scotland, (as there was
nothing at that time to have hindered them but the
bravery of those people, who were mostly dissenters,
and chargeable with no other crime since ; unless their
close adhering to and early appearing for the then
government, and the many faithful services they did
their country, were crimes,) I say, (said he,) if they had
got to Scotland, when they had boats, barks, and all
things else ready for their transportation, and a great
many friends there in arms, waiting only their coming
to join them, — it is easy to think what the consequence
would have been to both these kingdoms ; and these
dissenters then were thought fit for command, both
civil and military, and were no less instrumental in
contributing to the reducing the kingdom than any
other Protestants ; and to pass a bill now, to deprive
them of their birthrights, (for those their good ser
vices,) would surely be a most unkind return, and the
worst reward ever granted to a people so deserving.
Whatever the Papists may be supposed to have de
served, the dissenters certainly stand as clean in the
face of the present government as any other people
whatsoever ; and if this is all the return they are like
to get, it will be but a slender encouragement, if
ever occasion should require, for others to pursue
their examples.
" By the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth clauses
of this bill, all Papists, after the 24th of March, 1703,
are prohibited from purchasing any houses or tene
ments, or coming to dwell in any, in Limerick or Gal
way, or the suburbs of either, and even such as were
under the articles, and by virtue thereof have ever
since lived there, from staying there, without giving
such security as neither those articles, nor any law
heretofore in force, do require ; except seamen, fisher
men, and day laborers, -who pay not above forty shil
lings a year rent ; and from voting for the election of
members of Parliament, unless they take the oath of
16

182 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" abjuration ; which to oblige them to is contrary to
" the ninth of Limerick articles ; which, as aforesaid,
" says the oath of allegiance, and no other, shall be im-
" posed upon them ; and, unless they abjure their religion,
" takes away their advowsons and right of presentation,
" contrary to the privilege of right, the law of nations, and
" the great charter of Magna Charta; which provides,
" that no man shall be disseized of his birthright, without
" committing some crime against the known laws of the
" land in which he is born, or inhabits. And if there
" was no law in force, in the reign of King Charles
" IL, against these things, (as there certainly was not,)
" and if the Roman Catholics of this kingdom have not
" since forfeited their right to the laws that then were
" in force, (as for certain they have not,) then, with hum-
" ble submission, all the aforesaid clauses and matters
" contained in this bill, entitled An act to prevent the fur-
" ther growth of Popery, are directly against the plain
" words and true intent and meaning of the said articles,
" and a violation of the public faith, and the laws made
" for their performance ; and what I therefore hope (said
" he) this honorable house will consider accordingly."
Counsellor Malone was also heard, and Sir Stephen
Rice, as a party interested, offered some remarks. But
their arguments were fruitless. The bill was engrossed
and sent to the Lords, where, on the 28th of February,
Sir Toby and Malone were again heard against it. It
was, however, passed, under the protest of a respectable
minority, and, on the 4th of March, it received the royal
assent of the queen.*
* Parnell's Penal Laws. Appendix.
Sir Toby Butler's convivial habits caused the introduction of his
name into that famous old song, "The Cruiskeen Lawn." It is
there recorded, that, —
" At court, with manly grace,
When Sir Toby pleads his case,
Until the veil of doubt is withdrawn —
Without his cheerful glass
He's as stupid as an ass :
So, gentlemen, a cruiskeen lawn ! "
Many pleasant tales of Sir Toby have been preserved in Irish society.
among them the following : —

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. * 183
It was only at the bar the Irish Catholics could look
for defenders, now that their soldiers were far away. In
the following reign, an act was passed excluding Cath
olics from the profession ofthe law — an act which was
not repealed until 1793. Whatever Catholic leadership
there was during the interval was thus thrown among
¦• An action for the recovery of debt was brought by the Archbishop
of Cashel against Mr. Flegoe, who employed Sir Toby Butler as his
leading counsel. On the request of Sir Toby a brief was given to a
young lawyer of good Irish family, named O'Callaghan. This gentle
man, on the trial, raised an ingenious point of law, which saved the
estate to his client. On the following morning, the two barristers break
fasted with Mr. Flegoe, when Sir Toby declared his wish to hold some
important conversation with that gentleman in the presence of O'Cal
laghan. Having retired, the following extraordinary conversation en
sued : —
" ' Mr. Flegoe, I intend to confer a great favor on your family. Here is
my friend, who saved a good estate for you. He is a bachelor j you have
a daughter, whom you cannot bestow more honorably than by marrying
this young man. Do you see ? '
" To which Mr. Flegoe replied, ' Undoubtedly, Sir Toby, the alliance
is highly honorable, and I have great obligations to Mr. O'Callaghan.
At the same time, Sir Toby Butler will think it but reasonable that a
father who has an only daughter, -with a large fortune, should inquire the
pretensions of the suiter in a pecuniary point of view.'
"Whereupon Sir Toby seized hold of O'Callaghan's chin, saying,
' Now, Corney, hold your tongue ! I tell you, Flegoe, this fellow's
tongue entitles him to any girl in Ireland.'
" O'Callaghan continued to distinguish himself at the bar ; Flegoe gave
him his daughter ; and such was the foundation of the wealth of his great
nephew, Lord Lismore."
In connection with the ill- fated Father Sheehy, we will hear again of
Mr. O'Callaghan.
Some anecdote-hunters have conjectured that he was the original
" Toby Philpot ; " but this is very doubtful. His social habits never were
allowed to interfere with his public duties. An anecdote of his decided
character at the bar — one which only could become current of a master
in his profession — is thus told : " Engaged in a case where the counsel
opposed to him seemed to carry both the feelings and opinions of the
jury, he stood up and said, ' Gentlemen of the jury : The cause of our
antagonist, though plausible, is bad, if there be truth in the old saying,
that " good wine needs no bush, or a good cause no bribery." Here, gen
tlemen of the jury, is what was put into my hand this morning, (holding .
out a purse of gold ;) it was given in the hope that it would have bribed
me into a lukewarm advocacy of my client's cause. But here I throw
down Achan's weight — here I cast at your feet the accursed thing.'
And so he went on most ably to state his case and defend his cause." —
Dublin Penny Journal for 1832-33.
, Sir Toby was buried in St. James's Churchyard, Dublin, where his
fine monument still stands.

184 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
the traders, and the timid remnant of the Catholic gentry.
After Sir Toby Butler, there is a blank of lawyers — a
fact which partly accounts for the prevalence of illegal
agrarian societies, from about 1760, until the end of
the century. Deprived of legal advisers, the goaded
peasantry had recourse, naturally enough, to other and
less judicious means of defence.* ,
The Irish legislature, the willing instrument of Anne's
persecution, had not even that poor excuse of zeal for the
honor of the crown which was pleaded as a preamble to
the old acts of allegiance, confiscation, and conformity.
With a few honorable exceptions, its members were
willing to sacrifice not only the Catholic's, but the com
merce of the whole country, to propitiate their English
Protestant brethren. The question of the independence
of their own body could not induce them to bear up man
fully under the weakening sense of patronage. William
Molyneaux, one of the members for Trinity College, tried
in vain to inspire them with a share of his patriotic cour
age. His Case of Ireland will long remain a monu
ment of his civic courage, in a dumb and degenerate age ;
and though his days were few in life, the days of his
memory have been many.
Under a servile Parliament and brutal sovereign, the
material interests of the kingdom rapidly declined.
During Charles IL's reign, a large balance had been left,
in favor of the country, on the total of imports and ex
ports. But now the balance ran all the other way. In
1695.f the deficit was ninety-five thousand nine hundred
* Counsellor Malone, who acted with Butler in 1704, was the father
of the Irish judge Edmund Malone, and of the Irish chancellor Anthony
Malone, of whom Lord Sackville said that "Pitt, Mansfield, and Ma
lone" were the three greatest orators he had ever heard. Gratton and
others, well qualified to judge, speak of him with equal admiration.
These distinguished men, alas ! purchased eminence at the awful price
of apostasy.
Edmund Malone, the editor of Shakspeare, was son to the judge, and
grandson to the Catholic counsellor. He was, in early life, a member of
the Irish parliament, and was one of the intimates of Burke, Johnson,
Goldsmith, and Reynolds, whose life he wrote. The family were an off
shoot of the O'Connors.
t There are no accessible returns of "the balance of trade" in Ireland
from 1681 to 1695. — Dobbs, On Irish Trade, p. 5. Dublin, 1739.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 185
and thirty-two pounds, and it was not till twenty years
later that the trade and revenues began to recover from
the losses they sustained under King William's par
liament. Even the towns of Ulster, planted with such care by
James L, and fighting with such zeal for William, felt
'severely his proscriptive policy. Thousands of the opera
tives " removed into the Protestant states of Germany ; "
"several Papists, at the same time, removed into the
northern parts of Spain;" "other Protestants, who were
embarked with the Papists, removed into France, and
settled in Rouen and other parts." An eminent English
statesman has set down this emigration of Irish opera
tives at one hundred thousand men ! *
While these fugitives were seeking homes through
Europe, Huguenot refugees were settling in Spitalfields
and Dublin, under the patronage of the illiberal Parlia
ment. Raised into independence by the very men who
proscribed native industry, they invariably refused to
take Roman Catholic apprentices into their several
trades.f These were the first fruits of a revolution which
faction celebrated as a deliverance from Popery, prelacy,
brass money, and wooden shoes.J
The 2d of" Anne, cap. 6, gave rise to an infamous class
of men, called " priest-hunters," who set themselves to
track and insnare the disguised clergymen who found
their way every spring from the colleges of the conti
nent into the ports and creeks of Ireland. Priest-hunting
became a regular trade. Volunteers of better circum-

* Dobbs on Irish Trade, p. 6. Earl FitzwUliam's Calculation. Letter
to the Dublin Evening Post, 1846.
t Among other charges to be laid by Ireland against her Protestant
kings is the most grievous one of corrupting the currency. Simon says
of Henry VIII., " The money coined for Ireland in this reign was little
better than brass." " In the reign of James I., a proclamation was issued,
ordering the base money coined in the reign of Elizabeth to pass at one
fourth its former value. The well-known patent to William Wood, for
coining base money, in Dublin, which led to Swift's ' Drapier's Letters,'
will readily occur to the Irish reader's memory." — Simon, Essay on Irish
Coins. % Otway's Handloom Weavers' Report, 1839.
16*

186 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
stances, from the mere wantonness of malice, sometimes
joined in the pursuit, which set the same price
" Upon the head of wolf and friar."
In the 8th of Anne, the tariff of blood was fixed by
law — for an archbishop, bishop, or other superior, fifty
pounds ; for other ecclesiastics, twenty pounds per head.
One of the most infamous " informers," under this sys
tem, was a Portuguese Jew, named Garcia, settled at
Dublin. He was very skilful at disguises. "He some
times put on the mien of a priest, for he affected to be
one, and thus worming himself into the good graces of
some confiding Catholic, got a clew to the whereabouts
of the clergy." * In 1718, Garcia succeeded in arresting
seven unregistered priests, for whose detection he had a
sum equal to two or three thousand dollars of American
money. To such a revolting excess was this profession
carried, that a reaction set in, and a Catholic bishop of
Ossory, who lived at the time these acts were still in
force, records that "the priest-catchers' occupation be
came exceedingly odious both to Protestants and Cath
olics," and that himself had seen "ruffians of this calling
assailed with a shower of stones, flung by both Catholics
and Protestants." f But this change was in the second
George's reign.
Proceeding from excess to excess, a proposal was actu
ally made, and, in the shape of a bill, transmitted into
England, by the viceroy, Lord Wharton, to authorize
the castration of every priest found in the island.J The
British privy council threw out the vile proposal, and,
perhaps, from that last effort of almost extinct humanity
we may trace the first glimmering of a reaction against
the whole system.
The external condition of the Irish church was, truly,
deplorable enough. In 1704, under the registry act, the
* Meehan's Vita Kerovani, Appendix, p. 196. " I myself have known
many priests thus taken, who, having been long detained prisoners, were
subsequently transported beyond seas." — De Burgo, Hibernia Domini
can, pp. 157 and 158.
t Hib. Dom.
X Curry's Civil Wars. Plowden's Ireland.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 187
total of the clergy was found to be eighteen hundred.
Of these, a great part, perhaps the majority, were old and
inactive. One hundred and sixteen of them had been
ordained by the martyred Archbishop Plunkett, nearly
forty years previously, and a number of others by that
bishop's contemporaries. The perils of the order were
greatly increased, by the passage, in 1708, of an act
obliging all "registered priests to take the oath of abju
ration before the 25th of March, 1710." This oath, de
nying transubstantiatien, the invocation of saints, and
declaring the mass idolatrous, no priest could take. Here,
of course, was a new field for the informers. To make
their cruel trade respectable, the precious Parliament,
which cut out their work, resolved, "that the prosecut
ing and informing against Papists was an honorable
service, and that all magistrates who neglected to exe
cute these laws were betrayers of the liberties of the
kingdom."* Hard and desperate times those for all
" Jesuits and seminaTy priests," who feared God more
than death or transportation.f
At this time, the wisdom of Providence had placed in
the see of Armagh a most prudent and able man, Dr.
Hugh McMahon. Born in 1660, educated at Louvain,
he could remember the martyrdom of at least two of his
predecessors. Nothing dismayed, he assumed, in 1708,
their perilous place, and in the midst of its many duties,
which he openly or secretly continued to discharge, he
found leisure for the preparation of a very valuable
work, on the primacy and history of the church of Ar
magh. He lived to rejoice in the first faint symptoms
of toleration, and to see the episcopal body gradually
filling up around him. J
* Irish Commons Journal, vol. iii. p. 319.
t " There was not left," says Dr. Burke, in his History of the Irish
Dominicans, " a single house of that order, which was not suppressed." —
Hib. Dom. p. 155.
j The following striking story is told of Primate McMahon : " The
Irish witnesses soon squandered the money which they had received for
proving the plot and swearing away the primate's life. For a time they
managed to support themselves by swearing against Shaftesbury and their
old employers. But even this failed them, and they were quickly brought

188 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
As under the Stuarts so in this reign and the next,
the faithful laity suffered proportionably to the clergy.
The few members of the Catholic gentry still left with
any vestige of property were obliged to resort to their
own unused energies. One of the chief of these was
O' Conor, of Roscommon, the lineal descendant of
Roderick, the last of the Celtic kings. Holding the
plough with his own hands, he would exhort his sons
against pride, telling them to remember that, though he
" was the son of a gentleman, they were the sons of a
ploughman." The heir of this excellent man fortu
nately lived to occupy another position, in after times,
towards his countrymen.
The Catholic townsmen, who followed any trade or
craft, felt quite as bitterly the results of the proscription.
In the writings of Swift, from which a perfect picture of
Irish society in his time might be drawn, we find them
reported to be " altogether as inconsiderable as the wo
men and children." " The common people, without
leaders, without discipline, or natural courage, being lit
tle better than hewers of w°°d and drawers of water, are
out of all capacity of doing any mischief, if they were
ever so well inclined." In one or two other passages of
his writings we find enough to satisfy us that Swift was
fairly disposed towards his Catholic countrymen, but

to a state of the most wretched destitution. Florence McMoycr was so far
reduced that he was obliged to pawn, for five pounds, the celebrated
' Book of Armagh,' which thus passed out of his family, where it had
remained for many centuries. Nor was this the worst evil against which
these miserable beings had to contend ; for they were now universally
abhorred and detested even by their former abetters, and lived in daily
terror of being punished, perhaps hanged, for their perjuries. They had
now no friends, for they had been equally faithless and false to all par
ties. They were, moreover, tormented by the hell of a guilty conscience,
for the crime of murder was upon their souls. One of those miscreants,
Duffy, old, emaciated, abhorred, exiled from his church, and tortured
with remorse, visited a successor of Dr. Plunkett, (Dr. McMahon,) and as
he approached him, exclaimed in an agony of soul, ' Am I never to have
peace ? Is there no mercy for me ? ' The prelate heard him in silence,
then opened a glass case, and in a deep and solemn voice said, ' Look
here, thou unfortunate wretch ! ' The head of his murdered primate
was before him ; he saw, knew it, and swooned away." This miserable
man was reconciled to the church, and died penitent.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 189
they were seemingly so powerless, that he had no pros
pect of doing good by undertaking their cause. He
consequently alludes to them, but cautiously and inci
dentally.* We can conceive something of their situa
tion in towns and cities from two petitions sent into
the Irish Parliament in Anne's reign. One, from " the
Protestant coal porters of Dublin," complained that
Darby Ryan, " a captain under the late King James,
and a Papist notoriously disaffected, bought up whole
cargoes of coal, and employed those of his own persua
sion and affection to carry the same to customers."
Another petition was from the hackney coachmen, pray
ing " that it might be enacted that none but Protestant
hackney coachmen might have liberty to keep or drive
hackney coaches." f How these "prayers" must have
edified the Dean of St. Patrick's !
So low had the once high spirit of that people fallen,
that these indignities were patiently born by the majority.
All of spirit, who could do so, exiled themselves. Others,
unable to emigrate, and unable to control their indigna
tion, suffered severely for occasional exhibitions of manly
spirit. The meanest Protestant regarded himself as far
above the noblest Catholic. The former were known
by their audacity and assurance of manner, while, in
1730, a shrewd observer declares that a Catholic might
be told by his stooped carriage and subdued man
ner.:): We hear, without surprise, therefore, that the Irish
abroad are a good deal disgusted with their brethren at
home ; that when, in 1715, "the old pretender" (James
III.) makes a desperate effort to regain the triple crown
of the islands, no help for him issues out of Ireland.
He has Irishmen in his army, of course, but they come
from the continent, not from "home." They do their
devoir bravely, according to the custom of their country,
at Killiecrankie, and some of them lie long in prison

* In Reasons for repealing the Test in Favor of Roman Catholics, in
Dublin Cries, and his Correspondence.
t Quoted in Captain Rock, p. 124.
X Life and Writings of Charles O'Connor, vol i. p. 179.

190 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
after the battle of Preston. Conspicuous among them is
Sir Charles Wogan,* descended of that dashing Cava
lier who cut his way through Puritan England, in Crom
well's days, and, with his stout two hundred horse,
joined the friends of King Charles in the Scottish High
lands. Perhaps the indifference of the Irish at home to the
Stuart cause, in 1715, helped them ; in 1745, it certainly
did. Though additional penal laws continued to be
passed till the middle of the century, it is certain that
the actual persecution somewhat abated after the acces
sion of the present dynasty.
Shall we venture to describe the effects of these penal
laws of Queen Anne ? The most eloquent Catholic of
this century declared that language failed him in the
attempt, and, in the poverty of language, he bor
rowed Edmund Burke's striking description : " It was
a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, and as
well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment, and deg
radation of a people, and the debasement in them of
human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the per
verted ingenuity of man."

* Sir Charles was a worthy descendant of that famous Cavalier men
tioned in the text. He won his knightly rank from the hands of the
pope, by rescuing, alone and unhelped, the Princess Sobieskiy, betrothed
to " the old pretender," from the fortress of Innspruck, in the Tyrol,
and conveying her safe to Rome. After his English imprisonment, ho
had command of a regiment .in Spain, from which he sent Swift a
present of pure wine, accompanied by a Latin poem, and one of the no
blest pieces of English prose in the language. In this letter, Wogam
says of his fellow refugees, " They have shown a great deal of gallantry
in the defence of foreign states and princes, with very little advantage to
themselves but that of being, free, and without half the outward marks
of distinction they deserved. These southern governments are very slow
in advancing foreigners to considerable or gainful perferments." — " Ros-
coe's Edition of Swift's Works, vol. ii. p. 667." The entire letter is worthy
of repeated readings.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 191

CHAPTER V.
IRISH CATHOLICS ABROAD.— IRISH COLLEGES AT LOUVAIN, PARIS,
ROME, LISBON, &c — IRISH SOLDIERS IN FOREIGN SERVICE. — THE
IRISH BRIGADE IN FRANCE.— HOW THEIR REPUTATION REACTED
ON ENGLAND.
In this desperate struggle for the maintenance of reli
gion in Ireland, she had numerous auxiliaries in the col
leges founded for the education of her students on the
continent. Of these and their founders some account
is called for.
The native Irish schools had never fully recovered
from the effects of the Danish wars. The revival of Irish
education by St. Malachy was extinguished under the
Norman invasion, and the greater foreign institutions
founded at Paris, Salamanca, and Rome became the
favorite resorts of Irish scholars during the middle ages.
When England adopted a new faith, and her rulers be
gan to wage their deadly warfare against Catholic educa
tion, what had been before the choice of the islanders
became then their necessity.
From its situation and renown, the University of Lou-
vain, founded by John, Duke of Brabant, in 1425, was
much frequented by the Irish, even inthe sixteenth century.
Peter Lombard, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, (King
James's special friend,) and O'Hurley, the martyred Arch
bishop of Cashel, graduated there, with high honor. In
conjunction with this university, Florence Conroy, Arch
bishop of Tuam, (" who, for various reasons, would not
be safe among the English," says his friend O'Sullivan,)
founded the Irish College of St. Anthony, A. D. 1617.
The funds for this purpose were generously supplied by
the viceroys, Albert and Isabella, then governing at
Brussels. Dr. Conroy caused an Irish press to be erect
ed, from which, for more than a century, the greater part
of the catechisms and manuals used in Ireland were
secretly obtained. Here the learned founder prepared
his Commentaries on St. Augustin, and here Ward,

192 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Colgan, and O'Clery prepared their Acts of the Irish
Saints, and arranged the Annals of the Four Masters.
Conroy died in 1629. A tablet, still legible, commemo
rates his name amid the ruins of St. Anthony's College.
In 1624, Matthew, Archbishop of Dublin, aided by
Pope Urban VIII., founded, also, in conjunction with this
university, the Collegium Pastorale Hibernorum, for sec
ulars only. Dr. Nicholas Aylmer was the first president.
With its after history are associated the honorable
names of Stapleton, French, Arsdekin, and Peter Walsh,
all eminent scholars and constant Catholics.
In 1659, Dr. Gregory, and two brothers named Joyce,
founded the Irish Dominican college at Louvain, under
the invocation of St. Thomas of Aquin. The fathers
O'Sullivan, O'Daly, and Burke are among the first doc
tors of this school.
Like all other institutions in the Netherlands — that
common battle field of Europe — these Irish colleges un
derwent various vicissitudes. When, in 1633, the Dutch,
with sixty thousand men, besieged Louvain, the Irish
students shared in all the dangers of the defence. They
formed a regiment of their own number, and under
Preston, the confederate, " distinguished themselves for
deeds of valor and renown." _ In that stirring siege, cas
sock and shako were strangely blended ; the Jesuits
formed a corps of pioneers, and constructed or attacked
works with all the coolness of veterans ; the Walloon
regiments acted with proverbial courage, and Louvain
was saved from its powerful assailants.
As an evidence of how Irish piety, even in the worst
of times, devoted itself to the service of God, we give
an abstract of the endowments received by the Irish
Pastoral College, during the two centuries of its exist
ence : —
" Matthew, Archbishop of Dublin, in 1624 founded a
" bourse of 2000 florins, which produced a yearly reve-
" nue of 48 florins, for natives of his diocese, being stu-
" dents in theology and philosophy ; the collation was
" in the Archbishop of Dublin ; Edward Purcell was in
" the enjoyment of this from 1784 up to the time of the

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 193
" visitation. The archbishop founded a second bourse
" of 2871 florins, the same year, producing about 100
" florins yearly for his next of kin in the first instance,
" and secondly for natives of the diocese of Clogher.
"Charles McKenna held this since 1780. The presen-
" tation was in the gift of the Bishop of Clogher.
" James Normel, in lf353, granted 993 florins for stu-
" dents in philosophy, theology, humanity, law, and med-
" icine. The visitors and president of the college had
" the presentation ; and the grant was to be held by the
" founders next of kin in the first instance, and then a
" preference, in the following order, was to be given to
" natives of Cionmel, Lismore, Munster, and Ireland.
" Edward Cantillon enjoyed this since 1784.
" Hugh Mauricy, in 1680, granted 2373 florins for stu-
' dents in the same departments as the last, and in the
' gift of , the same persons ; to be enjoyed by his next of
" kin in the first instance, and then, in default, by natives
" of Galway, Connaught, Ireland, and lastly, Buygenhout,
" in Flanders. Patrick Rouland enjoyed this since 1784.
" Roger Nottingham, in 1692, granted 1000 florins for
" the same studies as last, excepting humanity and law;
" and this was also in the gift of the Same persons, with
"the Archbishop of Dublin, to be enjoyed by his next
" of kin to the fourth degree ; then by natives of Dublin,
" Leinster, and the parish of St. Nicholas at Ghent.
" Charles Finn held this since 1783.
" Matthew Theige, in 1652, gave 5702 florins for stu-
" dents in philosophy and theology, to be presented by
" the visitors and president, to be held by the kindred of
" the founder, then by natives of Limerick, or, in default,
" by natives of Ireland. Held by Patrick Cleary and
« Edward Cantillon since 1780 and 1784.
" Nicholas French, in 1683, granted 600 florins for stu-
" dents in rhetoric, philosophy, and theology. The pres-
" entation was in the Bishop of Ferns and the president
" of the college ; his next of kin had the preference, then
" natives of the diocese of Ferns, and, in default, natives
" of Ireland. E. Ennis enjoyed it since 1781.
" Thomas Hurley, in 1697, granted- 3200 florins for
17

194 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" students in philosophy, theology, humanity, law, and
" medicine. The presentation was in the president and
" visitors of the college, to be held first by his next of
" kin, then natives of Limerick, Tipperary, Munster, and
" in default, the natives of Ireland. Held by Thomas
" Hurley since 1783.
" Arnold Conolly, in 1715, granted 2383 florins for
" students in philosophy and theology, the presentation
"being in the president of the college, and to be held
" first by the next of kin of the founder, and then by na-
" fives of the diocese of Clogher, held by Charles Mc-
" Kenna since 1780.
" Paul Roche, P. P. of Wexford, as the executor of
-" his uncle, David Roche, P. P. of Forth, in 1727, granted
" 6008 florins for students in humanity, philosophy, the-
" ology, and the arts, to be enjoyed by his next of kin,
" to tbe third degree, and then in order, by natives of
" the barony of Forth, Wexford, and diocese of Ferns.
" The presentation was in the president of the college,
" and P. P. of Wexford, provided he was a native of
" Wexford ; and in case he was not, then, in his place,
" the oldest curate in the barony of Forth, with two eit-
" izens of Wexford. Charles O'Brien and Matthew
" Good held this since 1783.
" Raymond Magrath, M. D., in exercitu casari sum
" majestatis, in 1780, granted 9402 florins for students in
" humanity, philosophy, theology, and medicine, to be
"enjoyed by the next of kin of the founder. J. Maccabe
" and H. Maccabe enjoyed this from 1775 and 1779, re-
" spectively. " Edmond Trohy, merchant of Antwerp, in 1783,
" granted 4585 florins for students in humanity, and all
" other studies. The visitors and president of the col-
" lege were the presenters ; and next of kin, and in de-
" fault, natives of Tipperary were to be elected. Wil-
" liam Britt enjoyed this since 1782.
" Helen Duignan, in 1770, granted 7848 florins for
" students in poetry, rhetoric, philosophy, medicine, the-
" ology, and public disputation. The presentation was
" in the Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishop of Waterford,

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 195
" the parish priest of Cionmel, Mr. McCarthy, and the
" oldest heir male of the founder. J. Dogherty and
" Daniel McCarthy enjoyed this since 1777 and 1784,
" respectively. " Thomas Tyrrell, in 1771, granted 4800 florins for
" students in rhetoric, philosophy, theology, and public
" disputation. The presentation was to be in the next
" of kin ; this individual was, in 1785, G. ' F. Brown ;
" the privileged persons were the next of kin to the sixth
" degree, and, in default, natives of Westmeath or Ire-
" land. Patrick Clinch held this since 1783.
" Colomba Morgan, a citizen of Dublin, in 1777,
" granted 7044 florins for students in philosophy and
" theology ; and also for two priests, natives of Dublin,
" with an obligation to say one mass daily for the founder.
" The presentation was in the Archbishop of Dublin.
" Patrick Ryan and Edward Purcell enjoyed this since
"1781. " J. Kent, in 1781, granted 7007 florins for students in
" all departments, to be held by his kindred to the fourth
" degree, and then by natives of Lismore and Water-
" ford. The presentation was in the Archbishop of
" Waterford and the visitors and president of the col-
" lege. Matthew Power enjoyed this since 1784.
"  O'Brien, in 1769, granted 217 florins for Irish
" students in philosophy and theology ; and 225 florins to
" an Irish priest to say mass daily in the college chapel.
" The Bishop of Cloyne and president of the college
" were the presenters. Patrick Ryan and Philip Daniel
" McCarthy held this since 1782 and 1784, respectively.
" T. Sullivan, in 1699, granted 732 florins for Irish
" students in rhetoric, philosophy, and theology, for his
" relations of the second degree, provided they were born
" in Ireland. The presentation was in two doctors of
" theology, chosen by the rector in " strict faculty." John
" Fitzgerald and M. Sullivan enjoyed this since 1780, M.
" Sullivan since 1782, and Daniel Magrath since 1784.
" Florence Sullivan, in 1732, granted 1098 florins for
" students in philosophy, theology, law, and medicine, a
" preference to be given his kindred to the third degree,

196 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
"then to the O'Sullivans of Kerry, the McCarthys of
" Kerry, or natives of Kerry, Cashel, or Ulster. The
" eldest doctor in theology, the president of the college,
" and the eldest visitor were the presenters.
" Independent of the above grant, the college was en-
" dowed by Urban VIII., by a M. Shinkel, and by Mat-
" thew Prosser, a merchant of Bruges, and native of
." Waterford, with sums making altogether about 8000
" florins, besides the bequest of Thomas Stapleton,
" which provided for seven students in various depart-
" ments, and to which we have already alluded."
Here we find the exiled merchant's profits and the ex
iled soldier's stipend, the widow's mite, and the bishop's
and professor's income, all devoted to the maintenance
of the only schools open to the Irish race !
But Louvain was not alone " a city of refuge " to our
fathers. At Paris, Thomas Fleming obtained the foun
dation of an Irish college, which still exists. It was
endowed by the Bourbons, confiscated at the period of
the revolution, but restored by Napoleon Bonaparte to
the Irish church. Here King James deposited the Irish
manuscript in his possession, and here, in 1730, the
Abbe McGeoghehan pondered over their contents, when
preparing that laborious and conscientious history of
his country, worthy of being dedicated to the heroic
" brigade." n
In Lisle, Douay, Bourdeaux, Rouen, and St. Omer's,
there were also Irish colleges. ' O'Connell graduated at
the latter.
At Antwerp, in 1629, the Irish College of St. Patrick
^was founded by Dr. Seagrave, a native of Leinster. It
was burned in 1680, but rebuilt by Pope Innocent XL
and the Propaganda. k Seagrave was the first, and Dr.
Jacob Talbot the second president.
At Salamanca and Alcala, there were either bourses
or entire houses for Irish students. At Seville, there
was an Irish college, of which, in 1640, Dr. Dominick
Lynch, afterwards Recteur Magnifique of the University
of Seville, was president.
At Coimbra, there were Irish bourses. Luke Wad-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 197
ding, BonaventUra Baron, Primate Curtis, and Dr. Doyle
were educated there. In Lisbon, Dominick O'Daly, a
native of Kerry, procured the founding of an Irish col
lege by the last Spanish viceroy, the Duchess of Mantua.
After the revolution of 1640, which placed the family of
Braganza on the throne of Portugal, O'Daly rose rapidly.
He was successively confessor to the queen, inquisitor
general, and ambassador to France. He declined the then-
rich Indian archbishopric of , Goa, and at the time of his
death (1662) was Bishop elect of Coimbra — the pri-
matial see of Portugal. He not only founded the
Lisbon College, but also a convent for Irish nuns in the
same city, and a house for Irish students at Coimbra.
His two works (the " Geraldines " and the " Persecu
tions ") have been frequently quoted, in the first part of
this history.
At Prague, .there were Irish bourses, and we have seen
mention of an "Irish college" — we are not informed
as to its history. Attached to other Austrian colleges
were several Irish bourses.
At Rome, one of the greatest Irishmen of his day,
Father Luke Wadding, founded for Irish Franciscans
the College of St. Isidore, in 1625 ; * in which good
work he was much assisted by the noble family of Bar-
berini. In 1628, he induced Cardinal Ludovisius, " the
protector of Ireland," to found a secular Irish college,
which is distinguished from the other by the name of its
noble founder. Wadding was twice president. Hickey,
Fleming, Walsh, and Baron, all distinguished scholars,
were among the earliest professors at St. Isidore's.
Wadding, who, for nearly forty years, was the volun
tary ambassador of Ireland at Rome, and yet so hus
banded his time as to be able to bring out the numerous
works which bear his name, as editor or author, is buried
in his own foundation, where his tomb is still preserved,
by the fathers of St. Isidore, f
* Father Wadding was nephew to Peter Lombard, Archbishop of
Armagh. He was born at Waterford, in 1588, and died at Rome, in
1657. There is a sketch of his edifying life, in McGee's Irish Writers.
Dublin, 1846.
+ Waddinfir is thfi antTirn* n-f ^bf* o-roa-r; wnrt i f\\a Ajn-najg of the Friars

198 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
The Ludovisian Irish College was famous for the
students it sent forth, throughout the seventeenth cen
tury. Oliver Plunkett was of the number. This college
was administered by the order of Jesuits — those illus
trious victors and martyrs of Christianity.
The effect of these active and numerous Irish institn-
tions throughout Catholic Europe must have been con
siderable, not only in the cities where they stood, but
on the general tone and turn of continental opinion.
Every college had its concursus, its Irish celebrations, its
printing press, and its atmosphere of sympathy. All
literature and all statesmanship were cognizant of the
fact* and agreed upon the cause — the merciless English
persecutions. Until the wars that followed the French
revolution, it was impossible for England to keep or
make partisans at Rome, Lisbon, Madrid, Vienna, or
Paris. Her generals and diplomatists complain bitterly
that the very courts they succored and served had no
real respect for them or their kingdom. The fact seems
to have been, that the Irish colleges, with their numerous
preachers and writers, had created, in every Catholic
country, a hearty detestation of the intolerance and per
fidy of English governments. It is among the strange
signs of our providential history that, just as the French
philosophy and revolution had spread abroad, Irish col
leges were suffered to be restored at home. Under this
last Gothic storm, not yet appeased, the Irish in Ireland
have turned earnestly to the erection of native insti
tutions of education, which, for fifty years back, have
not been openly proscribed.
The old colleges of the penal times deserve our per
petual gratitude and remembrance. Those of Rome,
Minors, which took him above twenty years to compile. He also wrote
the Writers of the Order of Friars Minors ; a Life of Anselm, Bishop
of Lucca ; a Life of Thomasius, Patriarch of Alexandria ; a Life of
John Duns Scotus, &c, &c. He was one of the theologians appointed
to examine the tenets of Jansenius, at Rome, and to maintain, before the
congregation, the immaculate conception. In 1645, he declined the car-
dinalate. " Fra Luca " is not forgotten in Italian biographies.
* Le Sage and Goldsmith both make striking use of that common
character on the continent — the Irish student.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 199
Louvain, Lisbon, Salamanca, St. Omer's, and Paris,*
were particularly instrumental in keeping faith and
learning alive among our race, and in sending into Ire
land chiefs, counsellors, and true civilizers. They coun
teracted the barbarous effects of the penal code. If it
had not been for them, Ireland, in all probability, would
have been driven into worse than Tartar darkness and
savageness. i
Contemporaneous with the Irish colleges were those
memorable brigades and regiments of Catholic exiles
whose courage and fidelity have done so much to honor
the national character. Their . serving only Catholic
states made Ireland an active agent in almost every
action of that great contest which was the necessary
consequence of the continental "reformation." From
the time of Luther till the time of Robespierre, Europe
divided naturally into a Protestant and a Catholic camp.
Sweden, Holland, England, and Prussia are on the one
side ; Austria, Spain, and the Italian states on the other.
France and Bavaria, from motives of position and policy,
sometimes cooperated with one, sometimes with the
other, and sometimes formed a third party. Protestant
ism., in the words of Burke, " introduced other interests
into all countries than those which arose from their
locality and natural circumstances." The same profound
observer adds, " It would be to repeat the history of the
two last centuries, to exemplify the effects of this revolu
tion." f It does not surprise us, who regard Ireland as
representing the church militant, to count the large num
ber of men and captains she supplied to the Catholic
side of the European contest between " the reformation "
in the sixteenth, and " the revolution " in the eighteenth
century. After the battle of Kinsale, O'Sullivan, Beare, and
those excepted from James's amnesty, entered the Span-
* * The Irish colleges at Rome, Lisbon, and Paris are still devoted to
their original purpose. At present, (1852,) Dr. Kirby is president at
Rome, Dr. Gartland at Lisbon, and Dr. Miley at Paris. The present
primate of Ireland (Dr. Cullen) was Dr. Kirby's predecessor at Rome.
t Thoughts on French Affairs, in December, 1791.

200 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
ish service, and some rose to high rank in naval and mil
itary expeditions. O'Sullivan commanded a ship in
Philip H.'s expedition against the Turks, and in one
engagement had a brother shot at his side. From the
specimen Spain then had, her rulers became anxious to
enlist more. From Ulster, after the exile of the O'Neils
and O'Donnells^ she obtained whole regiments, and such
captains as the O'Donnells and O'Reillys ; from Galway
she obtained, later, many recruits, among whom certain
Blakes and O'Connors rose to eminence. They served
valiantly against the Dutch, the Turks, and the English,
throughout that century. In Spain and South America
their descendants kept the vantage ground, and did
truly and valiantly.* In the last century, Spain contin
ued to recruit . in Ireland. In 1708, she embodied two
Irish regiments of dragoons and three of foot. In the
defence of Oran, in 1732, and the Italian campaigns of
the two next years, these regiments won honor. In 1743,
in the battle of Velletri, between Spain and Austria,
there were Irish soldiers on both sides. Austria tri
umphed, but the Irish soldiers of Spain protected the
retreat, and rescued the infant, Don Philip. Lacy, Law
less, O'Reilly, and Wogan, their best officers, were made
grandees of Spain after these campaigns. Lawless, by
the arrest of the Duke de Medini Celi, was said to have
saved the monarchy. He was afterwards governor of
Majorca. Lacy was sent ambassador to Petersburg,
where he found a relative high in favor. This was Field
Marshal Lacy, the conqueror of the Tartars and of
Sweden, by whose prudent generalship Charles XII. was
routed at Pultowa, in 1709. |
Another branch of this notable house gave, in the same
age, two generals and aulic councillors to Austria.
Austria, before and after the separation from Spain, was
long partial to Lish soldiers. The Brownes, of Camas,
in Limerick, exiled for their faith, gave a field marshal,
* It is hardly necessary to allude to the Generals O'Donnell, Blake,
and Sarsfield, of the Peninsular war ; or to O'Donju, Viceroy of Mexico,
O'Higgins, Captain General of Chili, or O'Donnell, Captain General of
Cuba. t Manstein's Memoirs.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 201
two generals, and other distinguished officers, to that
empire., One of these generals was made a baron, and
governor of Deva, in Transylvania ; the other, married to
the daughter of Field Marshal Lacy, was naturalized in
Russia, and made governor of Livonia.
Field Marshal Ulysses Browne had the good fortune to
beat the King of Prussia and to liberate the King of
Poland. He died in 1757, much mourned by Maria
Theresa. Another field marshal of the same name and
family died at Vienna, in 1784.
The Carlow family of Kavanagh gave five general
officers to Austria. In 1766, Charles Kavanagh was
governor of Prague and count of the empire ; about
the same time, Charles, his cousin, held the rank of gen
eral and count ; John Baptist Kavanagh was a general
and aulic councillor. Sir James Kavanagh and Baron
Henry Kavanagh were distinguished in the Austro-
French war.
The Methian family of Nugent has been naturalized in
Austria since the seventeenth century ; has given two
field marshals and several aulic councillors, ambassadors,
and generals to the imperial service. In the " thirty years'
war," the names of O'Dwyer, Butler, and Maguire fre
quently occur. On the Austrian army list, a few years
ago, there were twenty-five eminent officers of Irish
descent. The other Catholic German power, Bavaria, following
the example of the rest, sought to strengthen itself with
Irish arms. Baron Harrold, a native of Limerick, and
colonel in that service, was chamberlain to the king in
1780. The King of Naples, also, had his Irish guards, of
whom Sir Balthazar O'Neil was colonel, towards the
close of the last century. The guard was composed of
what was formerly called the regiment of Limerick.
At Velettri they rescued the king's person from the Aus
trian army.
Poor Poland, also, had its Irish soldiers. Field Mar
shal Maurice Kavanagh devoted his life to defend that
nationality against the infamous partitionists.

