CHAPTER XXXV

LAST PHASE OF THE WAR, 1652

[Sidenote: Galway still holds out, Dec. 1651.]

[Sidenote: Ireton's last summons to Galway.]

[Sidenote: Ludlow commander-in-chief, Dec. 1651.]

Ireton wished to press on to Galway, and Ludlow thought it could easily be brought to surrender while the garrison were 'under a great consternation by the loss of Limerick.' But there was much sickness in the army, and officers generally were unwilling to begin another troublesome campaign in November. Coote, who had been for some time blockading Galway on the east side, came to the camp and gave his opinion against immediate action. He did not believe the place could be taken without attacking it on both sides. A bridge had been prepared for the short river between Lough Corrib and the sea, but the right bank was strongly fortified, and it would be impossible to throw it across. It would be necessary to go all round by Cong, where Clanricarde lay with 3000 men. Even if the passage were forced many rivers lay in the way, none of which were fordable in case of heavy rain, while horses could only be led from Cong to Aghenure near Oughterard, and from that on to Galway they could not travel at all. There was no forage in the country, and food and ammunition would have to be carried on the men's backs. This reasoning prevailed, and Ireton wrote from before Clare Castle merely to offer the same terms as had been tendered to Limerick in July: 'I will not,' he said, alluding to what had happened at Waterford, 'now do you the courtesy to summon you at such a distance, because your gravity once chid me for it as unadvisedly, but for the good men's sake of the city who perhaps may not be so angry in the notion of a soldier's honour, as to understand the quibbles of it ... though men of your unhappy breeding think such glorious trifling worth the sacrificing or venturing of other men's lives.' He desired him therefore on peril of his head to communicate the offer made to the citizens. It was easy for Preston to answer that he fought in a good cause and that Ireton was risking men's lives in a bad one, while his head and those of his friends were as 'unsettled on their shoulders as any in the town.' The mayor and aldermen answered in the same strain; and Ireton died a fortnight after the date of their letter. Ludlow was in Dublin at the moment, and the Commissioners made him commander-in-chief until the pleasure of Parliament should be further known.[222]

[Sidenote: The Irish in Scilly.]

[Sidenote: Bishop Leslie's troubles.]

When Axtell left Ireland after his suspension by Ireton, he was captured by a rover at sea and carried to Scilly, then full of Irish soldiers who wished to kill him, the cause of his voyage having been made known by an intercepted letter from Weaver. Grenville or those about him knew that the islands could not be much longer in Royalist hands, and they feared retaliation. Axtell was therefore spared, and was back in Ireland and governor of Kilkenny soon after Ireton's death. Blake occupied the little archipelago not many weeks later, Bishop Henry Leslie being among those whom he found there. 'By the articles,' the Bishop wrote, 'I am to have my pass to go unto the North of Ireland, that is to say out of the frying pan into the fire; for there I shall be in more danger of the Scots than of the Parliament soldiers.' In either company he was sure that his soul would be more vexed than Lot's was in Sodom. As to the Irish soldiers, it was agreed that they should be sent to Ireland, recruited up to 2000, and disposed of as the King wished. Blake offered to take them all into Dunkirk and keep them there till Grenville could arrange for France or Spain, he giving his word of honour never to employ them against the Parliament. This was refused, and Grenville remained in England, most of the Irish soldiers probably finding their way abroad.[223]

[Sidenote: Meeting of officers at Kilkenny, Dec. 1651.]

[Sidenote: Guerrilla warfare.]