202 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
But the most celebrated Irish captains are those who
served under the lilies of France. An Irish company of
horse served, in 1 652,- under Turenne, against the great
Conde. In the campaigns of 1673, 1674, and 1675,
under Turenne, two or three Irish regiments were in every
engagement along the Rhone. At Altenheim, their com
mander, Count Hamilton, was created a major general
of France.
In 1690, the old regiments, with the six new ones
sent over by James, were formed into a brigade, and
in 1690, 1691, 1692, and 1693, they went through the
campaigns of Savoy and Italy, under Catinat, and
against Prince Eugene. Justin McCarthy, Lord Mount-
cashel, who commanded them, died at Bareges of
wounds received at Straffardo.. At Marsiglia, they routed,
in 1693, the allies, killing Duke ^chomberg, son to the
Huguenot general who fell at the Boyne.
The " new " brigade was employed under Luxem
burg, and against King William, in Flanders, in 1692
and 1693. At Namur and Enghien, they were superb.
Sarsfield, their brigadier, on the latter day was made
mareschal-de-camp. At Landen, on the 29th of July,
1693, France again triumphed, and, with the cry, " Re
member Limerick and British faith," Sarsfield pursued
the route of the treaty-breakers. A ball reached him in
that proud hour, and he fell mortally wounded. Pressing
his hand upon the wound, he took it away dripping with
L>lood, and only said, " O that this was for Ireland ! "
So died one of the most devoted soldiers of the cross
and of Irish nationality — a worthy grandson of Rory
O'Moore. The two brigades in the same war lost their chiefs,
and were decimated by their many desperate charges.
In 1695, all the remaining veterans were organized into
twelve complete regiments, four of horse and eight of
infantry, under the descendants of their first officers*
* The king's regiment of cavalry : — Dominick Sheldon, colonel ; Ed-
mond Prendergast, lieutenant colonel ; Edmond Butler, major ; 4 cap
tains, 6 lieutenants, 6 cornets. -
The queen's regiment of cavalry : — Lord Galmoy, colonel ; Rene de

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 203
Till the revolution, in 1791, they took part in every war
in which France was engaged. From 1691 " to the
year 1745, after the battle of Fontenoy, above four hun
dred and fifty thousand (450,000 ! ) Irishmen lost their
lives in the service of France." *
Many of the officers of the brigade founded distin
guished families in France, still represented in the politics
and the campaigns of that brave nation. O'Brien was
created mareschal of France andxommander of Langue-
doc ; McMahon, a marquis, and knight of St. Louis ;
Dillon was created a viscount — the same rank as
Turenne' s ; Lally was made governor of Pondicherry ;
Roche'(who passed into the service of Sardinia) viscount
of Fermoy ; and so with many others-.
French recruiting for the brigade was carried on sys-
Carnfe, a Frenchman, lieutenant colonel ; James Tobin, major ; 4 captains,
6 lieutenants, 6 cornets.
The king's regiment of dragoons : — Lord Viscount Kilmallock, (Sars
field,) colonel ; Turenne O'Carroll, lieutenant colonel; De Salles, a
Frenchman, major ; 5 captains, 14 lieutenants, 14 cornets. '
The queen's regiment of dragoons : — Charles Viscount Clare, colonel ;
Alexander Barnewal, lieutenant colonel ; Charles Maxwell, major ;
5 captains, 14 lieutenants, 14 cornets.
The king's infantry regiment of guards : — William Dorington, colonel ;
Oliver O'Gara, lieutenant colonel ; John Rothe, major ; 12 captains, 28
.lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns.
The queen's regiment of infantry : — Simon Luttrel, colonel ; Francis
Wachop, lieutenant colonel; James O'Brien, major; 12 captains, 28
lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns.
An infantry regiment of marines : — The Lord Grand-prior, colonel ;
Nicholas Fitzgerald, lieutenant colonel ; Richard Nugent, second lieu
tenant colonel; Edmond O'Madden, major; 11 captains, 28 lieutenants,
28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns.
The Limerick regiment of infantry : — Sir John Fitzgerald, colonel ;
Jeremiah O'Mahony, lieutenant colonel ; William Thessy, major ; 12
captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns?
The Charlemont regiment of infantry : — Gordon O'Neill, colonel ;
Hugh McMahon, lieutenant colonel ; Edmond Murphy, major ; 12 cap
tains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns.
Dublin regiment of infantry : — John Power, colonel ; John Power,
lieutenant colonel ; Theobald Burke, major ; 12 captains, 28 Ueutenants,
28 sub-lieutenants; 14 ensigns.-
The Athlone regiment of infantry : — Walter Burke, colonel ; Owen
McCarty, lieutenant colonel; Edmond Cantwell, major; 12 captains,
28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns. — McGeoghegan, History
of Ireland, pp. 605, 606. ~ .
* Authority, Clarke, Due de Feltre, minister at war in France —
cited in O'Connor's Military Memoirs. _

204 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
tematically in the south and west, long after the survi
vors of Limerick had fired their iast shot. Smugglers
from the Channel Islands, in their light coasting craft, ran
in disguised priests and other contraband goods, and car
ried away many a tall fellow, food for powder, and can
didate for glory. Severe laws were enacted against
recruiting, and those taken in the fact were summarily
executed. In Queen Anne's reign, there is mention of
two or three such executions. Still this perilous trade
was prosecuted by the smugglers with unwearied energy.
Recruits were usually booked as " wild geese " — a
name which came to be synonymous with soldier, in
those troubled times. Many a popular ballad recorded
the parting of the " wild geese " from their native shore,
and their achievements abroad. In those days, ballads
took the place of the broadsheets and newspapers, and
foreign politics were recited and sung at fair and market,
in allegories which only the initiated could comprehend.
Like Pythagoras, the itinerant songster spoke in hints
and proverbs, making his audience " see, as through a
glass, darkly."
In the war of the succession, the chief glory of the
brigade was the defence of Cremona, and their share
in the battles of Blenheim and Ramillies. On the
latter field, O'Brien, Lord Clare, fell mortally wounded,
leaving after him a son to conquer, at Fontenoy. Riva
surrendered to Dillon, and Alsira to O' Mahony. On
the field of Almanza, 13th March, 1707, (a date British
historians duly " overlook,") the French and Irish killed
three thousand of the Anglo-Dutch forces, and took ten
thousand prisoners and one hundred and twenty stands
of colors. This battle compelled Queen Anne to dis
miss Marlborough, and accept the humiliating peace of
Utrecht. But the hottest and proudest day the brigade ever saw
was a May day, in the year of our Lord 1745. The
French army, commanded by Saxe, and accompanied by
King Louis, leaving eighteen thousand men to besiege
Namur, and six thousand to guard the Scheldt, took a
position between that river and the British, having their
centre at the village of Fontenoy. The British and Dutch

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. ' 205
under King George's son, the Duke of Cumberland, were
fifty-five thousand strong; fhe French forty -five thousand.
After a hard day's fighting, victory seemed to declare
against France, and King Louis, who was present, pre
pared for flight. At this moment, Marshal Saxe ordered a
final charge, by the seven Irish regiments, under O'Brien,
Count Thomond. The tide was turned again to the
cry of " Remember Limerick." France was delivered,
England humbled, and Holland reduced from a first to a
second-rate power upon that day, partly by Irish hearts
and hands. With utter self-devotion, they flung them
selves on the enemy. They smote them like a torrent,
but on the conquered ground their blood was shed like
rain. One fourth of all the officers (including Dillon)
were killed, and one third of all the men.
Until Waterloo, Fontenoy stood unequalled in mili
tary history. But the brave brigade never recovered its
lost blood upon that field. To the last, the remnant
kept their colors and their character. In Germany with
Saxe, in the East with Lally, in Canada with Montcalm,
the last of that heroic brotherhood fought till they died.
Their favorite chiefs all fell on the field : McCarthy,
Sarsfield, the two O'Briens, and the two Dillons, died
in battle, and all victorious against England. The last
ofthe Bourbons gave the last of the brigade a flag with
this motto : — " 1692-1792.
Semper et Ubique Fidelis."
When, in 1745, the news of the battle of Fontenoy
reached King George, he exclaimed, in the bitterness of
his disappointment, " Cursed be the laws that deprived
me of such subjects ! " Singular confession ! The penal
laws were found, after a trial of a hundred and fifty
years, to have served no purpose of state policy ! They
had exiled, but not extinguished, the faithful Irish race !
By the camp fires of Fonteroy the discovery was made.
The British might run and read, but the end was not yet.
The reformation had done its work in England, if not in
Ireland ; and those who had raised the spirit of persecu
tion were unable, of themselves, to conjure it down !
18

206 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE

CHAPTER VI.
THE JACOBITES AND THE IRISH CATHOLICS. — THE STUARTS CON-
STJLTED AT ROME ON THE APPOINTMENT OF IRISH BISHOPS. —
THB RAPPAREES. — THE WANDERING MINSTRELS AND "NEWS
MEN." King James II. died at St. Germain's, in 1701, and
was buried at the English Benedictines' church. Louis
immediately acknowledged his son, under the title of
James III., by which name he received not only the
French court, but also those faithful refugees, chiefly
Scotch and Irish, who still clung to his family. Although,
at the time of his birth, the enemies of his father pre
tended to doubt his legitimacy, the loyalists, or, as they
are better known, " the Jacobites," in both Ireland and
Britain, extended to him the allegiance due to the law
ful sovereign.* During the entire reign of Anne, the
partisans of the old dynasty were active and sanguine,
and it was not till the establishment ofthe present succes
sion that they began to conceal their opinions, or ceased
to conspire for their success.
The result of the Scotch rising of that year disheart
ened no true Jacobite. The battles of Killiecrankie,
under Dundee, and Sheriffmuir, under Mar, were both
victories. Dundee's death, and the military incapacity
of James himself, who arrived in January, 1716, in Aber
deen, in time to spoil his last chance, were supposed fully
to account for the failure of that attempt. Hence the
rumored Spanish expedition of 1719, and Bishop Atter-
bury's plot, in 1722, filled the hearts of the party with
sanguine expectations, destined not to be fulfilled, nor
yet to be extinguished. v
In 1702, there were rumors of a Jacobite rising in
Munster ; and upon the evidence of " three worthless
fellows," Major Geoffery Keating and three respectable
citizens of Limerick were arrested, and sent to Dublin with
a troop of dragoons. " They were remitted back to Lim
erick, tried at the assizes, and honorably acquitted." *
* Ferrar's History of Limerick, p. 125.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 207
Like rumors were rife concerning Galway and other
places, at several periods, but there seems to have been
no good foundation for any of them. In 1743, when
such a rumor prevailed, a privy councillor proposed that
a massacre of the Irish Catholics should be made, on the
ground that, by the rising of 1641, that community had
put themselves out of the pale of civilization, and ought
to be destroyed.*
James III. and his son were most anxious to keep up.
-their party in Ireland. The officers of the brigade were
much courted by them, and the new commissions came
chiefly through their hands. The popes, adopting a
similar policy, constantly consulted James on the ap
pointment of the Irish bishops. For fifty years after the
treaty of Limerick, no mitre was conferred without the
concurrence of the Stuarts.f Thus the Irish on the
continent, as well clerics as soldiers, were kept in close
connection with the old dynasty.
The population remaining at home,, after the open
violation of the treaty, began to look with eagerness for
the return of a Catholic sovereign, who, it was hoped,,
would be made wise by adversity, and would do them
justice. . Although a dull and sullen silence reigned over
the greater part of the island, the minds of men were
far from settled. In the mountainous districts, as the
Mourne, the Wicklow and Carlow Highlands, and the
mountains of Tipperary and Kerry, there still remained
bands of the old guerillas of 1688, known, as " Rappa-
rees" — men generally the descendants of good families,
whose estates had suffered confiscation, and who had
nothing further to fear from outlawry. Even in this
wild life, they usually retained the bearing of well-born
men, and often ^xercised a chivalrous protectorate oyer
the poor and the injured. In a state of imperfect inter
course and police, they had a thousand opportunities for
displays of tact and courage ; and if half the traditions of

* More's Captain Rock, p. 140. Longman's 5th edition, London,
1824. . J s
t Pope Benedict XIV., -about the year 1757, discontinued this usage.

208 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
them are true, they displayed many qualities worthy of
the highest admiration.
The first Rapparees, by King James's reports, had
made their mark on the open field before they took to
the hills. " One O'Connor," a Kildare Rapparee, "with
sixty men on horseback-, and as many on foot, surprised
two companies of grenadiers, whom they cut to pieces,
then went to Phillipstown, where they killed one hundred
and twenty dragoons, burned the town, and carred away
a great booty of horse."* This was in midwinter, 1691.
Another "Rapparee," Anthony O' Carroll, surnamed "the
Tall," took and held, during 1690 and 1691, the castle
and town of Neuagh, and when obliged to vacate it,
brought with him five hundred men, in good order, to
Limerick.f William's chaplain and historiographer con
fesses, frankly enough, the activity of the Rapparees.
" They are not to be kept in their own province, [Con
naught,] but can both keep us out, and also come among
us whenever they have a mind to it ! " J
Among the best remembered of the successors of these
gallant guerillas are O'Keefe and Callaghan, in Mun
ster ; Higgins, Grace, and the galloping O'Hogan,
in the western and midland counties; O'Dempsey
and Kavanagh, ("the White Sergeant,") in Leinster.
These were all men of some military experience, and of
ancient family, who are not to be confounded with the
leaders of the agrarian societies formed about the middle
of the century. The malice of party has endeavored to
stigmatize them as cutthroats and highwaymen, but the
contemporaneous facts entitle the Irish Rapparees to rank
with the guerillas of Spain and the gallant outlaws of
every defeated nationality ; with Wallace and Tell, and
Scanderberg and Marion, they are entitled to stand;
on the same ground, and in the same light of impartial
history. Resides the brigade, the clergy, the peasantry, and the
Rapparees, there was another body of Jacobites not to be
* King James's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 433.
t Harris's Life of King William, p. 297.
X Story's Impartial Histdry, vol. ii. p. 147.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 209
forgotten — the poets and ballad singers. They were
the " newsmen " and censors of their time — a large and
various class, ranging from tha accomplished gentleman,
who, like Fitzgerald, paraphrased Horace, or like McDon
ald, of Claragh, translated Homer into Gaelic, down
to the poor performer and worse versifier who earned
his "bit- and sup" by nightly concerts in the village
tavern. Chanting a tongue strange to their oppressors, but not
beyond the chance of detection, they threw all their
political poems into an allegorical form. At one time
" the pretender " was " a blackbird," pining in a foreign
cage, and sorely troubled, though waited on by. lords
and ladies ; at another, " a little dark man ;"' sometimes
Ireland, personified as a fairy, appeared to the poet,
wailing and refusing to be comforted, while her beloved
was far away : —
" My priests are banished, my warriors wear
No longer victory's garland ;
And my child, my son, my beloved heir,
Is an exile in a far land."*
In other moods, a girl sings of her banished lover, and .
declares her belief that he will return from France to
vindicate her cause against cruel and oppressive rela
tives ; or the poet addresses his country in,the guise of
a dear mistress, assuring her of his constancy, and fore
telling happier days to come : — .
" Rise up, my boy ! make ready
My horse, for I forth would ride
To follow the modest damsel
That dwells on the green hill's side ;
For e'er since our youth were we plighted
In faith, troth, and wedlock true.
0, she's sweeter to me, ten times over,
Than organ or cuckoo ! "
Another bard declares his constancy still more signif
icantly : — "EU leave my people, both friend and foe ;
From all the girls in the world I'll go ;
But frqm you, sweetheart, 0, never ! O, no !
Till I lie in the coffin, stretched eold and low ! "
* Mangan's Trans, in Duffy's Ballad Poetry of Ireland. Dublin, 1846.
18*

210 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
More homely, but not less popular, was he who typi
fied pastoral Ireland in a dun cow, " with a face like a
rose, and a dewlap of snow." To her the Irish farmer
tells his griefs without restraint. He questions her as to
her old friends, and answers in the same stanza, —
"Ah, Drimin Dhu deelish, a pride of the flow; *
Ah, where are your folks — are they living, or no ?
They're down in the ground, 'neath the sod lying low,
Expecting King James with the crown on his brow."
Leaving them, he speaks of himself, and declares : —
" But if I could get sight of the crown on his brow,
By night and day travelling, to London I'd go;
Over mountains of mist, and soft mosses below,
Till I'd beat on the kettle drums, Drimin Dhu, 0 ! "
Not content with loving allegories, the house of Han
over and their chief partisans were satirized under va
rious fanciful symbols, all of which, of course, a gesture
or a sign made perfectly intelligible to the audience,
who had the pieces hot from the composer's lips, in a
speech common to both.
The most notable of the Jacobite bards were Carolan,
(born in Meath in 1670, died in 1731,) McDonnell, of
Claragh, in Cork, (born in 1691, died 1754,) O'Sullivan,
of Kerry, (born about the beginning of the eighteenth cen
tury, died 1784.) Carolan excelled as a musician more
than as a poet, while McDonnell and O'Sullivan pos
sessed the true poetic fire, and knew how to cultivate and
subject it to the rules of art. A vast procession, bearing
laurels, or something very like laurel, follows behind
these masters of Irish song. The number it is impossi
ble to count, or the precise merit of each to distinguish.
We can only estimate their merit from the scanty trans
lations that have been made, and their numbers from
the accounts ofthe two great "bardic sessions," period
ically held at Charleville, in Cork, and Burrin, in Lim
erick. At these assemblies, between one and two hun
dred composers of words, or airs, attended annually, till
within ten years of the end of the century. The Ulster
session held at Belfast, in 1792, numbered threescore.
 *  * Ferguson's Trans. McCarthy's Book of Irish Ballads.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 211
This species of Jacobite organization, while very hard
to be got at by the new dynasty, was of very little avail
to the old. It served rather to keep alive than to increase
or direct the expectation of change. Though irritating
in detail to " the Brunswickers," it was powerless in the
aggregate. It had in fact no aggregate. Yet its history
illustrates a truth that we have often perceived evidences
of elsewhere, which is, that those who administer and
those who oppose a government are equally apt to over
rate each other's power. The governors, being within
the edifice, see where it is vulnerable, and become ner
vously anxious ; the assailants, looking at that imposing
outside, are often overawed by an appearance of strength,
which is only an appearance.
Thus, in 1715, when the partisans of James " the
Third" partially rose in arms at Preston and in Scotland,
all the registered priests in Ireland were ordered to be
arrested and transported beyond seas ; all the chapels, or
" mass houses," were ordered to be shut up, though there
was not the least symptom of insurrection at the time.
It was the custom once to urge, as very creditable to
' Irish loyalty," that our Jacobites did not rise en masse,
or at least attempt a diversion, in 1715. The fact seems
to be, that they were unable to rise. Without chiefs, or
organization, or arms, what could they do but wait for
events, as they did ? The Rapparees were dying out,
and all the candidates for military life had sailed away
as wild geese. A few Irish officers did join in the Scot
tish rising of 1715, but they were chiefly from the conti
nent. Some of them, like Chevalier Wogan, suffered
imprisonment, were liberated, and returned to N foreign
service. The house of Brunswick was placed on the throne, in
accordance with the laws regulating " the Protestant
succession." The first of them — George I., the son of
the electress Sophia, granddaughter to James I., was
bred a Catholic, but apostatized in view of the English
throne. He stood fourth in descent from the first Stuart,
who ruled over the three kingdoms, and consequently
combined in his own person the traditions and the blood

212 PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND.
of all the sovereigns since the conquest. But this he had
only maternally and with much mixture, while hard by,
in France, lived the immediate heir of the line. As
between titles, the Stuarts had the best of it ; but the
Guelphs, becoming Protestants/could command all the
party created and enriched by " the reformation," and
disciplined by " the revolution : " having that party, suc
cess was easy. It was,, at Queen Anne's death, a very
doubtful matter, for a month, which scale would sink or
rise. Had the legitimists acted promptly, the day was
theirs. Had Ormond taken Arbuthnot' s counsel, and
proclaimed King James in London streets, the Stuarts
might have reigned again. But Anne died suddenly,
and without a will ; the noble Jacobites hesitated ; the
people had no power ; the whigs were resolute, and the
crown of England passed to a third-rate German family.
James " the Third " was not a person to supply the
want of nerve in his adherents. Something of a liber
tine, and a good deal of a glutton, he had little of the
heroic in him. He allowed the first elector to take his
throne without any great resistance. After this he mar
ried the granddaughter of Sobieski, the famous king of
Poland, and rejoiced over the heirs for whom he had
made no provision. In 1720, Charles Edward was born,
and in 1725, Henry Benedict, afterwards " Cardinal
York." The former dashed the Sobieski with the Stuart
blood, and, in one of the most romantic expeditions ever
undertaken, displayed some strokes of courage and poli
cy worthy of the best of his ancestors.

BOOK III.

A. D. 172 7- to 1830.

FROM THE

ACCESSION OF GEORGE II,

UNTIL THE

DEATH OF GEOEGE IV.

CHAPTER I.
IRISH PARTIES IN THE REIGN OF GEORGE IL — "THE PATRIOTS." —
"THE CASTLE PARTY." — INCREASE OF THE CATHOLICS. — ESTAB
LISHMENT OF CHARTER SCHOOLS. — SWIFT'S PORTRAITS OF THE
PROTESTANT PRELATES. — BATTLE OF CULLODEN. —CHANGE OF
CATHOLIC TACTICS.
The city of Dublin became the actual capital of Ire
land after the' treaty of Limerick. Gradually, by the
strong arm of military power, or the silken cords of pat
ronage, the country was drawn to it as to a centre. Once
the fortress of invasion, it now bourgeoned into the cita
del of a kingdom. Once the seat of a partial represen
tation, (more a parley than a Parliament,) it now began
to consider itself a seat of laws and of authority for the
whole island, and to assume the tone and leading be
coming its position.
Two constitutional parties were the first signs that real
power had settled there. The government party was
composed of all who either had offices or expectations
from the viceroy or from England, and of that numerous
body who always like to stand well with a government,
of whatever sort. Dublin Castle was their club, and
from the reign of William till the middle of the century,
the successive Protestant primates were their most active
chiefs. The Irish House of Lords, created by England,
was almost entirely made up of their partisans.
The opposition party took the name of " the patriots."
Molyneux, -member for Trinity College, in William's first
Irish Parliament, was its precursor, and after his early
death, Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, became its director
and champion through part of Anne's and the entire of
George I.'s reign. The policy of this party was to main
tain the local independence of the Parliament, to revive
Irish commerce and manufactures, to create a public

216 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
spirit in the boroughs and through the country by their
writings, to prevent arable land being laid down in 'pas
ture, and tbe depopulation included in that design. The
landlords, who had their titles by conquests still recent,
felt no obligation to the tenantry — quite the reverse : as
cattle became more profitable than cultivators, they
adopted a system of extermination, which left whole es
tates without other occupants than herds and herdsmen.
The selfishness of the class was equal to their inhumanity.
The " tithe of agistment," (or tithe of cattle,) an impor
tant source of revenue to the establishment, was every
where resisted by them. They formed an association for
united opposition, and in 1735, they succeeded in having
it abolished. The entire tithe charge then fell upon the
leaseholders or tenants at will, already burdened with
rent, and haunted by the fear of an increased rent, or
sudden ejectment to make way for cattle.
The policy advocated by the "patriot party" was
favorable to the interests of Catholics. If manufactures
increased, wages must increase ; if depopulation was
stayed, the tenants would have leave and room to live.
If high culture succeeded grazing, some better tenure
than mere occupancy should be conceded to the farmers.
If the Parliament became independent, there was reason
to expect it would try to strengthen itself at home by
extending the constituency. No wise act of native legis
lation, however interpreted, could be unfavorable to the
body of the native population. Indirectly or directly,
mediately or immediately, they should be the gainers.
So did Providence dispose events, that the intended in
struments of provincial oppression became the means of
gradual amelioration.
But during the reigns of Anne and the two first
Georges, the patriots, as a minority, could do but little
in College Green. Until 1767, Irish Parliaments sat
during the lifetime of the king, unless specially dissolved.
The government party had the elections of 1730 their
own way; the Parliament then elected lasted thirty
years ! Upon a body so irresponsible to the nation, and
so likely to fall into the harness and the pension list of

PROTESTANT 'REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 217
the castle, the ablest reasoning and the highest eloquence
might be spent in vain. The prose and verse of Swift,
Sheridan, (the first,) Dobbs, Delaney, Madden, and Ma
lone were, in most cases, thrown away. In 1723, on
the question of debasing the Irish currency, for which
William Wood had a patent from England, there were
some symptoms of public spirit shown in the Commons.
But it was with the people the appeals of Swift took most.
" I find " (Primate Boulter writes to the English prime
minister, the Duke of Newcastle) " the people of every
religion, country, and party here are alike set against
Wood's halfpence, and that their agreement in this has
had a most unhappy influence on the state of this nation,
by bringing on intimacies between Papists and the whigs,
who before had no correspondence with them." * From
this dispute about the currency we may date the return
of public spirit, beaten down and exiled in the late war.
The; patriots, henceforward, entitled themselves, by de
grees, to be called the national party.
The series of steps by which the Dublin Parliament
advanced towards legislative independence were, at first,
altogether financial. In 1723, the Commons addressed
the king to consent to a reduction of the supplies, but no
notice was taken of their modest request; by 1729, Ire
land "owed the government" two hundred and seventy-
four thousand pounds — a vast sum for that period : in
1731, another petition for reduction went out, with the,
like result. Every session in future was occupied with
" a money bill " debate, the supplies being voted annn-
-ally. Even after the revenues began to yield a surplus,
the discussion was" kept up, for the principle had taken
root. In 1753, a severe struggle for the surplus fund took
place, and the politics of Swift triumphed.
Several of the leaders in debates at this time were
children of the old Catholics. In 1753, Anthony Ma
lone, son of Sir Toby Butler's old colleague, a native of
Westmeath, stood at the head of the Irish bar. He
was " prime- sergeant," and took precedence of the at-
* Boulter's Letters.
1Q

218 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
torney general among the crown officers. For voting
against the castle, on the supplies of 1753, he was ousted,
and in 1768, for similar independence, he was removed
from his office as chancellor of the exchequer. He was
considered by such judges as Grattan the equal of
Lord Chatham in parliamentary eloquence.*
On the castle side was a very unscrupulous, but very
able man, John Healy, who at his marriage assumed the
name of Hutchinson. The son of humble Catholic par
ents in the south, he had resolved to fight his way to
rank, and began by disencumbering himself of his pro
scribed religion. He rose to eminence at the bar and in
Parliament; became provost of Trinity College, Earl of
Donoughmore, a privy councillor, and one of the richest
of the Irish peerage. He gained the whole world of his
ambition ; but what did it profit him at the hour of death ?
Sir Lucius O'Brien, and Mr., afterwards Lord O'Neil,
members for Antrim and Clare, distinguished themselves
on ¦ the patriot side. The Dalys, Brownes, Floods, and
Fitzgeralds, also of Catholic ancestors, were well-known
members of Parliament. The castle was defeated on
the money biffs, and the surplus revenue was, in future,
expended in paying off the national debt, "and in forwaid-
ing internal improvements.
The Viceroys Wharton, Carteret, Grafton, and Ches
terfield had seen the rise of the patriot party. Boulter
had tried inXain to strangle it. His successor in place
and politics, Primate Stone, who is related to him in our
history, on a small scale, as Mazarin is to Richelieu in
that of France, grappled it in vain. The Duke of Bed
ford, viceroy from 1750 to 1760, assisted Stcme with all
the appliances of patronage and power. But it was
labor lost ; a great party had been created, and it ad
vanced from aggression to aggression.
The elder Pitt, who then ruled England, writes to
the duke, in 1757, that the parties being "on a near
equality in strength," " all softening and healing arts of

* Mr. Cornelius O'Callaghan, Jr., a son of Butler's o\o\. protigi, was also
an active member of these Parliaments.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 219
government " — in plain terms, bribery and titles — are
to be tried. A partial success attended this policy, but
only partial, and for a short time.
In 1759, a report prevailed in Dublin, that " a union "
was contemplated. On the 3d of December, the citizens
rose en masse, and surrounded the houses of Parliament.
They stopped the carriages of members, and obliged them
to swear opposition to such a .measure. Some of the
Protestant bishops, the chancellor, and the attorney gen
eral were roughly handled, but escaped ; a privy coun
cillor was thrown into the river ; Lord Inchiquin was
abused till he said his name was O'Brien, when the
rage of the people "was turned into acclamations."*
The speaker (Ponsonby) and the secretary for Ire
land (Rigby) had to appear on the porch steps, and
rsolemnly assure1 the citizens that no union was dreamt
of, and if it was proposed, that they would be the first
to resist it. Public spirit had evidenly grown bold and
confident, and ,we can well believe Secretary Rigby when
he writes to the elder Pitt, that " the mob " declared,
" since they have no chance of numbers in the house,
they must have recourse to numbers out of doors." f
In these agitations the Irish Catholics could take no
very active part. Though gradually increasing in num
bers, and still nominally possessed of the elective fran
chise, they were even yet " as insignificant as women
and children." Like the oppressed Israelites, their sor
row and their hope was in their offspring ; like them,
also, though "wisely oppressed," they continued to in
crease in a greater proportion than the Protestant popu
lation. In the conjectural census of 1747, which rated
the whole population at four millions and a third, the
Catholics were admitted to be three millions and a half.
In Ulster they had clung to the soil, while the Presby
terian emigration went on. In Derry, Armagh, and An
trim, they were~ now equal to those who had been set
over them in the preceding century, and in some places

* Horace Walpole^ Memoirs of George II.
t Correspondence in Life of Grattan, vol. i. p. 75.

220

ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE

they already exceeded them. This ratio the northern
Catholics have ever since maintained.
In Mayo, inJL731, it was reported to Parliament that
the Catholics were "twelve to one;" in Kerry, in 1733,
they were " one hundred to one ; " in Kilkenny and
Meath the disproportion was still greater in favor of the
Catholics — in some parishes "one thousand to one."
Through the three provinces the ratio was thought to
be (including towns, and cities) "seven to one."* It
shows the powerlessness of mere undisciplined numbers,
when the one seventh part of a people could so long
and so ostentatiously oppress the vast remainder. The
minority, however, had a powerful alLy in England.
While this was the state of parties and politics, Dr.
Boulter became enamoured of the double glory of being
the legislator and apostle of his generation. Under his

* The tourists to Ireland, in this and the succeeding reign, were,
naturally enough, struck with this disparity of numbers. A German,
(Prince Puckler Muskau,) gives the following statistics of the county
Tipperary, early in the next reign. He writes, —
" I found all I had heard of the actual proportion between Protestant
and Catholic fully confirmed. Among other information, I obtained an
official list of part of the parishes in the diocese of Cashel.
Catholics. Protestants.
Thurles has
Cashel
ClonoultyCappawhiteKiUenaule
Boherlaw^ethardKilcommon Moykarkey Golden ¦
DonaskeaghNew Inn 78,182 2,870
" In Kilcommon, where there is not a single Protestant parishioner,
the service, which, according to, law, must be performed once a year, is
enacted in the ruins with the help of a Catholic clerk. In another,
called Tullemaine, the same farce took place. But not a whit the less
must the non-attending parishioners pay the utmost farthing of their tithes
and other dues ; and no claims are so bitterly enforced as those of this
Christian church. There is no pity — at least none for the Catholics."

12,000 .

. 280

11,000

700

5,142 .

. 82

2,800

76

7,040 .

. 514

5,000

25

7,600 .

. 400

2,400- .

—

7,000 .

. 80

4,000

120

5,700 .

. 90

4,500

30

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 221
auspices schools to proselytize the Catholic youth were
regularly established, and an " Incorporated Society "
founded by law, in 1733, for the control and support of
the schools.
This plan of making Irish Protestants was not new.
Both Henry and Elizabeth had legislated upon it — had
enacted that the schools should be placed under the new
clergy, out of whose income the expenses were to be
taken. The parsons did not relish this method of
spreading the gospel, and paying for it beside. Similar
acts of the seventh of William and the second and
third of George I. failed to arouse them to their duties
as teachers, and Dr. Boulter, in despair, turned for a
remedy to Parliament. This was thought to be found
in " the Incorporated Society," whose expenses were to
be taken from the treasury, while engaged in the good
work of " teaching the children of the Popish and other
natives." The motive, of the mover is Well put by him
self. " One of the most likely methods we can think of
is, if possible, instructing and converting the young
generation ; for instead of converting those that are
adult, we are daily losing many of our meaner people,,
who go off to Popery." *
Unfortunately for the new scheme, the controversy con
cerning the tithe of agistment raged most fiercely at this
date.- The landlords, according to the primate, hated
the parsons as heartily as they did " the Popish priests,"
while the former " accepted whatever they could get,
and very few of them ever went to their livings to
do their duty." During this agitation and the progress
of laying down land in pasturage, according to the same
competent witness, " a great part of the churches were
neglected, and going to ruin," while "it became neces
sary to give as many as six or seven parishes to one
incumbent, in order to enable him to live." After de
voting a dozen years to the advocacy of his schools and
other schemes, the energetic Boulter died, at London,
in 1742. He had tried with equal ardor, and more
* Boulter's Correspondence. Letters from 1730 td 1737.
19*

222 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
authority, the plan of Usher, Daniel, and Bedell, but with
scanty success. Though he did not succeed in reaping
the harvest of perversion, he has made that mode of
cultivation fashionable, and henceforth we find " charter
schools " a fundamental part of England's policy in
Ireland. The new system could not complain of any scarcity
of supplies. Their annual grants from Parliament were
nearly equal to eighty thousand pounds per year.* In
addition to this, they had many bequests. A Baron
Vryhaven left them fifty-six thousand pounds ; the
Earl of Ranelagh bequeathed them valuable real estate ;
an anonymous benefactor left them forty thousand
pounds ; and many other well-disposed people smaller
legacies. The " Incorporated Society " was thus enabled
to do a great deal, so far as money went. Still their
schools progressed but slowly. In 1771, they had but
fifty-two altogether, educating only two thousand and
thirty-five children. In 1775, the society made a by-law
that " none but Popish children " should be admitted to
the schools — thus avowing and insuring their prose
lytizing purpose. The treatment of the poor little Cath
olics in these places was inhuman to the last degree.
Here surely was a vantages-ground and crowning mercy
for Protestantism. There were no other schools tol
erated but their own, and their own had the public
treasury for a revenue. If ever the Irish were to be
converted, this was the time, and these were the means.
But what was the result ? The system not only failed,
but in its failure demonstrated anew the utter hollow-
ness and heartlessness of the Anglican schism. It es
caped for a time unexposed. A Protestant Parliament
voted the supplies, ordered the reports to be printed,
and took no further interest in the matter. At length, a
great philanthropist, the humane Howard, visited Ireland
on his " circumnavigation of charity." The committees
of Parliament received him with respect, and many
* Parliamentary Report, 1809, states that, from 1730 to 1820, they had
received one million six hundred thousand pounds.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 223
improvements in prisons and hospitals were made at
his suggestion. He brought the subject of the charter
schools to the attention of Parliament. In 1787, they
ordered an inquiry, and found that, of twenty-one hun
dred scholars reported, only fourteen hundred could be
produced. Howard and Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick, in
spector of prisons, served on the commission, and were
examined. Both stated that the children " were in gen
eral filthy and ill clothed;" that "the diet was insuffi
cient for the support of their delicate frames ; " that
many of the schools "were going to ruin ;" that many
of the scholars " were without shifts or shirts, and in
such a condition as was indecent to look on." Howard
concluded his evidence by asserting that " the children
in general were sickly, pale, and such miserable objects
that they were a disgrace to all society, and their reading
had been neglected for the purpose of making them
work for their masters." This was the ripe result of Dr.
Boulter's schools, which, however, lived on in their rot
tenness and pretences for half a century longer. The-
shameless tenacity with Which they were defended shows
how entirely pride and prejudice were the guides and
governors of the Irish establishment.
Besides the charter schools, there were a few schools -
of immediate royal origin. Charles I. founded seven
of these, . — at Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Ra-
phoe, Cavan, Banagher, and Carysford, and endowed
them with thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-
seven acres of land in Ulster for their maintenance.
There was nothing in the grant giving these schools a
sectarian object, or excluding Catholic teachers. The
administration, however, was vested in the Protestant
archbishops and bishops, who took care to make the
royal schools rivals of the chartered in bigotry and inhu
manity. The British commissioners for inquiring into
the state of education in Ireland (in 1821) found that,
" with the single exception of Carysford, all the masters,
and several of the assistants, are clergymen of .the estab
lished church." The original intention of the founder

224 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
evidently was, that these should be free schools. The
masters, on the contrary, received their stipends, and
charged the scholars beside ! Ln 1788, the seven royal
schools had ninety-eight boarders, seventy-five day schol
ars, and thirty-eight free scholars. With a rental, in
that year, of thirty-nine hundred and eighteen pounds,
they contrived to educate some two hundred scholars at
a charge of over twenty pounds sterling to the state, and
half as much more to scholars who could pay.
The other proselytizing schools in the last century
were " the Blue Coat School," founded by Charles IL,
whose rental, in 1810, amounted to about four thou
sand pounds ; the Hibernian School, by George III.,
in 1769, for soldiers' children, which, up to 1826, re
ceived, besides its rental, (to us unknown,) two hun
dred and forty thousand three hundred and fifty-six
pounds of parliamentary "hioney ; the Hibernian Marine
School, its pendant, founded in 1771, for the education
of the children of decayed sailors, and endowed with
lands and an annual grant of four hundred pounds per
annum. Here, then, were surely appliances enough for " in
structing and converting the young generation." Could
Boulter himself desire more than the pious house of
Brunswick gave ? Yet, after a generation so tempted
has passed, the Catholics are still "seven to one" in
the island. Another generation passes, and the ratio
increases ; another, and the Catholics are fifty to one in
the country, and three to one in the cities !
All this time, these were the only schools tolerated in
the land, all others being felonious. Seditious . school
masters did, indeed, contrive to defy the law in holes
and corners, especially in Munster. Cork, Limerick,
and Kerry were the chief seats of those vagrant acade
mies called " hedge schools." They had. neither law nor
revenues to sustain them, but still they had what the
charter schools wanted — plenty of pupils. Some snug
farmer who had outlived the penal storm of Anne's reign
would give his barn for an academy; and there the

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 225
learned philomath would preside over his motley and
.eager subjects. Strange contrasts would be forever pres
ent, but their commonness caused them to be forgotten.
Barefoot boys, stretched on the grass in summer, would
wrestle in spirit with Aristotle, or chant aloud the battle
pieces of Homer ; by the winter's sun, or the firelight
of the long, xlark evenings, they would recite Cicero's
sonorous periods, construct diagrams, or give out gram
matical "crans," some of which even the awful master
could not solve. Between the hedge schoolmaster and
the Jacobite bard, Latin and^ Irish had, for that century,
much more currency in three fourths of the counties than
the language of Swift and the great orators of the Par
liament. The peasantry, traditional devotees of faith
and learning, hailed the vagrant scholar on his way, and
felt rejoiced to lodge and refresh him. Where a famous
"master" resided, every house had its honored "gos
soon," whose free quarters inadequately expressed the
tenderness of the people for " the poor boys who came
so far to get their classics." Munster contended with the
reformation for " the instruction I of the young genera
tion," and the victory was clearly with Munster.
With the consciousness of returning power, derived
from mere increase of numbers, the policy of the Cath
olics took a new direction. Men began to speak slight
ingly of their ancestors' foolish devotion to the Stuarts.
Those who had stood by the people through every peril
began to express hope in the future, under the house of
Brunswick. Catholics like Viscount Taafe and Charles
O' Conor, towards the end of George IL's reign, struck
the new chord of popular conviction.* They speak in
their pamphlets regretfully and respectfully of the Stuarts,
but speak of them as gone, as forever passed away. The
polite Lord Chesterfield, when viceroy, perceived and
took advantage of this turning of the tide. He connived
at Catholic worship in" Dublin, and after a melancholy
loss of life by the falling in of a garret in Cooke Street,
where mass was said, he permitted the erection of a
* Hibernia Collectanea. Dublin, 1789.

226 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
chapel or two in that city.* Acting on his own morality
of dissimulation, he even held out a vague prospect
of the abolition of part of the penal code, and of the
tithe impost, and by "closeting and claret," succeeded
in conciliating some leading Catholics; for once more
there are such persons as leading Catholics.
Except Dr. Stone, there was no very zealous or for-mi-
dable man among the Protestant hierarchy after Boulter's
death. If we may judge of them by the report of
Swift, the bishops of the establishment were among the
most servile and worthless of mankind.
" Of whom there are not four at most
Who know there is a Holy Ghost ;
And when they boast they have conferred it
Like Paul's Ephesians, never heard it ;
And when they gave it, 'tis well known,
They gave what never was their own."
In another piece, he gives them a gratuitous advice.
" Let prelates by their good behavior
Convince us they believe a Savior ;
Nor sell, what they so dearly bought,
This country, not their own, for nought."
While they were intriguing for power and patronage,
the true bishops were gradually repairing the fences of
the fold, and, with the chief laymen Of their community,
were weaning the fond hearts of the poor people from
the Stuarts, preparatory to a more political loyalty. In
this design, events abroad admonished and directed them.
One of these events — the Scotch expedition of Charles
Edward — makes an era in this history, and from its in
fluence, as a demonstration, on their after course, needs
to be well considered in connection with the reign of
George II.
The rupture between England and Spain, in 1739, ex
cited the sanguine partisans of the Stuarts, and, when
Austria and France joined in the contest, their hopes of
another restoration rose still higher. In 1744, ihe young

* Life of Lord Chesterfield.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 227
chevalier, Charles Edward, then in his 24th year, waa
actually on board a French fleet with fifteen thousand
men, and Saxe for general, when a storm drove the ships
ashore, and gave the ministers at Paris an interval, in
Which they decided to abandon the expedition. The
battle of Fontenoy, by opening the prospect of another
treaty as advantageous as that of Utrecht, still further
disinclined them towards their first project, and left the
brave young prince with private means and little prepa
ration to attempt the invasion or abandon it.
The expedition of 1745, such as it was, was under
taken and conducted by Irish aid, quite as much as
French or Scottish. The chief parties to it were, besides
the old Marquis of Tullibardine and the young Duke of
Perth, the Waterses, father and son, Irish bankers at
Paris, who advanced a hundred and eighty thousand
livres between them ; Walsh, an Irish merchant at Nantz,
who put a privateer of eighteen guns into the venture ;
Sir Thomas Geraldine, the agent at Paris ; Sir Thomas
Sheridan, the prince's preceptor, who, with- Colonels
O'Sullivan and Lynch, Captain O'Neil, and other officers
of the brigade, formed the staff, on which Sir John Mc
Donald, a Scottish officer in the Spanish service, was also
¦placed. Fathers Kelly and O'Brien also volunteered in
the expedition. On the 22d of June, 1745, with seven
friends, the prince embarked in Walsh's vessel, called the
Doutelle, at St. Nazaire, in the Loire, and on the 19th
of July, landed on the northern coast of Scotland, near
Moidart. The Scottish chiefs, little consulted or consid
ered beforehand, came slowly and dubiously to the land
ing-place. Under their patriarchal control there -were
about a hundred thousand Highlanders, or one twelfth of
the Scottish population. Clanranald, Cameron of Lo-
chiel, the Laird of McLeod, and a few others having
joined him, the standard was unfurled on the 19th of
August, at Glenfinin, where that evening twelve hundred
men — the entire army so far — were formed into camp,,
under the orders of O'Sullivan. From that day until
the day of Culloden, O'Sullivan seems to have manoeu
vred the prince's forces. At Perth, at Edinburgh, at

228 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Preston, at Manchester, at Culloden, he takes command
in the field, or in garrison ; and even after the sad re
sult, he adheres to his sovereign's son with proverbial
fidelity. '
Charles, on his part, put full confidence in his Irish
officers, and adopted such a programme as they could
respect. In his proclamation after the battle of Preston,
he declared it was not his intention to enforce on the
people of England, Scotland, or Ireland, " a religion
they disliked." In a subsequent paper, he asks, " Have
you found reason to love and cherish your governors as
the fathers of the people of Great Britain and Ireland?
Has a family upon whom a faction unlawfully bestowed
the diadem of a rightful prince, retained a due sense of
so great a trust and favor 1 '' These and his other proc
lamations ~betray an Irish pen ; probably Sir Thomas
Sheridan's. One of Charles's English adherents, Lord
Elcho, who kept a journal, notes down, complainingly,
the Irish influence under which he acted. " The prince
and his old governor, Sir Thomas Sheridan," are specially
objected to, and other " Irish favorites," his officers, are
censured in" a body.* While at Edinburgh, a French
ship, containing some arms, supplies, and " Irish officers,"
arrived, and with the five thousand men gathered by the
end of October, they proceeded to invade England.
Simultaneously, efforts were made to recruit for the
prince in Ireland ; but the agents being taken in some
cases, and the people not very eager to join the service,
that resource was closed.
The Irish in France, as if to cover the inaction of
their countrymen at home, strained every nerve. The
Waterses and O'Brien of Paris were the bankers of the
expedition. Into their hands James "exhausted his
treasury " to support his gallant son. At Fontainebleau,
on the 23d of October, Colonel O'Brien, on the part of
the prince, and the Marquis D'Argeusson for Louis XV.,
formed a treaty of " friendship and alliance." One of
the clauses of this compact was, that some of the Irish
Chambers's Scottish Insurrection of 1746.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 229
regiments in France, and other troops, should be sent to
sustain the expedition. Under Lord John Drummond
a thousand men were shipped from Dunkirk, and arrived
at Montrose in the Highlands about the time Charles
was at Manchester. The officers, with the prince, in
council, refused to advance on London with so small a
force ; a retreat was decided on ; the sturdy defence of
Carlisle and victory of Falkirk checked the pursuit ; but
the overwhelming force of the Duke of Cumberland
compelled them to evacuate Edinburgh, Perth, and Glas
gow — operations which consumed February, March,
and the first half of April, 1746.
The next plan of operations seems to have been to
occupy and concentrate in the Highlands, with Inverness
for head-quarters. The town Charles easily got, but
Fort George, a powerful fortress, (built upon the site of
the castle where Macbeth is said to have murdered Dun
can,) commanded the Lough. Stapleton and the Irish
pickets, however, captured it, and also the neighboring
Fort Augustus. Joined by some Highlanders, they next
attempted Fort William, the last fortress of King George
in the north, but on the 3d of April were recalled to the
main body.
To cover Inverness, his principal dependence, Charles
resolved to give battle* The ground, flanked by the River
Nairn, was spotted with marsh and very irregular. It
was called Culloden, and was chosen by O'Sullivan.
Brigadier Stapleton, another Irish officer, and Colonel
Ker reported against it, as a field ; but Charles adopted
O' Sullivan's opinion of its fitness for Highland warfare.
When the preparations for battle began, " many voices
exclaimed, ' We'll give Cumberland another Fontenoy ! '"
The Jacobites were placed in position by O'Sullivan, " at
once their adjutant and quartermaster general," and, as
the burghers of Preston thought, " a very likely fellow."
He formed two lines, the great clans being in the first, the

* " It has been insinuated that Charles was here guided by his tutor,
Sheridan, and the French officers," says Chambers, who adds that
" the chief reason " was his " general anxiety for fighting."
20

230 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Ogilvies, Gordons, and Murrays; the French and Irish
in the second. Four pieces of cannon flanked each wing,
and four occupied the centre. Lord George Murray com
manded the right wing, Lord John Drummond the left,
and Brigadier Stapleton the reserve. They were in all
under five thousand. The British formed in three lines,
ten thousand strong, with two guns between every sec
ond regiment of the first and second line. The action
commencecLabout noon of April 16th, and before even
ing half the troops of Prince Charles lay dead on the
field, and the rest were hopelessly broken. The retreat
was pellmell, except where " a troop of the Irish pickets,
by a spirited fire, checked the pursuit, which a body of
dragoons commenced, after the Macdonalds, and Lord
Lewis Gordon's regiments did similar service." Staple-
ton conducted the French and Irish remnant to Inver
ness, and obtained for them by capitulation " fair quarter
and honorable treatment."
The unhappy prince remained on the field almost to
the last. " It required," says a writer, " all the eloquence,
and indeed all the active exertions, of O'Sullivan to make
Charles quit the field. A cornet in the service, when
questioned upon this subject at the point of death, de
clared he saw O'Sullivan, after using entreaties in vain,
turn the head of the prince's horse and drag him away.*
From that night forth, O'Sullivan, O'Neil, and a poor
sedan carrier of Edinburgh, called Burke, accompanied
him in all his wanderings and adventures among the
Scottish islands. At the Long Island they were obliged
to part, the prince proceeding alone with Miss Flora
McDonald. He had not long left, when a French cut
ter hove in sight and took off O'Sullivan, intending to
touch at another point, and take in the prince and
O'Neil. The same night she was blown off the coast,
and the prince, after many other adventures, was finally
taken off at Badenoch, on the 15th of September, by the
L'Hereux, a French armed vessel, in which Captain
Sheridan, (son of Sir Thomas,) Mr. O'Beirne, a lieuten-
* Quarterly Review, No. 71.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 231
ant in the French army, " and two other gentlemen " had
adventured, in search of him.
Poor O'Neil, in seeking to rejoin his master, was
taken prisoner, carried to London, and is lost from the
record. -O'Sullivan reached France safely, where, with
Stapleton, Lynch, and the other Irish and Scotch officers,
he was eordially welcomed.
Such was the last struggle of the Stuarts. For years
after, the popular imagination in both countries clung
fondly to Prince Charles. But the cause was dead. To
bury it forever, Charles, in despair, grew dissipated
and desponding. In 1755, "the British Jacobites" sent
Colonel McNamara, as their agent, to induce him to
put away his mistress, Miss Walsingham ; but he refused.
In 1766, when James III. died at Avignon, the French
and the pope refused to acknowledge the prince by the
title of Charles III. When the latter died, in 1788, at
Rome, Cardinal York contented himself with having a
medal struck, with the inscription "Henricus IX., Anglian
Rex." In 1800, when driven from Rome by the French
arms, he accepted a stipend of four thousand pounds
from George III., which he continued to receive till his
death, in 1808. He was the last of the Stuarts.
During 1745 and 1746, Chesterfield, the Irish viceroy,
contented himself with some precautionary proclama
tions against recruiting without license, rewards for the
apprehension of rebel chiefs, and such paper defences.
There was no need for more. The Catholic people were
in little better condition than they had been in 1715.
Without officers or arms, what could they do but wait
and watch ? To say that any sense of new-born loyalty
kept them peaceable, is to assert what was not the fact.
If there had been ten or twenty thousand Jacobites in any
part, or all Ireland, comparatively as well armed as the
Highlanders, there would have been battles for Prince
Charles as well on Irish as on Scottish soil. The double
failure of father and son, in neither of which the Irish at
home were concerned, the self-abandonment of the brave
prince, and the growth of native parties and politics,
weaned Ireland away from her ancient loyalty. Hence,

232 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH^ THE
at the accession of George III., we are presented with
an entirely new state of facts, in the relations of the
Catholic population and the house of Brunswick.