During the winter of 1651 and 1652 there was thought to be some danger that the Dutch would retaliate for the Navigation Act by landing foreign troops in Ireland, facilitating instead of opposing the embarkation of the Duke of Lorraine, who was still expected long after he had abandoned his scheme. A general meeting of officers was held at Kilkenny just before Christmas, Coote having already been authorised to give the same terms to Galway as had already been offered to Limerick, provided they were accepted by January 9. It was now evident that all the strong places must soon be taken, and the deliberations at Kilkenny were chiefly directed against the guerrilla warfare, which was still formidable. The nature of the problem is set forth with great clearness in a report by Ludlow and his three colleagues in the Government to the Council of State. The great bogs were the chief difficulty. There are in these wastes many dry islands which were then generally wooded, and between them causeways along which horses could only go in single file. From such places the rebels could sally out at any time to harry the protected districts, thus depriving the army of its resources, while it was easy for them to secure their plunder. They were used to living in cabins and wading among swamps, where the English soldiers were a prey to dysentery from wet and cold. Ireton had successfully used rice to combat this disease, and large quantities were provided later by the London Government.

[Sidenote: Desperation of the Irish.]

[Sidenote: Means used to subdue armed bands.]

[Sidenote: Ludlow's hunt in Wicklow, Feb. 1651-2.]

The soldiers were always ignorant of the designs and movements of the combatant Irish, for whom the country people acted as scouts, being 'possessed of an opinion that the Parliament intend them no terms of mercy and therefore endeavouring to preserve them as those that stand between them and danger.' It was estimated that 30,000 men were still in arms among the Irish, a few in garrisons, but for the most part lurking among woods and bogs. The plan adopted to subdue them was to make a Pale from the Boyne to the Barrow, and to destroy the means of subsistence elsewhere. No smiths, harness-makers, or armourers were allowed to ply their trade outside of garrisons, no beer, wine, or spirits might be sold nor fairs and markets held beyond those limits. The county of Wicklow, with parts of Dublin, Kildare, and Carlow, was outside the new Pale and excluded from protection. All who resided within the doomed area after February 28 were to be treated as enemies, but permitted to live and graze their stock upon such waste or untenanted lands as might be assigned to them in the protected region. As soon as the appointed day had passed, Ludlow himself went to Talbotstown to plant a garrison, and then carefully searched Wicklow with horse and foot. Few people were met with, for they had look-out men on every hill, but all the houses and stores of corn were burned. 'He was an idle soldier,' wrote one officer, 'that had not either a fat lamb, veal, pig, poultry, or all of them every night to his supper ... we have destroyed as much as would have served some thousands of them until next harvest.'[224]

[Sidenote: Clanricarde's proposals for peace, Feb. 1651-2.]

[Sidenote: Failure to relieve Galway]

The day fixed for the surrender of Galway with the benefit of the first articles offered to Limerick was allowed to pass, and Clanricarde on behalf of many of the nobility and clergy 'with the corporation of Galway' made proposals for a general peace. He was fain to profess, though he could hardly believe, that succours would come from his Majesty and allies; if these failed, he and the assembly for whom he acted were prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Ludlow answered from Dublin ten days later that it belonged to Parliament to grant terms, that those who had already long since refused to hear reason could hardly be admitted at the eleventh hour, and that they were relying upon 'vain and groundless expectations.' He believed that moderate terms would still be granted in individual cases, but refused to grant a safe conduct for commissioners pretending to represent the general body in arms. Clanricarde did his best to prolong the resistance of Galway, but left the town when he saw that the inhabitants were not prepared to endure extremities. A sortie to gather cattle led to heavy loss, and of two corn ships which attempted to relieve the besieged one was taken and the other forced upon the rocks of Arran. The town was, however, not invested on the west, and there was always a chance that reinforcements or supplies might be introduced from that side. Coote thought the place very strong, and was inclined even to exceed his authority in granting comparatively easy terms.[225]

[Sidenote: Dissensions among the besieged, July-Feb. 1651-2.]

[Sidenote: Improvised colonels.]

[Sidenote: The clergy prefer Parliament to King.]

[Sidenote: Rinuccini's excommunication still in use.]