CHAPTER H.
STATE OF IRELAND AT THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE IU. — PUBLICA
TIONS ON THE CATHOLIC QUESTION. - THE GREAT FAMINE. -
CATHOLIC COMMITTEES FOR PETITIONING PARLIAMENT. — PRO
POSED RELIEF BILL OE 1762  RUMORED FRENCH INVASION. -
AGRARIANISM. — MARTYRDOM OF FATHER NICHOLAS SHEEHT
AND HIS FRIENDS. — SPREAD OF SECRET SOCIETIES. — THE
METHODISTS IN IRELAND.
From the year 1745, memorable for the battles of
Fontenoy and Culloden, we begin to trace the symptoms
of returning life among the Irish Catholics. In that
year mass was tolerated, and the premiums on priest-
catching abolished. Chesterfield, who returned to Eng
land in 1747, was not able to prevent, although he tried
hard to extinguish, the light which slowly spread over
the island. Dr. Lucas, the penman of the patriot party
at this period, in his addresses to the citizens of Dublin,
compares the sufferings of the Catholics to those endured
by the South Americans from their Spanish conquerors.
Chief Justice Marlay, who represented the castle party,
(as Irish judges usually do,) condescended, in his charge
to the Dublin grand juries, in 1749, to say, that during
the late rebellion, the Catholics "not only preserved
peace at home, but contributed to restore it in Great
Britain." It was clear that, at last, a prospect for dis
cussion was opened. Of this the Dublin patriots and
some of the educated Catholics at once availed them
selves. The Dublin press was exceedingly active in
producing new pamphlets and reprints bearing on the
Catholic question. Eminent among the writers was
Henry Brooke, a native of Mullingar, and a disciple of

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 233
Wesley or Whitefield. His Farmer's Letters on "the
case of the Catholics of Ireland, which appeared at in
tervals from 1750 to 1760, are among the best things
ever written on the subject. While they have not the
brevity or sarcastic power of Swift, they rival the Dra-
pier's essays in ease, directness, and clearness of state
ment. Next to Brooke in effectiveness was Charles
O Connor of Belanagar, the son of that frugal recusant
who ploughed his fields with his own hands, to set his
boys an example of industry. Many of the anonymous
pamphlets of that time bear the impress of his anti
quarian studies and his masculine English. In Dr.
Curry,' of Dublin, the Catholic writers found a vigorous
ally. Passing a Protestant church, while the congrega
tion were coming put, after a furious No Popery sermon,
he heard " a young lady " inquire " if there were any of
those horrid Papists left in Ireland." This turned his
attention to historical studies, the chief result of which
was his Review of the Civil Wars of Ireland, published
at Dublin, in 1757. On the same side, Viscount Taafe,
long distinguished in the Austrian service, in his old age
permitted to return to Ireland, published his " Observa
tions on the Affairs in Ireland from 1691 to the Present
Time." In his introductory remarks, he writes, " Se
questered by my religion from my seat in - Parliament,
and stripped of most of the privileges of an Irish peer,
I leave this pledge of affection to my king, to my coun
try, and our present free constitution ; and I may still be
useful, if the time is come, as I trust it is, when true in
formation can dare encounter every favorite error, and
when prejudices equally worthless and unsociable are
renounced in favor oi maxims which experience has
shown to be the lessons of nature, and which alone can
render nations happy." The whole of this pamphlet is
in the same subdued but manly style. The -concluding
reflections are worthy of remembrance under all circum
stances. " In a state of suffering," he says, " Christians
often fill their proper post ; and of that post self-denial
is the outguard. A state of prosperity is the state of
danger, often as fatal as it is flattering. Let us not,
20* _

234 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
therefore, lose the merit of the sacrifice we make — that
of worldly advantages ; — the bitterest acquisitions on
earth, should we acquire them by dissimulation, or, in
other words, by the renunciation of principles, which are
the best tests of human probity. Sincerity, insulted and
punished sincerity, is a source of comfort in the world we
inhabit. If we act in a manner unworthy of this virtue,
we are undone ; we lose the merit of our sufferings ; and
thus, criminal towards God, how can we presume on
favors from the governors he hath set over us?"*
The proscription of the manufactures of Ireland by
William, and the proscription of Irish tillage in Anne's
time, had produced their natural consequences. In 1727,
1728, and 1729, famine raged among the peasantry, con
demned to a pastoral state, in an artificial age ; in 1740
and 1741, and in 1745, it returned, and in the winter of
1756, and the spring of 1757, hundreds, perhaps thou
sands, perished for want of food. Yet, after all, says a
well-informed writer, " the Roman Catholics are at least
as numerous as they were in the reign of Queen Anne." f
During this famine, the new viceroy, John,-Duke of Bed
ford, arrived in Ireland, having with him a " king's let
ter," empowering him to expend .£20,000 in relief of the
sufferers. " After the reduction of one fifth of the popu
lation," says Charles O'Connor, " a productive harvest
put ah end to these distresses. The system of persecu
tion revived with the reviving strength and growing
property of the country. The Catholics were every
where disarmed, domiciliary visits were made in quest
of priests and friars, and a cruel persecution commenced
in every quarter of the kingdom." These measures were

* We have seen a collection of the pamphlets published at Dublin
chiefly on the Catholic question, between the years 1750 and 1760,
amounting to ten or a dozen volumes.
t This writer, in his work, the Protestant Interest considered rel
atively to the Popery Laws, (Dublin, 1767,) vividly describes the famine
he had seen. "A dreadful spectacle this ! wherein the living, unfit for
any other labor, were employ^! in burying the dead ; the last and
mournful office of fainting numbers, who' expected, and wanted, the like
tender care in a few days." — Protestant Interest, p. 30.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 235
taken upon rumors of a French invasion, which, in
1758, circulated generally through England and Ireland.
In 1757, the first " Catholic Association," or " Com
mittee," was privately formed, for the purpose of peti
tioning Parliament. At the head of this movement
was Charles O'Connor. This distinguished man was
bom and bred up among the frightful evidences of the
penal code. " In 1732," says his biographer, " a proc
lamation was issued against the Roman Catholic
clergy, and the degree of violence with which it was
enforced made many of the old natives look seriously,
as a last resource, to emigration. Bishop O'Rorke re
tired from Belanagar, and the gentlemen of that neigh
borhood had no clergyman for a considerable time to
give them mass, but a poor old man named Pendergast,
who, before daydawn, on Sunday, crept into a cave in
the parish of Baslick, and waited there for his congrega
tion, in cold and wet weather, hunger and thirst, to
preach to them patience under their afflictions, and per
severance in their principles ; to offer up prayers for their '
persecutors, and to arm them with resignation to the
will of Heaven. The cave is called Pool-an-Aiffrin, or
Mass Cave, till this day." * Under auspices such as
these Charles O'Connor came of age — a studious, re
flective, and deliberating man. Some of his early pub
lications on Irish history obtained him general reputa
tion — the thanks and correspondence, among others, of
Samuel Johnson. In 1770, he published the map of
Ireland, showing the territories of the several clans, first
issued by Ortellius of Antwerp, in the 16th century.
This publication caused an outcry for the time, that the
Catholics were preparing for the restoration of the old
estates. But this storm blew over, and the venerable
antiquary of Belanagar lived to see the work of Cath
olic emancipation, as well as of Irish literature, progress
ing beyond belief or expectation. Of both movements he
might well be called " father." With Mr. O'Connor, in
the formation of the Association of 1757, the principal
* Memoir of the Life and Writings of Charles O'Connor, vol. i. p. 179.

236 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
persons were, Dr. Curry, of Dublin, before mentioned,
and Mr. Wyse, of Waterford, a successful merchant.
" This gentleman," (says the author of the Protestant
Interest Considered,) "at an expense to which few
private fortunes are equal, hath introduced useful arts
into this kingdom ; and if he failed in any, it was not
from any impractibility in the scheme itself, but from
the want of that assistance which ambition for the public
interest should never be destitute of." * To these three
gentlemen, more especially to the first, belongs the merit
of the first legal resistance to the penal code since Sir
Toby Butler's time; and the first attempt at a peaceable
organization of the scattered strength of the Catholics.
The greatest obstacle of the new leaders was the
rooted indifference of many of the Catholics themselves.
" Too many among this party," says an anonymous
Catholic writer, in 1755, " are grown listless and indiffer
ent, with regard to pain or liberty ; like men long confined,
they soothe themselves i«to an unmanly stupefaction,
grow regardless of all events, and think of nothing
above or beyond the present condition. Let this politi
cal apathy be never so general, it ought to be shaken off.
No merit can result from the silence of grievances which
ought to be known to the public, as it is affected by
them ; and known to the legislature also, as that alone
can redress them. What, then, have the Roman Catho
lics for fear ? " f
In 1758, the rumors of a projected French invasion
under Conflans caused the Catholic body to rise into
favor with the house of Hanover. John, Duke of Bed
ford, the viceroy, acted upon instructions to conciliate.
The next year, "the Roman Catholic gentlemen, mer
chants, and citizens of Dublin," in an address to
the duke, drafted by Bishop O'Keefe, of Kildare,
after complimenting the reigning family, added, " We
sincerely assure your grace that we are ready and

* Protestant Interest Considered, p. 47.
t Case of the Catholics, addressed to Lord Hartington. Dublin, P.
Lord, 1755.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. -237
willing, to the utmost of our power, to assist in support
ing his majesty's government against all hostile attempts"
whatsoever." In his reply, the viceroy observed, " It
gives me the greatest pleasure to find that they (the
Catholics) are so fully sensible of the lenity which hath
been extended to them during the whole course of his
majesty's reign ; and they may be assured, that, so long
as they conduct themselves with duty and affection to
the king, they will not fail to receive his majesty's pro
tection." In the same reply, he observed, " The zeal and
attachment they profess to his majesty's person and
government can never be 'more seasonably manifested
than in the present conjuncture." The Catholic prelates
were not slow in taking this hint. Their pastorals, ex
horting to loyalty and peace, were read from every altar ;
and when, in 1760, the French under Thurot landed at
Carrickfergus,* — their first visit to- Ireland for about
seventy years, — - they found no native insurrection on
foot. After taking the town and castle, and waiting in
vain for auxiliaries, they put to sea, were attacked by a
British fleet in the Channel, when their ships were dis
persed, and Thurot killed in the action. On the first
report of the landing of the French, the Irish Parliament
had promptly raised six regiments of foot, and a troop
of horse ; they also voted £150,000 for the public ser
vice, and later in the same session £300,000. The sums
were expended, but the new levies were not called into
the field. The accession of George IIL, the same year,
called out fresh Catholic addresses, which, in 1761 and
1762, were repeated, with little variation of terms, or
purport. The eighth year of this reign is remarkable as
the date of the first Catholic relief bill, which passed the
Irish Parliament — an act for empowering Catholics to
loan money on real estate mortgage. The Irish houses
passed it without a division, but it was rejected by the
king in council. The first relief bill which became law
dates only from 1774.
* Thurot, an old privateer, or better sort of smuggler, was long fa
miliar *vith the Channel. He passed the year 1750 in Carlingfordr and
learned the English language there. — Dublin Penny Journal for 1832,

238 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Before coming to that point of time, we must not
overlook the agrarian combinations of the ten years, of
which we treat in this chapter. Four famines within
twenty years had driven the peasantry to despair. Lord
Taafe has well described, one element in their altered
condition. " No sooner," he says, —
" Were the Catholics excluded from durable and
' profitable tenures, than they commenced graziers, and
' laid aside agriculture ; they ceased from draining
' or enclosing their farms and building good houses, as
' occupations unsuited to the new post assigned them in
' our national economy. They! fell to wasting the lands
' they were virtually forbid to cultivate ; the business of
' pasturage being compatible with such conduct, and re-
' quiring also little industry and still less labor in the man-
' agement. This business, moreover, brings quick returns
' in money ; and though its profits be smaller than those
' arising from agriculture, yet they are more immediate,
' and much better adapted to the condition of men who are
' confined to a fugitive property, which can so readily be
' transferred from one country to another. This pastoral
' occupation also eludes the vigilance of our present race
' of informers, as the difficulty of ascertaining a grazier's
' profits is considerable, and as the proofs of his enjoying
' more than a third penny profit cannot so easily be made
' clear in our courts of law. The keeping the lands
' waste also prevents, in a great degree, leases in rever
sion, which Protestants only are qualified to take;
and this (by the small temptation to such reversions)
' gives the present occupant the best title to a future
' renewal. This sort of self-defence, in keeping the
' lands uncultivated, had the further ill consequence of
' expelling that most useful body of people, called yeo-
' manry, in England, and which we denominated Scu-
' loags, in Ireland. Communities of industrious house-
' keepers, who, in my own time, herded together in large
' villages, and cultivated the lands every where, lived
' comfortably, until, as leases expired, some rich grazier,
' negotiating privately with a sum of ready money, took
' these lands over their heads. This is a fact well

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 239
" known. ' The Sculoag race, that great nursery of labor-
" ers and manufacturers, has been broken and dispersed
" in every quarter ; and we have nothing in lieu, but the
" most miserable wretches on earth, the cottagers ; naked
" slaves, who labor without any nourishing food, and
" live while they can, without houses or covering, under
" the lash of merciless and relentless taskmasters ! "
Another contemporary author gives this account of the,
origin of the same disturbances : " Some landlords in
Munster have let their lands to cotters far above their
value, and, to lighten their burden, allowed commonage
to their tenants by way of recompense : afterwards, in
despite of all equity, contrary to all compacts, the land
lords enclosed these commons, and precluded their un
happy tenants from the only means of making their
bargains tolerable." * The peasantry of Waterford,
Cork, and other southern counties met in tumultuous
crowds, and demolished the new enclosures. Tbe
Protestant Parliament took their usual cue on such occa
sions : they pronounced, at once, that the cause of the
riots was " treason against the state ; " they even ap
pointed a committee to " inquire into the cause and
progress of the Popish insurrection in Munster." Al
though the London Gazette, on tbe authority of royal
commissioners, declared that the rioters " consisted in
discriminately of persons of different persuasions," the
castle bigots would have it to be " another Popish plot."
Even Lucas, the patriot leader, was carried away by the
passions of the hour, and declaimed against all lenity,
as cowardly and criminal.
A large military force, under the Marquis of Drogheda,
was despatched to„the south. The marquis fixed his
head-quarters at Clogheen, in Tipperary, the parish
priest of which district was the Rev. Nicholas Sheehy.
The magistracy of the county, especially Sir Thomas
Maude, William Bagnel, John Bagwell, Daniel Toler,
and Parson Hewetson, were among the chief maintainers
* An Inquiry into the Causes of the Outrages committed by the Lev
ellers or Whiteboys in Munster. Dublin, 1762.

240 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
of the existence of a Popish plot, to bring in the French
and the pretender. They were well compared by Dr.
Curry to Oates and his corps; except that it pleased
God to defeat their machinations, with less loss of life
than followed the earlier " discoverers." Father Sheehy
was fixed upon as their first victim : largely connected
with the minor gentry, educated in France, young,
popular, eloquent, and energetic, a stern denouncer of
the licentious, lives of the squires, and of the exacting
tithes of the parsons, he was particularly obnoxious. In
1763, he was arrested on a charge of high treason, for
drilling and enrolling Whiteboys, but was acquitted.
Towards the close of that year, Bridge, one of the late
witnesses against him, suddenly disappeared. A charge
of murder.was then laid against the priest of Clogheen,
and a prostitute named Dunlea, a vagrant lad named Lon-
ergan, and a convicted horse stealer called Toohey, were
produced in evidence against him, after he had lain
nearly a year in prison, heavily fettered. On the 12th
of March, he was tried at Cionmel, on this evidence ; and
notwithstanding an alibi was proved, he was condemned
and beheaded on the third day afterwards. Beside the
old ruined church of Shandragan his well-worn tomb
remains till this day. He died in his thirty-eighth year.
Two months later, Edward Sheehy, his cousin, and two
respectable young farmers named Buxton and Farrell,
were executed under a similar charge, and upon the
same testimony. All died with religious firmness and
composure. But their persecutors, with a single excep
tion, met deaths violent, loathsome, and terrible. Maude
died insane, Bagwell in idiocy, one of the jury commit
ted suicide, another was found dead in a privy, a third
was killed by his horse, a fourth was drowned, a fifth
shot, and so through the entire list. Toohey was hanged
for felony, the prostitute Dunlea fell into a cellar and
was killed, and the lad Lonergan, after enlisting as a
soldier,- died of a loathsome disease in a Dublin in
firmary.* * Madden's United Irishmen, Second Series, vol. i. Introduction, p.
lxxxiv.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 241
In 1767, an attempt to continue the plot was made
by the Tipperary magistrates, without success. Dr.
McKenna, Bishop of Cloyne, was arrested but enlarged;
Mr. Nagle, of Garnavilla, (a relative of Burke's,) Mr.
Robert Keating, and several respectable Catholic gentle
men were also arrested. It appears that Edmund Burke
was charged with having " sent his brother Richard
(who died recorder of Bristol) and Mr. Nagle, a relation,
on a mission to Munster, to levy money on the Popish
body for the use of the Whiteboys, who were exclusively
Papists."* The second batch of indictments was thrown
out by the grand jury, and so that plot exploded.
Contemporaneous with the Whiteboys were the north
ern agrarians called " Hearts of Steel," formed among
the absentee Lord Downshire's tenants, in 1762; the
" Oak Boys," so called from wearing oak leaves in their
hats ; and the " Peep o'Day Boys." The infection of
conspiracy ran through all Ireland, and the disorder was
neither shortlived nor trival. Rightboys, Defenders,
Orangemen, and Ribbonmen descended from the same
evil genius, (whoever he was,) who first introduced the
system of signs, grips, passwords, and midnight meet
ings, among the brave and pious peasantry of Ireland.
The celebrated society of United Irishmen was the
highest form which that principle, in our politics, ever
reached. In its origin, it was a purely Protestant organ
ization. From the first, the Catholic bishops and clergy strenu
ously opposed these secret societies. In 1762, the
Bishop of Cloyne issued a reprobatory pastoral against
them ; in 1779, the Bishop of Ossory^ did likewise.
Priests in Kildare, Kilkenny, and Munster were in per
sonal danger from these midnight legislators ; their
chapels had been frequently nailed up, and their bishops
had been often obliged to remove them, from fear of
cpnsequences.f The infatuation was not to be stayed :
* Sir R. Musgrave's, Rebellion of 1798.
f Debates in the Irish Parliament, 1786. The celebrated Father Ar
thur O'Leary commenced his career of authorship by attempts to
reason with the Whiteboys. The trial of Redmond Sheehy, he says
21

242 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
the best friends of the misguided people prayed and ex
horted in vain ; the emissary, the informer, and the hang
man rejoiced, and reaped, a harvest, at every season of
the year. We should not wonder to find Edmund
Burke speaking of " the savage period between 1761 and
1767," as the most disastrous and oppressive that Irish
Catholics had experienced within his memory.
In these momentous years, the sect called Method
ists first appeared in Ireland. It originated at Oxford
College, with Charles Wesley and some others, who, by
the precision and austerity of their demeanor, received
this title. Their practices were spread abroad chiefly by
George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Adam Clarke,
and soon assumed the form of a dogmatic creed. Their
doctrines, in many points, were repetitions of the thirty-
nine articles Of the Anglican establishment ; but on the
great question of grace they differed from those articles,
and differed among one another. Whitefield held Calvin's
doctrine of the absolute predestination of the elect ;
while Wesley held, with Arminius, that God had elected
from the beginning those only whom he foresaw would
persevere to the end. The Wesleyans were the most
numerous among the Protestants of Ireland. In 1747,
John Wesley paid a flying visit to Dublin and Munster,
and left his brother Charles behind to complete the or
ganization. Charles remained for nearly a year preach
ing in the capital, at Cork, and Bandon, " with great
unction and success," as he has it. Among the small
number of the Irish " elect " was Dr. Adam Clarke, a
native of Derry, and a very learned man, and Mr.
Thomas Walsh, who induced Wesley to adopt those
views of grace which led to the division of the sect.
" Such a master of biblical knowledge," says Wesley,
" I never knew before, and never hope to see again."
Walsh's accomplishments, if the panegyric is not over
done, were certainly extraordinary. He was admitted
as a preacher in 1750, and died in 1759. He " some
times preached in Irish, but mostly in English."
was " the first paper " he read " after landing in Cork, from France "
where he was educated. This fixes his return to Ireland in 1766 oi
1767.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 243
In 1775, John Wesley revisited Ireland, and preached
chiefly in Ulster. Falling sick there, he soon returned
to England.
From April till July, 1757, George Whitefield "preached
nearly eighty sermons," in Dublin, Athlone, Limerick,
Cork, and Belfast. " I found," he writes, " through the
many offences that have lately been given, matters were
brought to a low ebb. But. the cry now is, ' Method
ism is revived again.' " Again : " Numbers are converted,
not only from Popery, but to Jesus Christ." We discover
that neither Wesley nor Whitefield adduces the names
of those converts who had experienced their revelation ;
and hence we conclude, that these general assertions
are not to be taken literally. Many recruits to Method
ism were, no doubt, picked up upon the outskirts of the
older Protestant sects, but few or none in the Catholic
ranks.* * Whitefield died in 1770 ; Charles Wesley in 1788 ; John Wesley in
1791. The whole number of Methodists in Ireland, at the census of
1851, was 20,040.

244

ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE

CHAPTER HI.
SECOND CATHOLIC COMMITTEE FORMED. — CONCESSIONS IN 1774 AND
1778. — SECESSION OF " LORD KENMARE AND THE SIXTY-EIGHT." —
JOHN KEOGH, LEADER OF THE CATHOLICS. — MANAGEMENT OF
THE COMMITTEE. — COOPERATION OF EDMUND BURKE. — GENERAL
DISCUSSION OF CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES IN IRELAND AND ENG
LAND.— ARTHUR O'LEARY  BURKE AND TONE. — LONDON RIOTS
OB 1780. — IRISH CATHOLIC CONVENTION ELECTED. — THEIR DEL
EGATES PRESENTED TO GEORGE III., AND DEMAND TOTAL EMAN
CIPATION. — RELIEF BILL OF 1793. — POLITICAL REACTION.
Though the intentions of the Irish Parliament towards
the Catholics in 1762 were defeated by the king in coun
cil, the party in favor of justice and toleration was
steadily on the increase. The judicious conduct of the
bishops, the influence of the Dublin press, and the grow
ing nationality of the patriot party, were so much gained.
Every day new reasons for relief were discovered.
When Canada was ceded by the treaty of Paris, it was
well said , to the rulers who accepted it, " You tolerate
Catholics in Canada; why not in Ireland?" When
trade reports represented the drain of specie by excess of
imports and the insolvency of the banks, it was well
said again, " Why do you condemn four fifths of the
people to a condition in which they become a load and
a burden rather than a strength to the nation ? " When
rumors of hostile intentions on the part of France and
Spain were repeated, the cry was, " Liberate the Catho
lics, and they will be your best allies in a defensive war."
This idea had advanced from a secondary to a first con
sequence in the minds of a large number of thinking
men, and no question of the day arose but they, in one
way or other, made it a text for discussing the claims
of the Catholics. At this favorable juncture, an attempt,
in 1773, of the corporation of Dublin and other cities,
to impose a local tax exclusively on Catholics, under
the name of quarterage, stimulated the formation of the
society known as the general committee of the Irish
^Catholics.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 245
Lords Kenmare, Fingal, and some other country gen
tlemen were the most important of the movers in this
body ; but another class of great intelligence and activity
was formed by the Catholic merchants. A voluntary fund
was subscribed, in which the merchants were not behind
the gentry ; a treasurer (Mr. Dermot) was appointed, and
an honorary secretary, (Mr. Richard McCormick,) both
from among the merchants. By this committee Lord
Kenmare was sent over to London to communicate with
the friends of the Catholics there, and to ascertain the
sentiments of the king and ministers. His lordship
established a good understanding with Mr. Burke, Sir
George Saville, Lord Mansfield, and other friends of tol
eration in Parliament, as well as with the chiefs of the
English Catholics, clerical and lay, who, at that very
time, were bestirring themselves to recover their civil
rights. The expenses of Lord Kenmare on this mission,
amounting to ,£1500, were disbursed by the committee
at Dublin.* One immediate result was, to raise the
consideration of the Irish Catholics at home. The " act
to enable all classes of his majesty's subjects to testify
their allegiance to him " — in other words, modifying
the oath of allegiance so that Catholics might freely take
it — was passed in the spring of 1774. A little later
Lord Buckinghamshire permitted a deputation to present
him with a truly humble petition to be forwarded to the
king, and so the wedge was entered. " There it goes,"
cried Anthony Malone, as - the first relief bill passed,
" and I am heartily glad of it, for now the whole system
must come down."f
The right of petition, being implied in that of " testi
fying allegiance," was at once acted upon by those
concerned. A painfully-affecting document was that
which the viceroy condescended to receive from the
hands of Lord Fingal, the Hon. Mr. Preston, and Mr.
Dermot. Its prayer was strictly confined to the removal
of disabilities affecting real property. The petitioners
state, — * Tone's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 483.
t Life of Grattan, voL i.
21*

246 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" We are, may it please your majesty, a numerous
" and very industrious part of your majesty's subjects ;
" and yet by no industry, by no honest endeavors on our
" part, is it in our power to acquire or to hold almost
" any secure or permanent property whatsoever ; we
" are not only disqualified to purchase, but are disabled
" from occupying, any land, even in farm, except on a
" tenure extremely scanted both in profit and in time ;
" and if we should venture to expend any thing on the
" melioration of land thus held, by building, by enclosure,
" by draining, or by any other species of improvement, so
" very necessary in this country, so far would our services
" be from bettering our fortunes, that these are precisely
" the very circumstances which, as the law now stands-,
" must necessarily disqualify us from continuing those
" farms for any time in our possession.
" Whilst the endeavors of our industry are thus dis-
" couraged, (no less, we humbly apprehend, to the detri-
" ment of the national prosperity and the diminution of
" your majesty's revenue than to our particular ruin,)
" there are a set of men, who, instead of exercising any
" honest occupation in the commonwealth, make it their
" employment to pry into our miserable property, to drag
" us into the courts, and to compel us to confess on our
" oaths, and under the penalties of perjury, whether we
" have in any instance acquired a property in the small-
" est degree exceeding what the rigor of the law has ad-
" mitted ; and in such case the informers, without any
" other merit than that of their discovery, are invested
" (to the daily ruin of several innocent, industrious fam-
" ilies) not only with the surplus in which the law is ex-
" ceeded, but in the whole body of the estate and interest
" so discovered ; and it is our grief that this evil is likely
" to continue and increase, as informers have, in this
" country, almost worn off the infamy which in all ages
" and in all other countries has attended their character,
" and have grown into some repute by the frequency and
" success of their practices.
" And this, most gracious sovereign, though extremely
" grievous, is far from being the only or most oppressive

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 247
" particular in which our distress is connected with the
" breach of the rules of honor and morality. By the
" laws now in force in this kingdom, a son, however un-
" dutiful or profligate, shall, merely by the merit of con-
" forming to the established religion, deprive the Roman
" Catholic father of that free and full possession of his
" estate, that power to mortgage or otherwise dispose of
" it, as the exigencies of his affairs may require ; but shall
" himself have full liberty immediately to mortgage or
" otherwise alienate the reversion of that estate from his
" family forever — a regulation by which a father, con-
" trary to the order of nature, is put under the power of
" his son, and through which an early dissoluteness is not
" only suffered, but encouraged, by giving a pernicious
" privilege, the frequent use of which has broken the
" hearts of many deserving parents, and entailed poverty
" and despair on some of the most ancient and opulent
" families in this kingdom.
" Even when the parent has the good fortune to
" escape this calamity in his lifetime, yet he has at his
" death the melancholy and almost certain prospect of
" leaving neither peace nor fortune to his children ; for
" by that law which bestows the whole fortune on the
" first conformist, or, on nonconformity, disperses it
" among the children, incurable jealousies and animos-
" ities have arisen, a total extinction of principle and of
" natural benevolence has ensued, whilst we are obliged
" to consider our own offspring and the brothers of our
" own blood as our most dangerous enemies ; the bless-
" ing of Providence on our families, in a numerous issue,
" is converted into the most certain means of their ruin
" and depravation : we are, most gracious sovereign,
" neither permitted to enjoy the few broken remains of
" our patrimonial inheritance, nor by our industry to
" acquire any secure establishment to our families." *
To this petition (it was written by Edmund Burke)
no answer was at that time returned. Almost the whole
body of Catholics had taken the new oath of allegiance
* Parnell's History ofthe Penal Laws, pp. 111-113.

248 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
prescribed by the act of that year ; the Munster bishops
held a special synod in 1775, to explain and enforce it,
and with Archbishop Butler at their head, set an exam
ple of publicly taking it. Father O'Leary and other
Catholics preached and wrote in its maintenance, and by
dint of a great display of loyalty, succeeded, at length,
in attracting the further attention of the legislature. In
this effort the American war helped them materially ; it
was remarked that, as the cause of the colonies pro
gressed, so did that of the Catholics.
A bill granting concessions in relation to the holding
of real estate was drawn, and had been much discussed
by letter between Burke and the Catholic leaders and
Mr. Perry, speaker of the Irish Commons House, who
favored it. After much negotiation to and fro, and
much sounding of the castle and the king, the bill passed
in 1778,* another rumored French invasion and Bur
goyne's surrender being principals to its passage ; indeed,
they might be called the proposer and seconder. By this
law, Catholics were allowed to lend money on real estate
mortgage, to lease land for a term of years not exceeding
one thousand, (there was a majority of three against
their holding in fee,) to hold lands devised to them,. and to
make demises as other owners of estates did. The prin
ciple of property — the fundamental rule of all fixed
society — was thus restored. This was a great matter.
Property is the first lesson which barbarism learns from
civilization; it is the constitutional conservator' of order
and justice, the standard and the reward of industry and
conduct. After two centuries of confiscation, the heirs
of the reformers had to humble their crests, and restore
that social principle of the right to acquire property
which Elizabeth, Cecil, and Cromwell, Ormond, and
William III. had so laboriously endeavored to strike out
of the hearts of the Lrish Catholics. Many of this class,
at home and abroad, had amassed large sums of money,
and after the law of 1778, stepped eagerly into the markets,
* In 1774 passed what, in strict construction, might be^called the first
relief bill — the " act to enable all classes of his majesty's subjects to
testify their allegiance to him."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 249
and purchased the estates of insolvent Protestant propri
etors. A few years later, we find the result in the ex
tended ranks and influen.ee of the Catholic gentry. At
the close of the century, they had recovered one fifth of
the real estate of the whole kingdom.
The general politics of the empire were at this period
the best auxiliary of the Catholics and of the patriot
party. In 1776, the army was withdrawn from Ireland
to serve in America ; the next year the volunteers were
organized ; the next, Burgoyne's surrender was celebrated
in the sfaeets of Dublin ; in 1779, the combined fleets of
France and Spain appeared in the Channel, ajid Ireland
demanded " free trade " — the freedom of her exports
and imports from English restrictions. While Arthur
C Leary exhorted the Munster peasantry to loyalty,
Henry Grattan draughted the resolutions of Dungannon,
where one hundred and forty-three Protestant regiments
resolved, " that no power on earth, save the King, Lords,
•" and Commons of Ireland," could of right legislate for
it. Besides the political declaration, there was another
{passed with only two dissentient voices) in these words x
"that, as Christians and Protestants, they rejoiced in the
¦" relaxation of the penal laws against their Roman Cath-
" olic fellow-subjects, and that they conceived the
¦" measure to be fraught with the happiest consequences
•" to the union and prosperity of Ireland." A few days
later, the Catholic question came up in the House of
Commons, on Mr. Gardiner's biU, which proposed to
give the Catholics Jive concessions : 1. The right to
bold land in fee simple. 2. The free exercise of their
religion. 3. Freedom of education. 4. To legalize Cath
olic marriages. 5. To give them the right to bear arms,
and join the militia. The debate commenced on the
first proposition, which Wynne, Rowley, and St. George,
of the castle, opposed, and which Grattan, Flood,
Langrishe, and Daly defended. -The first and third
clauses were embodied into law and passed, but the
second, fourth, and fifth were omitted. The additional
property and intelligence acquired under this statute
materially increased the Catholic strength .and influence.

250 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Two months later, the independence of the Irish Par-
liament was admitted by the solemn act of the king and
the British Parliament ; in 1783, '84, '85, '86, and '87,
the Parliament was exclusively occupied by constitu
tional and commercial questions of pressing importance;
simple repeal, the new tariff, and the marine laws ; final
ly, the regency question excluded for a time the dis
cussion of all other topics. In the spring of 1788, the
subject of the tithe of potatoes levied on the cotters of
the south came up, and Grattan made those two won
derful speeches on that subject which stand above com
parison with any thing of the kind in our language. To
that extent, tithe was abolished, though the principle was
not touched thereby.
The successes of 1778 and 1782 were not followed up
with spirit and vigor by the Catholics. When, in 1783,
a convention favorable to a reform in Parliament, and
well disposed towards the Catholics, met at the Rotunda,
in Lord Kenmare's name, Sir Boyle Roche said, that
his lordship and the Catholic body were well content
with the concessions they had got, and had no intention
of further efforts. This statement gave great offence to
many Catholics, especially those of Dublin. A further
attempt of the same nobleman Jo induce the committee
to call on Catholics to withdraw from the volunteer
forces led to a discussion, and discussion led to secession. '
Failing to carry a series of resolutions, including both
his propositions, Lord Kenmare and his friends retired.
They published their documents as a protest, signed with
sixty-eight names, chiefly country gentlemen connected
with the Catholic peers. Three or four bishops also
signed it.
The committee was thus left in the hands of the Dub-
^n merchants, of whom the principal were Edward
Byrne,* Richard McCormick, and John Keogh'. Keogh
was, unquestionably, a powerful man : a native of the
west of Ireland, he had made by trade a vast fortune,
* Byrne was a wine merchant, and paid one hundred thousand pounds
a year duty to the government. See Qrattan's speech on the Catholic
claims, in 1793.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 251
lived in most hospitable style at Mount Jerome, near the
city ; had friends in every town and village throughout
the land ; was a donor to all Catholic charities, and high
in the confidence of the majority of the bishops. Add
to this, abilities and judgment of a high order, a fluent
address, a fertile invention, a sober judgment, an endless
energy, and a passion for politics : such was John Keogh.
In the long line of Irish agitators, it would be hard to
find another character so memorable for disinterested
and solid services.
To insure the transaction of business, a sub-committee
of twelve, chiefly resident in Dublin, was chosen out of
" the general committee," which included every Catholic
bishop, merchant, or gentleman, who subscribed to its
rules. The sub-committee were to act for them ; the
general committee to be convened only on special occa
sions. To the latter, Richard McCormick was honorary
secretary ; to the fooner, Theobald McKenna, and after
wards Richard Burke, son of the illustrious statesman.
A regular agent was maintained at London, " a profes
sional gentleman of great respectability," to whom, from
time to time, remuneration to the amount of " upwards
of two thousand pounds " was remitted. This agent was
succeeded by Richard Burke, who, during 1791, attended
on the committee in Dublin. In 1792, Mr. Burke's ser
vices were dispensed with, and a present of fifteen hundred
guineas made to him. In July of that year, Theobald
Wolf Tone was chosen secretary, at a salary of two
hundred pounds per year. He held the office nearly three
years, and resigned on leaving for America.
This is the period at which to acknowledge the great
services rendered to the Catholic cause by Edmund Burke.
Born in Dublin, in 1730, educated partly in Kildare and
partly in Cork, he spent his first twenty-five years of
life in his native land. A sickly and studious youth, he
read, observed, and reflected much : the son of a Cath
olic mother, and the husband of a Catholic wife, his
affections, as well as his philosophy, made him tolerant.
In 1765, he had prepared his Tract on the Popery
Laws. In 1767, we find him assisting the defenceless

252 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
gentlemen charged with Whiteboyism at Cionmel. He
made three visits to Ireland at that "savage period;"
his election to the English Parliament did not in the
least turn him aside from this, one of his cardinal points
of public conduct. In 1774, he drew the petition for, and
labored to push through, the bill then proposed. In
1778, in his place in Parliament, he declared openly for
emancipation. In 1782, he wrote his noble letter on the
penal laws to Lord Kenmare. We might stop at this
point, and honor him for the debt then due. But we
must not fail to add that, from that time until his death,
he never lost a session of Parliament, or any public or
private opportunity, of serving the Catholics;* that he
gave his beloved son to them as a secretary, and that the
last work of his hand was done for their liberation.
In 1778, a relief bill had been enacted at London,
very similar to that passed in Ireland, and soon after, the
English Catholics, from the example of their Irish breth
ren, had formed a committee to petition Parliament.
The recognition of their civil existence, and this deter
mination on their part to assert their rights, led to a
counter Protestant movement,! and to a warm discussion
of their principles through the press of both countries.
Early and conspicuous in this controversy was John
Wesley, who, in 1780, published two letters on " the
civil principles of the Roman Catholics," in which he
maintained " that no government, not Roman Catholic,
ought to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persua
sion ; " " that they ought not to be tolerated by any
government, Protestant, Mahometan, or pagan." The
same year, in his Defence of the Protestant Associa
tion, he exhorted all Englishmen to act as one man
with Lord George Gordon, "to stop the progress of
that soul-deceiving and all-destroying superstition, which
threatens to overspread the land." As a reply to Wes-
* See Letters to . Sir Hercules Langrishe, M. P. — to William Smith,
M. P. — to Thomas Burgh, M. P. — to Richard Burke, Esq., (his son) —
and other papers on this subject, in Burke's Works and Correspondence.
t Eighty " Protestant Associations " existed in England and Scotland
in 1780.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 253
ley, Dr. Coppinger, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, pub
lished his Principles of Catholics, a tract usually bound
up with the prayer books in use among our fathers and
grandfathers. This papiphlet ran through six editions in
a short time from its first appearance. A better-known
reply was made by Father Arthur O'Leary, who chiefly
dealt with the charge that Catholics believed " no faith
ought to be kept with heretics." For point, humor, and
force, O'Leary's letter to Wesley, and his rejoinder to
Wesley's reply, are among the treasures of our language.
Even Irish political literature, rich and varied as it is,
has nothing of the kind to surpass, hardly any thing to
dispute rank with them. His invitation to Mr. Wesley
to visit him in Munster is a fair specimen of these
letters. " Mr. Wesley may consider me as a fictitious charac-
" ter ; but, should he follow his precursor, (I mean his
" letter, wafted to us over the British Channel,) and, on
" his mission from Dublin to Bandon, make Cork his
" way, Dr. Berkely, parish minister, near Middleton,
" Captains Stanner, French, and others, who were pris-
" oners of war, in the same place and at the same time,
" can fully satisfy him as to the reality of my existence,
" in the line already described ; and that in the beard
" which I then wore, and which, like that of Sir Thomas
" More, never committed any treason, I never concealed
" either poison or dagger to destroy my Protestant neigh-
" bor ; though it was long enough to set all Scotland
" in a blaze, and to deprive Lord G  G  of his
" senses. " Should any of the Scotch missionaries attend Mr.
" Wesley into this kingdom, and bring with them any
" of the stumps of the fagots with which Henry VIII.,
" his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and the learned
" James I., roasted the heretics of their times in Smith-
" field, or some of the fagots with which the Scotch
" saints, of whose proceedings Mr. Wesley is become
" the apologist, have burned the houses of their inoffen-
" sive Catholic neighbors, we will convert' them to their
" proper use. In Ireland, the revolution of the great Pla-
22

254 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" tonic year is almost completed. Things are reinstated
" in their primitive order. And the fagot, which, with-
" out any mission from Christ, preached the gospel by
" orders of Catholic and Protestant kings, is confined to
" the kitchen. Thus what formerly roasted the man at
" the stake now helps to feed him ; and nothing but the
" severity of winter, and the coldness of the climate in
" Scotland, could justify Mr. Wesley in urging the rabble
" to light it. This is a bad time to introduce it amongst
" us, when we begin to be formidable to our foes, and
" united amongst ourselves. And, to the glory of Ireland
" be it said, we never condemned but murderers and per-
" petrators of unnatural crimes to the fagot."
He portrays Lord George Gordon, in a sentence, as
" a lord with his hair cropped, a Bible in his hand, turned
elder and high priest at the age of twenty-three, and
fainting for the ark of Israel." This correspondence
occurred in January and February, and the Protestant
riots followed in the month of June. From the first day
of that month till the nineteenth, London was in the
hands of a fanatical mob, whose Protestant exploits are
thus recorded in the Annual Register of the same
year : —
" Every body knows the circumstances, as well as the
" event, of this shameful and unhappy affair ; and that
" Lord George Gordon, who had been early placed at the
" head of the Scotch association for the support of the
" Protestant religion, was likewise appointed president
" to an association in London, formed in imitation or
" emulation of the former. The public summons in
" the newspapers, by which he assembled fifty or sixty
" thousand men in St. George's Fields, under an idea of
" defending the religion of the country against imaginary
" danger, by accompanying the presentment, and enfor-
" cing the matter of a petition to Parliament, demanding
" the repeal of the late law, which afforded some relaxa-
" tion of the penal statutes against Popery, are likewise
" fresh in every body's memory.
" The extraordinary conduct of that noble person in
" the House of Commons, during the present session, and

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 255
" the frequent interruptions which he gave to the busi-
" ness of Parliament, as well by the unaccountable man-
" ner in which he continually brought in and treated
" matters relative to religion, and the danger of Popery,
" as the caprice with which he divided the house, upon
" questions wherein he stood nearly or entirely alone,
" were passed over, along with other singularities in his
" dress and manner, rather as subjects of pleasantry than
" of serioujj notice or reprehension. Even when he in-
" volved matters of state with those of religion, in a
" strange kind of language, boasting that he was at the
" head of a hundred and twenty thousand able men in
" Scotland, who would quickly remedy their own griev-
" ances, if they were not otherwise redressed, and little
" less than holding out destruction to the crown and gov-
" ernment, unless full security was given to the associa-
" tions in both countries, against those imminent dangers
" with which they were immediately threatened by
" Popery — such things, and others, if possible, still more
" extraordinary, were only treated merely as objects of
" laughter. It ^s, however, possible that this careless-
" ness, or complacence of the house, was at length car-
" ried too far.
" Besides the advertisements and resolutions, the in-
" flammatory harangue of the president, at the preceding
" meeting of the Protestant association, was published
" in the newspapers, and was full of matter, which might
" well have excited the most instant attention and alarm.
" In that piece, the president informs his enthusiastic ad-
" herents, among other extraordinary matter, that, for his
" part, he would run all hazards with the people ; and,
" if the people were too lukewarm to run all hazards
" with him, when their conscience and their country called
" them forth, they might get another president ; for he
" would tell them candidly, that he was not a lukewarm
" man himself ; and if they meant to spend their time in
" mock debate and idle opposition, they might get another
" leader. He afterwards declared, that if he was at-
" tended by less than twenty thousand, on the appointed
" day, he would not present' their petition ; and he gave

256 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" orders, under the appearance of a motion, for the man-
" ner in which they should be marshalled in St. George's
« Fields ; appointing that they should be formed in four
" bodies, three of them regulated by the respective boun-
" daries of the great divisions of the metropolis, and
" the fourth composed entirely of his own particular
" countrymen. To prevent mistakes, the whole were to
" be distinguished by blue cockades. If this were not
" sufficient to arouse the attention of government, Lord
" George Gordon gave notice to the House of Commons,
" on the Tuesday, that the petition would be presented
" on the following Friday, and that the whole body of
" Protestant associators were to assemble in St. George's
" Fields, in order to accompany their petition to the
" house. " These notices ought to have given a more serious
41 alarm 'than they seem to have done to government.
" The opposition afterwards charged them with little less
" than a meditated encouragement to this fanatic tumult
" in order to discountenance the associations which had
" more serious objects in view, and to render odious and
u contemptible all popular interposition in affairs of state.
" They reminded them of their activity in giving orders
" to hold the military in readiness, on a peaceable meet-
" ing in Westminster Hall, and their utter neglect of the
" declared and denounced violence of this sort of people.
" The alarming cry against Popery, with the continual
" invective and abuse which they disseminated through
" newspapers, pamphlets, and sermons, by degrees drew
<l over to a meeting, originally small and obscure, a num-
" ber of well-meaning people, from, the various classes
" of Protestants, who seriously apprehended their reli-
" gion to be in danger. These, however deficient they
" were in point of consideration, being, for the far great-
" er part, poor and ignorant people, many of whom
" could not write their names, became formidable with
" respect to numbers. It is, however, to be at all
" times remembered that the conduct of these associa-
" tors was not more execrated than the intolerant princi-
" pie, to which they owed their union and action, was

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 257
" condemned by the sou^id and eminent divines, both of
" the established church and of the dissenters.
" On the 2d of June, the grand division of associators,
" being drawn off, by different routes, from the rendez-
" vous of St. George's Fields, filled the ways through
" which they marched in ranks with a multitude which
" excited wonder and alarm. Having arrived at the
" place of their destination, and filled up all the streets
',' and avenues to both houses, they began tbe exercise of
" the new authority, derived from their numbers, only by
" compelling the members, as they came down, to cry
" out, ' No Popery ; ' to wear blue cockades ; and some,
" as it is said, to take an oath to contribute all in their
" power to the repeal of the new law, or, as they called
" it, the Popery act. But, upon the appearance of the
" Archbishop of York, and other of the prelates and
" court lords, their rage and violence were increased to
" the highest pitch. During this dreadful tumult, -which
" continued, with more or less interruption, for some
" hours, the archbishop, the Duke of Northumberland,
" the lord president of the council, with several others
" of the nobility, including most or all of the lords in of-
" fice, were treated with the greatest indignities. The
" Bishop of Lincoln, in particular, most narrowly escaped
" with his life ; first by being suddenly carried into a
" house, upon the demolition of his carriage, and then
" being as expeditiously led through, and over its top,
" into another. Lord Stormont' s life was also in the
" most imminent danger; and he was only rescued, after
" being half an hour in their hands, by the presence of
" mind and address of a gentleman who happened to be
" in the crowd.
" It would be impossible to describe the astonishment,
" sense of degradation, horror, and dismay, which pre-
" vailed in both houses. Attempts were twice made to
" force their doors, and were repelled by the firmness
" and resolution of their doorkeepers and other officers.
" In this scene of terror and danger, the resolution and
u spirit with which a young clergyman, who acted as as-
" sistant, or substitute, to the chaplain of the House of