There were dissensions within the walls of Galway as there had been at Limerick, and it is not easy to make out exactly what took place. The indefatigable Dean King left Charles at Stirling in June, just after Ireton had crossed the Shannon and when Coote had been some time in Connaught. He landed near Londonderry on the 20th and found his way to Galway by July 2. Bishop Lynch and others of the clergy tried to make out that he had not been with the King, and that his commission was a trick of Ormonde's. This was easily disproved, and clerical help was promised on condition that the chiefs of the old Irish in Connaught should be made colonels. Ten were so promoted, but not one of them could muster over 500 men, and every one thought of little but defending his own castle. These petty strongholds were daily taken with the pick of the Irish soldiers inside. The Ulster forces for the most part disregarded Clanricarde's summons, while those of Leinster, 3000 foot and 500 horse, dwindled daily and lived upon the spoil of the country, as there was no money to pay them, so that he thought it better to let them go back to their own province under the nominal generalship of Lord Westmeath. The only force upon which the unfortunate Deputy could rely was raised in his own county of Galway, and with these he kept an eye upon Coote's army. Dean King found that the clergy generally, headed by Bourke of Tuam and French of Ferns, were hostile to the King's government and anxious only for an accommodation with the Parliament, in which they were supported by the Prestons father and son, by Sir Nicholas Plunket, and by Geoffrey Brown. The expectation of the Lorraine succours had paralysed all the Irish parties, so that no one exerted himself. The little that had been sent by the ducal pretender had been wasted or embezzled; '20,000_l._ whereof 6000_l._ defalked for the charge of the negotiations,' 1000 stand of arms, 1000 barrels of badly damaged rye, and 'thirty barrels of powder, the worst in the world.' To make confusion worse confounded, some of the bishops were using Rinuccini's old excommunication to crush their opponents. There were nevertheless nearly 30,000 men under arms, but no means of keeping them together, and there were many harbours still open in Connaught and Munster through which money and stores might be introduced. Dean King left Ireland on February 16 and reported to Charles at Paris on April 1; but the battle of Worcester had been fought and lost, and no help came.[226]

[Sidenote: Capitulation of Galway, May 12, 1652.]

[Sidenote: Coote offends the Independents.]

[Sidenote: Coote and Ludlow.]

Clanricarde did what he could to prolong the defence of Galway, but the citizens could not see that there was anything to gain by it. He had agreed to approach Ludlow with proposals for a general pacification, but was determined to resist as long as he could. The town therefore acted without consulting him, though he was in the neighbourhood, and the articles of surrender contain no mention of King, Lord Lieutenant, or Deputy. Fear of famine and of hard terms when the inevitable end came were sufficient inducements to surrender, and there is no reason to suppose that Galway was betrayed in the common sense of the words, though in 1656 some of the inhabitants claimed special indulgence on the ground that they had favoured the English interest throughout the war, and had thereby 'contracted a malice from those of their own nation' among whom they had to live. Coote has a bad name on the score of severity, but he and many of those with him had estates in Ireland, and some of them in Connaught, and they did not see with the same eyes as those who were bent upon planting new settlers everywhere. The extreme Independents called Coote and his men 'Tame Tories,' and there was jealousy of his position as President of Connaught. Ireton thought the provincial presidencies should be abolished, as an unnecessary burden to State and country, and the Commissioners in Dublin were of the same opinion. One hot-headed captain of the Munster army attached to that of Connaught wrote to say that Ireland being almost reduced, there was little left to do but to 'fall on Sir Charles Coote and his 'Tame Rebels.'' The letter was intercepted, and Coote imprisoned the writer, whose curious defence was that many others agreed with him. Ludlow released him and blamed Coote for exercising authority over an officer not belonging to his province. From all this the Royalists had hopes, and no doubt Coote had never been a republican, but they had to wait several years for their realisation. In the meantime he was glad to get hold of Galway upon almost any terms.[227]

[Sidenote: Terms granted to Galway.]

[Sidenote: The terms disliked in Dublin.]