258 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" Commons, rebuked the outrage of the mob, and told
" their leader, in their presence, that he was answerable
" for all the blood that would be shed, and all the other
" fatal consequences that might ensue, merited some
" other reward besides mere applause.
" In the mean time, the author, mover, and leader of
" the sedition, having obtained leave, in the House of
" Commons, to bring up the petition, afterwards moved
" for its being taken into immediate consideration. This
" brought on some debate ; and the rioters being in pos-
" session of the lobby, the house were kept confined, for
" several hours, before they could divide upon the ques-
" tion. The impediment being at length removed by
" the arrival of the magistrates and guards, the question
" was rejected, upon a division, by a majority of one
" hundred and ninety -two to six only, by whom it was
" supported. During this time, Lord George Gordon
" frequently went out to the top of the gallery stairs,
" from whence he harangued the rioters, telling them
" what passed in the house ; that their petition would be
" postponed ; that he did not like delays ; and repeating
" aloud the names of gentlemen who had opposed the
" taking it into consideration under their present circum-
" stances ; thus, in fact, holding them out as obnoxious
" persons, and enemies, to a lawless and desperate ban-
" ditti. " The House of Commons have been much censured,
" for the Want of resolution and spirit in not immedi-
" ately committing, upon the arrival of the guards at
" night, their own member to the Tower, who had, by so
" shameful a violation of their privileges, involved them
" in a scene of such unequalled danger and disgrace. It
" has even been said that a measure of such vigor might
" have prevented all the horrid scenes of conflagration,
" plunder, military slaughter, and civil execution that
" afterwards took place ; and it has been argued, from
" the passive conduct of the mob, some years ago, upon
" the committal of the Lord Mayor Crosby and of Alder-
" man Oliver to the Tower, that it would not have been
" attended with any ill consequence.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 259
" It is, however, to be remembered, that danger is
" considered in a very different manner by those who are
" entirely out of its reach, and even by the same persons
" under its immediate impression. The circumstances
" were likewise widely and essentially different. Reli-
" gious mobs are, at all times, infinitely more dangerous
" and cruel than those which arise on civil or political
" occasions. What country has not groaned under the
" outrages and horrors of fanaticism ? or where have
" they ever been quelled but in blood ? This mob was
" much more powerful and numerous, as well as danger-
" ous, than any other in remembrance. The force of the
" associates was, on that day, whole and entire, which it
" never was after. The intense heat of the weather,
" which necessarily increased their inebriation, added fire
" to their religious fury ; and rendering them equally
" fearless and cruel, no bound could have been prescribed
" to their enormities.
" The situation of the lords was still worse than that
" of the commons. Besides that the malice of the riot-
" ers was pointed more that way, they were not under
" the restraint of any application to them for redress.
" The appearance of the lords, who had passed through
" their hands, every thing about them in disorder, and
" their clothes covered with dirt, threw a grotesque air
" of ridicule upon the whole, which seemed to heighten
" the calamity. A proposal was made to carry out the
" mace ; but it was apprehended that peradventure it
" might never return. In a word, so disgraceful a day
" was never beheld before by a British Parliament.
" In the midst of the confusion, some angry debate
" arose, the lords in opposition charging the ministers with
" being themselves the original cause of all the mischiefs
" that had already or might happen, by their scandalous
" and cowardly concessions to the rioters in Scotland,
" and, at the same time, calling them loudly to account
" for not having provided for the present evil, of which
" they had so much previous notice, by having the civil
" power in readiness for its prevention. To this it was
" answered, by a noble earl in high office, that orders had

260 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" been given, on the preceding day, for the attendance
" of the magistrates ; but two of those gentlemen, who
" happened to be in the way, being sent for and exam-
" ined, declared they had neither heard of nor received
" any such order.
" Before the. rising of the House of Commons, several
" parties of the rioters had filed off, and proceeded to
" the demolition of the chapels belonging to the Sardin-
" ian and Bavarian ministers. The commons adjourned
" to the 6th ; but the lords met on the following day,
" and agreed to ' a motion for an address,' made by the
" lord president, ' requesting his majesty to give immedi-
" ate orders for prosecuting, in 'the most effectual man-
" ner, the authors, abetters, and instruments of the out-
" rages committed the preceding day, both in the vicinity
" of the houses of Parliament, and upon the houses and
" chapels of several of the foreign ministers.' On the
" 6th, above two hundred members of the House of
" Commons had the courage, notwithstanding the dread-
" fui conflagrations and mischiefs of the two preceding
" nights, the destruction threatened to several of them-
" selves, in their persons and houses, and which had al-
" ready fallen upon the house of Sir George Saville, in
" Leicester Fields, to make their way through the vast
" crowds which filled the streets, and which were inter -
" laced and surrounded by large detachments of the mil-
" itary on foot and on horseback. They found West-
" minster Hall, and the avenues to the house, lined with
" soldiers ; upon which a celebrated member observed
" in his speech, bewailing the deplorable situation to
" which Parliament was reduced, that they had a blud-
" geoned mob waiting for them in the street, and a mili-
" tary force, with fixed bayonets, at their doors, in order
" to support and preserve the freedom of debate.
" They, however, passed some resolutions ; one being
" an assertion of their own privileges ; the second, for a
" committee to inquire into the late and present outrages ;
" and for the discovery of their authors, promoters, and
" abetters ; the third, for a prosecution by the attorney
" general ; and the fourth, an address to his majesty for

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 261
" the reimbursement of the foreign ministers to the
" amount of the damages they had sustained by the riot-
" ers. Another resolution was moved by the minister,
" for proceeding immediately, when the present tumults
" were subsided, to take into due consideration the peti-
" tions from many of his majesty's Protestant subjects.
" Intelligence being received of the conflagrations which
" were commenced in the city, it threw every thing into
" new confusion, and a hasty adjournment took place.
" Some of the lords likewise met ; but the impropriety
" of their proceeding upon any public business in the
" present tumult, and surrounded by a military force, be-
" ing taken into consideration, and an account arriving,
" at the same time, that the first lord of the admiralty,
" in his way to the house, had been set upon, wounded,
" and his life only critically saved by the military, they
" adjourned to the 19th.
" Never did the metropolis, in any known age, exhibit
" such a dreadful spectacle of calamity and horror, or
" experience such real danger, terror, and distress, as on
" the following day and night. It is said that it was
" beheld blazing in thirty-six different parts, from one
" spot. Some of these conflagrations were of such a
" magnitude as to be truly tremendous. Of these, the
"jail of Newgate, the King's Bench prison, the new
" Bridewell in St. George's Fields, the Fleet prison, and
" the houses and great distilleries of Mr. Langdale in
" Holborn, where the vast quantity of spirituous liquors
" increased the violence of the flames to a degree of
" whieh no adequate conception can be formed, presented
" spectacles of the most dreadful nature. The houses
" of most of the Roman Catholics were marked, and
" many destroyed or burned, as well as those of the few
" magistrates who showed any activity in repressing
" those tumults. The outrages grew more violent and
" general after the breaking open of the prisons.
" The attacks made that day upon the Bank roused
" the whole activity of the government. Great bodies
" of forces had, for some time, been collecting from all
" parts. They were at length employed, and brought on

262 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" the catastrophe of that melancholy night which fol-
" lowed. Strong detachments of troops being sent into
" the city, and the attempts on the Bank and other
" places renewed, a carnage then inevitably ensued, in
" which a great number of lives were lost. Nothing
" could be more dismal than that night. Those who
" were on the spot, or in the vicinity, say that the present
" darkness, the gleam of the distant fires, the dreadful
" shouts in different quarters, the groans of the dying, and
" the heavy, regular, platoon firing of the soldiers, formed
" all together a scene so terrific and tremendous as no
" description, or even imagination, could possibly reach.
" The metropolis presented on the following day, in
" many places, the image of a city recently stormed and
" sacked ; .all business at an end, houses and shops shut
" up ; the Royal Exchange, public buildings, and streets
" possessed and occupied by the troops ; smoking and
" burning ruins; with a dreadful void and silence, in
" scenes of the greatest hurry, noise, and business.
" The House of Commons met on the following day ;
" but, although the rioters were entirely quelled, it was
" immediately noticed that the city of Westminster was
" under martial law ; and they accordingly adjourned to
" the 19th? On the afternoon of the same day, Lord
" George Gordon was taken into custody, at his house
" in Welbeck Street, and conveyed to the Horse Guards ;
" and, after a long examination before several lords of
" the privy council, he was, between nine and ten in the
" evening, conducted (under the strongest guard that
" ever was known to attend any state prisoner) to the
" Tower." *
These fruits of the Protestant associations threw their
cause, for a season, into such bad odor, that the discus
sion of Catholic principles was suspended. In 1786, it
was revived by Woodward, Protestant Bishop of Cloyne,
in ah Address to the Nobility and Gentry of the Prot
estant Church, and another work, called the Present

* Annual Register for 1780. If not written by Burke, this account is
a close imitation of his style.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 263
State of the Church in Ireland. These appeals to half-
exhausted prejudices were based upon four documents :
I. The oath taken by Catholic bishops at their ordina
tion. II. A letter of Monsignor Ghilini, Nuncio at
Brussels, to the Irish bishops, written in 1768. III. The
approbatory comments of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Burke, Bishop
of Ossory, in publishing that letter in his Hibernia Do-
minicana. IV. The agrarian disturbances. Dr. Burke's
ultramontane views were not general among the Irish
bishops. of his day. In 1775, the Munster prelates, in a
synod at Thurles, had condemned his book, and on the
appearance of Dr. Woodward's pamphlets, Dr. Butler,
Archbishop of Cashel, in a letter to Lord Kenmare, (dat
ed " Thurles, December 27, 1786,") emphatically repeat
ed their previous sentence. Father O' Leary was again
induced to appear as a controvertist, and his letters to
Drt Woodward equalled in point his letters to Wesley.
His contrast of the Protestant bishops' oath with the
Catholic, his comments on the 'Nuncio's letter, his
proofs of the true origin of the agrarian outrages, and
of the efforts of the Catholic prelates to suppress them,
did great good in their day. His invariable good
humor and good manners lent a charm to his style alto
gether new in such discussions.* This notable contro
versy materially advanced the Catholic cause. O' Leary
was complimented by Grattan, in his place in Parlia
ment, and elected a member of the club of St. Patrick,
over which Curran presided: when he entered the reform
convention, some years later, the volunteers presented
arms. For his services in quelling the agrarian insurrec
tion, the king allowed him a pension, coupled with the
condition that he should reside in London. There, la
boring among his poor countrymen, and waited upon by
the literati and leaders of parties, he lived for several
years, writing an occasional pamphlet, and collecting

* " Some years after, when a mutual friend invited him (Wesley) to
meet his antagonist, Father O'Leary, it was gratifying to both parties to
meet upon terms of courtesy and mutual good will." — Southey, Life of
Wesley.

264 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
materials for a history of Ireland. His tomb is in St
Patrick's Church, Soho Square.
Notwithstanding all that had been written, the cause
of the Catholics, in the third decade of George III., was
at a low ebb. The secession of the sixty-eight was a prac
tical loss; weak as they were, individually, the union of
so many hereditary Catholic names had been of very
great service to the committee. So long as they stood
aloof, the committee could not venture to "speak for all
the Catholics ; it could only speak for a part, though
that, part was nine tenths of the whole: this gave a
doubtful and hesitating appearance, in those years, to all
their proceedings. So low was their political influence,
in 1791, that they could not get a single member of Par
liament to present their annual petition. When, at last,
it was presented, it was laid on the table for three days,
and then literally kicked out* To their further em
barrassment, McKenna and some others formed " the
Catholic Society," with the nominal purpose of spread
ing a knowledge of Catholic principles, through the
press, but, covertly, to raise up a rival organization,
under the eontrol of the seceders. At this period John
Keogh's talents for negotiation and diplomacy saved
the Catholic body from another term of anarchical imbe
cility. A deputation of twelve, having waited on the Irish
secretary, with a list of the existing penal laws, found
no intention, at the castle, of further concessions. They
were " dismissed without an answer." Under these cir
cumstances, the committee met at Allen's Court " It
was their determination," says Keogh, " to give up the
cause as desperate, lest a perseverance in what they
considered an idle pursuit might not only prove ineffect
ual, bu£ draw down a train of persecution on the body."
Keogh endeavored to rally them ; proposed a delegation
to London, to be sent at the expense of the committee;

* Mr. O'Neil, member of Parliament for Antrim, undertook it, but
afterwards declined : it was subsequently presented late in the session.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 265
offered, at last, to go at his own charge, if they author
ized him. This proposal was accepted, and Keogh
went. " I arrived in London," he adds, " without any
introduction from this country, without any support,
any assistance, any instructions." * He remained three
months, converted Mr. Dundas, brought back with him
the son of Burke as secretary, and a promise of four
concessions : I. The magistracy. II. The grand juries.
III. The sheriffs of counties. IV. The bar. Upon his
return, the fullest meeting that had assembled since the
Kenmare secession came together to hear his report,
and take action accordingly.

* Keogh' s account of his visit to London. Wyse's History of the
Catholic Association, vol. ii. Appendix, No. V. Charles Butler tells a
striking anecdote of Keogh's interview with Mr. Dundas. "On one oc
casion, he was introduced to the late Mr. Dundas, afterwards Lord Mel
ville. That eminent statesman was surrounded by several persons of
distinction, and received the delegates with great good humor, but
some state ; a long conference ensued, and the result was not favorable to
the mission of Mr. Keogh.. After a short silence, Mr. Keogh advanced
towards Mr. Dundas with great respect, and, with a very obsequious,
but very solemn look, mentioned to him that ' there was one thing
which it was essential for hhn to know, but of which he had not
the slightest conception.' He remarked, ' that it was very extraordinary
that a person of Mr. Dundas's high situation, and one of his own hum
ble lot, (he was a tradesman in Dublin,) should be in the same room ;
yet, since it had so happened, and probably would not happen again, he
wished to avail himself' of the opportunity of making the important dis
closure, but could not think of doing it without Mr. Dundas's express
permission, and his promise not to be offended.' Mr. Dundas gave him
this permission and promise ; still Mr. Keogh was all humility and apol
ogy, and Mr. Dundas all condescension. After these had continued for
some time, and the expectation of every person present was wound up
to its highest pitch, Mr. Keogh approached Mr. Dundas in a very hum
ble attitude, and said, ' Since you give me this permission, and your
deliberate promise not to be offended, I beg leave to repeat, that there
is one thing which you ought to know, but which you don't suspect ¦
you, Mr. Dundas, know nothing of Ireland.'
" Mr. Dundas, as may be supposed, was greatly surprised ; but with
perfect good humor told Mr. Keogh that he believed this was not the
case : it was true that he never had been in Ireland, but he had con
versed with many Irishmen. ' I have drunk,' he said, ' many a good
bottle of wine with Lord Hillsborough, Lord Clare, and the Beresfords.
' Yes, sir,' said Mr. Keogh, ' I beheve you have ; and that you drank
many a good bottle of wine with them before you went to war with
America. ' " -
23

266 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
At this meeting, the promises of the English govern
ment were contrasted with the dogged hostility of the
castle. The necessity of a stronger organization, to
overcome the one and hasten the other, was felt by all :
it was then that they adopted a plan, proposed by Myles
Keon, of Keonbrook, in Leitrim, to turn the committee
into a convention. By this plan, the Catholics in each
county and borough were called on to choose, in a
private manner, certain electors, who were to elect two
or more delegates, to represent the town or county in
the general meeting at Dublin, on the 3d day of
December following. A circular, signed by Edward
Byrne, chairman, and Richard McCormick, secretary,
explaining the plan and the mode of election, was issued
on the 14th of January, and the Catholics every where
prepared to obey it.
The corporations of Dublin and other • cities, the
grand juries of Derry, Donegal, Leitrim, Roscommon,
Limerick, Cork, and other counties, at once pronounced
most strongly against the proposed convention. They
declared it "unconstitutional," " alarming," " most dan
gerous ; " they said it was a copy of the National As
sembly of France ; they declared that they would " resist
it to the utmost of their power ; " they pledged " their
lives and fortunes" to suppress it The only answer
of the Catholics was the legal opinion of Butler and
Burton, two eminent lawyers, Protestants and king's
councillors, that the measure was entirely legal. They
proceeded with their selection of delegates, and at the
appointed day the convention met. From the place of
meeting, this convention was popularly called " the
Back Lane Parliament."
After organizing, the convention proceeded (Mr.
Byrne in the chair) to declare itself the only body com
petent to speak for the Catholics of Ireland. They next
discussed the substance of the proposed petition to the
king. The debate on this subject is in itself so inter
esting, and the account of it by Tone so graphic, that
we insert here his report.
" The general committee next resolved, that a petition

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 267
" be prepared to his majesty, stating the grievances of
" the Catholics of Ireland, and praying relief, and the
" members of the sub-committee were ordered to bring
" in the same forthwith, which being done, and the
" petition read in the usual forms, it was again read,
" paragraph by paragraph, each passing unanimously,
" until the last A spirited and intelligent member,
" (Luke Teeling, Esq., of Lisburn, county Antrim,) who
" represented a great northern county, then rose and said,
" ' that he must object to this paragraph, on the ground
" of its being limited in its demand. His instructions
" from his constituents were to require nothing short of
" total emancipation ; and it was not consistent with the
" dignity of this meeting, and much less of the great body
" whom it represented, to sanction, by any thing which
" could be construed into acquiescence on their part,
" one fragment of that unjust and abominable system,
" the penal code. It lay with the paternal wisdom of
" the sovereign to ascertain what he thought fit to be
" granted, but it was the duty of this meeting to put
" him fully and unequivocally in possession of the wants
" and wishes of his people.' He therefore moved, ' that,
" in place of the paragraph then read, one should be in-
" serted, praying that the Catholics might be restored to
" the equal enjoyment of the blessings of the constitu-
" tion.' " It is not easy to describe the effect which that speech
" had on the assembly. It was received with the most
" extravagant applause. A member of great respect-
" ability, and who had ever been remarked for a cautious
" and prudent system in his public conduct, (D. T.
" O'Brien, Esq., of Cork,) rose to declare his entire and
" hearty concurrence in the spirit of the motion. ' Let
" us not,' said he, ' deceive our sovereign and our constit-
" uents, nor approach the throne with a suppression of
" the truth. Now is our time to speak. The whole
" Catholic people are not to be called forth to acquiesce
" in the demand of partial relief.' The question would
" now have been carried by acclamation, but for the in-
;< terposition of a member, to whose opinion, from his

268 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
past services and the active part he had ever taken,
the committee were disposed to pay every respect,
(J. Keogh.) He said, ' that he entirely agreed with
the spirit of the motion, and he was satisfied that they
had but to ask and they should receive. But the
meeting had already despatched a great deal of busi
ness, the hour was now late, and the question was of
the very last importance.' ' Have you,' said the speak
er, 'considered the magnitude of your demand and the
power of your enemies ? Have you considered the dis
grace and the consequences of a refusal, and are you
prepared to support your claim ? ' The whole assem
bly rose, as one man, and, raising their right hands,
answered, ' We are.' It was a sublime spectacle.
' Then,' continued he, ' I honor and rejoice in a spirit
which must render your success infallible ; but let it
not be said that you took up a resolution of this infi
nite magnitude in a fit of enthusiasm. Let us agree
to retire. We meet again to-morrow. We will con
sider this question in the mean time, and, whatever be
the determination of the morning, it will not be ac
cused of want of temperance or consideration.' This
argument prevailed, and the meeting adjourned.
" But the business of the. day was, perhaps, not less
effectually promoted by the convivial parties which
followed than by the serious debates which occupied
the sitting of the committee. Those members resident
in Dublin, whom it had been the policy of the enemies
to Catholic emancipation to grossly malign and mis
represent in the remote parts of the kingdom, had
taken care to offer the rites of hospitality to the dele
gates from the country. And, in unreserved commu-
cation, both/ parties compared their common griev
ances, and mutually entered into each other's senti
ments. All distrust was banished at once, and a
comparison of ideas satisfied them that their interests
were one and the same, and that the only enemy to be
dreaded was disunion among themselves'. The dele
gate from Antrim, who sat beside the delegate from
Kerry, at the board of their brother in the capital,

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 269
" needed but little argument to convince him that, as
" the old maxim, 'Divide and conquer,' had been the
" uniform rule of conduct with their common enemies,
" so mutual" confidence and union among themselves
" were the infallible presage and most certain means of
" securing their approaching emancipation. The attri-
" tion of parties, thus collected from every district of the
" kingdom, demolished in one evening the barriers of.
" prejudice, which art and industry, and the monopoliz-
" ing spirit of corruption, had, by falsehood and soothing,
" by misrepresentation and menaces, been laboring for
" years, and but too successfully, to establish between
" them. " In this spirit the assembly met on the next day.
" The business was opened by the same member (L.
" Teeling) who had introduced the amendment. He
" stated that it was the duty of the Catholics not to
" wrong themselves by asking less than complete eman-
" cipation ; that it was also the idea of their friends in
" the province from whence he came, and this coinci-
" dence of sentiments would establish that union, from
" which the Catholic cause had already derived such
" essential benefit, and which had been found so formi-
" dable to their enemies. Something had been insinuat-
" ed about danger ; he saw none : violence was not the
" interest nor the wish of the meeting. ' But,' contin-
" ued he, ' we have been asked what we will do in case
" of a refusal. I will not, when I look around me, sup-
" pose a refusal. But, if such an event should take
" place, our duty is obvious. We are to tell our constit-
" uents ; and they, not we, are to determine. We will
" take the sense of the whole people, and see what they
" will have done.' Similar sentiments were avowed by
" every member who followed him; and, on the question
" being put, the amendment, praying for complete resti-
" tution of the rights of the Catholics, was carried by
" the unanimous acclamation of the whole assembly.
" It was not to be supposed that perfect secrecy could
" be preserved in so numerous a meeting, or that the in-
" dustry of the enemies to Catholic freedom should not
23*

270 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
be exerted in so important a crisis, and on so material
a question as that which was now determined with
"such unanimity. On the morning of the day it was
whispered, that, if the prayer for complete emancipa
tion was persisted in, a large number of the most
respectable country delegates would instantly quit the
meeting, and publish their dissent. Whether such a
measure was ever seriously intended or not is not accu
rately known. Certainly, had it been carried into
execution, a secession of so formidable a nature would
have extremely embarrassed, if not totally destroyed, a
system which had cost so much time and labor to
bring to its present state. Be that as it may, such was
the force of virtuous example, so powerful the effect
of public spirit in an assembly uncontaminated with
places or pensions, and freely chosen by the people,
that not a murmur of dissent was heard ; and a day
which opened with circumstances of considerable
doubt and anxiety terminated in the unanimous adop
tion of the great principle which, whilst it asserted,
secured the emancipation of the Catholics.
" The prayer of the petition having been thus agreed
upon, it was proposed (by Mr. Fitzgerald) that the
signatures of the delegates should not be affixed until
the mode of transmission should be first determined.
The object of this motion was, obviously, to embar
rass, and, if possible, to prevent, a measure which,
from the spirit of the meeting, it was more than sus
pected would be tried. Apprehensions were entertained
that the usual form in presenting petitions would be
broken through, and that, by., a direct application to
the throne, a very pointed mark of disapprobation
would be attached on the government of this country.
If to prevent administration from being exposed to
such an insult was the object of the motion, it failed
completely. The committee decreed, that the signing
the petition should precede all debate as to the mode
of transmission. And, not only so, but it was unani
mously resolved, (on the motion of Mr. Edward
Sweetman, of Wexford,) that every delegate should

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 271
instantly pledge himself to support, with his hand and
signature, the sense of the majority ¦ — an engagement
which was immediately and solemnly taken by the
whole assembly.
" The petition having been thus agreed upon and
signed, the important question arose as to the mode
of presenting it to his majesty. The usual method
had been to deliver all former addresses to the lord
lieutenant, who transmitted them to the king; and,
certainly, to break through a custom invariably con
tinued from the first establishment of the general
committee, was marking, in the most decided manner,
that the Catholics had lost all confidence in the ad
ministration of this country. But, strong as this
measure was, it was now to be tried. The petition
having been read for the last time, a spirited young
member, (Christopher Dillon Bellew, Esq., of Galway,)
whose property gave him much, and his talents and
virtues still more, influence in the assembly, and who
represented a county perhaps the first in Ireland for
Catholic property and independence, rose, and moved,
without preface, that the petition should be sent to
the foot of the throne, by a deputation to be chosen
from the general committee. He was seconded by a
delegate from a county adjacent to his own, (J. J.
McDonnell, of Mayo.)
" A blow of this nature, striking so directly at the
character, and almost at the existence, of the admin
istration, could scarcely be let to pass without some
effort on their part to prevent it. As the attack had
been foreseen, some kind of a negotiation had been
attempted with individuals, who were given to under
stand, that, if the petition was sent through the usual
channel, administration would instantly despatch it
by express, and back it with the strongest recommen
dations. The negotiation was not yet concluded when
the dreaded motion was made, and, with some dif
ficulty, the assembly agreed to wait half an hour for
the result of one more interview. There can hardly
be imagined a revolution more curious and unexpected

272 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" than that which was occurring in the general com-
" mittee. The very men who, a few months before,
" could not obtain an answer at the castle, sat with
" their watches in their- hands, minuting that govem-
" ment which had repelled them with disdain. At
" length the result of the interview was made known,
" and it appeared that the parties had either mistaken
" each other, or their powers, or the intentions of the
" administration, for it was stated by the member (Mr.
" Keogh) who reported it, that what had been supposed
" to be offered was merely a conversation between a
" very respectable individual and himself, but be had
" nothing to communicate from any authority. This,
" which the majority of the assembly considered, whether
" justly or not, as an instance of duplicity in adminis-
" tration, and as trifling with their own time and dig-
" nity, determined them to stigmatize, as far as in them
" lay, a government which they now looked upon as
" having added insult to injury. ' Will you,' cried the
" orator, (Keogh,) 'trust your petition with such men?'
" The assembly answered with a unanimous, repeated,
" and indignant negative — ' No ! '
" Yet still a few individuals were found who started
" at the idea of fixing so gross an insult on administra-
" tion, (Messrs. McKenna, Fitzgerald, D. T. O'Brien.) It
" was suggested, rather than argued, that it was not per-
" haps respectful, even to majesty itself, to pass over with
" such marked contempt his representative in Ireland,
" and that the usual mode was the most constitutional,
" or, at least, the most conciliatory. But the spirit of
" the meeting was now above stooping to conciliate the
" favor of those whom they neither respected nor feared.
" The member who moved the question (Mr. C. Bellew)
" again rose to support it. He said he did not ground
" his motion merely on the insults which the Catholics,
" through their delegates, had so often received, but on
" this, that he had no confidence in men who kept no
" faith with Catholics, and the attempt of the present
" day had satisfied his mind. Faith had been broken,
" even with those gentlemen (Lord Kenmare and the

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 273
" sixty-eight) who, in support of administration, had se-
" ceded from their own body. The engagement entered
" into with them had been mutilated and curtailed. ' It
" has been said,' continued he, ' my plan is disrespect-
" fui to administration. I answer, it is intended to be so.
" It is time for us to speak out like men. We will not,
" like African slaves, petition our taskmasters. Our
" sovereign will never consider it disrespectful, that we
*' lay before his throne the dutiful and humble petition
" of three millions of loyal and suffering subjects. For
" my part, I know I speak the sentiments of my county.
" I wish my constituents may know my conduct; and
" the measure which I have now proposed, I am ready
" to justify in any way.' These were strong expressions ;
" they were followed by others no less energetic. ' We
" have not come thus far,' said a delegate from the west
" of Ireland, (Mr. McDermott, of Sligo,) ' to stop short in
" our career. Gentlemen tell us of the wounded pride
" of the administration. I believe it will be wounded,
" but I care not; I consider only the pride of the Catho-
*' lies Of Ireland.' The last attempt was now made to
" postpone the further consideration of the question until
" the next day.; but this was immediately and powerfully
" resisted. * We will stay all night, if necessary,' cried a
*' spirited young member, (P. Russell, of Louth,) ' but this
" question must be decided before we part. If it go
" abroad that you waver, you are undone.' /( Let us
<l mark,' cried another, (J. Edw. Devereux,"Esq., of Wex-
" ford,) ' our abhorrence of the measures of our enemies,
" for they are the enemies of Ireland. The present ad- ,
" ministration has not the confidence of the people? The
" whole assembly confirmed his words by a general ex-
" clamation, 'No! No!' * Our allegiance and attach-
" ment are to King, Lords, and Commons, not to a bad
" ministry, who have calumniated and reviled us through
" the kingdom.' His assertions were ratified by repeated
" and universal plaudits.
" The question on the original motion was at length
*' unanimously deeided in the affirmative. By passing
« over the adraiaistration of their country, in a studied,

274 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" and deliberate manner, and on solemn debate, the
" general committee published to all the world, that his
" majesty's ministers in Ireland had so far lost the con-
" fidence of no less than three millions of his subjects,
" that they were not even to be intrusted with the de-
" livery of their petition. A stigma more severe it has
" not been the fortune of many administrations to receive.
" The general committee (December 7) proceeded to
" choose, by ballot, five of their body, who should present
" their petition to his majesty in person ; and the gentle-
" men appointed were Edward Byrne, John Keogh,
" Christopher Dillon Bellew, James Edward Devereux,
" and Sir Thomas French. The only instruction they
" received was to adhere strictly to the spirit of the pe-
" tition, and to admit nothing derogatory to the union,
" which is the strength of Ireland. And this instruction,
" for greater solemnity, was delivered to them, engrossed
" on vellum, signed by the chairman, and countersigned
" by the secretary of the meeting."
These delegates, accompanied by the secretary, re
solved to go by Belfast and Scotland to London, " there
being no packet boat ready " at Dublin, " and the wind
being contrary." This accident did them no harm.
Belfast was then the focus of the United Irishmen, and
of the liberality of the north. The delegates were pub
licly received ; their expenses were paid by the citizens,
and their carriage drawn along in triumph on the road
to Port Patrick.
Arrived at London, after much negotiation and delay
with ministers, a day was fixed for their introduction to
the king. It was Wednesday, the 2d of January, 1793.
Standing before George III., (" who received them very
graciously,") they put into his own hands the petition of
their constituents, and after some compliments, with
drew.* In a few days, they were assured their case
would be recommended in the next royal speech, and so
leaving one of their number behind as " charge d'affaires,"
they returned to Dublin, to report.
* See Appendix, No. IV., for this most interesting document, with all
fhe signatures. »

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 275
The castle again capitulated: the secretary, who, a
year before, would not listen to a petition, now labored
to fix a limit to concession. The demand of complete
emancipation, unfortunately, (perhaps,) was not main
tained in this negotiation as firmly as in the December
debates. The news of the execution of the king of
France ; the efforts of the secret committee of the House
of Lords to inculpate certain Catholic leaders in the
United Irish system, and as patrons of the Defenders ;
the telling argument, that to press all was to risk all, —
these causes combined to induce the sub-committee to
consent to less than the convention had decided to insist
upon. Negotiation was the strong ground of the gov
ernment, and they kept it. Finally, the bill was intro
duced, and on the 9th day of April, 1793, it became the
law of Ireland. " By one comprehensive clause," says
Tone, " all penalties, forfeitures, disabilities, and inca-
" pacifies are removed ; the property of the Catholic is
" completely discharged from the restraints and limita-
" tions of the penal laws, and their liberty, in a great
" measure, restored, by the restoration of the right of
" elective franchise, so long withheld, so ardently pur-
" sued. The right of self-defence is established by the
" restoration of the privilege to carry arms, subject to a
" restraint, which does not seem unreasonable, as ex-
" eluding none but the very lowest orders. The unjust
" and unreasonable distinctions affecting Catholics, as to
" service on grand and petty juries, are done away ; the
" army, navy, and all other offices and places of trust are
" opened to them, subject to exceptions hereafter men-
" tioned. Catholics may be masters or fellows of any
" college hereafter to be founded, subject to two con-
" ditions, that such college be a member of the univer-
" sity, and that it be not founded exclusively for the
" education of Catholics. They may be members of any
" lay body corporate, except Trinity College, any law,
" statute, or by-law of such corporation to the contrary
" notwithstanding. They may obtain degrees in the
" University of Dublin. These, and some lesser immu-
" nities and privileges, constitute the grant of the bill,

276 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" the value of which will be best ascertained by referring
" to the petition. From comparison, it will appear that
" every complaint recited has been attended to ; every
" grievance specified has been removed. Yet the prayer
" of the petition was for general relief. The bill is not
" coextensive with the prayer. The measure of redress
" must, however, be estimated by the extent of the pre-
" vio'us suffering and degradation of the Catholics set
" forth by themselves; and in this point of view, the bill
" will undoubtedly justify those who admitted that it
" afforded solid and substantial relief."
In truth it was a very great victory over the policy of
the reformation. Catholics were still excluded from the
high offices of lord lieutenant, lord deputy, and lord
chancellor. What was much more important, they were
excluded from sitting in Parliament — from exercising
legislative power. Still the franchise; the juries, the
professions, and the universities were important conces
sions. The ferocious penal code was a wreck from and
after the 9th day of April, 1793.
In the same session of Parliament, "the convention
act against representative assemblies" was passed, which
is still the law in Ireland.
The sub-committee having met to return thanks to the
parliamentary fathers of the bill, their own future opera
tions became also a topic. Some members advised that
they should add "reform" to their programme, as the
remnant of the penal laws were not sufficient to interest
and attract the people. Some would have gone much
further than reform ; some were well content to rest on
their laurels. There were ultras, moderate men, and
conservatives even in the twelve. The latter were more
numerous than Wolfe Tone liked or expected. That ar
dent but rather unscrupulous politician had, indeed,
at bottom, a strong dislike of the Catholic religion ; he
united himself with them because he needed a party ; he
remained with them because it gave him importance;
but he used his position to further an ulterior design — an
Irish revolution and republic on the French plan. The
example of France became rather a terror than an attrac-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 277
tion to older and wiser men than Tone. Edward Byrne,
Sir Thomas French, and other eminent Catholics were
openly hostile to any imitation of it, and the Catholic
dinner at Daly's, to celebrate the passage of the late bill,
was, in spirit, strongly anti-Gallican.*
Keogh, McCormick, and McNevin, however, joined
the United Irishmen, and the two latter were placed on
the directory. Keogh withdrew, when, in 1795, it first
became a secret society.
The bishops, who had cheered on, rather than partici
pated in, the late struggle, were well satisfied with the
new relief bill as passed. They were, by education and
conviction, conservatives. Dr. Plunkett of Meath, Dr.
Egan of Waterford, Dr. Troy of Dublin, and Dr. Moy-
lan of Cork, were the most remarkable for influence and
ability at this period. Dr. Butler of Cashel, and his
opponent, Dr. Burke of Ossory, the head of the brave
old ultramontane section, were both recently deceased.
With the exception of the apostate Dr. James Butler,
Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, who deserted his faith and
order on becoming unexpectedly heir to an earldom, the
Irish prelates of the reign of George III. were a highly-
accomplished and devoted body. Lord Dunboyne's fall
was the only cause of a reproach within their own ranks.
Ttyat unhappy prelate made, many years afterwards, a
death-bed repentance, was reconciled to his church, and
bequeathed a large part of his inherited wealth to found
the Bourse at Maynooth which bears his name.
* The patriots in Parliament were equally conservative. Grattan,
Plunkett, &c, strongly supported the war ; the radicals, on Sir Law
rence Parson's division, counted only nine votes.
24

278 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE

CHAPTER IV.
MATNOOTH COLLEGE FOUNDED. — UNION OF DEFENDERS AND
UNITED IRISHMEN. — INSURRECTION OF 1798. — FALSEHOODS CON
CERNING CATHOLICS ENGAGED IN IT. -PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE
UNION. —PITT AND THE BISHOPS. — THE ACT OF UNION; ITS RE
SULTS ON THE CATHOLIC CAUSE.
The French revolution, so fruitful of other changes,
intimately affected the minds, of men in Ireland. In
1792 and 1793, the Irish students began to abandon the
French colleges, and the next year those colleges were
confiscated to the state. At this period the Irish pos
sessed three hundred and forty-eight bourses in France,
and about one hundred and thirty in the two penin
sulas. To have these sources of instruction suddenly
closed against them was a loss which stimulated the
Irish hierarchy to seek for some adequate substitute.
For several years previous, many men had advocated
the necessity of native Catholic colleges. In 1792, Dr.
Bellew had visited Dublin with a plan for a provincial
college in Connaught. At the suggestion of Keogh and
Tone, who consulted Kirwan, the philosopher, upon it,
the bishop extended his plan so as to embrace the king
dom. Failing to procure the cooperation of Archbishop
Troy, the proposal lapsed. About the same time, Ed
mund Burke was urging upon Pitt, with all his eloquence,
the importance to the state of such an institution.
In 1794, the Irish bishops' unanimously petitioned the
government for "a royal license" to establish academies
and seminaries for clerical education. The license was
granted, and the Royal College of St. Patrick was begun
at Maynooth, in Kildare, about a dozen miles from
Dublin. During " the recess " of the legislature, the min
ister became convinced of the soundness of Burke's argu
ments, and in the next session, at the suggestion ofthe
crown, the sum of eight thousand pounds per annum
was voted, as a grant to the new institution. The vote
(which was unanimous) was coupled with conditions,'

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 279
that the students entering should take the oath of alle
giance, and that a board of visitors, appointed by the
crown, were to make an annual inspection of the college.
The act of 35 George III. c. 21, was passed on the 5th
of June, 1795, being the last day of the session. . On the
same day, in proroguing the Irish Parliament, the lord
lieutenant observed that " a wise foundation had been
laid for educating at home the Roman Catholic clergy."
Dr. Hussey, the intimate friend of Burke, and after
wards Bishop of Waterford,* was appointed first presi
dent; and learned professors, many of them refugees
from the continental revolution, were presented to the
several chairs of theology, philosophy, and science ; and
from that period until the present, St. Patrick's College
has been steadily growing in power and in reputation.
An episode in Irish history, which for many years
changed the whole course of Irish politics, next demands
our attention : we allude to the union of Defenders and
United Irishmen, which preceded and produced the in
surrection of 1798. /
Both of these associations originated in Ulster, and
neither was, at first, secret. The Defenders originated in
* Dr. Thomas Hussey was one of the ablest men of the Irish church
in his day. Educated (we beUeve) in a Spanish college, he made the
tour of Europe as guardian of a young Englishman, son to Sir John
Webb. At Paris, Vienna, and Rome, his talents and character were very
highly esteemed. Returning to England, he became chaplain to the
Spanish ambassador, arid, in 1790, was appointed by the English Catholic
committee their agent at Rome. The ambassador refusing to consent,
he resigned that appointment, and, in 1795, was made president of May
nooth. He attended his friend Edmund Burke on his death bed, at Bea-
consfield, two years later, and is stated to have received that 'illustrious
man into the Catholic communion. "His eloquence in the pulpit," says
Charles Butler, " was really great ; but it rather subdued than satisfied
the reason." Mentioning a particular sermon, on the small nnmber of
the elect, the same writer says, " During the whole of this apostrophe,
the audience was agonized. At the ultimate interrogation there was a
general shriek, and some fell on the ground. This was the greatest
triumph of eloquence which the writer has chanced to witness." — Me
moirs of the Catholics, vol. iv. p. 438. — He presided over Maynooth only
a short time, was removed, partly through the representations of the
ministry, but was soon after made Bishop of Waterford. He died early in
the century, having a reputation among his contemporaries second to none
for varied and cultivated abilities.

280 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Down, about 1791, in opposition to the " Peep-o'-day
Boys," whose rule was to serve Catholic tenants with
midnight notices to quit their holdings, and choose "hell
or Connaught" for their future residence. At first con
fined to the estate of Lord Downshire, they soon spread
into Armagh, Monaghon, and Cavan, thence to Meath
and Kildare, and thence southward. The United Irish
men originated at Belfast, where, in October, 1791, the
first club was formed by Samuel Neilson, the brothers
Simms, McCabe, Wolfe- Tone, and some others. From
Belfast the system spread to Dublin, where Oliver Bond,
Richard McCormick, the elder Emmett, Lord Edward
Fitzgerald, and other eminent men were admitted. About
two thirds of the founders of this system were infidels
of the French school. Their anniversaries, phraseology,
and principles were all French*
In 1793, it became, necessary for the Catholic bishops
to issue pastorals against the Defenders, and for the
general committee at Dublin to condemn their riotous
proceedings. Wolfe Tone, at this time secretary to the
Catholics of Ireland, had imbibed revolutionary ideas at
Belfast, and while publicly joining in these disclaimers of
Defenderism, was privately working for a union between
them and the United Irishmen. The facilities of his
position enabled him to bring this design to some matu
rity in 1794, shortly before his forced exile to America.
It was not without much difficulty the compact was
made, nor did it hold together without continual tinker
ing. In 1793 in Louth and Cavan, in 1794 in Meath,
* If we look to the literature of the insurrection for proofs of its
French principles, we will find them at every page. The oath of associa
tion does not express them, being couched in the foUowing words: "I,
A. B., in the presence of God, do pledge myself to my country, that I
will use all my abilities and influence in the attainment of an impartial
and adequate representation of the Irish nation in Parliament ; and as a
means of absolute and immediate necessity in the establishment of this
chief good of Ireland, I will endeavor, as much as lies in my ability, to
forward a brotherhood of affection, an identity of interests, a communion
of rights, and a union of power, among Irishmen of all religious per
suasions, without which, every reform in Parliament must be partial, not
national, inadequate to the wants, delusive to the wishes, and insuffi
cient to the freedom and happiness of this country."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 281
and in 1795 in Armagh, the Catholics and sectaries
were engaged in many hostile conflicts. These were got
tolerably under by 1796 ; the two bodies were apparently
one in 1797 ; tbe secret organization by districts, coun
ties, and provinces, was complete ; a French fuse alone
was needed to explode the entire mine. This requisite
being too long delayed gave occasion for the organiza
tion , to be broken up piecemeal, and with every piece
some fragment of the constitutional liberties of 1782
was torn away.
For two years the secret union had held together, in spite
of imprisonmenton suspicion, and the torture of hundreds
to extract evidence. State trials for seditious and trea
sonable offences had been going on for four years ; print
ers, writers, and orators, the Orrs, Finertys, and Drennans
being the chief accused, and Curran, Emmett, Sampson,
and McNally, the chief council for the defence. Clare,
Castlereagh, and Carhampton goaded on tfye multitude,
as eager for the banquet of blood as the ghosts that rose
to drink of that shed in sacrifice to Pluto by Ulysses.
Still waiting for France, the United Directory debated,
until a final meeting was fixed for the 12th of March,
1798, at the house of Oliver Bond, in Bridge Street,
Dublin. On that night, Bond, O'Connor, and others
were arrested, being betrayed by Thomas Reynolds, who
held the rank of colonel in the insurrection. McNevin,
Emmett, and Sampson were arrested in the course of a
few days, and two months after, Lord Edward Fitzger
ald was captured in his hiding-place in Thomas Street,
after a desperate struggle. In April, Wexford county
rose, and for three months fought against five armies, all
concentrated on her heroic soil. In May, there were
risings in Kildare and Wicklow, which commenced gal
lantly and successfully; at the same time, partial risings
took place in Down and Antrim, in which great courage
was shown. But the August sun went down on the
ripened harvests of Clare, Castlereagh, and Carhampton.
Four noble counties in Leinster and two in Ulster were
disfigured from end to end with blood. Half a dozen
priests and Presbyterian ministers perished in the com-
24*

282 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
mon cause. Humbert's descent on Killala made Con
naught a later participator in the lofty hopes and cruel
realities of the insurrection. Scaffolds rose in every quar
ter of a suspected district; jails were choked with prison
ers ; convict ships groaned with exiles, sent to serve under
the flag of Prussia, or to follow Abercrombie into Egypt.
Tone came at last from France ; too late to serve his
cause, but not too late to perish heroically with it Fitz
gerald had preceded him, dying a prisoner; Emmett,
McNevin, Sampson, O'Connor, were in Fort George,
destined to die in America or France ; Neilson, McCabe,
Corbet, Sweetman, shared their fate, or anticipated their
banishment. The winter days of 1798 were the saddest
that for a century had darkened over Ireland.
The majority of the leaders in the insurrection of
1798 were undoubtedly Presbyterians and Protestants,
who had imbibed French principles. Several Catholics
acted cordially with them, and in the rising at least
three clergymen actively cooperated — Fathers Philip
Roche, Michael Murphy, and John Murphy. At Sculla-
bogue and on Wexford Bridge, the Catholic peasantry
did cruel execution on several prisoners, then defenceless.
But the general character of the insurgents was merci
ful — too merciful for success. When we consider the
provocations they had borne for nearly three years, we
, are surprised that a more general and merciless retalia
tion did not follow. In all their victories they spared
the women and children, and usually the men. This all
the contemporary records prove beyond question.*
# This merciful disposition of the Catholics was not reciprocated,
either by the government troops or the Protestant yeomanry. The wan
tonness with which they shot down fugitives and unarmed individuals,
the mutilation of the dead bodies, as at Arklow, contrast most unfavor
ably with the conduct of the Catholics when victorious. In the county
of Wexford alone, above thirty Catholic chapels were destroyed by priv
ileged incendiaries between the suppression of the insurrection and the
end of the year 1801. Rewards were offered for the apprehension of the
burglars by the grand jury of the county j but no evidence was obtained.
In 1799, several leases of Catholics expired in that county, when notices
were posted up by the Orange Society, declaring that " no Papist should
presume to take the lands." " The lands of court," says Mr. Edward
_ Hay, " thus proscribed, remained waste for nearly two years." In the

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND.

283

The position of the Irish Catholic rebels was an un
natural one. Their Ulster allies were, in general, prouder
of the title citizen than of the title Christian ; infidel
France was to be their ally and sponsor. Wexford was
another La Vendee ; how, then, could it warm to the en
emies of all religion ? The opposition of the clergy and
bishops, as a body, .was another sad drawback upon their
courage ; for, though quite ready to risk their bodies, they
wisely feared to risk their souls. It must be granted
they behaved valiantly, and their descendants have no
need to blush over the story of 1798 ; but, in such a con
fusion of political principles, it was well they failed.
For their temporary disobedience of their pastors they
were fearfully punished in the executions of 1799 and
1800.* In those years the ministers at Dublin, in the intervals
of military preparation, were zealously pushing on the
old project of " legislative union." The Catholics, having
become a social power since 1782, and a political power
since 1793, entered, of course, into the calculations both
of the patriot and the castle party. The Catholic com
mittee had been compromised by the identification of so
many of its members with the insurrection, and did not
reassemble until 1805. Government, therefore, could
only treat with the bishops on behalf of the whole com
munity. The remaining penal laws, were left untouched
since 1793. Two years later, Lord Fitzwilliam, the

same county, from the notorious prejudices of the jury class, " many
prisoners preferred to be tried by a military rather than a civil tribunal."
Courts martial continued to sit till 1802. — Hay, Irish Rebellion, p. 243
et seq. Dublin, Duffy, 1848.
* One effect of the failure of the insurrection was to break up alto
gether the political union of the Catholics ahd Presbyterians. The
French principles upon which this union had been formed did not out
live, at the north or south, the seven years of martial law which followed
1798. The Belfast Propaganda, who organized with Tone, were either *
exiled, or dead, or disgusted with politics. Whenever they met, recrim
inations took place between the Catholic and Presbyterian revolutionists,
each attributing to the other the chief blame of the failure. Twenty
years later, it would be hard to tell which class was the more profuse
in professions of unconditional loyalty.

284 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
viceroy, who had declared for their total abolition, was
immediately recalled, and Lord Camden put in his
place. On the 31st of January, 1799, Mr. Pitt intro
duced into the English Parliament the resolutions which
he " proposed as the basis of a Union between Great
Britain and Ireland." In that speech, alluding to the
Irish Catholics, he said, " No man can say that, in the
present state of things, while Ireland remains a separate
kingdom, full concessions can be made to the Catholics
without endangering the state and shaking the constitu
tion to the centre." This was clearly holding out a
hope of a change of laws when Ireland ceased to be
" a separate kingdom." On the peace with Napoleon,
when he retired from office for a time, he so explained it
in his resignation speech. " I beg to have it understood
to be a measure which, if I had remained in govern
ment, I must have proposed."
These intentions were conveyed more definitely to the
Llsh bishops by Lord Cornwallis, the viceroy, in 1799,
and Lord Castlereagh, the secretary of state. Both min
isters conveyed their sentiments in writing to Archbishop
Troy, of Dublin. Mr. Pitt wrote, " They [the Catholics]
may with confidence rely on the zealous support of all
those who retire, and of. many who remain in office,
when it can be given with a prospect of success." Lord
Cornwallis wrote, that the Catholics, " having so many
characters of eminence pledged not lo embark in the ser
vice of government, except on the terms of the Catholic
privileges being obtained," the Catholics ought, accord
ingly, to " prefer a quiet and peaceable demeanor to any
line of conduct of an opposite description." It is cer
tain that tnese assurances did induce the ten bishops
who were trustees of Maynooth, in a meeting of their
board, to express their confidence in the ministers then
negotiating the legislative union : it also had the effect
of bringing<the Catholic hierarchy, instead of the laity,
as formerly, into negotiation with the rulers of the state.
On the 17th, 18th, and 19th of January, 1779, the
bishops who were Maynooth trustees sat at Dublin,
" to deliberate on a proposal from government for an

PROTESTANT REFOR.MATION IN IRELAND. 285
independent provision for the Roman Catholic clergy
of Ireland, under certain regulations not incompatible
with their doctrine, discipline, or just influence." A
minute of this meeting, signed by the four archbishops
and the Bishops of Meath, Cork, Kildare, Elphin, Ferns,
and Ardaglu was approved and submitted to the minis
ters. The '¦ certain regulations " were, in a word, to
control the appointment of bishops ; to give government
'¦ a veto " on bishops elect. The ten prelates just men
tioned ageed to lay before government the names of the
nominees, they undertaking to " transmit the name of
said candidate, if no objection be made against him,
for appointment to the holy see," within a month of
receiving- ir. Further, the prelates agreed, " IS govern
ment have any proper objection against such candi
dates, the president of the election will be informed
thereof within one month after the presentation, who,
in that case, will convene the electors to the election
of another candidate." By this undertaking, Primate
O'Reilly and the hierarchy, in 1799, granted to the state
what Primate O'Reilly and the hierarchy, in 1666, suf
fered exile and death rather than concede. Fortunately for
the L-ish church, the state neglected to conclude the com
pact at that time, and in the synod of 180S, till the prel
ates, having reviewed the question, unanimously rejected
both the state provision and the concession of "the veto "
to the crown. In the synod of 1S10, they renewed their
recent declaration with additional emphasis ; and when
ever, since then, the matter has been considered of impor
tance, they have repeated their resolutions against the
interference of the state.
The minutes of the synod of 1799 have, frequently
been reproduced in the British Parliament and by the
press. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Milner. at the time he was
acting as their agent in London, declared that " the
prelates were beset and plied" into that concession.
Mr. Clinch, a Catholic barrister, who acted as secretary
to Dr. Troy in his civil affairs, and who was high in the
confidence of all the hierarchy, jn defending the counter
resolutions of 1808, says that the former propositions

286 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
were agreed to " when the reign of terror was still
breathing, by practising upon fear and solitude, and
by little less than a menace." * It is certain that, at the
time, the body of the Catholics were much opposed to
any understanding or compact with the British govern
ment. On the 13th of January, 1800, at an anti-union
meeting, John Keogh and other Catholics openly ex
pressed this dissatisfaction; in a maiden speech, Daniel
O'Connell, then in his twenty-fourth year, declared the
Catholics would " rather see the whole penal code
reenacted than to consent to" the union. For nearly
twenty years after the union, this question of " the veto "
was the chief ground of debate between the government
and the Catholics.
In the year 1800, " the act of union " was passed at
Dublin, and repassed at London. It decreed " that the
said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon
the first day of January, which shall be in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, and for
ever, be united into one kingdom, by the name of.
' the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.' " f

* Clinch's Inquiry. Dublin, 1810.
t The fifth, article of the act of union disposes of the Protestant estab
lishment as follows : —
" Article Fifth. That it be the fifth article of union, that the churches
of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one
Protestant Episcopal church, to be called " the united church of England
and Ireland;" and that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern
ment of the said united church shall be and shall remain in full force
forever, as the same are now by law established for the church of Eng
land ; and that the continuance and preservation of the said united
church, as the established church of England and Ireland, shall be
deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental part of the union ;
and that in like manner the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government
of the church of Scotland shall remain and be preserved as the same are
now established by law, and by the acts for the union of the two kingdoms
of England and Scotland."
The eighth article provides for the election of the Protestant " lords
spiritual," in the following order: —
" Be it enacted by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the
advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in
this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same,
that the said four lords spiritual shall be taken from among the lords
spiritual of Ireland in the manner following : that is to say, that one of

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 287
Strange piece of parchment! Here, by an act, legal in
its forms, but atrocious in its antecedents, was an
ancient Christian nation merged into a vast, irreligious,
money-making empire, which embraced nearly one hun
dred million Mohammedans in Asia, a large barbaric
population in Africa, and some twenty millions of her
etics in Great Britain and her colonies. For what wise
end, unseen of man, was this outrage on Ireland permit
ted by divine Providence ? Fifty years do not always
exhibit the ways of God, but we may be assured the
incorporation of Ireland into the empire, at the beginning
of such a century as the present, did not happen without
its purpose in the divine economy which governs the
earth. Some of the first fruits of the change are already
the four archbishops of Ireland, and three of the eighteen bishops of Ire
land, shall sit in the House of Lords of the united Parliament in each ses
sion thereof, the said right of sitting being regulated as between the said
archbishops respectively by a rotation among the archiepiscopal sees
from session to session, and in like manner that of the bishops by a like
rotation among the episcopal sees ; that the Primate of all Ireland for the
time being shall sit in the first session of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom ; the Archbishop of Dublin for the time being, in the second ;
the Archbishop of Cashel for the time being, in the third ; the Archbishop
of Tuam for the time being, in the fourth ; and so by rotation of sessions
forever ; such rotation to proceed regularly and without interruption
from session to session, notwithstanding any dissolution or expiration of
Parliament ; that three suffragan bishops shall in like manner sit accord
ing to rotation of their sees, from session to session, in the following
order : the Lord Bishop of Meath, the Lord Bishop of Kildare, the Lord
Bishop of Derry, in the first session of the Parliament of the United King
dom ; the Lord Bishop of Raphoe, the Lord Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert,
and Aghadoe, the Lord Bishop of Dromore, in the second session of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom ; the Lord Bishop of Elphin, the Lord
Bishop of Down and Connor, the Lord Bishop of Waterford and Lismore,
in the third session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ; the Lord
Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns, the Lord Bishop of Cloyne, the Lord^BrShop
of Cork and Ross, in the fourth session of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom ; the Lord Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, the Lord Bishop of
Kilmore, the Lord Bishop of Clogher, in the fifth session ofthe Parliament
of the United Kingdom ; the Lord Bishop of Ossory, the Lord, Bishop of
Killala and Achonry, the Lord Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, in
the sixth session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ; the said rota
tion to be nevertheless subject to such variation therefrom, from time to
time, as is hereinafter provided."
The lords spiritual of "the united churches" have thus, since 1801,
been jointly responsible for the imperial laws under which India, Ireland,
and the oppressed British people have groaned, and starved, and with
ered away. Let not that fact be forgotten !

288 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
to be seen in Great Britain and her foreign possessions,
as well as in those countries which British policy influ
ences. Bringing Catholic Ireland bodily into the empire in
1800, threw her once more on the conservative side of
Ihe European struggle which dates from the French rev
olution. Grattan not less zealously than Burke, and
O'Connell as zealously as either, has kept Ireland, until
our own day, upon that side. Strange as it may sound,
the Irish blood that spouts from the breaches of Spanish
towns in the peninsular war was shed in the selfsame
cause of the unify and order of Christendom as the Irish
blood which flowed at Almanza, Fontenoy, and Veletri.
A mysterious design penetrates and gives coherence to
all the wars of the devoted islanders.
Bringing Catholic Ireland bodily into the empire in
1800, made Catholic " questions " imperial questions.
London was slowly leavened out of the- lump thus
placed in her midst. For a century the English Cath
olics had been timid and compromising; without a
hierarchy for two generations, the few remaining nobles
usually looked on the vicars apostolic as their family
chaplains. Drs. Poynter, Challoner, and Hay were sure
ly able and virtuous men, but they had an extreme opin
ion of the power of the state, and an humble estimate
of their own. The union prepared the way for a united
Catholic organization, in which the Irish should supply
what the English wanted for success against the sects.
The gradual but decided restoration of religion in Eng
land since the beginning of the century is, in part, dedu-
cible from this cause.
Fifty years ago, the state domineered the church in
every European country — in France, Spain, Portugal,
Austria, and Italy. The triumph of the Catholics over
the imperial Parliament, over the sovereign, and the
Duke of Wellington, was felt from end to end of Europe.
Gallicanism felt it, Pombaldism felt it, Josephism felt it
A triumph at London over the empire was a very differ
ent matter from a triumph at Dublin over "the castle
party." The one could only have national, the other

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 289
had universal results. In reality, though not at first in
appearance, Catholicity became aggressive in the British
dominions from the time of the act of union. The ages
.of defence had closed successfully, so far as doctrine
and discipline were involved.
The English speaking regions of America and Aus
tralia were not les's influenced by the infusion of the
Catholic spirit of Ireland into imperial politics than the
British dominions proper. At Sydney, as at New York,
wherever English commerce has an entry, it has carried
insensibly with it the seed of the church. In 1800, Irish
emigrants crossed the Ohio; in 1808, of the first five
bishops of the United States three were of Irish origin.
In 1820, the Irish in Australia raised the first cross that
crowned a Christian temple in that land, and within our
own memory an Australian hierarchy has been supplied
partly from the same source. Upon the slave coast, in
California, in India, in Newfoundland, Irish laymen,
priests, and prelates, through an indirect British agency,
have been settled and organized. Thus, as the conduits
and highways of pagan Rome bore Christianity outward
over the earth, so the material machinery of Great Brit
ain, subjected without its own knowledge, has been
made to serve Catholic purposes, and to conduce to the
triumphs of the faith, so long and bitterly persecuted
in Ireland. 25

290 ATTEMPTS TO E8TABLISH THE

CHAPTER V.
CATHOLIC QUESTION IN THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. - PITT. -
FOX. -GRENVILLE. -CATHOLIC COMMITTEE OF 1805. -ITS DISSO
LUTION. — CATHOLIC BOARD FORMED. -VETO CONTROVERSY.—
DISSOLUTION OF THE BOARD. - LETHARGY OF THE CATHOLICS.
— STATE OF IRELAND A. D. 1820.
The first years after the union were as dismal and
discouraging as any the much-enduring island had under
gone. Until 1802, the insurrection act continued in full
force; in 1803, Emmett's emeute gave a momentary shock
to the national stupefaction. On this pretence the ha
beas corpus was suspended, and martial law proclaimed.
This state of things continued till the opening of 1805 —
the year of the revival of public spirit.
On the assembling of Parliament in that year, the re
maining members of the old Catholic committee came
together at Dublin, and prepared a petition, which they
sent forward by Lord Fingal. On reaching London,
that nobleman committed the presentation of the petition
to Lord Grenville in one house, and Mr. Fox iu the
other. On the 13th of May, Mr. Fox moved for a com
mittee to take the petition into consideration: Dr. Dui-
genan, member for Trinity College, opposed it, and Mr.
Grattan, who was induced to enter the imperial legisla
ture, made his first. speech there in its defence. The
motion was negatived by a majority of 336 against 124.
In sustaining the motion, Sir John Cox Hippesley, a
leading whig, had suggested "the veto" as a safeguard
against " the encroachments of Rome," which the Irish
bishops would not be disposed to refuse. Archbishop
Troy, and Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork, gave considerable
praise to this speech, and partly at their request it was
published. This brought up directly a discussion among
the Catholics, which lasted until 1810, was renewed in
1813, and was not finally set at rest till the concession of
" the relief bill of 1829, without any such safeguard." Sir
John C. Hippesley had modelled his proposal, he- said, on

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 291
the example of " the old Gallican church, ever jealous of
the encroachments of Rome." " Her privileges," he add
ed, " depended on two prominent maxims : 1st. That the
pope had no authority to order or interfere in any thing
in which the civil rights of the kingdom were concerned.
2dly. That notwithstanding the pope's supremacy was
acknowledged in cases purely spiritual, yet, in other
respects, his power was limited by the decrees of the an
cient councils of the realm." The Irish church, there
fore, was to be similarly administered, to meet the re
quirements of the whig friends of emancipation.
In 1806, on the death of Pitt, Mr. Fox came into pow
er, with an uncertain majority and a powerful opposition.
His cabinet were all orators — "all the talents," they
were called. In April, the Duke of Bedford arrived, as
viceroy, at Dublin, and the Catholics presented, through
Mr. Keogh, a mild address, expressive of their hopes that
" the glorious development" of their emancipation would
be reserved for the new government. The duke returned
an evasive answer in public, but privately, both atDublin
and London, the Catholics were assured that, as soon as
the new premier could convert the king, — as soon as he
was in a position to act, — he would make their cause his
own. No doubt Fox, who had great nobleness of soul,
intended so to do ; but on the 13th of September of the
same year, he followed his great rival, Pitt, to the vaults
of Westminster Abbey. There were but a few months
between their deaths.
Lords Grey and Grenville, during the next recess,
formed a new administration, and instructed their Irish
secretary (Mr. Elliot) to put himself in communication
with the Catholics, in relation to a measure making them
eligible to all naval and military offices. The Catholics
accepted this proposal with pleasure, but at the opening
of the session of 1807 sent a deputation to the Irish au
thorities " to urge the question of emancipation." The bill
in relation to the army and navy had, originally, the king's
acquiescence ; but early in March, after it had been once
read in the commons and committed, George III. changed
his mind — if the expression may be used of him — at

292 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
that time. He declared he had not considered it at first
so important as he afterwards found it ; he now refused
to permit it to be made a government proposition ; he
went further — he required a written pledge from Lords
Grey and Grenville never again to bring forward such a
measure, " nor ever more to propose any thing connected
with the Catholic question." This pledge they refused
to give, and resigned. Mr. Perceval was then sent for
by the king, and formed what, was called " the No
Popery cabinet," in which George Canning and Lord
Castlereagh were two ofthe principal secretaries of state.
Thus the Catholic interest, in 1807, was powerful enough
to make and unmake ministries — an achievement it has
more than once repeated since then. Pitt, Fox, Grey,
and Grenville had been governed by it as effectually
as they had governed their several departments while
in office.*
* " Lords Grey and Grenville," says a contemporary, " would have
been placed at the head of affairs in 1812, had they not insisted on re
forming the royal household. They were aware that the prince regent
"was under the influence of a .mistress, and a convenient husband, who had
more power over his mind than his ministers ; and they refused to enter
the cabinet so long as the Hertford family held possession of the closet.
Earl Moira, to whom the negotiation had been intrusted, indulged in
those feelings of courtly chivalry which moralists stigmatize by the name
of criminal connivance ; he refused to place any restraint upon the amo
rous predilections of the prince, and Ireland was sacrificed to a worthless
woman, whose only claim to respect was her title.
"O'Connell assuredly must be pardoned for having denounced such
proceedings with all the powers of his fervid eloquence ; but the Cath
olics cannot be acquitted of imprudence for having adopted the ' witch
ery ' resolutions, which proclaimed the scandal to Europe. These reso
lutions derive their name from the fourth, which we must quote :
' That, from authentic documents now before us, we learn, with deep dis
appointment and anguish, how cruelly the promised boon of Catholic
freedom has been intercepted by the fatal witchery of an unworthy secret
influence, hostile to our fairest hopes, spurning alike the sanctions of
public and private virtue, the demands of personal gratitude, and the sa
cred obligations of plighted honor.'
" On this pregnant text O'ConneH delivered a long and eloquent dis
course, in which he lashed, with unsparing severity, the regent, Lady
Hertford, and all the members of the new ministry. This offence was
never forgiven ; sixteen years afterwards, George IV. made it a condition
of his consent to Catholic emancipation, that O'Connell should not be ,
allowed to take his seat as member for Clare." — Reminiscences of O'Con
nell, by a Munster Farmer. London : Fisher & Co., 1847.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 293
The Catholic committee, revived in 1805, had been a
good deal dispirited by the overwhelming majority by
which their petition of that year was refused to be re
ferred. In 1806, they contented themselves with address
ing the Duke of Bedford, and waiting on providence and
Mr. Ponsonby. In 1807, the " No Popery cabinet," by the
result of the elections, was found to be highly popular in
England — a fact which excluded all prospect of having
a government on their side. But they were too long
accustomed to reverses to despair even under that obsta
cle. Early in the next session their petition was pre
sented, as usual, by Mr. Grattan in the Commons, and
Lord Donoughmore in the Lords. The majority against
going into committee upon it was, in the Commons, 153 ;
in the Lords, 87. Similar motions in the session of 1810,
made .by the same parties, were rejected by majorities
somewhat reduced.
In the debate of 1808, Mr. Ponsonby had stated, as
Sir John Cox Plippesley did three years before, that the
Irish bishops were willing to concede " a veto " to the
crown in future appointments to their order. In reply
to Mr. Yorke, (afterwards Lord Hardwicke,) —
" Mr. Ponsonby explained : ' The right honorable gen-
" tleman is perfectly right in saying that the subject to
" which he has alluded is not stated in the petition ;
" but my authority is derived from several of the most
" respectable Catholics in Ireland. I have had conver-
" sation with Dr. Milner, one of the Catholic bishops in
" this country, appointed to act here for the Catholic
" bishops. He informed me, that such is the determina-
" tion ; he believes that, if the prayer of their petition be
" granted, they will not have any objection to make the
" king, virtually, the head of their church ; for so I think
" he must become ; and that no man shall become a
" Catholic bishop in Ireland, who has not received the
" approbation of his majesty ; and that, although even
" appointed by the pope, if disapproved of by his majesty,
" he sljall not be allowed to act or take upon himself his
" spiritual functions ; and thus in succession, if his majes-
" ty choose to object to any bishop, to the third, fourth,
25*

294 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" or fifth nomination, and to every one, as he shall
" please, until one shall be appointed that meets his
" majesty's approbation, and that bishop, and that
" bishop only, to receive full power.'
" Mr. Yorke asked ' if the right honorable gentleman
" received authority to make this communication only
" from Dr. Milner, or from the body of the Catholics.'
" Mr. Ponsonby replied, ' that he had stated that Dr.
" Milner did represent the Catholic prelates of Ireland ;
" and that he had given to the house the assurance
"which 'Dr. Milner had given him.' "
It is certain that Dr. Milner, as well as the majority of
the Irish prelates, was, at first, favorable to such a con
cession to the crown. It was the mercy of Providence
alone that averted the calamity of state control. The
holy father was in exile, and the sacred college unable
and unwilling to deal decisively with so grave a ques
tion in his absence. Monseigneur Quarantotti had,
indeed, from Pius VII., very full powers to act for him
during his exile ; but questions concerning the episcopal
order were especially withheld from him. Hence the
decided tone taken by the Irish prelates in their resolu
tions of the 15th of September, 1808, against the veto,
and the similar tone of the resolutions of February,
1810, and of August, 1815, in opposition to Monseigneur
Quarantotti' s rescript of the previous year. In consider
ing the history of the Irish church in those days, we
should always remember that the sovereign pontiff was
an exile and prisoner, unable to direct or decide their
national councils. Much that seems conflicting in their
resolutions can only be accounted for in this way.
Mr. Ponsonby's speech excited the apprehension of
those Catholics who had overlooked Sir John C. Hippes-
ley's. Throughout 1808 and 1809, the Catholic press
teemed with latters, arguments, and citations against
the veto. Letters over the signatures " Sarsfield " and
" Laicus," were particularly remarkable. They were
generally attributed to Messfs. Scully and Clinch, barris
ters, who, like O' Connell, under the operation of the act
of 1793, were permitted to lead a public life, and to give
a legal and prudential direction to the efforts of their

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 295
brethren. The discussion could not be kept out of the
committee, particularly when the change-of opinion was
expressed by the prelates, in September, 1808. Resolu
tions of thanks to their lordships were proposed and car
ried, against a protest favorable to the veto, which was
signed only by Lord Fingal and four others. After the
bishops' meeting of February, 1810, the Most Rev. Dr.
Murray attended the meeting of the general committee,
on the 2d of March, and read to them " a written com
munication from the prelates of Ireland," reaffirming the
resolutions of 1808. A fervent vote of thanks was passed
to the prelates and Dr. Murray, and another to Daniel
O'Connell, Esq., "for the faithful discharge ofthe duties
of Secretary." Lord Ffrench (the same who -had been
delegated to the king in 1793) was chairman at this
meeting. In May, 1809, the committee had been rearranged, and
its constitution enlarged. By a series of resolutions then
passed, it was agreed that the Catholic peers, the sur
vivors of the delegates of 1793, the committee which
managed the petitions of 1805 and 1807, and such per
sons " as shall distinctly appear to them to possess the
confidence of the Catholic body," do form the general
committee. It was proposed by O'Connell, to avoid
" the convention act," " that the noblemen and gen
tlemen aforesaid are not representatives of the Cath
olic body, or any "portion thereof." The committee
were authorized to collect funds for defraying expenses ;
a treasurer was chosen, and a permanent secretary, Mr.
Edward Hay, of Wexford. The new committee acted
with great judgment in 1810, but in 1811 Lord Fingal
and his friends projected a general assembly of the lead
ing Catholics, contrary to the convention act, and to the
resolution just cited. O'Connell opposed this propo
sition ; the assembly met, and were dispersed by the
authorities. The chairman, Lord Fingal, and Drs.
Sheridan and Kirwan, secretaries, were arrested. The
former was not tried, the latter were tried and acquitted.
The wisdom of O' Connell was thenceforward considered
equal to his eloquence, and, on good old John Kepgh's

296 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
death, he became, emphatically, the leader of the whole
movement. To get rid of the odor of illegality, the com
mittee dissolved, and reassembled as " the Catholic
board " — the name which it continued to keep until dis
membered by the veto struggle, some seven years later.
The desire for the veto had taken strong hold upon
English statesmen.* The favor with which the first
mention of it in Parliament was received betokened a
foregone conclusion. " The, effect produced in favor of
" the Catholic cause," according to Mr. Charles Butler,
" by what was said in both houses of Parliament, of the
" willingness of the Catholic prelates of Ireland to accede
" to the veto, was very great ; even their most determined
" adversaries seemed- to consider that it had gained them
" their cause. This was the general language within the
" walls of Parliament ; the first expression which any
" Catholic heard from his Protestant acquaintance was
" a congratulation on the turn of the debate, and the
" event which occasioned it." f The same writer —
a constant partisan of the veto — remarks, "As soon
" as their actual rejection of it was known, it was evident
" that the mention of it in Parliament had, in conse-
" quence of this rejection, become the most unfortunate
" circumstance which had befallen the Catholics since
" they had been suitors to the legislature for relief. It
" may be said, with the greatest truth, that it was a mat-
* In Burke's letter to Lord Kenmare, (written in 1782,) he says,
" Before I had written thus far, I heard of a scheme of giving to the castle
the patronage of the .presiding members of the Catholic clergy." The
remainder of the letter is occupied with an able exposition of the evils
which would spring from such an error. " Whoever," writes the sage,
" is complained against by his brother, will be considered persecuted ;
whoever is censured by his superior will be looked upon as oppressed ;
whoever is careless in his opinions, and loose in his morals, will be called
a liberal man, and will be supposed to have incurred hatred because he
Was not a bigot." How true all this is, observers of the recent dealings
of the state with the church, in Ireland, can testify. The passage in
Burke fixes the first conception of the veto, as a measure of policy, at
the year 1782. Twenty-five years earlier, the Stuarts had ceased to be
consulted on episcopal appointments at Rome. The fact that they had
been so consulted was still remembered, and probably suggested the de
sign to the advisers of George III.
t Butler's Memoirs of the Catholics, vol. iv. p. 152.

PROTESTANT. REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 297
" ter of triumph to all the enemies, and a matter of
" concern to all the friends of Catholic emancipation." *
Short-sighted triumph of the enemy ! The act of the
Irish prelates, in 1808, was a priceless victory won by
religion in that empire. Judged by the after experience
of half a century, it is to be placed far above the victo
ries of 1793 and 1829, in real importance.
Defeated at Dublin, the vetoists still strove to ingraft
their own conditions on the Catholic claims. In all their
parliamentary speeches, they continued to speak of it as
an indispensable security due to the crown ; they even
affected to think, that, if once embodied into law, the
Catholics of Ireland would gradually submit to it. That
Grattan and Canning, in the session of 1812, confident
ly repeated this assertion, notwithstandingrthe several
declarations of the Irish prelates to the contrary, shows
how hard it is, how impossible, indeed, for the best dis
posed Protestant to comprehend the Catholic sense of
right and wrong. Private judgment is the natural par,ent
and governor of expediency ; an invincible faith guides
the lives of men by paths and over obstacles from which
the hardiest Protestantism would shrink back terrified
and discomfited. Few cases in history are more illus
trative of this truth than the events about the veto which
transpired in the years 1813, 1814, and 1815.
" On the 22d of June, 1812, Mr. Canning moved a
*' resolution, that ' the house would, early in the next
" session of Parliament, take into its most serious con-
" sideration the state of the laws affecting his majesty's
" Roman Catholic subjects in Great Britain and Ire-
" land, with a view to such a final and conciliatory
" adjustment as might be conducive to the peace and
" strength of the United Kingdom, to the stability of the
" Protestant establishment, and to the general satisfac-
" tion and concord of all classes of his majesty's sub-
"jects.' " He introduced his motion by an excellent speech, in
" which, with the force and eloquence habitual to him,
* Butler's Memoirs ofthe Catholics, vol. iv. p. 164.

298 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" he established three positions : 1. That all citizens of
" the same state, living under the same government, are
" entitled, prima facie, to equal political rights and priv-
" ileges ; 2. That it is, at all times, desirable to create
" and maintain the most perfect identity of interest
" and feelings among all the' members of the same com-
" munity ; 3. That, where there exists, in any commu-
" nity, a great permanent cause of political discontent,
" which agitates the minds of men, without having any
" tendency to subside of itself, it becomes the duty of the
" supreme power in the state to determine in what mode
" it may, most advantageously, be set at rest. An inter-
" esting debate ensued ; Lord Castlereagh made a liberal
" declaration in favor of the proposed inquiry respecting
" the Catholics. On a division, Mr. Canning's motion
" was carried by the decisive majority of 235 votes to
"106. " In the House of Lords, the Marquis Wellesley, on
" the 1st of the following July, made a motion similar to
'.'.that of Mr. Canning. The previous question was
u moved upon it by the lord chancellor, and there being
" 126 votes for it and 125 against it, the chancellor's
" motion was carried by a majority of one.
" Under these auspicious circumstances, the memorable
" campaign of 1813, for Catholic emancipation, began.
" It was opened on the 25th of February, by Mr. Grat-
" tan's motion, ' that the house will resolve itself into a
" committee of the whole house, to take into its most
" serious consideration the state of the laws affecting
"the Roman Catholic subjects in Great Britain and
" Ireland, with a view to such a final and conciliatory
" adjustment as may be conducive to the peace and
" strength of the United Kingdom, to the stability of the
" Protestant establishment, and to the general satisfac
tion and concord of all classes of his majesty's sub
jects.' After a debate of four days, a division took
" place upon Mr. Grattan's motion ; it was carried by a
" majority of forty — there being 264 votes for it, and
" 224 against it.
" Tbis point being gained, though by a hard contest-

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 299
" Mr. Grattan, on March 9th, moved the order of the day
" for a committee of the whole house on the Catholic
" question. When this was formed, he rose, and, after
" some preliminary observations, said that he intended
" to propose resolutions : ' 1st, That the Catholic disa-
" bilities should be removed ; and, 2dly, That the estab-
" lishments in church and state ought to be effectually
" secured ; and afterwards, to propose regulations for
" the ecclesiastical courts, and other matters, and an
" oath against foreign influence." *
Grattan's bill, with Canning's amendments, after a
severe handling in committee, was committed, ordered
to be printed, and read a second time on the 11th of
May. The following analysis of it is worthy of study : —
" The bill recited, that 'the Protestant succession to
" the crown was, by the act for the further limitatioji of
" the crown, and the better securing the liberties of the
" people, established permanently and inviolably.
" ' That the Protestant Episcopal church of England
" and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and govern-
" ment thereof, and likewise the Protestant ehurch of
" Scotland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government
" thereof, were established permanently and inviolably.
" ' That it would promote the interest of the same, and
" strengthen our free constitution, of which they are the
" essential part, if the civil and military disqualifications,
" under which his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects
" now labor, were removed.
" ' And that, after due consideration of the petitions of
" the said Roman Catholics, it appeared highly advisa-
" ble to communicate to them the blessings of our free
" form of government ; „and, with that view, to put an
" end to all religious jealousies between his majesty's
" subjects, and to bury in oblivion all animosities be-
" tween England and Ireland, so that tfie advantage of
" the respective countries might be bound together in all
*' time to come, by the same privileges, and the same
" interest, in defence of their common liberties and
* Butler's Memoirs of the Catholics, vol, iv. pp. 236-238.

300 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" government, against all the enemies of the British
" empire.' " The act then authorized Roman Catholics to sit and
" vote in either house of Parliament, upon taking the
" oath prescribed by the act, instead of the oaths of alle-
" giance, abjuration, and supremacy, and instead of
"making and subscribing the declaration against tran-
" substantiation, and the declaration against the invoca-
" tion of saints, now required of them. The oath was
" chiefly farmed from the oaths in the acts, passed for the
" relief of the Catholics in 1791 and 1793.
" The bill then provided that it should be lawful for
" Catholics to hold all civil and military offices, and all
" places of trust and profit, except the office of lord high
" chancellor, lord keeper, or lord commissioners of the
" great seal of Great Britain, or lord lieutenant, or lord
" deputy, or' other chief governor of Ireland, upon making
'* and subscribing the foregoing declaration and oath,
" instead of the oath and declaration against transub-
" stantiation, and the declaration against the invocation
" of saints, or taking the sacrament of our Lord's supper.
" It also enabled Catholics to be members of any lay
" body corporate ; and to hold any civil office or place
" of trust and profit in it, upon taking and subscribing
" the declaration and oath required by the act, instead
" of the oaths and declarations now required, or taking
" the sacrament.
" But the act excluded them from all offices and
" places in the churches of the United Kingdom of Eng-
" land and Ireland, or Scotland, or in the courts of eccle-
" siastical judicature within the realm, or belonging to
" any cathedral, collegiate, or ecclesiastical foundation,
", or to any of the universities, or to Eton, Westminster,
" or Winchester, or to any college or school of ecclesias-
" tical or royal foundation ; and from presenting to
" ecclesiastical benefices.
" It also provided that it should not be lawful for
" Catholics to advise the crown, in the appointment or
" disposal of any ecclesiastical office or preferment.
" Persons exercising any of the spiritual duties or

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 301
" functions exercised by Catholics in holy orders were
" required to take an oath, by which they swore ,not to
" consent to the appointment or consecration of any
" Roman Catholic bishop, or vicar apostolic, whom they
" should not deem to be of unimpeachable loyalty, and
" peaceable conduct, and not to hold any correspondence
" with the pope or see of Rome, or its courts or tribunals,
" tending directly or indirectly to overthrow or disturb
" the Protestant government, or the Protestant church,
" or on any matter not merely spiritual.
" No persons born out of the United Kingdom, or its
" dominions, except persons born of British or Irish
" parents, and no persons who had not resided within
" the same during the term therein mentioned, were to
" exercise episcopal functions, under the penalty therein
" mentioned ; and were rendered liable to be sent out of
" the kingdom.
" Such was the bill for the relief of his majesty's Cath-
" olic subjects, which was brought into Parliament by
" Mr. Grattan." *
Canning's amendments were equally important.
" The first appointed a certain number of commis-
" sioners, who were to profess the Catholic religion, and
" to be lay peers of Great Britain or Scotland, possessing
" a freehold estate of one thousand pounds a year ; to be
" filled up, from time to time, by his majesty, his heirs,
" or successors. The commissioners were to take an
" oath for the faithful discharge of their office, and the
" observance of secrecy in all matters not thereby re-
" quired to be disclosed, with power to appoint a secre-
" tary with a salary, (proposed to be five hundred pounds
" a year,) payable out of the consolidated fund. The
" secretary was to take an oath similar to that of the
" commissioners. " It was then provided, that every person elected to
" the discharge of Roman Catholic episcopal functions
" in Great Britain or Scotland should, previously to the
" discharge of his office, notify his then election to the
* Butler's Memoirs of the Catholics, vol. iv. J>p. 241-244.
26

302 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" secretary ; that the secretary should notify it to the
" commissioners, and they to the privy council, with a
" certificate '. that they did not know or believe any
" thing of the person nominated, which tended to im-
" peach his loyalty or peaceable conduct ; ' unless they
" had knowledge of the contrary, in which case they
"should refuse their certificate. Persons obtaining such
" a certificate were rendered capable of exercising epis-
" copal functions within the United Kingdom ; if they
" exercised them without a certificate, they were to be
" considered guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to be
" sent out of the kingdom.
" Similar provisions respecting Ireland were then in-
" troduced. " The second set of clauses was suggested by Lord
" Castlereagh, and provided that the commissioners un-
" der the preceding clauses — with the addition, as to
" Great Britain, of the lord chancellor, or lord keeper, or
" first commissioner of the great seal for the time being,
" and of one of his majesty's principal secretaries of
" state, being a Protestant, or such other Protestant
" member of his majesty's privy council as his majesty
"should appoint — and with a similar addition in re-
" spect to Ireland — and with the further addition, as to
" Great Britain, of the person then exercising episcopal
"functions among the Catholics in London — and, in
" respect to Ireland, of the titular Roman Catholic Arch-
" bishops of Armagh and Dublin, — should be commis-
" sioners for the purposes thereinafter mentioned.
" The commissioners thus appointed were to take an
" oath for the discharge of their office, and observance
" of secrecy, similar to the former, and employ the same
" secretary, and three of them were to form a quorum.
" The bill then provided, that subjects of his majesty,
" receiving any bull, dispensation, or other instrument,
" from the see of Rome, or any person in foreign parts,
" acting under the authority of that see, should, within
" six weeks, send a copy of it, signed with his name, to
" the secretary of the commissioners, who should trans-
" mit the same to them. *

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 303
" But with a proviso, that if the person receiving the
" same should deliver to the secretary of the commission,
" within the time before prescribed, a writing, under his
" hand, certifying the fact of his having received such a
" bull, dispensation, or other instrument, and accompa-
" nying his certificate with an oath, declaring that ' it
" related, wholly and exclusively, to spiritual concerns,
" and that it did not contain, or refer to, any matter or
" thing which did or could, directly or indirectly, affect
" or interfere with the duty and allegiance which he
" owed to his majesty's sacred person and government,
" or with the temporal, civil, or social rights, properties,
" or duties of any other of his majesty's subjects,' then
" the commissioners were, in their discretion, to receive
" such certificate and oath, in lieu of the copy of the
" bull, dispensation, or other instrument.
"Persons conforming to these provisions were to be
" exempted from all pains and penalties, to which they
" would be liable under the existing statutes ; otherwise,
" they were to be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor ;
" and in lieu of the pains and penalties, under the
" former statutes, be liable to be sent out of the king-
" dom. " The third set of clauses provided that, within a time
" to be specified, the commissioners were to meet and
" appoint their secretary, and give notice of it to his
" majesty's principal secretaries of state in Great Britain
" and Ireland ; and the provisions of the act were to be
" in force from that time." *
On the second reading, in May, the committee of Par
liament, on motion of the speaker, then on the floor,
struck out the clause enabling Catholics " to sit and vote
in either house of Parliament," by a majority of four
votes: 251 against 247. Mr. Ponsonby immediately
rose, and, observing - that, as " the bill, without the
clause," was unworthy both of the Catholics and its
authors,' he moved the chairman do leave the chair.
The committee rose, without a division, and the bill of
1813 was happily abandoned.
* Butler's Memoirs of the Catholics, vol. iv. pp. 246-249.

304 \ ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
The defeat of this measure was very differently re
ceived in London and Dublin. The English Catholics
were unfortunately divided into two parties — the Cisal
pine club, representing the Gallicans, and the Rt. Rev.
Dr. Milner, famous as a controversial writer, the other.
The former, composed chiefly of the gentry, was favored
by the three remaining vicars apostolic, Drs. Poynter,
Collingridge, and Douglas. Mr. Charles Butler, a near
relative of the celebrated Dr. Alban Butler, was their
counsellor and pensman. They were as mischievous a
set of well-meaning men as ever came together, wise in
their own conceit. Learning, fortune, and talent were to
be found amongst them ; but compromise, timidity, and
egotism were also there. Immediately after the rejection
of the bill of 1813, the Cisalpines, in the English board,
voted their thanks to its authors, and in another resolu
tion resolved to persevere in their efforts. Dr. Milner,
on the other 'hand, had circulated a memorial against
the proposed measure during its discussion, and after its
defeat had charged its authorship upon " certain false
Catholic brethren." When asked, at the board, to whom
he alluded in that publication, he answered, to Mr. But
ler: upon this the board, voted, that "the charge just
made by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Milner against Mr. Butler was
a gross calumny ;" that Mr. Butler "was entitled to the
thanks and gratitude of the general board of British
Catholics ; " and, proceeding still further, that, " under
present circumstances, it was highly expedient that the
Rt. Rev. Dr. Milner should cease to be a member of the
board." This indignity to one of the most venerable
and gifted bishops in Britain was a foretaste of what
Canning's board of laymen might have provided for
the hierarchy to be submitted to them, had not four votes
defeated tne bill of 1813. So wonderful are the ways
of God!
In Ireland, the conduct of the Catholics, with the ex
ception of a score or two of the aristocracy, was very
different. Dr. Milner, at this time their agent, was voted
the most marked thanks, of the Irish prelates for " his
late apostolic firmness " in " the faithful discharge of his

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 305
duty." On the other hand, Mr. Grattan, as a chief pro
moter of the bill, was bitterly denounced. An election
occurring in that year, he was returned, without opposi
tion, for the city of Dublin ; but on being chaired through
the streets, the poorer Catholics rose in a mob, assailed
his bearers, and pelted him with stones, one of which
drew blood from his face. He was obliged to take sud
den refuge from the storm, while (O, strange reverse!)
Mr. Charles Phillips, from tbe balcony of his prison,
pleaded for protection for Henry Grattan ! Since Jupi
ter Capitolinus was preserved by the Roman geese, there
was seldom seen such a contrast between guardian and
ward ! To the honor of Grattan, — who is always to
be judged as a Protestant, — ¦ he never uttered a word of
complaint, and in his future efforts in the same /cause,
he wisely avoided the former rock of offence. His con
duct in this respect contrasted favorably with Hippes-
ley's, who, finding the veto could not be carried, became
a zealous enemy of the Catholic claims.
Untaught by the example of Grattan, Richard Lalor
Shiel entered the Catholic board, and on the 10th of
December, 1813, — being then but twenty-three years
old, — made his first speech, in defence of the veto. He
was opposed by O' Connell and Dr. Dromgoole ; and
some years later, he publicly retracted the unconsidered
sentiments of his youth. Notwithstanding his first false
step, the Catholic body cherished for his courage, genius,
and person an affection exceeded only by that they ren
dered to O'Connell.
The English vetoists, encouraged Ay their "liberal"
allies, resolved, if possible, to make interest for . their
project at Rome. The Rt. Rev. Dr. Poynter had sub
mitted to Monseigneur Quarantotti their views and
1 wishes, while the Archbishop of Dublin had forwarded
the opposite opinions of the Irish prelates. A rescript to
Dr. Poynter, dated February 16, 1814, was issued, which,
from its historical importance, we transcribe in part.
Monseigneur Quarantotti wrote as follows : —
" Most illustrious and right reverend Lord, —
" With great pleasure we have learned that a bill for
Ofi»

306 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" the emancipation of the Catholics of your flourishing
" kingdom from penal laws, which was proposed in the
" last year, and lost by a small minority, may probably
" be again presented in this session of Parliament. It is
" our ardent wish that this act, so much desired, may at
"length be passed ; and that the Catholics, who have
" ever given such distinguished proofs of their obedience
" and fidelity, may at length be delivered from* the heavy
" yoke by which they have so long been oppressed ; and
" that, without any detriment to their honors or estates,
" they may give full scope to those exertions which both
" religion and the good of their country require of them.
" And this may be surely expected from your most be-
" neficent sovereign, and from that illustrious nation,
•' which on former occasions, and especially in these lat-
" ter times, has acquired so much glory in the estimation
" of the whole world for its equity, prudence, and other
" virtues. And since it has been represented, that among
" the bishops certain questions and differences have
" arisen, relative to the conditions on which the Catholics
" are to be placed on an equality with their fellow-sub-
" jects, we, who, in the absence of the supreme pastor,
" are placed over the concerns of the sacred missions,
" and, for that purpose, are invested with full pontifical
" powers, have thought it incumbent on us to remove
" every ambiguity and obstacle which might impede so
" desirable a conciliation, and by the authority, and con-
" sent of the holy see, to supply such faculties as do not
" come within the ordinary limits of episcopal jurisdic-
" tion. Having, therefore, taken the advice of the most
" learned prelates and divines, having examined the let-
" ters which have been transmitted to us both by youi
" lordship and the Archbishop of Dublin, and the mat-
" ter having been maturely discussed in a special congre-
" gation, it is decreed, that the Catholics may, with sat-
" isfaction and gratitude, accept and embrace the bill
" which was last year presented for their emancipation,
" in the form in which your lordship has laid it before
" us. One point only requires some explanation; and
" that is the second part of the oath, by which the clergy

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 307
" is so restrained as not to be permitted to hold any cor-
" respondence with the sovereign pontiff and his minis-
" ters, "which may, directly or indirectly, subvert, or in
" any way disturb, the Protestant government or church.
" It is evidently, by divine authority, the special duty of
" the ministers of the church every where to propagate
" the Catholic faith, (the only faith which can lead to
" eternal felicity,) and to refute erroneous doctrines.
" This is taught by the precepts of the gospel, and by
" the example of the apostles and their successors. Now,
" should a Catholic convert any Protestant to the ortho-
" dox religion, he might be deemed guilty of perjury;
" as, by such conversion, he might seem, in some sort, to
" disturb the Protestant church. Understood in this
" sense, the oath .cannot lawfully be taken, as being re-
" pugnant to the Catholic faith. If, on the other hand,
" it be the meaning of the legislators, that the minis-
" ters of the Catholic church are not forbidden to preach,
" instruct, and give counsel, but are only prohibited from
" disturbing the Protestant church or government by vio-
" lence and arms, or evil artifices of whatever kind, this
" is just, and entirely consonant to our principles.
" To you, therefore, it belongs, with all humility and
" earnestness, to supplicate the high court of Parliament,
" that in order to quiet and secure the consciences of the
" Catholic clergy, it will affix some modification or decla-
" ration to this clause in the oath ; which, removing every
" ambiguity, may leave them the liberty peacefully to
" preach and to persuade. In case the bill be already
" passed, containing the same words, or that nothing in
" it is allowed .to be altered, let the clergy acquiesce ; and
" it will be sufficient for them publicly to declare, that
" this, and this only, is the sense in which they have
" sworn to it, so that nothing in the oath may be adverse
-¦" to orthodox doctrine ; and, that this protest may be
" generally known, and be for an example to posterity,
" this construction of it shall be publicly recorded. It
" were to be wished, likewise, if it can be obtained, that
" a declaration should be made by some of the members
" of Parliament, that government requires the oath from