[Sidenote: The articles are amended,]

[Sidenote: but the townsmen protest.]

The conditions actually granted were not hard, and the Commissioners in Dublin thought them too easy. Quarter and freedom from pillage and military violence were granted to all, as long as they obeyed the Commonwealth of England, and were not guilty of murder before March 19, 1642, when a state of war began to exist in Galway. The murderers of Captain Clark's crew were excepted by name. All who wished to depart were given six months to sell such property as they did not carry away. This extended to clergymen provided their names were given in before the actual surrender, but in their case no protection was to be given after that time. Where property within the city and liberties was sold one-third was to go to the State, and the rest to be freed from extraordinary taxation, and this principle was extended with qualifications to lands possessed by the townsmen elsewhere. The charter was maintained until Parliament should otherwise direct; and Coote promised to get a ratification within twenty days by the Dublin Government and legislative confirmation in England as soon as possible. A fort on Mutton Island and another opposite Tirellan were surrendered at once, and the town, after one week's delay, on April 12, when Coote took actual possession. The news reached Dublin on the 11th, and the Commissioners there at once took exception to some of the articles. They objected, and so far we can sympathise with them, to any indemnity for murder committed 'by or upon any person not being in arms.' They insisted on the power of compulsorily purchasing land or houses in the town when Parliament considered their owners unsafe persons to remain; in which case they would have to remove within three months. The protection as to outside property was considered too absolute, and should be left for parliamentary decision, and some minor matters were also reserved. An express was at once sent to insist on the amendment of the articles, with orders that the capitulation should be suspended until this was done, but when the messenger reached Galway he found the English garrison installed. The ratification of the articles was made dependent on the acceptance of the revised terms, but it can hardly be said that the condition was fulfilled. Only eight heads of families could be found to sign the certificate of assent, while over one hundred refused; and there were nearly a hundred absentees. Coote apologised for his mistake, but maintained that he had nevertheless done the best thing for the State. If he had not closed with the besieged there were great chances of the town being relieved, 'so that it might have kept all your forces this summer in those parts to attend that service.'[228]

[Sidenote: Clanricarde's last struggles, April-June 1652,]

[Sidenote: Castlehaven leaves Ireland.]

[Sidenote: His memoirs.]

Clanricarde on his part announced that 'Galway having basely and perfidiously yielded,' he would resist while he could, and gave earnest of his determination by sending away Castlehaven in his only frigate, thus leaving himself no means of escape. He summoned Westmeath and O'Ferrall from Leinster, Muskerry from Munster, and O'Reilly from Ulster to join him in Sligo or Leitrim and 'unite in one clear score for God, our King, and country.' Galway Bay was full of Parliamentary ships, so Castlehaven had to go first to Innisbofin and embark from there. He was chased, and had a smart fight at sea, but was saved by thick weather. Arthur Magennis, Bishop of Down, a nephew of Owen Roe O'Neill, died during the action 'by the wind of a bullet, for fear,' having no wound. Castlehaven got safely to Brest, and thence to Paris or St. Germain's, where he saw the King and Queen and Ormonde. As French affairs then stood nothing could be done, and he joined Condé as a volunteer, after which he commanded an Irish brigade of about 5000 men. As late as 1680 he published his memoirs, confessedly to show that he was always a good Royalist and not to be confounded with the Irish 'as a confederate Catholic, which in plain English is a rebel.' Lord Anglesey, the son of Strafford's Mountnorris, who was a great gainer by the Restoration settlement, reviewed Castlehaven's pleasant little book, saying that 'by a providence from heaven to the English the marquesses of Ormonde and Clanricarde, his Majesty's chief governors, encouraged the Irish to keep up a war against the English, wherein they were so much hardened to their ruin, that they were at length entirely subdued without condition to any save for life, and left to be as miserable as they had made others in all respects.'[229]

[Sidenote: Charles gives Clanricarde leave to go,]

[Sidenote: but urges him to hold out.]