308 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
the Catholic clergy in this sense, and no other. Other
clauses, which you mention as contained in the same
bill, may be submitted to by the indulgence of the
apostolic see. .
" That the king should desire to be certified of the
loyalty of such as are promoted to a bishopric or dean
ery, and should be assured that they are endowed with
such qualities as become a good subject ; that, to in
vestigate these particulars, he should likewise appoint a
committee to inquire into their moral conduct, and
make a report to his majesty, as your lordship has given
us to understand is the case ; that, for this very same
reason, the king should require that foreigners, and those
likewise who have not resided five years in the kingdom,
should be excluded from such dignities: all this, as
it regards only what is within the competence of civil
authority, may be deserving of every toleration. It is
highly proper that our prelates should be agreeable and
acceptable to the king ; that they should exercise their
ministry with his full consent ; in fine, that their probity
should be evident even to those who are not in the
bosom of the church. For a bishop (as the apostle
teaches, 1st Epistle to Timothy, iii. 7) should have a
good report of them who are without. On these accounts,
by the authority vested in us, we allow that those who
are designed for a bishopric or deanery, and are pro
posed by the clergy, be admitted or rejected by the
king, according to the proposed bill. Therefore, after the
clergy have, in the usual manner, chosen those whom
they shall have judged in the Lord to be worthy to be
exalted to those dignities, in Ireland the metropolitan
of the province, in England and Scotland the senior
apostolical vicar, shall announce them to the committee
for the royal approbation or dissent. If the candidates
be rejected, others shall be proposed, who may be
pleasing to his majesty; but, if approved, the metropol
itan or apostolical vicar, as above, shall send the act of
their election to this sacred congregation, which, having
weighed with care the merits of each individual, shall
apply to the sovereign pontiff for canonical institution.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 309
" We observe, likewise, that it is the office of the said
"- committee to examine any letters which are sent to
" any of the clergy of Great Britain from the ecclesiasti-
" cal powers, and diligently to inquire whether any thing
" be contained therein which may be obnoxious to the
" government, or in any way disturb the public tran-
" quillity. . Since communication with the head of the
" church in spiritual and ecclesiastical concerns is not
" prohibited, but the" inspection of the committee regards
" only matters of civil policy, this likewise ought to be
" acquiesced in. It is good that the government should
" not entertain any suspicion concerning our commu-
" nications." *
When this rescript was made public by Dr. Poynter,
the Irish were again alarmed. At that critical moment,
the holy father was restored to his city, and the Catho
lics throughout the world were pouring in addresses of
congratulation. The Irish resolved to send an agent to
Rome, and chose the Rev. Richard Hayes, a Franciscan
friar, distinguished for his eloquence. He arrived in
Rome towards the close of the year, but after a stay of
some weeks, was ordered to leave the city, on account
of certain slighting expressions he was reported to have
used of Cardinals Litta and Quarantotti.f The Irish
prelates immediately despatched the coadjutor of Dub-
* In his examination before the joint committees of both houses of
Parliament, in March, 1825, right Rev. Dr. Doyle gave the following ac
count of the position of Monseigneur Quarantotti at Rome. It was asked,
" Are the committee to understand from you that this rescript of Quar-
antotti's did not come from the see of Rome ? " Dr. Doyle answered,
" It did come from the see of Rome, but the pope of that time was a pris
oner in France, and he vested his spiritual jurisdiction in several indi
viduals in Rome, first in one, and then provisionally in others ; so that in
case the first, second, and third happened to be removed by the French
from Rome, some person might remain to administer the affairs of the
church : the first individual, and I believe the second, who were entitled
to do so, were removed by the French. This Quarantotti, who was an
obscure individual at the time, happened to remain ; he had those powers,
and began to exercise them, and, not being at all acquainted with our
affairs, gave this rescript upon an application being made to him by some
interested person, and as soon as we received it we protested against it."
t On his return from Rome, Father Hayes was present at a Catholio
meeting in Dublin, where the following event occurred : On the reply

310 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
lin, Dr. Murray, as their agent, but equally without suc
cess. The vetoists still insisted that Rome was with
them. Early in 1815, his holiness having again to with
draw temporarily from Rome, to which he returned after
the battle of Waterloo, the Irish prelates delayed their
further action until August. In that month they again
met, and reappointed Dr. Murray and the Bishop of Cork
to Rome. A part of their instructions was, to deliver
the holy father the following resolutions : —
" At a meeting of the Roman Catholics in Dublin,
" they came to the following resolution : that ' it is
" our decided and conscientious conviction, that any
" power granted to the crown of Great Britain, of inter-
" fering directly or indirectly in the appointment of bish-
" ops for the Roman Catholic church in Ireland, must
" essentially injure, and may eventually subvert, the Ro-
" man Catholic religion in this country.
" ' That, with this conviction deeply and unalterably
" fixed in our minds, we should consider ourselves as
" betraying the dearest interests of that portion of the
" church which the Holy Ghost has committed to our
" care, did we not declare most unequivocally; that we
" will, at all times and under all circumstances, deprecate
" and oppose, in every canonical and constitutional way,
"any such interference.
of the pontiff to the remonstrance of the Catholic body being read to the
meeting Mr. Hayes rose, and spoke thus in relation to the censure it
contained of his own course in the Eternal City: —
" By faith .-a Catholic, by ordination a priest, by obedience a child of
the holy see, I bow with unhesitating submission, respect, and venera
tion to the centre of Catholicism and source of ecclesiastical subordina
tion, the vicegerent of Jesus Christ. I solemnly declare, that I should
choose death rather than, allow any private or personal feeling or con
sideration to betray me into the slightest contest with or disrespect to
wards the authority and dignity of the head of the Catholic church.
Pope Pius VII. My tongue shall never utter a syllable of com
plaint, nor my pen trace a line of vindication ; for lest scandal should
arise, in the words of the prophet, I exclaim, ' First take me up and cast
me into the sea.' "
On another occasion, some priests in America, chafing against author
ity, invited him amongst them, to become their patriarch and head. But
he spurned the infamous proposal, laid it at the feet of his spiritual
superior, and eloquently reprimanded those from whom it came. —
McGee, 0' Connell and his Friends, p. 31. Boston: 1845.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 311
" ' Though we sincerely venerate the supreme pontiff
" as visible head of the church, we do not conceive that
" our apprehensions for the safety of the Roman Cath-
" olic church in Ireland can or ought to be removed by
" any determination of his holiness, adopted, or intended.
" to be adopted, not only without our concurrency, but
" in direct opposition to our repeated resolutions, and
" the very energetic memorial presented on our behalf,
" and so ably supported by our deputy, the Most Rever-
" end Dr. Murray ; who, in that quality, was more com-
" petent to inform his holiness of the real state and
" interests of the Roman Catholic church in Ireland than
" any other with whom he is said to have consulted.'
" These resolutions were unanimously agreed to by tho
" four metropolitan archbishops, by Dr. Everard, the co-
" adjutor of the Archbishop of Cashel, by Dr. Murray, the
" coadjutor of the Archbishop of Dublin, by the Bishops
" of Meath, Cloyne, Clonfert, Kerry, Waterford, Derry,
" Achonry, Killala, Killaloe, Kilmore, Ferns, Limerick,
" Elphin, Cork, Downe and Connor, Ossory, Raphoe,
" Clogher, Dromore, Kildare and Leighlin and Ardagh,
" and the warden of Galway."
In February, 1816, Pius VII. addressed a lengthy
epistle to the Irish prelates. The cardinal point of this
epistle is in the following passage : —
" This also, venerable brothers, it is right that you
" should seriously advert to, that it was not, possible for
" us to refuse this small interference in the election of
" bishops to the British government, without exciting,
" in a serious degree, the displeasure of that government
" towards the whole church. It were, indeed, to be wished,
" and it is what we of all others most earnestly desire,
" that, in the election of bishops, we enjoyed that full and
" complete freedom, which so peculiarly makes a part of
" our supremacy, and that no lay power had any share
" whatever in a matter of so much moment. But you
" yourselves well know how far we are at present re-
" moved from this happy state of things. For the sov-
" ereigns of Europe, or many of them at least, have
" demanded and obtained, from the apostolical see, a

312 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
' greater or lesser share of influence in the nomination of
' candidates. And hence have arisen the conventions,
' the indults, the nominations, the postulations, the presen-
' tations, and other expedients of this kind, by' which the
' extent ofthe privileges granted in this way to -so many
1 Catholic sovereigns is limited and defined. Even in
' your islands, before the ever-to-be-lamented separation
' from the Roman church took place, the bishops were
' chosen by the pope, upon the supplication of the king,
' as is recorded in the acts of the consistory, held on
' the 6th of July, in the year 1554, during the auspi-
' cious pontificate of Pope Julius III.* Besides, not
' Catholic sovereigns alone, but others also who are
' separated from our communion, claim a share in the
' appointment of ecclesiastical persons" to bishoprics,
' situated in those parts of their dominions which yet
' adhere to the Catholic faith — a claim which this see
' feels it necessary to submit to.
" Such being the state of this momentous question,
' what hope could there be entertained that the British
' government would long have submitted to an exclusion
' from a share in appointing the bishops of your island,
' even such as it has been explained, while a conduct so
' different is observed not only to Catholic sovereigns, to
' those even whose dominions are of the smallest extent,
' but also to princes who do not belong to our com-
' munion 1 Was it not to be feared, that, if we had de-
' clined adopting the measure already mentioned, the
' government would not only lay aside all intention of
' granting emancipation to the Catholics, but withdraw
' from them all favor and protection throughout the
' whole of its so widely-extended dominions ? "
The Irish prelates, to whom it was addressed, perceived
that his holiness was -not fully informed upon all the
local facts; as, for instance, where he speaks of the
emancipation act admitting the bishops to the House of
Lords, as a reason why the government should hold a
veto over their appointment. No Catholic in the empire
* Apud. Raynaldum ad an. 1654, No. 5 and 6.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 313
had dreamed of such a contingency, nor could those who,
at Rome, represented it as possible, be well defended
from the imputation of practising an imposition on the
holy father.
A copious extract of the1 pope's letter was communi
cated by the bishops, to the Catholic board in 1817. This
body, in an energetic and dutiful remonstrance, besought
the holy father to decide against all government inter
ference with Catholic discipline. They declared they
would rather bear all, and more than all, their old op
pression, than be the occasion of any such interference.
Finally, they solicited " such a concordate with the Cath
olic bishops in Ireland as will render the election of their
successors perfectly domestic and purely Catholic, and
will at the same time insure the institution to the person
so elected." In reply, the holy father referred the Cath
olics to his letter to the bishops, and concluded with this
admonition : " Concerning the ecclesiastical affairs of
your country, we order you to be at ease." In whatever
sense various individuals interpreted these emphatic
words, we know that from that time forth the propo
sal of a veto was but seldom and faintly renewed at
Rome, London, or Dublin, and that every succeeding
year its partisans declined and disappeared. The fault
of 1799 was nobly retrieved by the firmness of 1808 and
the twenty succeeding years.
After the defeat of Grattan and Canning's bill, the
majorities against the Catholics continued to be large.
In 1815, Sir Henry ParneU's motion for a committee was
rejected by a majority of 228 to 147 ; in 1816, on Mr.
Grattan's similar motion, the vote was 172 to 141 ; in
1817, Mr. Grattan was again defeated by 245 to 221.
In this session an act exempting officers in the army and
navy from forswearing transubstantiation was passed;
in 1818, on General Thornton's motion, Lord Castle
reagh moved the previous question — so that there was
no division. In 1819, in a new Parliament, Mr. Grat
tan's motion for a committee was negatived by two
votes ; the division being 241 for, 243 against This
was the last Catholic motion the illustrious orator lived
27

314 ..ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
to make. In a dying state, he was carried to London,
in 1820, declaring it to be his purpose to die in the ser
vice of so holy a cause. Death intercepted his genius
in that devout pilgrimage. He breathed his last talking
of the rights of the Catholics, leaving nothing to that
body to regret, save only that he had not departed pos
sessed of the holy viaticum, which conduces to an eter
nal glory in realms where agitation and persecution are
alike unknown.*
The years 1819 and 1820 saw a spirit of languid sub
mission pervading all Ireland. The gradual secession of
the aristocracy undermined the Catholic board after an
existence of eightiyears, remarkable more for the mis
chiefs it averted than for any decisive victories. The
death of Grattan was followed by that of George III.
The coronation of the regent made no difference in the
policy of the empire, over which, since 1810, he had pos
sessed an " unf estricted sovereignty." An attempt to
found an Irish party irrespective of religion -had failed ;
all was sullen and gloomy acquiescence in the order of
theday: To make the matter worse for the Catholics,
the Irish vetoists retained the enmity of opposition long
after the conflict had passed. O'Connell and Shiel were
entirely estranged ; and the stout middle men, who ad
hered to " the counsellor," (as he was popularly called,)
* Charles Butler relates the following affecting anecdote of Grattan's
death : "At the end of May, 1820, Mr. Grattan came for the last time to
London. On the first day ofthe following June, the writer of these pages
called upon him ; and, being informed that he was extremely ill, was re
tiring without having seen him ; but Mr. Grattan, having heard that he
was in the house, sent for him. It was evident that he touched the mo
ment of his dissolution ; but the "ethereal vigor of his mind was unsub
dued, and his zeal for the Catholic cause unabated. He pressed the
writer by the hand. 'It is," he said, 'all over! — yes — all over! —
but I will die in the cause. I mean to be carried to the House of Com
mons to-morrow — to beg leave of the speaker to take the oaths sitting —
and then to move two resolutions.' These he mentioned to the writer,
but spoke so indistinctly, that the writer could only perceive, generally,
that they were substantially the same as the clauses which he had pre
fixed to the bill, which, in 1812, he brought into Parliament for the rehef
of the Catholics. He again pressed the writer by the hand, repeated, the
intention of being carried to the house, and desired the writer to attend
him to it. But he died in the ensuing night ! "

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 315
cordially despised the titled trimmers who acted with
Lord Fingal. When the latter received his "yard of
blue ribbon," so satirized by Byron, it did not mend the
matter in the least. An occasional allusion to the wrongs
of the people in pleadings at the bar, an^occasional voice
from the press vainly exhorting to exertion, was all that
was heard in this gloomy interval, out of which no man
perceived any way of deliverance.
The separate tariff of Ireland was, according to the
terms of the union, drawing to its end; men were retir
ing from trade, .and rushing upon the land ; the ex
chequers of the two countries were to be consolidated.
The social revolution occupied every mind in 1820 ; it
was then the union was consummated.
In England, the- Gallican Catholics were still in the
ascendant, though the aged Milner's ultramontane doc
trines found a small and growing body of adherents.
The irreligious populace had been lately reached by the
propaganda of the old radical reformers — Cartwright,
Godwin, Bentham, Cobbett, and Burdett In 1819, the
military at Manchester fired upon one of .their assemblies,
shooting down several of the people. Thenceforward
we can clearly trace the aggressions of the urban upon
the territorial aristocracy: this was a social revolution
for England, whose consequences are still ripening.
So opened. the important decade during which George
IV. reigned in his own name over Great Britain and
Ireland.

316 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
CHAPTER VI.
VISIT OF GEORGE IV. TO IRELAND. — THE CATHOLIC QUESTION Df
• PARLIAMENT. — FORMATION OF THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. -
ITS PROGRESS AND POWER.— THE CATHOLICS BEFORE PARLIA-,
MENT IN PERSON. —FOREIGN SYMPATHY j'AID FROM THE IRISH
IN AMERICA. — THE "SECOND REFORMATION." — GENERAL CATH
OLIC CONTROVERSY. — ADVOCATES OF EMANCIPATION AT THE
PRESS. — ELECTION OF O'CONNELL TO PARLIAMENT. — RELIEF
BILL OF 1829. — RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH AND "THE ESTAB
LISHMENT," A. D. 1830. — CONCLUSION.
In 1821, to escape from the unpopularity produced by
his persecution of Queen Caroline, George IV. visited
Ireland. He arrived in Dublin, and was received with
enthusiasm. It is humiliating to an Irishman to record
the dishonorable fact; but the truth must be told.
Though one of the most criminal kings that had ever
reigned, (not excepting Henry VIII., whom he much
resembled,) though accompanied by Lord Castlereagh,
and fresh from the infamous persecution of his own
wife, he was received with enthusiasm-. So vain and
frivolous does long provincialism make men of rank, so
helplessly excitable does it leave a city populace. George
IV. remained a month in Ireland, and then, with many
fair promises, made to be broken, returned home by way
of Scotland.
Early in the first session of the new Parliament, (May
4, 1821,) Mr.- Plunkett, whose ambition it was to fol
low in Mr. Grattan's footsteps, presented several Cath
olic petitions, and moved for a committee to1 consider
them. In commencing an argument worthy of the suc
cession he claimed, he made the following preface: —
" Sir, I hold in my hand a petition, signed by a very
" considerable number of his majesty's Roman Catholic
" subjects of Ireland. From the names attached to it,
" which amount to many thousands, distinguished for
" rank, fortune, talents, and every thing which can confer
" weight and influence, — from the means which these

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 317
" persons possess of collecting the opinions of the people
" in that part of the United Kingdom, — the petition may
" be fairly considered as speaking the sentiments of the
" great body of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. A
" similar petition was presented from the same body, the
" year before last. It is unnecessary for me to remind
" the house that, on that occasion, it was presented by
" the late Mr. Grattan. It was sanctioned by the au-
" thority of his name, and enforced by all the resistless
" powers which waited on the majesty of his genius. I
" have no design to give vent to the feelings, with which
" my heart is filled, or to mingle with the public mourn-
" ing the mere peculiar and selfish regrets which have
" followed to the grave the friend by whose confidence
" I was honored, by whose wisdom I was instructed, by
" whose example I was guided. His eulogium has been
" heard from the lips of kindred eloquence and genius ;
" the last duties have been rendered to his tomb by the
" gratitude and justice of the British people : in his
" death, as in his life, he has been a bond of connection
" between the countries. Sir, I will not weaken the
" force of that eulogium, or disturb the solemnity of
", those obsequies, by my feeble praise or unavailing sor-
" row ; but with respect to the sentiments of that great
" and good man on this particular question I wish to say
" a word. Sir, he had meditated upon it deeply and
" earnestly ; it had taken early and entire possession of
" his mind, and held it to the last ; he would willingly
" have closed his career of glory in the act of asserting
" within these walls the liberties of his countrymen, but
" still regarding them as connected with the strength,
" the concord, and the security of the empire. Sir, he
" was alive to fame — to the fame that follows virtue.
" The love of it clung to him to the last moments of his
" life ; but though he felt that ' last infirmity of noble
" minds,' never did there breathe a human being who
" had a more lofty disdain for the shallow and treacher-
" ous popularity which is to be courted by subserviency,
" and purchased at the expense of principle and duty.
" He felt that this question was not to be carried as the

318 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH TtlE
" triumph of a party, or of a sect, but to be pursued as a
"¦ great measure of public good, in which all were bound
" to forego their prejudices, and to humble their passions
" for the attainment of justice and of peace. Sir, in the
" humble walk, and at the immeasurable distance at
" which it is my lot to follow the footsteps of my illus-
" trious friend, I pledge myself to be governed by the
" same spirit. I have a firm and entire persuasion that
" justice and policy require that the prayer of this peti-
" tion should be complied with; but I am equally con-
" vinced that, if this question is pressed, or carried on
" any other terms than those which will give full satis-
" faction to the Protestant mind, it cannot be productive
" of good. All these objects appear to me to be attain-
" able.: with this view and in this temper only will I
" prosecute them."
This man, also, though able and honest, was short
sighted. " Terms " which would " satisfy the Protestant
mind" could not possibly satisfy the Catholic. He did
not understand the consequences of "the reformation."
It is clear he must fail with all his eloquence and energy.
Mr. Plunkett's bill of 1821 was very similar to that of
1813 ; * it was supported by Canning, Wilberforce, and
Mackintosh-: it was opposed by Scott, Peel, and some
nameless bigots. It was carried, on a third reading, by
a majority of 216 to 197 ; the Lords' House rejected it by
159 to 120. Both in this and the next Parliament, the
Lords were frequently in collision with the Commons on
this question. In 1822, Mr. Canning's bill to enable
Catholic peers to take their seats was rejected by them ;
in the Commons it had an overplus of 21, while in the
Lords it was defeated by a majority of 271 noes to
129 ayes.
The mind of Daniel O'Connell had been much occu-
- pied, since the dissolution of the Catholic board, in pre
paring a project for another effort. A Catholic, an anti-
* The Catholic prelates of Leinster, in a meeting at St. Michael and
John's Church, Dublin, Archbishop Troy in the chair, expressed their
disapprobation of the veto clause. With that exception they approved
Plunkett's bill of 1821.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 319
revolutionist, and a lawyer, he was trebly bound to the
peace. Looking around, in both islands, he saw a vast
outlying multitude of non-electors, surrounding the edi
fice of a representative government To agitate this
stagnant mass of still life ; to control the agitation with
in the limits of law ; by constant " pressure from with
out," to extract concessions constitutionally from an un
willing oligarchy, — these were his tactics. After the
event, it appears a simple, or, indeed, a vulgar design :
there is little apparent originality or heroism in it. Yet,
in the winter evenings of 1822-3, when these thoughts
throbbed under the full temples of O'Connell, they were
rare discoveries. -They were parts of a machinery of
peaceful political association, unknown before that time
in constitutional or despotic states. It was a plan as
new to the Irish Catholics as to others. The petitioning
committees of 1757 and 1773, the conventions of 1793
and 1811, the late board — all did their work in a select
circle, and by sending out deputations to the constituents,
or to the government. This new system proposed to
make the aggregate public the chief agent ; to deliberate
in committee, and decide before the face of the people ;
to accept the peasant's penny as well as the peer's pound ;
to make the press the daily deputy of the constituent
multitude. We cannot approve of such an extrajudi
cial combination in many cases ; but in this case, for
which the machinery was originally invented, we will
find it work wonderfully well. It is of course to be re
membered that the inventor remained the overseer of
his own work.
One of his earliest converts to the proposed plan of
action was Mr."Shiel, whom he accidentally met at the
house of a mutual friend in Wicklow, and not only con
ciliated, but enlisted. March, April, and the early part
of May were spent upon a series of parish meetings in
Dublin, for which purpose the churches, or " chapels," as
they were then called, were placed at his disposal.
O'Connell was then at his best, and his various ha
rangues stirred to life the desponding and the fearful. A
preliminary meeting had been held for business on the
4th of Februarv. another on the. 23d of Ma v. at which

320 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
rules were adopted, one of which bound the members to
meet every Saturday.* The meetings for some time
were thinly attended, and the receipts were proportionate
* Rules and Regulations of the Catholic Association of Ireland, commencing
Saturday, 2ith May, 1823.
Joseph McDonnell, Esq., in the chair.
The committee appointed to prepare the draught of laws and regulations
for the Association reported, whereupon the following resolutions were
adopted : —
That the Catholic Association be formed to adopt all such legal and
constitutional measures as may be most useful to obtain Catholic eman
cipation.
1 That the Association is not a representative or delegated body ; and
that it will not assume airyrepresentative or delegated authority or quality.
That such individuals as shall give in their names to the secretary, and
pay an annual subscription of one pound two shillings and ninepence,
be members of this Association ; and that same be payable each first day
of January.
That no motion shall be debated at any meeting of this Association
without one week's previous notice.
That all reporters for newspapers, See., he at liberty to attend all the
meetings of the Association.
That the Secretary do call anextraordinary meeting of the Association
whenever required, by a requisition signed by at least twenty members.
That the proceedings of the Association, as well as notices of motions,
be entered in a book always open for inspection, and reference ; and that
a book be also kept, containing as well the names as the address of each
member, to be always open for inspection.
-That no member be allowed to speak twice in any discussion, except
the mover of the original question, who shall have the right to reply ;
such reply to close the debate.
That during any discussion every member be seated, except the mem
ber addressing the chairman.
That the object of the foregoing resolutions is to prevent as much as
possible any debate or discussion but what must be absolutely necessary
to ascertain the sense of each meeting.
That Saturday be the fixed day of meeting, subject to such adjourn
ment as the Association may agree to.
That at least ten members must be in attendance in order to constitute
a meeting of this Association.
That three o'clock in the afternoon be the fixed hour of all meetings ;
and that so soon as ten members are in attendance after three o'clock, the
chair shall be immediately taken.
Treasurers and secretaries were appointed. Joseph M'Donnell, Chairman.
N. Pubcell O' Gorman, Secretary.
— Wyse, History of the Late Catholic Association, vol. i. pp. 37, 38.
The members present at this first meeting were, The O'Connor Don,
Sir Ed. Bellew, D. O'Connell, Nicholas Mahon, Eneas McDonnell, .Richard
Shiel, R. Lonergan, and Messrs. Callaghan, Scanlan, Oldham, and IJay.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 321
to the numbers, averaging under ten pounds per week.
The system of parochial collections began to spread : in
1824, the receipts rose to average between thirty and
forty pounds per week; the clergy, the bar, and the
gentry began to join; the press revolved for the Catholic
cause; the systematic industry of O'Connell had pre
vailed over the lethargy of his contemporaries. In the
second year, the- association removed to the Corn Ex
change rooms, which continued for many years the Par
liament of the agitation.
In the imperial legislature, in 1823, Mr. Plunkett, in
moving for a committee, had been again defeated by a
motion for adjournment. In 1824, bills enabling Catho
lics to vote at elections and act as magistrates were
also defeated. An act enabling the Duke of Norfolk to
discharge his duties as earl marshal was passed. In
1825, Plunkett and Canning, to meet the wishes of the
king, refused to propose tbe reference of Catholic peti
tions, which, in this, and the two following years, were
chiefly intrusted to Sir Francis Burdett, the whig radi
cal member for Westminster. The eloquent gentleman
just named had still further offended by voting for the
act to suppress the Catholic Association, commonly
called " the Algerine act" The plea for this law was,
that it would leave Parliament free to legislate on the
question, without pretence of intimidation. No such
legislation followed, and on the 13th July, 1825, the
association was revived, under new rules, technically
different, but in effect the same as the old. An immense
accession of strength followed ; twenty-six bishops, three
thousand priests, hundreds of thousands of members,
including fourteen hundred Protestants, were found upon
its muster roll.
In 1825, eertain Catholics,- clerical and lay, had been
summoned to appear before a committee of Parliament.
This was an important innovation — the first of the kind
since the days of the Stuarts. In February, Mr. O'Con
nell and the laymen were examined; in March, the
Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Cashel, the Rt. Rev.
Dr. Magauran, and the Rt Rev. Dr. Doyle were exam-

322

ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE

ined. Dr. Doyle's evidence was the most minute and
particular, and in some respects the most important
We believe it is now understood that some of his opin
ions were considered heterodox at Rome ; but the respect
entertained for his life and talents by the sacred college
prevented any action being taken upon, them. The effect
of the examination was salutary at the time. Mr. Daw
son, a near relative of Mr. Peel, Mr. Brownlow, after
wards Lord Lurgan, and other opponents of the Catho
lic claims, declared themselves converted to their side.
Both houses of Parliament subsequently were in the
habit of quoting the examinations of 1825 as authority,
thus rehearsing Catholic definitions of Catholic doctrine.
Soon after the examinations closed, the emancipation
bill passed the Commons with Burdett's "two wings"
attached — one providing that the state should support
the priesthood ; the other disfranchising the Irish " forty
shilling " freeholders, who were chiefly Catholics, regis
tered under the act of 1793. On the 18th of May, it
came up for discussion in the Lords, when the Duke of
York made his impious declaration,* that, " so help him
* A metrical travesty of this '" speech presumptive," which appeared
in one of the London morning papers, has been ascribed to Thomas
Moore. The following is a sample of this satire : —
" Though Mr. Leslie Foster winced
Erom what he once asserted ;
Though Mr. Brownlow is convinced,
And Mr. North converted ;
Though, even country gentlemen
Are sick of half their maggots,
And rustics mock the vicar, when
He prates of fiery fagots ; '
Though Hume and Brougham, and twenty more,
Are swaggering and swearing,
And Scarlett hopes the scarlet whore
Will not be found past bearing ;
Though Reverend Norwich does not mind
The feuds of two and seven,
And trusts that humble prayers may find
A dozen roads to heaven, — '
Till royal heads are lit with gas,
Till Hebrews dine on pork,
My lords, this bill shall never pass ;
So help me God ! " said York.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 323
God, in every situation in which he might be placed he
would uphold the principles of hostility to Catholics' in
which he had been bred." This from the king's brother
the heir presumptive, decided their lordships. The bill
was rejected by a vote of 178 to 130. Shortly after. this,
the duke suddenly died, and his more liberal brother
William became the next claimant to the crown.
The year 1825 was further remarkable for the ora
torical deputation to England, composed of Councillors
O'Connell, Shiel, Brie, Sergeant Shee, and one or two
others. The meetings at London, Liverpool, and Pen-
enden Heath, in Kent, gave a new impulse to the sym
pathies of non-Catholics. Bentham, Cobbett, and -the
radicals cordially exerted themselves to help forward the
projected emancipation ; acting, as one might expect,
more on radical than religious grounds.
In 1826, a general election occurred on a change
of ministry, Canning and Lord Goderich succeeding
Lord Liverpool for a few months, to be succeeded by
Wellington and Peel. In this election, the association
tried its strength with the Beresfords in Waterford, the
Fosters in Louth, and the Leslies in Monaghan ; who, of
allthe aristocracy, were most devoted to the establishment.
They triumphed in each instance, and had the experi
ment been general, might have done so to a much greater
extent. The forty shilling freeholders, the army of Irish
liberty, still remained to fight the good fight, and conquer
for their friends. The results of 1826 added immensely
to the influence of the association both at home and
abroad.* * The Irish landlords felt their defeat severely, and commenced a sys
tem of vindictive retaliation by ejecting, without mercy, all the tenants
who had proved refractory. On the other hand, the Catholic Association
organized " A Tenant Protection Rent," which soon amounted to a con
siderable sum ; at the same time, it was very broadly hinted that Cath
olic creditors would foreclose the mortgages of those landlords who chose
to indulge in the luxury of persecution. This was a perilous menace to
men overwhelmed with debt, and only nominal owners of their estates.
The landlords soon saw that they would, have the worst in the conflict ;
they desisted one by one, and even employed the priests, in many cases,
to make amicable arrangements for them with their own tenants." —
Beminiscenses of 0' Connell, p. 65.

324 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
The Paris press conveyed to the European continent
the records of a struggle once more restored to interna
tional consequence. The Duke de Montebello, Messrs.
Duvergier and Thayer, visited Ireland in 1826. Duver-
gier wrote a series of very interesting letters on " the
state of Ireland," at the time, which went through sev
eral editions. At the Ballinasloe meeting the Duke de
Montebello had a vote of thanks presented to him, which
he gracefully acknowledged, expressing his wishes for the
success of their cause. This simple act excited much
apprehension and a deal of discussion at court and at the
castle.* The Paris press was still more attracted in
consequence, and the French Catholics, informed of the
state of affairs, voted an address and subscription to the
Dublin association. The Bavarian Catholics followed
their example, and encouraging assurances were received
from Spain and Italy.
One address from British India contained a contribu
tion of three thousand pounds sterling. From the West
Indies and Canada proportionate assistance was ren
dered. Dublin had become the Catholic capital of the
empire, the association its senate, and O'Connell its
prince or president.
In the United States of America — the natural asylum
of multitudes of persecuted Irish Catholics — this sym
pathetic movement was most active. New York felt
almost as interested in the cause as Dublin. In 1826 and
1827, associations to cooperate with O'Connell were
formed at New York, Boston, Washington, Norfolk,
Charleston, Augusta, Louisville, and Bardstown. Ad
dresses in English and French were prepared for these
societies, chiefly by Dr. McNevin, at New York, and
Bishop England, at Charleston. The American, like the
French press, became interested in the subject, and elo
quent allusions were made to it in Congress. On the
20th of January, 1828, McNevin wrote to O'Connell,—
" Public opinion in America is- deep, and strong, and
* Duvergier's Letters, Appendix to Wyse's History of ihe Catholic
Association, p. 15.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 325
" universal, in your behalf. This predilection prevails
" over the broad bosom of our extensive continent. As-
" sociations similar to ours are every where starting into
" existence— in our largest and wealthiest cities — in
"our hamlets and our villages — in our most remote
" sections ; and at this moment, the propriety of con-
" veiling, at Washington, delegates of the friends of Ire-
" land, of all the states, is under serious deliberation. A
" fund will ere long be derived from American patriotism
" in the United States, which will astonish your haugh-
" tiest opponents." *
All the foreign influence that an unrecognized de facto
government could exercise was thus placed in the hands
of the managers of the association at Dublin.
Protestantism, conscious, by all its instincts, of the
recovering energies of the faithful, made in those busy
years a desperate effort to revive the cause of the refor
mation. In 1824, and the frye succeeding years, " the
Bible Societies " concentrated all their.funds and energies
on Ireland. Native bigots, like Parsons Pope and Lees,
were subsidized and cheered on : allies, like' the Hon.
Baptist Noel, Mr. Wolff, and Captain Gordon, a de
scendant of the lord of the London riot, were provided
for them by Exeter Hall. At Derry, Dublin, Carlow,
and Cork, the itinerants challenged the clergy to defend
their doctrines. Fathers Maginn, Maguire, Maher, Mc-
Sweeney, and some others, accepted these challenges,
and the oral discussion of theological and historical
questions became as common as town talk in every Irish
community. Whether, in any case, these debates con
duced to the conversion of Protestants is doubtful ; but
they -certainly supplied the Catholic laity with a body
of facts and arguments very necessary at that time, and1
which hardly any other occasion could have presented.
The Right Rev. Dr. Doyle, who was justly considered
the ablest Irish bishop of his time, though he tolerated a
first discussion, positively forbade a second. Among

* Wyse's History of the Late Catholic Association, vol. i. Appen
dix, p. 210. 28

326 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
the cogent reasons he gave his clergy for so doing were
these : —
" With such men there can be no common principles
" to which they could be bound to adhere ; or if there
" were any, they could be departed from by them as soon
" as their opinions underwent a change ; but in no case
" would such principles express a form of religious be-
" lief binding upon any others than those who might
" subscribe to them. You who are Catholics, professing
" a clearly-defined faith, can never meet men who are
" thus tossed about by every wind of doctrine, upon a
" footing of equality : they may be worsted in argument,
" convicted of error, confounded at the exposure of their
" own contradictions or folly ; but they alone can suffer ;
" no one is responsible for their errors, no person need
" blush at their confusion, no man is a partner in their
" shame. Not so with you. If, through error, mistake,
" ignorance, or forgetfulness, you leave an objection un-
" refuted, or an aspersion not wiped away, such objection
" or aspersion stands recorded against your church, and
" the chaste spouse of Christ suffers in your person from
" the blasphemy of her apostate children.
" You are to avoid these disputes, because by entering
" into them you appear to call in question those truths
" which are already defined by the Holy Ghost and by
" us, that is, by the bishops, the successors of the apos-
- f ties. You agree, as it were, to impanel a jury, of I
" know not what description of persons, to try the ques-
" tion whether Christ is with us teaching all days, even to
" the end of the world; whether the Holy Ghost has, or has
" not taught our fathers all truth ; whether we be placed
" by him to rule the church of God ; whether this church
" be, or be not, the pillar and ground of truth ; whether
" those whom we leave bound on earth be bound in
" heaven ; or whether the gates of hell have prevailed, or
" can prevail, against the church ; whether, again, this
" church has been buried in idolatry for eight hundred
" years ; whether, in fine, those who refuse to hear her,
" and who thereby despise Christ, and the Father who
" sent him, are, or are not, as heathens and publicans

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 327
'" before God. These truths, reverend brethren, which
" would be thus subjected, as it were, to trial, are clear
" and incontestable; you yourselves have enforced them
" by much argument and great eloquence ; and it is be-
" cause they are immovable, and because your argu-
" ments in support of them are able, convincing, and
" unanswerable, that the members of the Bible Society
" wish, by inviting you to a renewed discussion, to
" turn public attention from the palpable folly of their
" proceedings. " You should not dispute with these men in the man-
" ner proposed, because there is no tribunal on the earth
" competent to try the issue between you. The errors
" maintained by the members of the Bible Society regard
" either the primary articles of the Christian faith, or
¦ " truths already defined by the church. Both these
" classes of truths are immovably and definitely set-
" tied: God, or his church, or rather both, have spoken ;
" and as St. Augustine said to the Pelagians, ' The cause
" is concluded ; I wish the error would at length cease ' —
" Causa finita est; utinam aliquando finiretur error. There
" can be no new hearing,--no new trial. The church at
" Trent invited the heretics of the sixteenth century
" (those who broached or renewed the errors which are
" now revived) to plead their own cause before the
" council : these blind and obstinate men refused to do
" so, but their cause was examined fully and dispassion-
" ately ; sentence was at length passed, and the matter
" set at rest forever. Causa finita est. It can never be
" revived : it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and
"to our fathers so to determine; there can be no re-
" hearing of the case ; there is no higher tribunal consti-
" tuted by God, no one or many to whom a new issue
" could be directed for trial. ' Whosoever does not
" hear the church, let him be to thee a heathen and a
" publican.' " Lastly, you should not contend, as is proposed, with
" men over whom a triumph could be productive of no
" permanent advantage : as individuals they may be
« learned and respectable ; but as religionists they are

S28 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
" deserving only of your unmixed pity. They profess to
" be seeking for truth ; this can only be found in the
" Catholic church ; and the faith which believes in it, as
" there propounded, is a gift of God — to be obtained,
" not by disputation, but by humility, alms-deeds, and
" prayers. The judgment of man is too slow and too
" unsettled; the^ objects of its investigation are too
" mysterious and too far removed: it may reason in-
" terminably and dispute, but it can never determine;
"authority alone can decide."*
The Archbishop of Armagh and other prelates issued
similar circulars to their clergy to refrain from oral dis
putes. The discussions at Derry, Dublin, Carlow, and
Cork, were subsequent to this: the practice gradually fell
into disuse. Controversial lectures and the agency of
the press have been chiefly resorted to of late days, and
with far greater success.
The short-lived notoriety of " the second reformation "
was chiefly due to the ostentatious patronage of it by
the Protestant aristocracy. A Mr. Synge, in Clare, Lord
Lorton, and a Mr. McClintock, at Dundalk, were inde
fatigable in their attempts at fattening prize converts
for evangelical exhibitions. The Earl >of Roden, —
brother to the Protestant Bishop of Clogher, conyicted
of nameless crimes, — to show his entire dependence on
the translated Bible, — threw all his other books into a
fish pond on his estate. Maxwell, Lord Farnham, was
still more conspicuous in the revival ; he spared neither
patronage nor writs of ejectment to convert his tenantry.
The vaunting reports of conversions upon his lordship's
estates, and throughout his county, attracted so much
notice, that Drs. Curtis, Crolly, Magauran, O'Reilly,
and McHale met on the 9th of December, 1826, at Ca
van, to inquire into the facts. They found that, while
there had been gross exaggeration on the part of the
reformers, yet that a few hundreds of the peasantry had,
by various powerful temptations, been led into apostasy.-
Their lordships, while there, received back some of the
—  3* 
* Life of Dr. Doyle, pp. 184, 185. New York: D. & J. Sadlier.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 329
unfortunates, and the following jubilee brought nearly
all the rest, in tears of heartfelt sorrow, to the confes
sional. The Hon. Mr. Noel and Captain Gordon posted
to Cavan, and waited upon the bishops with a challenge
to discuss doctrines with them. Of course, their cartel
was not received by the prelates. Moore's inimitable
satire was the most effective weapon against such
fanatics.* In the reign of George IV. the Irish and British press
was more occupied with Catholic subjects than with
any other. Of her own children the church reckoned
Drs. Milner and Doyle, Thomas Moore, Charles But
ler, and some others less known among her defenders ;
of " liberal Protestants," Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. Jef
frey, Sydney Smith, and William Cobbett deserve spe
cial remembrance. In opposition to these, the writers of
Blackwood's Magazine, then in its prime, Archbishop
Magee of Dublin, and the Rev. George Croly, since
rector of St. Stephen's, London, were most conspicuous.
* Thomas Eurlong, not inaptly called the Irish Churchill, (though his
personal character embraced- all the virtues Churchill's wanted,) had a
considerable share in the biblical war. As a specimen of his powers, we
give his portrait of the Rev. Mr. Graham, of Magilligan, a small-beer
poet, and a foaming apostle to the Gentiles in Ulster : —
" Lo, as his second, in these troublous times,
Comes crazy Graham, with his ribald rhymes.
View the vile doggerel, slowly dragged along,
To mock at grief, and sneer away a wrong.
Mark how he stoops, laboriously to drain
The last, low oozing of his mu ddy brain,
Until, at length, as champion of the cause,
He gains his end — promotion and applause.
It comes ! 'tis his — his object from the first —
'Tis his ! and now let Popery do its worst.
The low-born crowd may toil to swell his pride,
'Tis his to take, to triumph, and deride ;
¦ 'Tis his of new-framed acts to make the best,
To jeer his slaves, and call his faith a jest ;
'Tis his to grasp what cant or craft hath won ;
'Tis theirs to strive, to struggle, and pay on.
View this, ye dolts, who prate about the poor ;
View it, ye^ scribes, and say, shall it endure ?-'
View it, ye race, who reason from the past,
And ask your hearts if such can always last."
The Plagues of Ireland, a Boem. Dublin : 1827.
28*

330 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Some of the Blackwood writers, and both- the latter
were Irish Protestants. When, in 1827, the Wellington
administration came into office, there could be little
doubt upon which side the most heart and learning was
engaged. The intimate connection of argument and action, in
the career of the Catholic Association, gives a coherency
and interest to its records which no mere agitation could
supply. Every year new facts come up, marking the ac
tual progress better than words. The holding of simul
taneous meetings, the deputations to England, the evi
dence before Parliament, the foreign subsidies received,
the taking of a Catholic census, and establishment of
" liberal clubs," are- events which may be said to rise to
the dignity of historical. They kept the orators in coun-'
tenance, and the people of good cheer. We now ap
proach their natural conclusion — "the Clare election,"
at which O'Connell was returned to Parliament, in June
1828 ; and the fact that the long-sought-for relief bill,
"received the royal assent" in April, 1829.
Mr. Fitzgerald, the sitting member for Clare, having
accepted office early in 1828, under the Wellington gov
ernment, and Major McNamara, the expected "liberal
Protestant" candidate, having declined, at the last mo
ment, to oppose him, Mr. O'Connell issued his address
to the electors — a document which is the very reflex of
its writer. It begins thus : —
" You will be told I am not qualified to be elected :
" the assertion, my friends, is untrue. I am qualified to
" be elected, and to be your representative. It is true
" that, as a Catholic, I cannot, and of course never will,
" take the oaths at present prescribed to members of Par
liament; but the authority which created these oaths
" (the Parliament) can abrogate them ; and I entertain
" a confident hope that, if you elect me, the most bigoted
" of our enemies will see the necessity of removing from
" the chosen representative of the people an obstacle
" which would prevent him from doing his duty to his
" king and to his country.
" The oath at present required by law is, ' that the

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND 331
" sacrifice of the mass, and the invocation of the Blessed
" Virgin Mary, and other saints, as now practised in the
" church of Rome, are impious and idolatrous.' Of
" course I will never stain my soul with such an oath :
" I leave that to my honorable opponent, Mr. Vesey Fitz-
" gerald ; he has often taken that horrible oath ; he is
" ready to take it again, and asks your votes to enable
" him so to swear. I would rather be torn limb from
" limb than take it. Electors of the county of Clare !
" choose between me, who abominates' that oath, and
" Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, who has sworn it full twenty
" times ! Return me to Parliament, and it is probable
" that such a blasphemous oath will be abolished forever.
" As your representative, I will try the question with the
" friends in Parliament of Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald. They
" may send me to prison. I am ready to go there to
" promote the cause of the. Catholics, and of universal
" liberty. The discussion which the attempt to exclude
" your representative from the House ef Commons must
" excite will create a sensation all over Europe, and
" produce such a burst of contemptuous indignation
" against British bigotry, in every enlightened country in
" the world, that the voice of all the great and good in
" England, Scotland, and Ireland,* being joined to the
" universal shout of the nations of tbe earth, will over-
" power every opposition, and render it impossible for
" Peel and Wellington any longer to close the doors of
" the constitution against the Catholics of Ireland.
" Electors of the county of Clare ! Mr. Vesey Fitz-
" gerald claims as his only merit that he is a friend to
" the Catholics : why, I am a Catholic myself; and if
" he be sincerely our friend, let him vote for me, and
" raise before the British empire the Catholic question in
" my humble person, in the way most propitious to my
" final success. But no, fellow-countrymen, no ; he will
" make no sacrifice to that cause ; he will call himself
" your friend, and act the part of your worst and most
" unrelenting enemy."
After adhort but animated canvass, and six days' poll
ing, in which O'Connell was sustained by the clergy, and

332 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
his brilliant staff, Shiel, Lawless, Ronayne, Father Ma
guire, O'Gorman Mahon, and Steele, the contest ended.
O'Connell was declared duly elected, and returned to
Dublin, through a perfect ovation.*
The remainder of the year was the very agony of
expectation to all parties. The ultra- Protestants formed
their Brunswick clubs, to oppose the liberal clubs, de
vised by Mr. Wyse, and adopted by the Catholics. The
" liberal Protestants," with the Duke of Leinster at their
head, sent forward a powerful declaration in favor of
emancipation. The Duke of Wellington gruffly ac
knowledged " the tin case," without saying a word* of
its contents ; but notes from him and the Lord Lieuten
ant, (Anglesea,) both holding out fair promises, were
addressed to Primate Curtis, and found their way to
the public. The Orangemen and Catholics, on the
Ulster border, were in the highest excitement, and civil
* " The election," says an eye-witness, " was the most orderly ever con
tested in Ireland : the Catholic leaders and the priests exerted themselves
successfully to keep the people quiet ; they forbade them to touch Spirit
uous liquors, and, though Father Mathew had not yet appeared, not a
single glass of whiskey was tasted by any of the peasantry during the
election. Some strange events occurred: Sir Edward O'Brien assembled
his tenants in a body, to march to the hustings and vote for Fitzgerald ;
Father Murphy, of Corofin, met them, harangued them, and, placing
himself at their head, led them into Ennis, and polled them, to a man,
for O'Connell. Father Tom Maguire did the same with the tenants of
Mr. Augustine Butler. One evening, at the close of the poll, while the
crowd waited to hear the number announced, a Catholic priest, realizing
in his appearance Sir Walter Scott's description of Habakkuk Muckle-
wjath, ascended the hustings, and in a sepulchral voice announced that
a Catholic had that day voted for Fitzgerald. Groans, and cries of
' Shame ! ' burst from the crowd. ' Silence,' said the priest ; ' the hand
of God has struck him ; he has just died of apoplexy. Pray for his
soul.' The whole multitude knelt down, and a prayer was muttered in
sobs and tears. The announcement was correct ; the wretched man was
so affected by having voted, as he believed, against his conscience and his
country, that he sunk under the feeling. On the 6th day Mr. Fitzgerald
resigned the contest, and O' Connell was returned.
" The consequences of this victory were momentous : aggregate meet
ings were held in various parts of the country, at which many, both of
the Protestant and Catholic aristocracy, attended, and took the pledges
dictated by the Catholic Association. The peasant factions, which used
to meet for battle on every holiday and every fair, met; under the gui
dance of the agitators, to forswear their feuds, and join hands in amity.
The tranquillity of Ireland was terrible."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 333
war was seriously apprehended. General Thornton
wrote to the Duke of Wellington that he could not an
swer for the loyalty of the troops in the north, while at
Limerick and other garrisons the Catholic and Protest
ant soldiers had more than once come to blows, in debat
ing the merits ofthe agitation. After long and humili
ating deliberations, the government resolved to introduce
a relief bill, without a veto, or a provision for pensioning
the Irish clergy. The influence of the Marchioness of
Conyngham, who succeeded her of Hertford as the
king's mistress, was said to have been used to secure the
consent of George IV.
At the opening of the session O'Connell proceeded to
London, and being presented with the oaths by the
clerk of the house, he refused to be sworn. " Because,"
said he, " there is one part of them which I do not be
lieve to be true, and there is another which I know to be
false." After a lengthy discussion, he was heard at the
bar of the house, for three hours, in his own cause ; his
counsel, Pollock, Phillips, and Lynch, were also heard at
length before a committee of the house. Evidently, he
had a clear title to sit ; but while the committee of inquiry
was still debating it, the "emancipation bill" passed, so
worded as to include only Catholics thereafter elected.
This was at George IV.'s special desire, and was aimed
directiy and exclusively at O'Connell.
In opening the session of 1829, the king recommended
Parliament "to take into deliberate consideration the
whole condition of Ireland ; review the laws which im
pose civil disabilities on his majesty's Roman Catholic
subjects ; and consider whether those disabilities can be
affected consistently with the full and permanent security
of the establishments in church and state, with the
maintenance of the reformed religion established by law,
and of the rights and privileges of the bishops and clergy
of the realm, and of the churches committed to their
charge." On the same day, (the 5th of March,) a bill
suppressing the Catholic association passed both houses,
and received the royal assent. But the association had
anticipated it by dissolving a few days previously. Mr.

334 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Peel next moved a committee ofthe whole house, to go into
a " consideration of the civil disabilities of his majesty's
Roman Catholic subjects." This motion^ after a two
days' debate, was carried by a majority of 188. On the
10th of March, the bill was read for the first time, and
passed without opposition, such being the arrangement
entered into while in committee. But even in five days,
the ancient bigotry of the land had been aroused ; nine
hundred and fifty-seven petitions had already been pre
sented against it: that from the city of London was
signed by more than " a hundred thousand freeholders." *
On the 17th it passed to a second reading, and on.the
30th to a third, with large majorities 'in each stage of
debate. Out of 320 members who voted on the final
reading, 178 were in its favor. On the 31st of March it
was carried to the Lords by Mr. Peel, and instantly read
a first time ; and two days later, (on the 2d of April,) it
was read a second time, on motion of the Duke of Wel
lington: a bitterly contested debate of three days fol
lowed. On the 10th, jt was read a third time, and passed
by a majority of 104.
On the 13th of April the bill received the royal assent.
It was hailed in Ireland with acclamations, but the merit
of it was chiefly given to the association founded in
1823, and conducted with so much energy during six
years by O'Connell and his coadjutors.
By this bill, both houses of Parliament and all judicial
offices were thrown open to Catholics — the power of
altering, or making, and of administering laws. The
bill of 1778 had recognized the right of Catholics to
possess property ; the bill of 1793 had given them the
franchise and partial freedom of instruction ; the bill of
1829 gave them legislative and judicial power. The
freedom of the municipalities, the commutation of tithes,
and the abolition of the proselytizing schools, followed
the admission of the Catholics into the next ensuing
Parliament! * Rev. G. Croly's Life of George IV. ,,
t In August, 1832, was first proposed Mr.- Stanley's commutation
tithe act, which reduced and reformed the impost, and became law in

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 335 '
But this emancipation was still imperfect; it did not
legalize the religious orders; it expressly forbade the
bishops taking the tithes of their sees, and it was accom
panied by another act, disfranchising the " forty shilling
freeholders," and limiting the qualification for voters in
Ireland to twelve pound holdings. It was a victory, but
it had its cost.
It also expressly excluded O'Connell, who, however,
was soon reelected, and on the first day of the session of
1830, took his seat in the house. Excepting King
James's Parliament, he was the first Catholic for above
two centuries who had been permitted to exercise the
functions of, a legislator at Westminster. The death of ~
George IV, in 1830, occasioned a general election ; and
Shiel, Wyse, O'Dwyer, Lawless, Ronayne, and above
forty other emancipators, followed their chief into the
councils of the empire. Of tbeir course of conduct there
we leave others to speak. Our present narrative does not
extend to the recent records ofthe imperial Parliament.
In the year of our Lord 1830, the Protestant establish
ment, after three centuries of such warfare as we have
witnessed, stood humbled, and conscious of defeat, be
fore the unconquered faith of the Irish nation. Wonder
ful result of God's grace, aiding and sustaining a weak
people ! Lesson of lessons to the pride and ambition of
heresy backed by temporal power !
In 1830, the Catholics in Ireland were over six million
souls,* having twenty-six bishops and nearly three thou
sand priests. Their national college was overcrowded
with pupils free to come and go. Every diocese had its
seminary, and more than half the parishes had good
November, 1834. The parsons were terribly annoyed by the new com
mutation act ; they, announced their miseries, and proclaimed aloud then-
starving condition ; nay, so far did they carry this beggar's opera or farce,
that they actually petitioned the treasury for a loan of one million
pounds sterling, to save them from utter destitution. — O' Connett and
his Friends.
* By the census of 1834, the exact numhers are — Roman Catholics,,
six milling two hundred and eighty-seven thousand ; Protestants of the
established church, eight hundred and fifty-two thousand ; Presbyterians,
six hundred and forty-two thousand ; making in all nearly eight millions
of souls.

336 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
schools.* They had repurchased a third ofthe real prop
erty of the country, and were growing on the sectarian
proprietary ; they stood equal to the favored disciples of
the state, in law, physic, and human learning. They
were represented at the press, on the bench, and in Par
liament As the mass cave and the stone altar gave
way to barn chapels, so these, in turn, disappeared in the
shadows of new and stately imitations of the old temples
of the island.
Abroad, the terms Irishman and Catholic were synon
ymous. An Irish Protestant was looked on as a rare
man, a curiosity, a contradiction, a paradox.
The Anglicans in Ireland, at the same period, were
about three quarters of a million — the Presbyterians a
little over half. Taken together, they were to the Cath
olics rather less than one in seven. Such was the final
result, after all the wars, confiscations, famines, proscrip
tions, penalties, executions, endowments, and proselytism
which we have traced through the reigns of twelve Prot
estant sovereigns.
At the close of its third century, Protestantism in Ire
land, though stripped of its early supremacy, was still rich
in mere revenues. " It is on record," says an intelligent
author, "that three bishops, in fifteen years, left seven
hundred thousand pounds to their families. ,A bishop
of Clogher went to Ireland without a shilling, and after
eight years died worth four hundred thousand pounds.
The Bishop of Cloyne, who died in 1826, left one hun
dred and twenty thousand pounds to his children."
" By the probates at Doctors' Commons, it appeared,
in 1828, that the personal property of twenty-four bish-
* At a meeting in -Leitrim in 1826, Father Maguire said, "There
were five schools in my parish, under the plan of the Hibernian School
Society. I warned the people not to send their children to them, and at
the same time set a subscription on foot, by collecting a penny a week
from some, and a halfpenny a week from others, and paying five guin
eas a year myself. I was able to establish eight schools in their stead.
They are now open to public inspection, and I would venture to say, that
the children improve faster and make a greater progress in learning than
any of those in the Hibernian schools. "

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND.

337

ops, who had died within the preceding twenty years,
amounted to the enormous sum of one million six hun
dred and forty-nine thousand pounds — an average of
nearly seventy thousand pounds for each bishop. This
was the sworn value of the personal property only, and
some of the bishops are known to have had very large
possessions in real property.
" Nor have they been at all particular as to the mode
of amassing their wealth. The Earl of Bristol, when
Bisbop of Derry, realized four thousand pounds a year,
by the ingenious practice of buying up old church leases,
holden under himself, and granting new ones for fines,
of course, considerably larger than the sums he thus
paid." *

* Book of the Poor Man's Church. From another English publica
tion, we select a few figures in relation to the same period of time. >
" Mr. Grattan, on the 12th of July, 1842, produced in the House of
Commons, in a debate touching this subject, the following extracts from
the probate of wills in Ireland for some years previous. It appears that
Fowler, Archbishop of Dublin, left, at his death, . £150,000
Beresford, Archbishop of Tuam, ..... 250,000
Agar, Archbishop of Cashel, . ... 400,000
Stopford, Bishop of Cork, ...... 25,000
Percy, Bishop of Dromore, .... 40,000
Cleaver, Bishop of Ferns, . . . 50,000
Bernard, Bishop of Limerick,  60,000
Porter, Bishop of Clogher,  250,000
Hawkins, of Raphoe,  250,000
Knox, of Killaloe  - • 100,000

Total, . ... £1,575,000"'
From the publication already quoted we select trie following statistics,
in proof of the rapacity of the Anglo-Irish church : —
" There are benefices in the Irish Church, . . . 1,556
One of which (in the county of Down) is worth per an., £2,800
Ten between ....
Twenty,
Twenty-three,Forty- eight,
Seventy-four, ....
One hundred and forty-eight,
' Four hundred and eighty-one,
Three hundred and eighty-six,
Four hundred and sixty-five, .
Number of acres,
" If we estimate the acres," continues our authority, " at £1 per acre, it
on

£2,000

and 2,600

1,500

« 2,000

. 1,200

" 1,500

1,000

" 1,200

. 800

" 1,000

600

" 800

. 400

600

300

400

30

200

669,257

338 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
The college and bishops' lands granted in the old con
fiscations were another* source of ecclesiastical revenue,
valued, at some hundreds of thousands per annum.
Of the internal arrangement of the Irish church Dr.
Doyle gave, in 1825, the following answers to the com
mittee of Parliament : —
" What are the different degrees in the Roman Cath-
" olic church in Ireland ? — The degrees are, an arch-.
" bishop, a bishop, and where there is a chapter, it consists
" of a dean with some other dignitaries and prebends.
" What other kind of dignitaries ? — Chancellors, pre-
" centers, and so forth ; the same dignitaries precisely as
" those of the chapters of the establishment Next come
" the parish priests, and then their curates. Besides
" those, each bishop has one or two vicars -general, and
" also as many rural deans as the necessity or extent of
" the diocese may see^m to him to require.
" Have you any idea of the actual number of parish
" priests, and coadjutors in Ireland ? — I believe the num-
" ber of parish priests is about one' thousand, and, at an
" average, I should suppose that each of them has a.
"coadjutor: in some parishes the parish priest has no
" coadjutor; in others the parish priest may have two.
" Are not the parishes in the Roman Catholic church,
" generally speaking, the same as those in the Protes-

will yield £660,257 fpr the bishops' lands alone. There are also 13,603,473
acres of land subject to tithe, all of which is a grievous tax upon the
poor, either in the shape of rent charges or otherwise.
" The report of the commissioners states that, in Ireland there are one
hundred and fifty-one parishes having no member of the church of England,
and eight hundred and sixty parishes having less than seventy-seven
Protestants. '" Parliamentary grants since the Union in 1800, in Ireland : —
For building Protestant churches, . . . £525,371
For building glebe houses  336,889
For Protestant charity schools, ' . . . . 1,105,867
For Church Society to discountenance vice, . - . 101,991
For Kildare Place Society, . . . • 170,502

Total,  £2,240^20"
The Black Book for 1844.

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 339
"tent?— I might say generally so, but not universally,
" by any means. J
" Are there various unions of parishes in the Catholic
" church? — Yes.
" You mentioned that in filling up vacancies in par-
" ishes, the bishops selected those of their diocese whom
"" they thought the most deserving : do you mean to say
" they never go out of the diocese to select ?— They have
" a power of doing so, but I have not known any case
" wherein they have exercised that power. I should not
" consider myself at liberty to go out of the diocese
" where I live, because the clergymen officiating within
" the diocese consider, and I also consider, that they
" have a right to such livings as may happen to become
" vacant ; so that to bring in a stranger, and exclude
" them, would, in my mind, be unjust.
"Js there a chapter in, your diocese? — There is no
" chapter in my diocese.
" Are there chapters in many of the Catholic dioceses*?
" — There are.
" Does the bishop name to the offices in the chapter ?
" — To all offices except to that of dean.
" Who names to that of dean ? — The pope appoints
" to the office of dean."*
In the same evidence he explained how the parish
priests elected three candidates for each vacant bishopric,
from whom the pope habitually selected one to fill the
office. He also stated that the average income of the
parish priests, from voluntary subscriptions, was about
three hundred pounds per year ; which, in the aggregate,
would be less than one fifth of the income of the estab
lishment The same proportion holds as to means of
education : Trinity College receives from public sources
tenfold thfrincome of Maynooth.
The amount of special Parliamentary grants for church
building, repairing, and other purposes, is almost incal
culable. During the last forty years, the dioceses of
* At the census of 1841, there were in Ireland 2361 priests, 138 con
vents, including the four orders, and 13 colleges.

340 ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH THE
Tuam and Killala alone have received above seven
million dollars of public money, for the spiritual guardian
ship of whom there is " church accommodation " only for
seven thousand one hundred and thirty souls.*
No figures of arithmetic or of- speech can express this -
contrast between Catholicity and Protestantism in Ire
land. The one was stripped naked, scourged, crowned
with thorns, crucified — the other imperial, clothed in
gold and jewels, armed with life and death to the body,
victorious in battle, deadly in revenge. Catholicity de
scends into the tomb, to arise again glorified and immor
tal; while Protestantism, like Herod, sits on its throne
in gloomy grandeur, powerful to destroy, but incapable
of the conquest of a -single pious soul. The contrast, -
old as the -cross, of the church and the world, in no
modern nation is so boldly defined as in England and
Ireland. The martyr age of the Irish church has come upon it
the last. Its first centuries were illumined with a mul
titude of mild lights, burning in an atmosphere of peace.
The doctors preceded the martyrs. 'Now, not alone the
foundations, but the finished edifice, in every part, has
been soaked and cemented with the blood of devoted
* See A Letter to the Hon. A. Kinnaird, Treasurer of the Mary-le-bone
and Paddington Auxiliary Society for Church Missions, to the Roman
Catholics of Ireland. By William Shee, Esq., Serjeant-at-Law. Burns
& Lambert, 1852. This Letter contains much curious and valuable
statistical information on the Anglican establishment in Ireland.
In his speech on the Maynooth grant, in the session of 1852, Mr.'
Vicent Scully, M. P. for Cork, adduced the following facts, which were
not disputed : " The church titles of Ireland were stated by Mr. Leslie
Foster to be about six hundred thousand pounds a year, and the lands
belonging to the bishops of Ireland to about nine hundred and ninety-
nine thousand pounds, independent of other church lands. So that all
the landed property connected with the Irish church establishment, in
cluding its college lands, are at least a million of acres. The entire reve
nue, direct and indirect, of the established church in Ireland, cannot
be estimated much under two millions a year ; and if you add to this
enormous sum rather more than a million a year for the cost of maintain
ing an extra force of police and military, it will be seen that you require
for the support of the established church in Ireland a sum of not less,
in round numbers, than three millions a year, in order to provide spirit
ual food for the six hundred thousand of the comparatively rich Protes
tants of Ireland."

PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 341
priests and laymen. From side to side, the Irish -soil
bears the red cross upon its bosom, traced there by the
perpetual sacrifice of life which has followed all the vain
attempts to establish the reformation.
That good God, who denied our fatherland domestic
peace, has consecrated ller to a holy war, glorioQs, though
sorrowful. Our Lord has suffered; the saints have
suffered ; Ireland has suffered. If nations could be can
onized, she might well claim the institution of the
process. O reader, whose eyes are on this page, if, haply, you
are of the race that has suffered most for God, I beseech
you, as a true friend, reflect well on your own concerns.
Where do you stand? What do you seek? Riches,
success, and worldly honors were with the Elizabeths,
Cromwells, and Williams, whom your fathers so stoutly
opposed. The Persecutor and the Puritan are gone. Your
Catholic ancestors are also dead. With which of these
do you desire your soul may be everlastingly? If with
your fathers, then ( be like your fathers — firm in the
faith, even unto death. So may your souls hasten to
rejoin their souls, where "the wicked cease from trou
bling and the weary are at rest."
29*

APPENDIX.

NO. I.

THE CIVIL AND MILITARY ARTICLES ~OF
LIMERICK.
Exactly printed from the Letters Patents ; wherein they are
ratified and exemplified by their Majesties, under the
Great Seal of England.
GoHEi-ivnjs et Maria, Dei gratia Anglise, Scotia?, Franciae, et
Hiberniae Rex et Regina, Fidei Defensores, &c. Omnibus ad quos
proecentes literas nostra pervenerint salutem : inspeximus irrotulument.
quarund. literarum patentium de confirmatione, geren. dat. apud
Westmonasterium vicesimo quarto die Februarii, ultimi praeteriti in can-
cellar, nostr. irrotulat. ac ibidem de recordo remanen. in haec verba.
William and Mary, by the grace of God, &c. To all to whom these pres
ents shall come, greeting. Whereas certain articles, bearing date the
third day of October last past, made and agreed on between our jus
tices of our kingdom of Ireland, and our general of our forces there on
the one part ; and several officers there, commanding within the city of
Limerick, in our said kingdom, on the other part. Whereby our said
justices and general did undertake that we should ratify those articles,
within the space of eight months, or sooner ; and use their utmost en
deavors that the same should be ratified and confirmed in Parliament.
The tenor of which said articles is as follows, viz : —

ARTICLES
Agreed upon the third day of October, one thousand six hundred and
ninety-one,
Between the Right Honorable Sir Charles Porter, Knight, and Thomas
Coningsby, Esq., Lords Justices of Ireland ; and his Excellency the
Baron de Ginckle, Lieutenant General, and Commander-in-Chief of
the English Army, on the one part :
And the Right Honorable Patrick Earl of Lucan, Piercy, Viscount Gall-
moy, Colonel Nicholas Puree!, Colonel Nicholas Gusack, Sir Toby

344 APPENDIX.
Butler, Colonel Garret Dillon, and Colonel John Brownson the other
part:
In the behalf of the Irish inhabitants in the City and County of Lim
erick, the counties of Clare, Kerry, Cork, Sligo, and Mayo.
In consideration of the Surrender of the City of Limerick, and other
Agreements made between the said Lieutenant General Ginckle, the
Governor of the City of Limerick, and the Generals of the Irish
army, bearing date with these Presents, for the Surrender of the
City, and Submission of the said Army : it is agreed, that,
I. The Roman Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privi
leges in the exercise of tlteir religion, as are consistent with the laws of
Ireland ; or as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles the Second :
and their majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon
a Parliament in this kingdom, will endeavor' to procure the said Roman
Catholics such farther security in that particular, as may preserve them
from any disturbance upon the account qf their said religion.
II. All the inhabitants or residents of Limerick, or any other garri
son now in the possession of the Irish, arid all officers and soldiers now
in arms, under any commission of King James, or those authorized by
him, to grant the same in the several counties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry,
Cork, and Mayo, or any of them ; and all the commissioned officers in
their majesties' quarters, that belong to the Irish regiments, now in be
ing, that are treated with, and who are not prisoners of war, or have
taken protection, and who shall return and submit to their majesties'
obedience ; and their and every of their heirs, shall hold, possess,
and enjoy, all and every their estates of freehold and inheritance ; and
all the rights, titles and interest, privileges and immunities, which they,
and every or any of them held, enjoyed, or were rightfully and lawfully
entitled to in the reign of King Charles II., or at any time since, by the
laws and statutes that were in force in the said reign of King Charles
II., and shall be put in possession, by order of the government, of such
. of them as are in the king's hands, or the hands of his tenants, with
out being put to any suit or trouble therein ; and all such estates shall -
be freed and discharged from all arrears of crown rents, quit rents,
and other public charges, incurred and become due since Michaelmas,
1688, to the day of the date hereof: and all persons comprehended in
this article shall have, hold, and enjoy all their goods and chattels, real
and personal, to them, or any of them belonging, and remaining either
in their own hands, or in the hands of any persons whatsoever, in trust
for, or for the use of them, or any of them : and all, and every tbe said
persons, of what profession, trade or calling soever they be, shall and
may use, exercise, and practice their several and respective profes
sions, trades, and callings, as freely as tbey did use, exercise, and enjoy
the same in the reign of King Charles II. : provided that nothing in this
article contained be construed to extend to, or restore any forfeiting
person now out of the kingdom, except what are hereafter comprised ;
provided also, that no person whatsoever shall have or enjoy the 'bene
fits of this article, that shall neglect or refuse to take the oath of alle-

appendix. 345
giance,* made by act of Parliament in England, in the first year ofthe
reign of then- present majesties, when thereunto required. -
III. All merchants, or reputed merchants, of the city of Limerick
or of any other garrison now possessed by tlie Irish, or of any town or
place in the counties of Clare or Kerry, who are absent beyond the
seas, that have not borne arms since their majesties' declaration in
t ebruary, 1688, shall have the benefit of the second article, in fhe same
manner as if they were present ; provided such merchants, and reputed
merchants, do repair into this kingdom within tbe space of eight months
from the date hereof.
o IV," Tli\ following officers, viz., Colonel Simon Lutterel, Captain
Rowland White, Maurice Eustace of Yermanstown, Chieveas of Mays-
town, commonly called Mount Leinster, now belonging to the regiments
in the aforesaid garrisons and quarters of the Irish army, who were
beyond the seas, and sent thither upon affairs of their respective regi
ments, or the army in general, shall have the benefit and advantage of
the second article, provided they return hither within the space of eight
months from tbe date of these presents, and submit to their majesties'
government, and take the above-mentioned oath.
V. That all and singular the said persons comprised in the second
and third articles, shall have a general pardon of all attainders, out
lawries, treasons, misprisions of treason, premunires, felonies, trespasses,
and other crimes and misdemeanors whatsoever, by them, or any of
them, committed since the beginning of the reign of King James II. ;
and if any "of them are attainted by Parliament, the lords justices and
general will use their best endeavors to get the same repealed by Par
liament, and the outlawries to be reversed gratis, all but writing-clerk's
fees. VI. And whereas these present wars have drawn on great violences
on both parts ; and that if leave were given to the bringing all sorts of
private actions, the animosities would probably continue that have been
too long on foot, and the public disturbances last : for the quieting and
settling therefore of this kingdom, and avoiding those inconveniences
which would be the necessary consequence of the contrary, no person
or persons whatsoever, comprised in the foregoing articles, shall be
sued, molested, or impleaded at the suit of any party or parties what
soever, for any trespasses by them committed, or for any arms, horses,
money, goods, chattels, merchandises, or provisions whatsoever, by them
seized or taken during the time of the war. And no person or persons
whatsoever, in the second or third articles comprised, shall be sued, im
pleaded, or made accountable for the rents or mean rates of any lands,
tenements, or houses, by him or them received, or enjoyed in this king
dom, since the beginning of the present war to the day of the date
hereof, nor fbr any waste or trespass by him or them committed in any
such lands, tenements, or houses ; artd it is also agreed, that this article
shall be mutual and reciprocal on both sides.
* I, A. jB.,«lo sincerely promise and swea»i that I will be faithful, and bear
true allegiance to their majesties King William and Queen Mary. So help
me God.

346 appendix. *
VII. Every nobleman and gentlenfen comprised in the said second
and third articles, shall have liberty to ride with a sword and case of
pistols, if they think fit ; and keep a gun in their houses, for the de
fence of the same, or for fowling.
VIII. The inhabitants and residents in the city of Limerick, and
other garrisons, shall be permitted to remove their goods,xchattels, and
provisions out of the same, without being viewed and searched, or pay
ing any manner of duties, and shall not be compelled to leave the
houses or lodgings they now have, for the space of six weeks next en
suing the date hereof.
IX. The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as sub
mit to their majesties' government shall be the oath abovesaid, and no
other. X. No person or persons who shall at any time hereafter break these
articles, or any of them, shall thereby make, or cause any other person
or persons to forfeit or lose the benefit of the same.
XI. The lords justices and general do promise to use their utmost
, endeavors, that all the persons comprehended in the above-mentioned
articles, shall be' protected and defended from all arrests and execu
tions for debt or damage, for the space of eight months next ensuing
the date hereof.
XII. Lastly, the lords justices and general do undertake that
their majesties will ratify these articles within the space of eight
months, or sooner, and use their utmost endeavors that the same shall
be ratified and confirmed in Parliament.
XIII. And whereas Colonel John Brown stood indebted to several
Protestants, by judgments of record, which appearing to the late gov
ernment, the Lord Tyrconnel and Lord Lucan took away the effects
the said John Brown had to answer the said debts, and promised to
clear the said John Brown of the said debts ; which effects were taken
for the public use of the Irish, and their army : for freeing the said
Lord Lucan 'of his said engagement, past on their public account, for
payment of the said Protestants, and for preventing the ruin of the said
John Brown, and for satisfaction of his creditors, at the instance of
the Lord Lucan, and the rest of the persons aforesaid, it is agreed, that
the said lords justices and the said Baron De Ginckle shall inter
cede with the king and Parliament to have the estates secured to Ro
man Catholics, by articles and capitulation in this kingdom, charged
with, and equally liable to the payment of so much of the ' said debts
as the said Lord Lucan, upon stating accounts with tlie said John
Brown, shall certify under his hand that the effects taken from the said
Brown amount unto ; which account is to be stated, and the balance
certified by the said Lord Lucan in one and twenty days after the date
hereof. For the true performance hereof, we have hereunto set our hands :
Present, Scravenmore, Char. Porter,
H. Maccat, Thos. Coningsby,
T. Talmash, Bar. De Ginckle.

appendix. 347
And whereas tlie said city of Limerick hath been since, in pursuance
ofthe said articles, surrendered unto us. Now know ye, that we, hav
ing considered of the said articles, are graciously pleased hereby to
declare, that we do for us, our heirs, and successors, as far as in us lies,
ratify and confirm the same, and every clause, matter, and thing therein
contained. And as to such parts thereof, for which an act of Parliament
shall be found to be necessary, we shall recommend the same to be
made good by Parliament, and shall give our royal assent to any bill or
bills that shall be passed by our two houses of Parliament to that pur
pose. And whereas it appears unto us, that it was agreed between the
parties to the said articles, that after the words Limerick, Clare, Kerry,
Cork, Mayo, or any of them, in the second of the said articles, the
words following, viz., " And all such as are under their protection in
the said counties," should be inserted, and be part of the said articles.
Which words having been casually omitted by the writer, the omission
was not discovered till after the said articles were signed, but was taken
notice of before the second town was surrendered : and that our said
justices and general, or one of them, did promise that the said clause
should be made good, it being within the intention of the capitulation,
and inserted in the foul draft thereof. Our further will and pleasure is,
and we do hereby ratify and confirm the said omitted words, viz., " And
all such as are under their protection in the said counties," hereby for
us, our heirs and successors, ordaining and declaring, that all and every
person and persons therein concerned, shall and may have, receive, and
enjoy the benefit thereof, in such and the same manner, as if the said
words had been inserted in their proper place, in the said second article ;
any omission, defect, or mistake in the said second article, in any wise
notwithstanding. Provided always, and our will and pleasure is, that
these our letters patents shall be enrolled in our court of chancery, in
our said kingdom of Ireland, within the space of one year next ensuing.
In witness, &c, witness ourself at Westminster, the twenty-fourth day
of February, anno regni' regis et reginea Gulielmi et Marise quarto
per breve de private sigillo. Nos autem tenorem premissor. predict.
Ad requisitionem attornat. general, domini regis et dominas reginsa
pro regno Hibernia?. Duximus exemplificand. per presentes. In cujus
rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Testibus
nobis ipsis apud Westmon. quinto die Aprilis, annoq. regni eorum quarto.
- BRIDGES.
Examinat. $ S. Keck, ) In Cancel.
per nos ( Lacon Wm, Chime. S Magistros.

348 APPENDIX.

MILITARY ARTICLES
Agreed upon between the Baron de Ginckle, Lieutenant General and
Commander-in-Chief of the English Army, on the one side ;
And the Lieutenant Generals De Ussoon and De Tesse, Commanders-
in-Chief of the Irish Army, on the other ; and the General Officers
hereunto subscribing.
I. That all persons, without any exceptions, of what quality or
condition soever, that are willing to leave the kingdom of Ireland, shall
have free liberty to go to any country beyond fhe seas, (England and
Scotland excepted,) where they think fit, with their families, household
stuff, plate, and jewels.
- II. That all general officers, colonels, and generally all other officers
of horse, dragoons, and footguards, troopers, dragooners, soldiers of
all kinds that are in any garrison, place, or post, now in the hands of
the Irish, or encamped in the counties of Cork, Clare, and Kerry; as
also those called Rapparees, or volunteers, that are willing to go beyond
seas as aforesaid, shall have free leave to embark themselves wherever
the ships are that are appointed to transport them, and to come in whole
bodies as they are now composed, or in parties, companies, or otherwise;
without having any impediment, directly or indirectly.
III. That all persons above mentioned, that are willing to leave
Ireland and go to France, shall have leave to declare it at the times and
places hereafter mentioned, viz., the troops in Limerick, on Tuesday
next in Limerick, the horse at their camp on Wednesday, and the
other forces that are dispersed in the counties of Clare, Kerry, and
Cork, on the 8th instant, and on none other, before Monsieur Tarfteron,
the French intendant," and Colonel Withers ; and after such declaration
is made, the troops that will go into France must remain under the
command and discipline of their officers that are to conduct them
thither ; and deserters of each side shall be given up, and punished ac
cordingly, i
IV. That all English and Scotch officers that serve now in Ireland
shall be included in this capitulation, as well for the security of their
estates and goods in England, Scotland, and Ireland, (if they are willing
to remain here,) as for passing freely into France, or any other country
to serve.
V. That all the general French officers, the intendant, the engineers,
the commissaries at war, and of the artillery, the treasurer, and other
French officers, strangers, and all others whatsoever, that are in Sligo,
Ross, Clare, or in the army, or that do trade "or commerce, or are other
wise employed in any kind of station or condition, shall have free
leave to pass into France, or any other country, and shall have leave
to ship themselves, with all their horses, equipage, plate, papers, and all
their effects whatever ; and that General Ginckle will order passports
for them, convoys, and carriages, by land and water, to carry them safe
from Limerick to the ships where they shall be embarked, without pay-

APPENDIX. 349
ing any filing for the said carriages, or to those that are employed
therein, with their horses, cars, boats, and shallops.
VI. , That if any of the aforesaid equipages, merchandise, horses,
money, plate, or other movables, or household stuff belonging to the
said Irish troops, or to the French officers, or other particular persons
whatsoever, be robbed, destroyed, or taken away by the troops of the
said general, the said general will order it to be restored, or payment
to be made according to the value that is given in upon oath by the per
son so robbed or plundered : and the said Irish troops to be transported
as aforesaid ; and all other persons belonging to them are to observe
good order in their march and quarters, and shall restore whatever they
shall take from the country, or make restitution for the same.
VII. That to facilitate the transporting the said troops, the general
will furnish fifty ships, each ship's burden two hundred tons, for which
the persons to be transported shall not be obliged to pay ; and twenty
more, if there shall be occasion, without their paying for them : and if
any of the said ships shall be of lesser burden, he will furnish more in
number to countervail ; and also give two men-of-war to embark the
principal officers, and serve for a convoy to the vessels of burden.
VIII. That a commissary shall be immediately sent to Cork to visit
the transport ships, and what condition they are in for sailing ; and that,
as soon as they are ready, the troops to be transported shall march
with all convenient speed, the nearest way, in order, to embark there ;
and if there shall be any more men to be transported than can be car
ried off in the said fifty ships, the rest shall quit the English town of
Limerick, and march to such quarters as shall be appointed for them,
convenient for their transportation, where they shall remain till the other
twenty ships be ready, which are to be in a month ; and may embark
on any French ship that may come in the mean time.
IX. That the said ships shall be furnished with forage for horse, and
all necessary provisions to subsist the officers, troops, dragoons, and
soldiers, and all other persons that are shipped to be transported into
France ; which provisions shall be paid for as soon as all are disem
barked at Brest or Nantz, upon the coast of Brittany, or any other port
of France they can make.
X. And to secure the return of the said ships (the danger of the
seas excepted) and payment for the said provisions, sufficient hostages
shall be given.
XI. That the garrisons of Clare Castle, Ross, and all other foot
that are in garrisons in the counties of Clare, Cork, and Kerry, shall
have the advantage of this present capitulation ; and such part of those
garrisons as design to go beyond seas- shall march out with their arms,
baggage, drums beating, ball in mouth', match lighted at both ends, and
colors flying, with all' the provisions and half the ammunition that is
in the said garrisons, and join the horse that march to be transported ;
or if then there is not shipping enough for the body of foot that is to be
next transported after the horse, General Ginckle will order that they
be furnished with carriages for that purpose, and what provisions they
shall want in their march, they paying for the said provisions, or else
that they may take it out of their own magazines.

350 APPENDIX.
XII. That all the troops of horse and dragoons that are in the
counties of Cork, Kerry, and Clare, shall also have the benefit of this
capitulation ; and that such as will pass into France shall have quarters
given them in the counties of Clare and Kerry, apart from the troops
that are commanded by General Ginckle, until they can be shipped ;
and within their quarters they shall pay for every thing, except forage
and pasture for their horses, which shall be furnished gratis.
XIII. Those of the garrison of Sligo.that are joined to the Irish
army shall have the benefit of this capitulation ; and orders shall be
sent to them that are to convey them up, to bring them hither to Lim
erick the shortest way.
XIV. The Irish may haye liberty to transport nine .hundred horse,
including horses for the officers, which shall be transported gratis ; and
as for the troopers that stay behind, they shall dispose of themselves as
they shall think fit, giving up their horses and arms to such persons as
the general shall appoint.
XV. It shall be permitted to those tnat are appointed to take care
for the subsistence of the horse, that are willing to go into France, to
buy hay and corn at the king's rates wherever they can find it, in the
quarters that are assigned for them, without any let or molestation, and
to carry all necessary provisions out of the city of Limerick ; and for
this purpose, the general will furnish convenient carriages for them to
the places where they shall be embarked.
XVI. It shall be lawful to make use of the hay preserved in the
stores of the county of Kerry for the horses that shall be embarked ;
and if there be not enough, it shall be lawful to buy hay and oats
wherever it shall be found, at the king's rates.
XVII. That all prisoners of war, that were in Ireland the 28th of
September, shall be set at liberty on both sides ; and the general prom
ises to use his endeavors, that those that are in England and Flanders
shall be set at liberty also.
XVIII. The general will cause provisions and medicines to be
furnished to the sick and wourfded officers, troopers, dragoons, and sol
diers of the Irish army, that cannot-pass into France at the first embark-
ment ; and after they are cured, will order them ships to pass into
France, if they are willing to go.
XIX. That at the signing hereof, the general will send a ship ex
press to France ; and that, besides, he will furnish two small ships of
those that are now in the River of Limerick, to transport two persons
into France that are to be sent to give notice of this treaty ; and that
the commanders of the said_ships shall have orders to put ashore at the
next port of France where they shall make.
XX. That all those of the said troops, officers, and others, of what
character soever, that would pass into France, shall not be stopped upon
the account of debt or any other pretext. i
XXI. If, after signing this present treaty, and before the arrival of
the fleet, a French packet boat, or other transport ship, shall arrive from
France in any other part of Ireland, the general will order a passport
not only for such as must go on board the said ships, but to the ships to

APPENDIX. 351
come to the nearest port to the place where the troops to be transported
shall be quartered.
XXII. That after the arrival of the said fleet there shall be free
communication and passage between it and the quarters of the above-
said troops ; and especially for all those that have passes from the
chief commanders of the said fleet, or from Mons. Tameron, the in
tendant. XXIII. In consideration of the present capitulation, the two towns
of Limerick shall be delivered and put into the hands of the general,
or any other person he shall appoint, at the time and days hereafter
specified, viz., the Irish town, except the magazines and hospital, on the
day of the signing of these present articles ; and as for the English
town, it shall remain, together with the island, and the free passsge of
Thomond Bridge, in the hands of those of the Irish army that are now
in the garrison, or that shall hereafter eome from the counties of Cork,
Clare, Kerry, Sligo, and other places above mentioned, until there shaU
be convenience found forvtheir transportation.
XXIV. And to prevent all disorders that may happen between the
garrison that the general shall place in the Irish town, which shall be
delivered to him, and the Irish troopers that shall remain in the English
town and the island, which they may 'do, until the troops to be em
barked on the first fifty ships shall be gone for France, and no longer,
they shall entrench themselves on both sides, to hinder the communi
cation of the said garrisons ; and it shall be prohibited on both sides
to offer any thing that is offensive ; and the parties offending shall be
punished on either side.
XXV. That it shall be lawful for the said garrison to march out all
at once, or at different times, as they can be embarked, with arms, bag
gage, drums beating, match lighted at both ends, bullet in mouth, colors
Hying, six brass guns, such as the beseiged will choose, two mortar pieces,
and half the ammunition that is now in the magazines qf the said place ;
and for this purpose an inventory of all the ammunition in the garrison
shall be made in the presence of any person that the general shall ap
point, the next day after these present articles shall be signed.
XXVI. All the magazines of provisions shall remain in the hands
of those that are now employed to take care of the same, for the sub
sistence of those of the Irish army that will pass into France ; and if
there shall not be sufficient in the stores for the support of the said
troops whilst they stay in this kingdom and are crossing the seas, that,
upon giving up. an account of their numbers, the general will furnish
them with sufficient provisions at the king's rates ; and that there shall
be a free market at Limerick, and other quarters, where the said troops
shall be ; and in case any provision shall remain in the magazines of
Limerick when the town shall be given up, it shall be valued, and the
price deducted out of what is to be paid for the provisions to be fur
nished to the troops on shipboard.
XXVII. That there shall be a cessation of arms at land, as also
at sea, with respect to the ships, whether English, Dutch, or French,
designed for the transportation of the said troops, until they shall be
returned to their respective harbors, and that, on both sides, they shall

352 APPENDIX.
be furnished with sufficient passports both for ships and men ; and if
any sea commander, or captain of a ship, or any officer, trooper, dra
goon, soldier, or any other person, shall act contrary to this cessation,
the persons so acting shall be punished on either side, and satisfaction
shall be made for the wrong that is done ; and officers shall be sent to
the mouth of the River of Limerick to give notice to the commanders
of the English and French fleets of the present conjuncture, that they
may observe the cessation of arms accordingly.
XXVIII. That for the security of the execution of this present ca
pitulation, and of each article therein contained, the beseiged shall give
the following hostages  , and the general shall give  .
XXIX. If before this capitulation is fully executed there happens
any change in the government, or command of the army, which is now
commanded by General Ginckle, all those that shall be appointed to
command the same shall be obliged to observe and execute what is
specified in these articles, or cause it to be executed punctually, and
shall not act contrary on any account.
BARON DE GINCKLE.
October 19.

APPENDIX. 353

NO. II.

THE IEISH LORDS' PROTEST AGAINST THE AGT
" TO CONFIRM THE ARTICLES OP LIMERICK," A. D. 1702.
Resolved on the question, that the engrossed bill sent up by the
Commons, entitled "*An Act for the Confirmation of Articles made at
the Surrender of the City of Limerick," do pass into a law.
Ordered, on motion, that such lords as please may enter their protest
to the last foregoing vote, with their reasons.
We, the lords spiritual and temporal, whose names are hereafter'
subscribed, do dissent from the aforesaid vote, and enter our protest
against the same, for the reasons following : —
1. Because we think the title of the bill doth not agree with the
body thereof, the title being, " An Act for the Confirmation of articles
made at the Surrender of the City of Limerick ; " whereas no one of
the said articles is therein, as we conceive, fully confirmed.
U. Because the said articles were to be confirmed in favor of them
to whom they were granted. But tlie confirmation of them by the bill
is such, that it puts them in a worse condition than they were before, as
"we conceive.
3. Because the bill omits these material words — " and all such as
are under their protection in said counties," which are by his majesty's
letters patent declared to be part of the 2d article, and several persons
have been adjudged within the 2d article by virtue of the aforemen
tioned words ; so that the words omitted, being so very material, and
confirmed b,y his majesty after a solemn debate, as we are informed,
some express reasons, as we conceive, ought to have been assigned in
the bill, in order to satisfy the world as to that omission.
4. Because several words are inserted in the bill which are not in
the articles ; and others omitted, which alter both the sense and mean
ing of some parts of the articles, as we conceive.
5. Because we apprehend that many Protestants may and will suffer
by this bill, in their just rights and pretensions, by reason of their hav
ing purchased and lent money upon the credit of the said articles,
and, as we conceive, in several other respects.
Londonderry, ' JohnOssory, Tyrone,
Thomas Limerick, Duncannon, Thomas Killaloe,
S. Elphin, Kerry, Will. Derry,
Howth, Will. Clonfert, Kingston.
W. Killala, Strabane,
30*

354 APPENDIX.

NO. III.