[Sidenote: He takes Ballyshannon, May,]

[Sidenote: and Donegal.]

[Sidenote: Submission of Clanricarde, June 28.]

[Sidenote: His character.]

It had long been evident to Clanricarde, as well as to Ormonde and his friends abroad, that the power of the Parliament would establish itself in Ireland. But it was their policy to keep the flag of Royalty flying as long as possible, on the chance of some foreign complication. That this stubborn attitude increased the ultimate sufferings of the Irish masses is very probable. As early as the beginning of February, Charles, with many expressions of gratitude and confidence, gave Clanricarde free leave to quit Ireland when he thought fit, but adding that 'the keeping up of the war there in any kind, either offensive or defensive, is of the highest importance to us and our service that can be performed; as the contrary would be of the greatest prejudice to all our designs.' Six weeks later he wrote holding out hopes of further help from the Duke of Lorraine, and directing that no declaration should be issued which might increase the friction with the clerical party. The two letters reached Clanricarde together in the following August, when they were too late to have any significance. Meanwhile, in May, a second letter was given to Castlehaven, and forwarded by a sure hand, authorising the Deputy to leave his post at any time. This letter, though apparently not extant, probably reached its destination much sooner than the other two, and justified Clanricarde in making terms when he did. In the meantime, he succeeded in getting a considerable force together, with which, after blowing up several castles, he swooped down upon the fort at Ballyshannon and took it by assault, dismissing the survivors unhurt and substituting his own garrison of 300 men. He took Donegal also, but the success was only transient, for he had no means of feeding his men but by seizing cattle, and thus involuntarily making the task of the Parliamentarians easier. Venables came up from Down to join Coote, and they soon took Sligo and retook the other two places, giving punctual quarter in their turn. At the end of June the Lord Deputy, who, Ludlow says, was practically surrounded in the island of Carrick, made terms for himself, but none for his vast estates. He was left free to go abroad where he pleased with not more than twenty servants, to remain in Ireland for three months, and to enlist 3000 men for foreign service. In the meantime he was to divest himself of his viceregal authority and do no hostile act. Six weeks later he was excepted by Act of the English Parliament from pardon for life and estate, but was nevertheless left unmolested at his own place at Somerhill in Kent. His health had never been good, and was not improved by his campaigning, but he lived till 1657, and was buried in Tonbridge Church. He was not a great general, but to most people he appeared, and still appears, as a loyal and worthy man. To the ultramontane clergy of his own day he was, as an independent Catholic who cared little for a nuncio's censures, more hateful even than the heretic Ormonde. Bishop French says he put Cæsar before God, and Bishop Lynch that the Ulster men refused to follow him because he disdained to receive absolution from Rinuccini's excommunication. The British officer so often quoted says, on the contrary, that the Irish were well satisfied with him as true both to King and Church, 'being a good Roman Catholic,' and that he surrendered only because he could not fight Coote and Venables combined. 'Neither, indeed, was he ever practised in that trade [war], though a very fine, devout, liberal, hospitable gentleman, as any is in Ireland in his time, as I have heard many aver.'[230]

[Sidenote: Case of Anthony Geohegan.]

[Sidenote: Loyalty the idol of Dagon.]