PETITION AND LIST OF DELEGATES OF
THE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND,
January 2, 1795
Mr. Byrne, Mr. Keogh, Mr. Devereux, Mr. Bellew, and Sir Thomas
French, the gentlemen delegated by the Catholics of Ireland, attended
the levee at St James's, and had the honor to present the humble peti
tion of that body to his majesty, who was pleased to receive it most
graciously. The delegates were introduced by the Right Hon. Henry Dundas,
Secretary of State for the Home Department.
The following is a correct copy ofthe petition: —
To the King's most excellent Majesty: —
The humble petition of the undersigned Catholics, on behalf of
themselves and the rest of his Catholic subjects of the kingdom of
IrelaEhd. Most Gracious Sovereign : We, your majesty's most dutiful and
loyal subjects of your kingdom of Ireland, professing the Catholic re
ligion, presume to approach your majesty, who are the common father
of all your people, and humbly to submit to your consideration the
manifold incapacities and oppressive, disqualifications under which
we labor. /
For, may it please your majesty, after a century of uninterrupted
loyalty, in which time five foreign wars and two domestic rebellions
have occurred ; after having taken every oath of allegiance and fidelity
to your majesty, and given, and being still ready to give, every pledge
which can be devised for their peaceable demeanor and unconditional
submission to the laws, the Catholics of Ireland stand obnoxious to a
long catalogue of statutes, inflicting on dutiful and meritorious subjects
pains and penalties of an extent and severity which scarce any degree
of delinquency can warrant, and prolonged to a period when no neces
sity can be alleged to justify their continuance.
In the first place, we beg leave, with all humility, to represent to
your majesty, that, notwithstanding the lowest departments in your
majesty's fleets and armies are largely supplied by our numbers, and
your revenue in t his country to a great degree supported by our contri
butions, we are disabled from serving your majesty in any office of
trust and emolument whatsoever, civil or military ; a proscription which
disregards capacity or merit ; admits of neither qualification nor degree,
and rests as a universal stigma of distrust upon the whole body of
your Catholic subjects. *
We are interdicted from all municipal stations and the franchise of
all guilds and corporations ; ahd our exclusion from the benefits an
nexed to those situations is not an evil terminating in itself; for, by

APPENDIX. 355
giving an advantage over us to those in whom they are exclusively
vested, they establish, throughout the kingdom, a species of qualified
monopoly, uniformly operating in our disfavor, contrary to the . spirit,
and highly detrimental to the freedom of trade.
We may not found nor endow any university, college, or school, for
the education of our children, and we are interdicted from obtaining
degrees in the University of Dublin by the several charters and stat
utes now in force therein.
We are totally prohibited from keeping or using weapons for the
defence of our houses, families, or persons, whereby we are exposed to
the violence of burglary, robbery, and assassination ; and to enforce
this prohibition, contravening that great original law of nature which
enjoins us to self-defence, a variety of statutes exist, not less grievous
and oppressive in their provisions than unjust in their object : by one
of which, enacted so lately as within these sixteen years, every of your
majesty's Catholic subjects, of whatever rank or degree, peer or peas
ant, is compellable by any magistrate to come forward and convict
himself of what may be thought a singular offence in a country pro
fessing to be free — keeping arms for .his defence ; or, if he shall re
fuse so to do, may incur not only fine and imprisonment, but the vile
and ignominious punishment of the pillory and whipping — penalties
appropriated to the most infamous malefactors, and more terrible to a
liberal mind than death itself.
No Catholic whatsoever, as we apprehend, has his personal property
secure. The law allows and encourages the disobedient and unnatural
child to conform and deprive him of it: the unhappy father does not,
even by the surrender of his all, purchase his repose; he maybe
attacked by new bills, if his future industry be successful, and again
be plundered by due process of la%v.
We are excluded, or may be excluded, from all petit juries in civil
actions, where one of the parties is a Protestant ; and we are further
excluded from all petit juries in trials by information or indictment,
founded on any of the Popery laws, by which law we most humbly
submit to your majesty, that your loyal subjects, the Catholics of Ire
land, are in this, their native land, in a worse condition than that of
aliens, for they may demand an equitable privilege denied to us, of
having half their jury aliens like themselves.
We may not serve on grand juries, unless,, which it is scarcely possi
ble can ever happen, there should not be found a sufficiency of Protes
tants to complete the panel; contrary to that humane and equitable
principle of, the law, which says that no man shall be convicted of any
capital offence, unless by the concurring verdicts of two juries of his
neighbors and equals ; whereby, and to this we humbly presume more
particularly to implore your royal attention, we are deprived of tbe
great palladium of the constitution, trial by our peers, independent of
the manifest injustice of our property being taxed in assessments by
a body from which we are formally excluded.
We avoid a further enumeration of inferior grievances ; but, may it
please your majesty, there remains one incapacity which your loyal
subjects the Catholics of Ireland feel with most poignant anguish of
— :-p. *=• h-i-^r- 'rhr. hBf"ore r.f iramcriteS disgrace wid ignominy, and the

356 APPENDIX.
cause and bitter aggravation of all our other calamities : we are de
prived ofthe elective franchise, to the manifest perversion ofthe spirit
ofthe constitution, inasmuch as your faithful subjects are thereby taxed
where they are not represented, actually or virtually, and bound by
laws, in the framing of which they have no power to give or withhold
their assent; and we most humbly implore your majesty to believe,
that this, our .prime and heavy grievance, is not an evil merely specu
lative, but is attended with great distress to all ranks, and, in many
instances, with the total ruin and destruction of the lower orders of
your majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, the Catholics of Ireland; -for,
may it please your- majesty, not to mention the infinite variety of ad-
* vantages, in point of protection and otherwise, which the enjoyment of
the elective franchise gives to those who possess it, nor the consequent
inconveniences to which those whd- are deprived thereof are .liable, not
to mention the disgrace to three fourths of your loyal subjects of Ire
land of living, the only body of men incapable of franchise, in a nation
possessing a free constitution, it continually happens, and of necessity,
from the malignant nature of the law, must happen, that multitudes of
the Catholic tenantry, in divers counties in this kingdom, are, at the
expiration of their leases, expelled from their tenements and farms, to
make room for Protestant freeholders, who, by their votes, may con
tribute to the weight and importance of their landlords : a circumstance
which renders the recurrence of a general election — that period which
is the boast and laudable triumph of our Protestant brethren — a visita
tion and heavy curse to us, your majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects.
And may it please your majesty, this uncertainty of possession to your
majesty's Catholic subjects operates as a perpetual restraint and dis
couragement on industry and the spirit of cultivation, whereby it hap
pens that this your majesty's kingdom of Ireland, possessing many and
great' natural advantages of soil and climate, so as to be exceeded
therein by few, if any, countries on the earth, is yet prevented from
availing herself thereof so fully as she otherwise might, to the further
ance of your majesty's honor, and the more effectual support of your
service. And may it please your majesty, the evil does' not even rest here;
for many of your majesty's Catholic subjects, to preserve their families
from total destruction, submit to a nominal conformity, against their
conviction and their conscience ; and, preferring perjury to famine,
take oaths which they utterly disbelieve : a circumstance which, we,
doubt not, will shock your majesty's well-known and exemplary piety,
not less than the misery which drives those unhappy wretches to so
desperate a measure must distress and wound your royal clemency and
commiseration. And may it please your majesty, though we might here rest our case
on its own merits, justice, and expediency, yet we further presume
humbly to submit to your majesty, that the right of franchise was, with
divers other rights, enjoyed by the Catholics of this kingdom, from the
first adoption of the English constitution by our forefathers ; was
secured to at least a great part of our body by the treaty of Limerick,
in 1691, guarantied by your majesty's royal predecessors, King William
and Queen Mary, and finally confirmed and ratified by Parliament ; not-

APPENDIX. 357
withstanding which, and in direct breach of the public faith of the
nation, thus solemnly pledged, for which our ancestors paid a valuable
consideration, in the surrender of their arms and a great part of this
kingdom, and notwithstanding the most scrupulous adherence, on our
part, to the terms of the said treaty, and our unremitting loyalty from
that day to the present, the said right of elective franchise was finally
and universally taken away from the Catholics of Ireland, so lately as
the first year of his majesty King George II.
And when we thus presume to submit this infraction of the treaty
of Limerick to your majesty's royal notice, it is not that we ourselves
consider it to be the strong part of our case ; for, though our rights
were recognized, they were by no means created by that treaty ; and
we do, with all humility, conceive, that, if no such event as the said
treaty had ever taken place, your majesty's Catholic subjects, from
their unvarying loyalty and dutiful submission to the laws, and from
the great support afforded by them to your majesty's government in this
country, as well in their personal service in your majesty's fleets and
armies as from the taxes and' revenues levied on their property, are
fully competent and justly entitled to participate and enjoy the bless
ings of the constitution of their country.
And now that we have, with all humility, submitted our grievances
to your majesty, permit us, most gracious sovereign, again to repre
sent our sincere attachment to the constitution, as established in three
estates of King, Lords, and Commons ; our uninterrupted loyalty,
peaceable demeanor, and submission to the laws for one hundred
years ; and our determination to persevere in the same dutiful conduct
which has, under your majesty's happy auspices, procured us those
relaxations of the penal statutes, which the wisdom of the legislature
has from time to time thought proper to grant ; we humbly presume to
hope that your majesty, in your paternal goodness and affection towards
a numerous and oppressed body of your loyal subjects, may be gra
ciously pleased to recommend to your Parliament of Ireland to take
into their consideration the whole of our situation, our numbers, our
merits, and our sufferings ; and, as we do not give place to any of your
majesty's subjects in loyalty and attachment to your sacred person, we
cannot suppress our wishes of being restored to the rights and privi
leges of the constitution of our country, and thereby becoming more
worthy, as well as more capable, of rendering your majesty that ser
vice, which it is not less our duty than our inclination to afford.
So may your majesty transmit to you( latest posterity a. crown
secured by public advantage and public affection ; and .so may your
royal person become, if possible, more dear to your grateful people.
[The above petition is signed by the delegates from the following
counties, cities, and towns, in the kingdom of Ireland.]
John Thomas Troy D. D, Roman } Fof ourgelves and the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin I Cathoiic preiates and clergy
H Moylan D. D, Roman Catholic t rf lnl&n£
Bishop of Cork, j

358

APPENDIX.

Luke Teiling,
Oliver O'Hara,
Bernard O'Neill,
Theo. MacKenna,
Charles Whittingtoir, "
Owen O'Callaghan,
Walter Fitzgerald,"
Edward Butler,
William Finn, Thomas Warren,
Hugh O'Reily,
James Pallas,
Edward Dowell,
Patrick Dowell,
Patrick O'Reilly,
Lawrence Comyn,
James O'Gorman,
Nicholas Mahon,
Daniel O'Connell,
Francis MacMahon, Jr.,
William Coppinger,
John Therry,
Nicholas Francis Coppinger,
D. Rochfort,
Bryan Scheehy,
Edward Byrne,
Dennis Thomas O'Brien,
Richard Dodd,
Daniel MacLaughlin,
Andrew MacShane,
Samuel Norris,
John O'Neill,
John Magenis,
Thomas Savage,
James Kenney,
Patrick Thunder,
Barry Lawless,
Patrick Smith,
Peter Farrell,
Thomas Segrave;
Henry Thunder,
James Kiernan,
Philip Maguire,
Terence Maguire,
Richard Kiernan,
Christopher Dillon Bellew,
Christopher- Bellew,
Thomas French,
Thomas Hussey,
Matthew Moriarty,

For ourselves and the Catholics
of the county of Antrim.
County of Armagh.
County of Carlow.
County of Cavan. i
County of Clare.
County and city of Cork.
County of Donnegal.
County of Down.
/
- County of Dublin.
County of Fermanagh. v
County of Galway.
County of Kerry.

APPENDIX.

359

Thomas Fitzgerald, Jr.,
Charles Aylmer,
John Esmonde,
Christopher Nangle,
James Archbold,
Randel MacDonnell,
Edward Sheil,
Nicholas Devereux,
Patrick Oliver Plunkett,
Francis Bennett,
Myles Keon,
Hugh O'Beirne,
John Keogh,
Robert Dillon,
Bryan Sheehy,
R. Sheehy Keatinge,
Richard MacCormick,
Andrew MacShane,
Richard Dodd,
James Count Nugent,
Christopher Nugent,
Bernard O'Reilly,
Edward MacEvoy,
John Weldon,
Patrick Byrne,
Patrick Russell,
James Joseph MacDonnell,
Edmund Dillon,
Andrew Crean Lynch,
Nicholas Fitzgerald,
Theodore Mahon,
James Nangle,
Bartholomew Barnwall,
Michael Johnson,
Richard Barnewall,
Thomas Ryan M. D.,
Hugh Hamill,
James Carolan,
Bartholomew Clinton,
Daniel Reilly,
Morgan Kavanagh,
James Wan"en,
William Dunne,
Edward Byrne, Jr.,
John Fallen,
James Plunkett,
Owen O'Connor,

• County of Kildare.
> County of Kilkenny.
> King's County.
J. County of Leitrim.
>. County of Limerick.
i County of Londonderry.
County of Westmeath.
> County of Louth.
County of Mayo.

• County of Meath.
County of Monaghan.
Queen's County.
> County of Roscommon.

360

APPENDIX.

Hugh MacDermot, M. D.,
J. Everard,
Patrick Mullarky,
John MacDonogh,
Charles O'Connor,
James Aylward,
Lawrence Smyth,
John Lalor,
Dennis O'Meagher,
Thomas Mahon,
Thomas Richard Geraghty,
Terence O'Neill,
Bernard MacMahon,
John Ball,
John Byrne,
John Fairfield,
Patrick Power,
Bartholomew Rivers,
Richard MacKenna,
John Dillon,
Thomas Kirwan, ,
James Edward Devereaux,
Harvey Hay, ,
Edward Hay,
Edward Sweetman,
Walter Byrne,
Thomas Fitz Simon,
Richard' Doyle,
Patrick Cavenagh,
Peter,Brady, Michael Dardis,
Lattin Fitzgerald,
John Walsh,
John Cormick,
Christopher Teeling, M. D.,
Laurence MacDermott,
John Byrne,
Edward Madden,
Thomas Warren,
Lewis Flanegan,
James Molloy,
Thomas Magan,
Ignatius Weldon,
Thomas Lynch,
Edward Sutton,
William Kearney,
Michael MacCarty,

» County of Sligo.

County of Tipperary.

County of Tyrone.

County and city of Waterford.

Cpunty of Wexford.

County of Wicklow.

¦ County pf Westmeath.'
Town of Carrickfergus.
Town of Armagh.
Town of Inniskillin.
Town of Carlow.
Philliptown. Town of Dundalk.
Town of Trim.
Town of Wexford.

APPENDIX.

361

Francis Arthur,
Jasper White,
Luke Stritch,
George O'Halloran,
William Sweetman,
Charles Young,
John Rivers,
Matthew James Plunkett,
Henry Lynch,
Malachy O'Connor,
Edmund Lynch Athy,
_ Martin F. Lynch,
; James Fitz Simons,
N. LeFavre,
Hugh Leonard,
John Dunn,
James Bird,
Roger Hamill,
Gerald Dillon,
Jeremiah Dwyer,
Simon Kelly,
Mark Dowlin,
James Reilly,
Charles Drumgooie,
Paul Houston,
Philip Sullivan,
Thomas Doran,
James Kelly,
John Donahoe,
Con. Loughmyn,
John Shearman,
John Murphy,
James Dixon,
Joseph Patrick Cahill,
G. Fitzgerald,
John MacLoghlin,
William James MacNeven,
Edward Gedghehan,
Denis Cassin,
Richard Cross,
Patrick Byrne,
Thomas Bourke,
John O'Neill,
Richard Browne,
Gregory Scurlog,
Hubert Thomas Dolphin,
Henry Johnston,
Patrick Byrne,
W. S. Kindelan, 31

¦ City of Limerick.
Clonmell..
> Town of Galway
Carrick on Shannon.
> Town of Castlebar.
Town of Sligo.
> Town of Drogheda.
Town of Cashel.
Town of Athlone.
> Town and lordship of Newry.
> Town of Ermiscorthy.
> Ballyshannon.Town of Carrick on Suir.
> City of Kilkenny.
Dungarvan.
> Town of Athy.
Town of Boyle.
i Navan.
Town of Ballymahon.
Town of Belfast
Town of Athboy. "
Town of Carrickmacross.
Loughrea.
Maryborough.Ardee.

362

APPENDIX.

A. Thompson,
John Esmond,
Joseph Byrne,
Anthony French, '
John Ball, Jr.,
John Duffy,
Christopher Taylor,
Richard Dillon,
" Thomas Kennedy,
Jonathan Lynch,
Thomas Glanan,
James Murphy,
John White,
Lewis Lyons,
Patrick Bean,
Edward Lewines,
A. Daly, M. D.,
Nicholas Elcock,
Simon Maguire,
William Hyland,
Patrick Marsh,
Thomas Reynolds,
John Sweetman,
Michael Boylan,
James Conolly,
Thomas Braughall,
Charles Ryan,
John Ball,
Thomas MacDonnell,
Christopher Kelly,
Patrick Sweetman,
John Sutton,
John Comerford,
Patrick Grehan,
James Ferrall,
WUliam Clark,
John Kearney,
Richard Walsh,
J. G. Kennedy,
John Andrews,

Town of Thurles.
Town of Naas.
Town of Athenry.
Maryborough.Town of Roscrea.
Town of Swords.

City of Dublin.

APPENDIX. 363

NO. IV.
THE POPE'S LETTER ON THE SUBJECT OF
THE VETO.
ADDRESSED TO THE CATHOMC PRELATES OF IRELAND.

TO OUR VENERABLE BROTHERS,
The Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland.
PIUS P. P. VII.
Venerable brothers, health and apostolical benediction. , The peru
sal of your letter, delivered to us by our venerable brothers, Daniel,
Archbishop of Hierapolis, coadjutor of the Archbishop of Dublin, and
John, Bishop of Cork, together with certain ¦ resolutions passed with
your joint concurrence at a synod held in Dublin, on the 23d and 24th
days of August, of the last year, 1815, has impressed our mind with a
deep sense of concern. For we, having openly declared the conditions
to which we could assent, in case the expectation excited by the gov
ernment of granting emancipation should be realized, imagined we had,
as far as in our power lay, remoyed the difficulties which opposed the
emancipation of the Catholics of the kingdom of Great Britain, and, in
a certain degree, had prepared a way for the obtainmen1;of a benefit,
so long and so earnestly looked for. With this hope, and relying on it
with certain confidence, we gave instructions to our venerable brother
Laurence, Bishop of Sabina, cardinal of the holy Roman church, and
prefect of the congregation de Propaganda Fide, to communicate our
sentiments in a letter to our venerable brother the Archbishop of Dub
lin, through whom they might subsequently be made known to your
whole body also, which has been performed by him according to the
instructions received from us. With what pain then do we find it ex
pressly declaredinyour letter, that the expedient which, amongst others,
we signified that we would follow, for satisfying the government of the
loyalty of those to be elected bishops, not only did not meet your ap
probation, but" appeared to you to threaten destruction to the Catholic
religion in 'Ireland ! Wherefore, in conformity with our duty, we de
spatch the present letter to you, for the purpose of effacing from your
minds the not sufficiently well-founded opinion which you appear to en-
.tertain inr regard to the expedient above alluded to. We trust that
God, and our Lord Jesus Christ, whose vicar on earth, though from no
merits of our own, we glory in being, will give from above such force
to our words, that the weighty reasons which we are about to lay be-

364 APPENDIX.
fore you shall so affect your minds as to induce you to lay aside all
anxiety relative to the expedient already stated as approved of by us.
It is necessary, therefore, venerable brothers, that you should bring
distinctly to your recollection the point of the expedient proposed by
us, which has caused you so much fear and anxiety. When it became
incumbent on us to adopt some method by which, after the law granting
emancipation should be passed, the government might be satisfied of the
loyalty of those to be chosen bisbops, of which those at the head of it
entertained very groundless indeed, but very serious apprehensions,
what did we propose ? Was it, that under the obligation of a conven
tion, or by any other mode, or in any other form to be submitted to, per
haps if not strictly eligible, the right of nomination, of presentation, of
postulation, should be granted to government, so that those administer
ing it might dictate to us the names of clergymen to be by us appointed
bishops in that kingdom ? By no means ; for while we strenuously ad
hered to the wise principles of our never-to-be-forgotten predecessor,
Pope Benedict the Fourteenth, relative to the never granting to princes,
not being Catholics, the privilege of nominating to bishoprics or abba
cies, declared by him in a letter written to the Bishop of Breslaw, on
the 15th of May, in the year 1748, we carried our precautions so far,
that we proposed nothing which could with truth be said to convey to
the government a power as to the choice of bishops. We only de
clared that we would grant a certain power of exclusion; and, in
order that the power so given might never be turned into a privilege
of election, we circumscribed it within certain limits, and, as expressly
stated in the letter of Cardinal Litta, already quoted, we announced, that
what we meant to permit was to extend no further than this — " That
those whose province it is may present to the king's ministers the
list of the candidates, in order that if there be amongst them the name .
of any person displeasing to, or suspected by, the government, such
name may be immediately pointed out and erased ; still, however, so
that a sufficient number may remain, from which his holiness may freely
choose whom in the Lord he may judge more fit for presiding over the
vacant sees." This then is what we propose to allow,-in order that
all room for doubt concerning the loyalty of the prelacy should be re
moved from the mind of government. Its sphere of interference will
be, you must perceive, very limited, being confined to this — that it shall
be empowered to erase from the list of candidates to be presented to
this holy see for appointment to vacant bishoprics (which list we al
lowed should be submitted to the king's ministers for that purpose) the
names of any persons whose loyalty may be viewed with suspicion,
still, however, with this stipulation and condition, that, after the erasure
of those names, a sufficient number of candidates shall remain, from
which we, and the popes of Rome, our successors, may freely choose
him whom we shall judge pf all the most worthy of the episcopal rank
and office.
Wherefore, venerable brothers, it is unquestionably evident, that what
we have done amounts only to this : we have agreed to act steadily to
wards the British government, according to the same rule, useful in

APPENDIX. 365
itself, founded in prudence, which our predecessors, the Roman pontiffs,
even before those times when the nomination of bishops was granted to
princes, determined, in their wisdom, to maintain as effectually as might
be ; that is, not to promote to vacant sees any persons whom they might
know to be unpleasing to the powers under whom the dioceses to be
administered by them were situated ; which rule, far from being con
sidered injurious to the church, and far from having brought any evil on
it, is justly approved of and praised by all. For it is founded on a prin
ciple laid down by another of our most illustrious predecessors, St.
Leo the Great,* " that none be ordained bishop without the consent and
postulation of the flock, lest an unwelcome intruder incur its contempt
or hatred." Now, this principle, although literally applicable to the
people only, to whose postulations at that time regard was had in the
election of bishops, must rightfully be extended to princes, the neces
sary circumstances concurring, and even to those who are not in com
munion with us, who, from the nature of their power in temporal af
fairs, have so easily the means of preventing a bishop, who may be the
object of their dislike or suspicion, from the care of the flock commit
ted to his charge.
But you appear to entertain serious apprehensions that, if the power
spoken of be granted, the government may successively erase, from the
, list to be presented to it, the names of those most worthy of the honor
of episcopacy, and by this means compel those who shall have the trans
action of the business to name the clergyman whom it shall judge most
likely to be subservient to its views, and that the destruction of the
Catholic religion may thence take its rise. Observe, however, vener
able brothers, how destitute these your apprehensions are of all reason
and all foundation ; remember that the government which, under other
circumstances, might be suspected of entertaining projects hostile to
the Catholic religion, is the same which by laws, especially those passed
in the years 1773, 1788, 1791, and 1793, repealed a great part of those
penal statutes by which the Catholics of the British empire were so
grievously oppressed ; remember how often your most excellent King
George the Third, and his illustrious son, have extended their protection
to Catholics, and that the British government was amongst the chief of
our supporters in procuring' our return to the pontifical chair, and our
restoration to our ancient independence in the exercise of those spiritual
rights which the hand of violence had wrested from us. Upon what
grounds, therefore, could any one suspect that this same government
entertained a design to destroy that most holy religion, which, by its
favor and protection, it had so often guarded ? N And if certain at
tempts are still made in your island, to the injury of the Catholic reli
gion, these undoubtedly either are the acts of private individuals, or
they will altogether cease, as soon as all laws enacted against Catholics
being repealed, the latter shall be placed on the same footing as other
subjects, and no objection be.further made to the free profession ofthe
Catholic religion.

* Leo Magnus, Ep. 12. Anascap. 5.
Q1 *

366 APPENDIX.
Now, although it were a thing to be apprehended, which to us ap
pears altogether incredible, that the projects of government were
directed to the destruction of the Catholic religion, yet the power which
we declared ourselves willing to grant could never be perverted into
the means of producing -such an effect. For the list in which the
names of the candidates are to be contained will certainly not be made
out by the government, but by the care and attention of those, being
Catholics, who usually propose to this see persons for promotion to the
vacant bishoprics of your kingdom, which Catholics, excelled by none
in their zeal for religion, will insert in their list the names of such ec
clesiastics only as they shall judge best suited for sustaining the weight
of the episcopal dignity ; but government, according to the condition,
which' is, as we have mentioned, to make an essential part of our proposed
concession, shall be allowed to point out for erasure from the list, not
all, but some only of the names proposed, and be bound to leave a suffi
cient number, out of which a free election of one may be made by us.
So that, although some be rejected by government, yet our selection will
still be occupied about such only as, by the suffrage of Catholics, shall
have been judged the most worthy, and therefore inserted in the lists of
candidates, and for this reason it can never happen (provided the con
dition laid down by us be adhered to, from which, if any deviation be
made, the concession itself becomes invalid) that the government, by
excluding many in succession, should, at last, compel the electors to
the choice of one unworthy of the office, and likely to be subservient
to its plans for the destruction of the Catholic religion.
This also, venerable brothers, it is right that you should seriously
advert to, that it was not possible for us to refuse this small interfer
ence in the election of bishops to the British government, without ex
citing, in a serious degree, the displeasure of that government towards
the whole church. It were indeed to be wished, and it is what we of
all others most earnestly desire, that in the election of bishops we en
joyed that full and complete freedom which so peculiarly makes a part
of our supremacy, and that no lay power had any share whatever in a
matter of so much moment. But you yourselves well know how far
we are at present removed from this happy state of things. For the
sovereigns of Europe, or many of them at least, have demanded and
obtained, from the apostolical see, a greater or lesser'share of iiifmence
in the nomination of candidates. And hence have arisen the conven
tions, the indults, the nominations, the poslulaiions, the presentations,
and other expedients of this kind, by which the extent of the privileges
granted in this way to so many Catholic sovereigns is limited and de
fined. Even in your islands, before the ever-to-be-lamented separation
from the Roman church took place, the bishops were chosen by the
pope, upon the supplication of the king, as is recorded in the acts of
the consistory, held on the 6th of July, in the year 1554, during the aus
picious pontificate of Pope Julius the Third.* Besides, not Catholic

* Apul. Raynaldum ad an. 1554, Nos. 5 and 6.

APPENDIX. 367
sovereigns alone, but others also who are separated from our commu
nion, claim a share in the appointment of ecclesiastical persons to
bishoprics, situated in those parts of their dominions which yet adhere
to the Catholic faith ; a claim which this see feels it necessary to sub
mit to.
Such being the state of this momentous question,1 what hope could
there be entertained that the British government would long have sub
mitted to an exclusion from a, share in appointing the bishops of your
island, even such as it has been explained, while a conduct so different
is observed, not only to Catholic sovereigns, to those even whose do
minions are of the smallest extent, but also to princes who do not belong
to our communion ? Was it not to be feared, that, if we had declined
adopting the measure already mentioned, the government would not
only lay aside all intention of granting emancipation to the Catholics,
but withdraw from them all favor and protection throughout the whole
of its so widely-extended dominions ?
Moreover, an additional motive of jealousy must arise in the mind
of government towards us and the Catholic cause from this circum
stance, that the bishops subject to its dominion, being rendered by the
emancipation, supposing it granted, qualified to sit in Parliament, new
precautions might appear necessary to remove all possibility of doubt
concerning their loyalty. We grant, indeed, that no additional pledge
of that loyalty can appear necessary to us, proved as it is by the testi
mony of the experience of so many ages, and the bishops binding
themselves to fidelity and obedience towards the government, by the
obligation of an oath, according to the second of the three forms which
we have proposed ; but how is it to be expected that the government
will consent to relinquish this additional security for the loyalty of the
bishops, which in the case of so many other sovereigns and governments
is fully allowed ? How can it be imagined that the British government
will not conceive itself unfairly treated, by the refusal of this addi
tional security ;' or that it will not derive from it a motive 'of doubting
the loyalty of the Catholics, which unprincipled men are constantly la
boring to bring under suspicion ? Who can believe that the refusal of
even such a return as this for the mighty benefit of emancipation must
not excite deep resentment in the minds of those who are expected to
grant it?
For the prevention, therefore, of those evils which were to be appre
hended on the part of so powerful a government, no other means
appeared to us sufficient but that of agreeing to those rules relative to
tlie election of bishops, which are mentioned in the letter of Cardinal
Litta. /
" Now, with regard to the power which we have expressed an inten
tion of granting, we consider it not only as making part of a fit and
wise arrangement of ecclesiastical affairs, which shal] be at once not
injurious to religion, and a means of averting from it many calamities
otherwise to be feared, but also as a likely motive towards the obtain-
ment of emancipation, which has been a principal inducement with us
to concede it, desirable as that emancipation is to the Catholics, and

368 ' APPENDIX.
attended, as it must be, with a large share of spiritual advantages.
Turn your thoughts, venerable brothers, to this, and consider it with
particular attention, that we, in granting to government the indulgence
so often spoken of, have been influenced by no political or temporal
motives, but induced solely by a consideration of those benefits and
advantages which must flow to the Catholic religion from the repeal of
the penal laws. For under the operation of those laws, whose severity
is to be considered as not falling short of any, even the most grievous
of the persecutions, recorded in the annals of the church, what afflic
tions, what oppressions, was not the Catholic religion subject to in your
islands ? For in Great Britain, as you need not be told, the Catholics
are reduced to an inconsiderable number, while the succession of the
Catholic bishops is in a manner destroyed, a few vicars apostolic alone
remaining ; but in Ireland, although the legitimate succession of the
hierarchy has been preserved inviolate down to the present day, and
although the Irish Catholics have,been ever eminent for a most zealous
attachment to our holy religion, yet their number has been unquestion
ably diminished by the operation of the penal laws, as a multitude of
Irish writers abundantly testify.
That the miserable condition of the Catholics in both islands has
been greatly relieved by the clemency of George III., and the repeal in
Parliament of many of the laws by which they were grievously op
pressed, we grant and acknowledge ; still, as you well know, many yet
remain unrepealed, which press heavily on the Catholics of Ireland, and.
still more on those of England, and from which the evils resulting to
the Catholic religion, under their operation, must, to a certain degree
at least, continue to flow. For which reason the Catholics of England,
almost all, and of Ireland, at least a great number, entertain a most
earnest desire of the total repeal of those laws ; and have, as is known
to all, repeatedly petitioned for such repeal, in the same manner as, in
the early ages of the church, the Christians, making use of St. Justin
and the other apologists to explain their wishes, besought the abroga
tion of the laws enacted against them, which gave rise to the dreadful
persecutions which took place in the Roman empire. It may be allowed
to hope that the day is not far distant when a law corresponding with
the wishes of the Catholics shall be enacted, which, however, be their
right to the obtainment of emancipation what it may, never, certainly,
will pass, without our previously granting the privilege in question.
The weight of those reasons, which we have long and duly, in pro
portion to their high importance, considered, has induced us, after first
hearing the counsel of several of our venerable brothers, cardinals of
the holy Roman church, and examining the opinion of other men, emi
nent for learning and a knowledge of British affairs, to propose the
temperament, so fully explained to you, for the settlement of this
matter. We saw, indeed, that an infringement, to a certain degree,
was thereby made in the discipline of the church, which claims for the '
Roman pontiff a cpjnplete independence in the election of bishops.
But with regard to discipline, who is ignorant that changes may, by the
legitimate authority, be made, in compliance with the circumstances
of things and times ? And this is a principle which our predecessors
have uniformly maintained : as ah instance of which, a noble maxim of

APPENDIX. 369
St. Leo the Great particularly occurs to us, as expressed in a letter to
Rusticus, Bishop of Narbonne : * "As there are certain things which
can on no account be altered, so are there many which from a due
consideration of times, or from the. necessity of things, it may be right
to modify." We had also before our eyes the rule laid down by our
predecessor, Innocent III., who says,f " It is not . to be, considered
blamable if, in consequence of a change of times, a change of human
laws be effected, especially when an urgent necessity, or an evident
utility, -calls for such change." Now, what more powerful reasons, what
more momentous circumstances, could ever be supposed to exist, than
those by which we felt ourselves affected, and which we have not hesi
tated thus to lay before you ? Since, therefore, the privilege offered
by us is in itself harmless, and consistent also with all the rules of
prudence ; since, from our refusal of it, heavy calamities, and, from our
grant of it, the greatest advantages must result to the church, (under
standing by those advantages the emancipation of the Catholics, and the
restoration, in the kingdom of Great Britain, of liberty in all things per
taining to religion,) why should we hesitate ? What motive could
have retarded us from openly declaring our wish to grant the privilege
in question, or from relaxing somewhat from the strictness of ecclesias
tical discipline ? We unquestionably judged that we were bound to
act on this principle, and saw ourselves placed in such a situation, that
we might justly adopt the expressions of our predecessor, Gelasius : X
" We -are compelled, by the inevitable dispensation of things, and by a
due regard to the maxims of government adopted by the apostolical
see, so to weigh the enactment of former canons, so to interpret the
decrees of preceding pontiffs, our predecessors, as, employing all due
and diligent consideration, to regulate, as well as may be, all those
things which the necessity of the present times may require to be re
laxed for the restoration cf the churches."
We, therefore, venerable brothers, entertain no doubt that you all,
having considered and duly -weighed what we have thus set before you,
will acknowledge the measure adopted by us to be most just, and will,
in all respects, conform yourselves to it. Let your hearts glow -with
that zeal for religion with which those truly apostolical men were in
flamed, who labored, with so much solicitude, to recall the Irish nation
from the erroneous celebration of Easter, as practised by them in the
sixth and seventh ages of the church, and at length, by much labor and
many cares, succeeded in establishing in your island the time of cele
bration so strenuously vindicated by our predecessors, Honorius 1.
and John IV. Now, if you shall show yourselves desirous to set an
example of docility to others, and as your wisdom so powerfully enables
you to instruct the people, and allay the rising emotions of their
minds, we are fully persuaded that the benefit of emancipation-
being once granted, the long and stormy periods, during- 'which religion
has suffered a persecution so tedious and so severe, will be followed

* Ep. 167. Edit. Balerin.
t Cap. non debet 3, de consang. et aifinit.
X In Epist. ad Episcopus Lucanio.

370 APPENDIX.
by days of peace, replete with ti-anquillity and all other blessings.
Such days, venerable brothers, our prayers most ardently solicit for
you, entertaining, as we do towards you all, the tenderest feelings of
love and charity, in return for your merits towards the Catholic church,
and for the zeal and reverence you have ever manifested to this apos
tolical see. In pledge whereof, and with the strongest expression of
our dearest regard, we hereby bestow on you, our venerable brothers,
and on the whole Irish people, our apostolical benediction. Dated
Rome, at St. Mary Majors, February 1, 1816, in the sixteenth year of
our pontificate. PIUS P. P. VII.
Agreeable to the manuscript, so far as above .given.
J. Thos. Trot, R. C. of Dublin.

APPENDIX. 371

NO. V.

CAREY'S ANALYSIS OF THE ALLEGED
MASSACRE OF 1641.
From the Vindicia: Hibermcas.
Was there really a Massacre ofthe Protestants in 1641 ?— Unparalleled
Exaggeration. — More Protestants pretended to be killed than there were
on the Island. — Temple. — Rapin. — Hume. — Clarendon. — Conclu
sive Evidence drawn from Sir William Petty. — Carte's and Warner's
Refutation of the Legend.
" Ealsehood and fraud grow up in every soil,
The product of all climes." — Addison.
Although I have already in a former chapter incidentally touched
on the numbers 'said to be massacred by the Irish in the insurrection
of 1641, I think it proper to resume the subject, and go into it some
what more at length, as it is a cardinal point in the vindication I have
undertaken. In order to proceed correctly in the investigation, I shall let the
accusers narrate their own tales, in order to ascertain what is the sum
and substance of the allegations.
" The depopulations in this province qf Munster do well near equal
"those ofthe whole kingdom!!!" — Temple, 103.
" There being, since the rebellion first broke out, unto the time of
" the cessation made September 15, 1643, which was not full two years
" after, above 300,000 British and Protestants cruelly murdered in cold
" blood ! destroyed some other way, or expelled out of their habita-
' tions, according to the strictest conjuncture and computation of those
" who seemed best to understand the numbers of English planted in
" Ireland, besides those few which fell in the heat ofjight during the
" war." — Idem, 6.
" Above 154,000 Protestants were massacred in that kingdom from
"the 23d October to the 1st March following." — Rapin, IX. 343.
" By some computations, those who perished by all these cruelties
" are supposed to be 150 or 200,000. By the most moderate, and
" probably the most reasonable account, they are made to amount to
" forty thousand ! if this estimation itself be not, as is usual in such
" cases, somewhat exaggerated ! " — Hume, III. 545.
" A general insurrection of the Irish spread itself over the whole
" country, in such an inhuman and barbarous manner, that there were
" forty or fifty thousand of the English Protestants murdered, before
" they suspected themselves to be in any danger, or could provide for their

372 APPENDIX.
" defence, by drawing together into towns or strong houses." — Clar
endon's E. ii.
That ." Saul slew his thousands, and David his tens of thousands,"
was, in "olden time," sung by the women of Israel. Every Philistine
was magnified into ten, every ten into a hnndred, and every hundred
into a thousand. But the amplifying powers of the Jewish women fade
into insignificance when compared wit}i those of the Anglo-Hibernian
writers. Every Englishman that fell in battle, or otherwise, was mur
dered. Every man was magnified into a hundred, every ten into a
thousand, and every hundred into ten thousand.
Such a spirit of exaggeration has prevailed, in a greater or less
degree, in all ages. Even in common occurrences, hardly calculated
to excite any interest, we daily find that the statements of current
events are so highly colored, as to differ full as much from the reality
as the countenance of a meretricious courtezan, who has exhausted her
stores of carmine and white lead, differs from the blooming countenance
of an innocent country damsel, Who depends wholly on the pure orna
ments of beneficent nature. This being undeniably the case where
no temptation to deception exists, how dreadful must be the falsehood
, and delusion m the present case, where ambition, avarice, malice, big
otry, national hatred, and all the other dire passions that assimilate
men to demons, were goaded into activity !
In all other cases but that of the history of Ireland, to convict a
witness of gross, palpable, and notorious falsehood, would be sufficient
to invalidate the whole of his evidence ; but such has been the way-,
ward fate of that country, that the most gross and manifest forgeries,
which carry their own condemnation with them, are received by the
tlie world as though they were
" Confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ."
Or when some are found too monstrous to be admitted, their falsehood
and absurdity do not impair the public credulity in the rest ofthe tales
depending on the same authority.
The materials for Irish statistics, at that early period, are rare ; a
deficiency which involves this subject in considerable difficulty. > Were
correct tables of the population of Ireland to be had, the task would
be comparatively easy ; and I could put down all those tales with as
' much ease as I have stamped the seal of flagrant falsehood on the many
impostures already investigated.
But I avail myself of a sound rule, to employ the best evidence that
the nature and circumstances of the case will admit ; and there are,
fortunately, some important data on which to reason, in the present
instance, and to shed the light of truth on this intricate question, and
dispel the dense clouds with which it has been environed by fraud and
imposture. Sir William Petty, the ancestor of the Lansdowne family, laid the
foundation of a princely fortune in the depredations perpetrated on the.
Irish after the insurrection of 1641. Of course, he had no temptation
to swerve from the truth in their favor ; oh the contrary, it was his

, APPENDIX. 373
interest, equally with the other possessors of the estates of the plun
dered Irish, to exaggerate their real crimes, and to lend the countenance
of his reputation to their pretended ones. Hence his testimony, on this
ground, and as a contemporary, cannot, so far as it tends to exonerate
those upon whose ruin he raised his immense estate, be excepted
against by the enemies of the Irish. I shall therefore freely cite him
in the case ; and the reader will at once perceive to what an extent
delusion has been carried on this subject.
He states the aggregate number of the Protestants who perished in
eleven years, to have been 112,000, [Petty, 18,] of whom " two thirds
were cut off by war, plague, and famine." It is obvious to the meanest
capacity, if, of 112,000, the whole number that fell in that space of
time/two thirds were cut off " by war, plague, and famine," that those
who fell out of war, in eleven years, were only 37,000 ! I hope to prove
that even this statement, so comparatively moderate, is ihost extrava
gantly beyond the truth.
Sir William confutes himself, beyond the power of redemption.
" Mark how a plain tale shall put him down."
He bequeathed to posterity some statistical tables, which throw con
siderable light on this subject They are very meagre, it is true ; but,
meagre as they are, I believe there are no others ; at all events, I know
of none, and must therefore avail myself of them.
He informs us, that the population of Ireland, in 1641, was 1,466,000,*
and that the relative proportion of the Protestants to the Catholics
was as two to eleven ; f of course, it follows, that the population
was thus divided: about 1,241,000 Roman Catholics, and 225,000
Protestants. From this conclusion there is no appeal.
The supplies of people from England and Scotland, until after the
final defeat, capture, condemnation, and death of Charles I., were in
considerable ; X and surely it is impossible for a rational being to
believe, that out of 225,000 there could have been 112,000 destroyed,
and the residue been able to baffle and defeat the insurgents, who com
prised the great mass of the nation. It will therefore, I trust, be
allowed, as an irresistible conclusion, that Sir William Petty's calcu
lation, although so far more moderate than any of the " tales of terror "
quoted at the commencement of this chapter, is most extravagantly
overrated, probably trebled, quadrupled, or quintupled; and must, of
absolute necessity, be extravagantly false.
But even admitting it to be correct, what an immense difference

* "This shows there were, in 1641, 1,466,000 people." — Ibid.
t For the present I admit this proportion ; as, however exaggerated
the number of the Protestants may be, it does not affect the point at
issue. But, from various circumstances, it is doubtful whether there was
one Protestent to eleven Roman Catholics.
X More Protestants, it is highly probable, removed from Ireland during
the progress of the war, than the number of soldiers who were sent
thither from England.

374 APPENDIX.
between 37,000 in eleven years, and the numbers so confidently
stated by the various writers of Irish history ! What astonishment
must be excited by Burton's 300,000 in a few months f Temple's
300,000 in less than two years ; May's 200,000 in one month ; War
wick's 100,000 in one week ; or Rapin's 40,000 in a few days ! Surely
there is not, in the history ofthe world, any parallel case of such gross,
palpable, shocking, and abominable deception. Can language be
found strong or bold enough to mark the dishonor of those who
knowingly propagated such falsehoods, or the folly, or neglect, or wick
edness of those who adopted and gave them currency ? Their names
ought to be held up as "a hissing and reproach," to deter others from
following in their foul and loathsome track of calumny and deception.
On the subject of the number of victims of the pretended massacre,
the observations of Carte are so judicious and unanswerable that they
would be sufficient, independent of the other evidence I have produced,
to put down forever those miserable legends about so many hundreds
of thousands of the Protestants cut off in a few weeks, or months, or
years, and to stamp on the foreheads of their authors the broad seal of
outrageous imposture. He states, that the extravagant numbers'asserted
to be massacred, were " more than there were qf English, at that time,
in all Ireland." — Carte, I. 177.
" It is certain that the great body of the English was settled in Mun-
" ster and Leinster, wlwe very few murders were committed ; and that
" in Ulster, which was tlie dismal scene qf the massacre, there were
" above 100,000 Scots, who, before the general plantation of it, had
" settled in great numbers in the counties of Down and Antrim, and
" new shoals of them had come over upon the plantation of the six
" escheated counties ; and they were so very powerful therein, that the
" Irish, either out of fear of their numbers, or some other politic reason,
" spared those of that nation, making proclamation, on pain of death, that
" no Scotchman should be molested in body, goods, or lands, whilst they
" raged with so much cruelty against the English." — Ibid.
" It cannot, therefore, reasonably be presumed that there were at
" most above 20,000 English souls, of all ages and sexes, in Ulster at
" that time ; and of these, as appears by the lords justices' letter, there
" were several thousands got safe to Dublin, and were subsisted therefor
" many months afterwards, besides 6000 women and children, which
" Captain Mervyn saved in Fermanagh ; and others that got safe to
" Derry, Colerain, and Carrickfergus, and went from those and other
" ports' into England." — Idem.
It is impossible to reconcile the latter part of the above quotations
with the rest ; a case, as we have repeatedly stated, that incessantly
occurs in Irish histories. The author informs us, on rational grounds,
that there were " not more than 20,000 English in Ulster ; " that " sev
eral thousand got safe to Dublin ; " that " 6000 women and children
were saved in Fermanagh ; " and that " others got safe to Derry, Cole-
rain, and Carrickfergus." These all-important and conclusive facts
he connects with a statement of " the extreme cruelly with which the
insurgents raged against the English," and with a notice ofthe "dismal

APPENDIX. 375
scene of the massacre,'" the subjects of which massacre are not very
easily found, and, at all events, could not have been very numerous ;
for, let us add together "several thousands," and "6000," and the
" others " who " got safe " into tlie specified towns, where there were
numerous garrisons ; where, of course, in a time of violence and com
motion the inhabitants of the circumjacent country would naturally
seek refuge, and where, it is not extravagant to suppose, that " the
others," who thus " got safe," might have amounted to some thousands :
let us then deduct the aggregate from 20,000, the total number of Eng
lish, and we shall find a slender remainder. But the plain fact is, that
the writers on this subject are so haunted by the idea of a massacre,
that although it rests on the sandy foundation of forgery and perjury,
as shall be fully proved in the sequel, and although many of their own
statements, in the most unequivocal manner, give it the lie direct, their
minds cannot be divested of the terrific object. These passages from
Carte furnish a strong case in point. The most ardent friend of Ire
land could not desire a much more complete proof ofthe fallacy . of the
accounts of the pretended massacre than is here given by this author
himself, who, nevertheless, wonderful to tell ! appears to resist the evi
dence of his own facts, and to be blind to the obvious inference to
which they inevitably lead.
Ferdinando Warner, a clergyman of the church of England, appears
to have been the only writer who has gone into any elaborate investi
gation of the legendary tales of the pretended massacre ; and his views
of the subject well deserve the most serious attention of the reader.
After stating the uncertainty of the accounts, and the consequent diffi
culty of making an exact estimate, he pronounces a strong and une
quivocal sentence of condemnation on the Munchausen tales we are
combating ; and avers, that
" It is easy enough to demonstrate the falsehood of the relation of every
" Protestant historian qfthis rebellion." — Wa-rner, 296.
He proceeds to render a satisfactory account of the grounds on
which this statement rests.
" To any one who considers how thinly Ireland was at that time peopled
" by Protestants, and the province -qf Ulster particularly, where was the
" chief scene of tlie massacre, those relations upon the pace op
" THEM APPEAR INCREDIBLE." — Ibid.
" Setting aside all opinions and calculations in this affair, which,
" besides their uncertainty, are without any precision as to the space of
" time in which the murders were committed, the evidence from the
" depositions in the manuscript above mentioned stands thus : The
" number of people killed, upon positive evidence, collected in two
" years after the insurrection broke out, adding them all together,
" amounts only to two thousand one hundred and nine ; on the reports
'' of other Protestants, one thousand six hundred and nineteen more ; and
" on the report of some of the rebels themselves, a further number of
" three hundred : the whole making four thousand and twenty-eight.
" Besides these murders, there is, in the same collection, evidence, on
" the report of others, of eight thousand killed by ill usage ; and if we

376 APPENDIX.
" should allow that the cruelties of the Irish out of war extended to
" these numbers", which, considering the nature of several of the depo-
" sitions, I think in my conscience we cannot, yet to be impartial we
" must allow that there is no pretence for laying a greater number to
" their charge. This account is also cofroborated by a letter, which I .
" copied out of the council books at Dublin, written on the fifth of
" May, sixteen hundred and fifty-two, ten years after the beginning of
" the rebellion, from the Parliament commissioners in Ireland to the
" English Parliament. After exciting them to further severity against
" the Irish, as being afraid ' their behavior towards this people may
'• never sufficiently avenge their murders and massacres, and lest the
" Parliament might shortly be in pursuance of a speedy settlement of
" this nation, and thereby some tender concessions might be con-
" eluded,' the commissioners tell them that it appears ' besides eight
" hundred forty-eight families, there were killed, hanged, burned, and
" drowned, six thousand and sixty-two. '-" — Warner, 297.
Thus I close this subject with stating, that these hundreds of thou
sands are reduced by Carte to 20,000, less " several thousands " and
" 6000 women and children," and "others ;" and by Warner to about
12,000, of whom only 4028 were murdered, a large portion of which
detail, " in his conscience " he cannot allow ! Would it not be an in
sult to the reader to offer another word to prove the utter falsehood
of all the terrific statements given of the subject, whereby the world
has been so long and so grossly deceived ?

f T<?x'<

"X%-