Before finally leaving Clanricarde and the Duke of Lorraine something must be said of the case of Anthony Geohegan, which had no important results, but which shows how incompatible were the Royalist and clerical ideals. Geohegan had been preferred by Rinuccini at the early age of twenty-four to the nominal dignity of the mitred abbacy of Connall. Towards the end of 1650 he was studying divinity and canon law at Paris, and in correspondence with Abbot Crelly, who was in London, hoping against hope that the Parliament would grant toleration to his Church. He offered to go to Ireland if wanted, and Crelly reported this to Rome. Dean Massari, Rinuccini's old lieutenant, was Secretary of Propaganda, and gladly accepted the young priest's offer. He reached Galway on March 14, 1651, while De Henin was there, with instructions to further the appointment of a Catholic protector, and he stayed on after the Lorraine envoy's departure. Clanricarde suspected that he was working against him, and some of his letters were intercepted, in one of which he said that 'if the service of God had been as deep in the hearts of our nation as that idol of Dagon, a foolish loyalty, a better course for their honour and preservation had been taken in time.' He had noticed that at Limerick those favourable to Ormonde had got better terms than others, and he thought the Independents who professed liberty of conscience more likely to grant reasonable terms to the Irish than those who maintained the Church of England and the recusancy laws. Clanricarde would have tried Geohegan as a traitor, but the clergy took their stand upon the bull _In Coena Domini_, and maintained that no lay governor or judge could try a priest. They had their way, and Geohegan was, of course, exonerated from all blame.[231]

[Sidenote: The Irish leaders submit. Fitzpatrick, March 1652.]

Even before the surrender of Galway, the Irish leaders began to make terms for themselves and their followers. Of these, the first was John Fitzpatrick, who had lately distinguished himself by taking and holding Meelick. On March 7 he agreed to transport 4000 foot and 300 horse to a state in amity with the Commonwealth, pay being given to them in the meantime, and hopes were held out as to his property. He made no conditions for his father and mother, or for the Catholic religion; whereupon a declaration was published against him, and he was excommunicated. 'Some of his party,' say the Parliamentary Commissioners, 'have been cut off by the enemy, who did also cut off the ears of some whom they took prisoners.' The men were not popular, having lived by plunder, and the Government were glad to send them to Spain. Fitzpatrick and his father were both excluded by Act of Parliament from pardon for life or estate, but he afterwards married Ormonde's sister and was restored in 1661 to broad lands in the Queen's County. His mother, says Ludlow, 'was found guilty of the murder of the English, with this aggravation, that she said she would make candles of their fat. She was condemned to be burned, and the sentence was executed accordingly.'[232]

[Sidenote: O'Dwyer, March 23.]

[Sidenote: Usual terms of surrender.]

The next important chief to surrender was Colonel Edmund O'Dwyer, who commanded in Tipperary and Waterford. He and his men had quarter for life and personal property only, with liberty to serve any friendly foreign State. Murderers of the English, members of the first General Assembly or Supreme Council, homicides after quarter given, deserters, and every 'priest or other of the Romish clergy in orders,' were excluded. By the end of June, when Clanricarde came to terms, the Parliament had not many enemies left in the field, though a few strongholds held out for some months longer. The articles of surrender, or authentic copies, are for the most part extant, and the terms granted generally amounted to little more than life and personal liberty to those who had not committed murder. Where priests are not specially excluded, they are generally left tacitly to the mercy of the victors. Landed property was to be distributed according to such qualifications as Parliament might determine. In one case Sir Hardress Waller undertook 'industriously to solicit' the authorities that priests who were not charged with any crime except officiating as such should be free to go beyond seas.[233]

[Sidenote: Siege of Ross Castle, June 1652.]

[Sidenote: Boats brought up from the sea.]

[Sidenote: A flotilla on the Lower Lake.]

There was a Parliamentary garrison at Dingle, which Muskerry made some effort to take, but otherwise Kerry had for a long time been in Irish hands. Murtagh O'Brien, when driven out of Clare after the fall of Limerick, joined his forces to those of Lord Muskerry, and together they amounted to several thousands. Their chief stronghold was Ross Castle, in an island or peninsula on the lower Lake of Killarney, only approachable, as any tourist may now witness, by a narrow causeway with a bog on either side. Muskerry had been chief among the anti-nuncionist Catholics, and had never been forgiven by the priests of his own Church, many of whom had taken refuge in Ross Castle. When a siege was imminent, the clerical party went out--and no doubt they acted prudently in this--but a thousand well-armed men adhered to their general and resolved to hold out as long as possible. Ludlow, accompanied by Broghill and Walker, came to Killarney very early in June with 4000 foot and 2000 horse. Dromagh had already surrendered, so that his rear was exposed to no attack. The woods on the other side of the lake were full of active enemies, who must have had boats of some sort to reach Innisfallen, and who supplied Ross with provisions. Ludlow's fellow-Commissioners were at Cork, and the mitred Scoutmaster-General at Kinsale, and they quickly provided him with the means of reducing Ross. Boats were brought to Castlemaine harbour under convoy of a frigate. Of these some were probably dragged up the Laune with the help of many men. The two largest, which were intended to carry guns, were sent from Kinsale in pieces, but so that they could be put together in two days. In order to make a safe way for them it was necessary to disperse a strong force of the Irish about Killagh Abbey, near the mouth of the Laune, while another division scoured the woods and put those who occupied them to flight. This was on June 13; five days later several of the boats had been brought to Ludlow's entrenchments near Ross, and by the 20th they were swimming on the lake. The whole flotilla was not wanted, for the garrison saw that resistance was hopeless, and there was an ancient prophecy that Ross would not be taken until strange ships sailed on Lough Leane. The fitting and management of the boats was entrusted to Captain Chudleigh, who had been a ship-carpenter, and many artificers went readily because he was with them.[234]

[Sidenote: The Parliament as avengers of blood.]

[Sidenote: Few survivors of 1641.]

[Sidenote: Murderers exempted from pardon.]

Even after the surrender of Galway the Leinster army under Westmeath's command had still an administrative existence; but its leaders saw no prospect of ultimate success, and were ready to make such terms as might still be possible. The Parliamentary Commissioners were at Kilkenny on April 17, and had a conference with the chief officers of the army, where Dr. Jones, the Scoutmaster-General, produced an abstract of the depositions taken as to murders committed in the early days of the rebellion. This document was forwarded to Parliament and read there on May 18, the Commissioners and officers 'fearing lest others who are at a greater distance might be moved to the lenity which we have found no small temptation in ourselves,' forget past abominations, and make too tender concessions. But very few of the English who had any personal knowledge of the original massacres were still living, and it would therefore be hard to bring the guilt home to individuals. The whole Irish nation had to some extent condoned them, and Parliament was bound to take order for punishment 'in duty towards God, the great avenger of such villainies, who hath from the beginning of the war to this present always in your appeal by war against them appeared most signally.' Murderers or their aiders and abettors were not led to expect clemency, but the Commissioners declared that all persons living in Ireland should have the benefit of the Act dated September 27, 1650, repealing the clauses in Elizabethan statutes which imposed penalties for not going to church. This was a step in the direction of toleration, but the Act had been really intended for the relief of those who disliked the Book of Common Prayer, and provided also for the prosecution of those who did not attend some place of worship, and would be difficult to apply to those who would have nothing but the forbidden mass.[235]

[Sidenote: The Leinster articles, May 12, 1652.]

After much discussion, it was agreed that eleven regiments of foot and six of horse should lay down their arms by June 1 at Mullingar, Maryborough, Carlow, or Kildare. The military articles were liberal enough, officers retaining horses and arms, non-commissioned officers and men whose horses were taken receiving compensation. Officers were allowed to serve any foreign State in amity with the Commonwealth, and to carry 6000 men with them, the Commissioners undertaking to get leave for 6000 more if they could. Life and personal estate were secured, and owners of land were promised 'equal benefit with others in the like qualification with themselves,' when Parliament had made up its mind. Murder and robbery of persons not in arms might still be questioned 'according the due course of law,' and the benefit of the articles was withheld from those who killed Parliamentary soldiers after quarter given. 'Priests or Jesuits, or others in Popish orders,' were to be dealt with as the Irish Government thought fit. The Commissioners were well satisfied with their work, which they had been obliged to do without positive orders from Parliament, for the Irish, being driven out of all forts, had nothing to do but range about the country, 'retiring as they saw advantage to their bogs and fastnesses.' The Parliamentary officers had now for the first time leisure to deal with Clanricarde and with Muskerry, who had 3000 foot and 600 horse.[236]

[Sidenote: Surrender of Muskerry, June 22.]

[Sidenote: Murder defined.]

[Sidenote: Conformity not to be enforced.]

[Sidenote: Ross Castle evacuated.]

Muskerry and his party accepted the substance of the Leinster articles, but there was a fortnight's debate on certain points. The Irish officers feared lest they should be all held liable for the murder of the English, 'which,' says Ludlow, 'was an exception we never failed to make.' An explanatory article was therefore granted, limiting the guilt to those 'who during the first year of the war have contrived, aided, assisted, acted, or abetted any murder or massacre upon any person or persons of the English not in arms but following their own occupation in their farms or freeholds,' and to those who since that time had taken life knowing that quarter had been given or protection granted. As to religion, Ludlow and his colleagues would go no further than declare 'that it is not our intention nor, as we conceive, the intention of those whom we serve, to force any to their worship and service contrary to their consciences.' Questions as to real estate were, at the request of Muskerry and his friends, 'left to the pleasure of the Parliament,' means being given them for pleading their own cause in London. They themselves asked for this in preference to the clause as to qualifications in the Leinster articles. In consideration of the above, 960 able men marched out of Ross Castle, and at least 3000 more followed their example. Murtagh O'Brien, with about 200 men, kept at large in the Kerry mountains until Waller made them untenable, and then escaped across the Shannon, to give further trouble in Connaught.[237]

[Sidenote: Richard Grace still resists.]

[Sidenote: Submission of Grace, Aug. 14.]

[Sidenote: Grace leads 1200 men to Spain.]

Colonel Richard Grace, whose property was in King's County, did not accept the Kilkenny articles, but remained at the head of a considerable force, and burned Birr, which had been partly rebuilt. Three hundred pounds was offered for his head in a proclamation dated May 22, but he managed to cross the Shannon, and burned the towns of Portumna and Loughrea. The country was laid under contribution, and for some days no enemy appeared. Grace had near 3000 men, but they were but odds and ends from various quarters, and were easily surprised by Ingoldsby, who routed the Irish horse and drove the foot into a bog near Loughrea. Grace had to fly with a few men, after which many of his followers dispersed or made terms for themselves. This was on June 20. He managed to recross the river into Leinster and again got some men together, with whom he at last took refuge in a strongly fortified island in Lough Coura, near Birr. Sankey surrounded the lake and made preparations for starving out the party, and Grace, who saw there was no prospect of relief, sued for terms. To avoid a long siege, and also perhaps out of admiration for a brave enemy, Sankey granted the substance of the Kilkenny articles and some further indulgence for the clergy submitting with Grace, who is much praised by the Aphorismical Discovery for insisting on the latter. The priests concerned had leave and four months' time to go beyond sea, with protection in the interval, and a further respite in case of sickness or want of shipping. In the other cases, they had been left at the disposition of the Lord Deputy or Commissioners. Grace had had nothing to do with the original Irish rebellion, but had fought for the King in England until the surrender of Oxford, so that there was some personal reason for favouring him. He carried 1200 men to Spain, but the Government there broke all their agreements with him, and he lost half his regiment by starvation, desertion, and disease. He attached himself to the Duke of York, and died at Athlone fighting against William III. in 1691.[238]

[Sidenote: Ludlow's last service in the field, Aug.-Sept., 1652.]

[Sidenote: Fugitives smoked in a cave.]

[Sidenote: A modern instance.]

After the surrender of Muskerry, Ludlow turned his attention to Wicklow and Wexford, where Phelim MacHugh O'Byrne and others still had a considerable force under arms. He placed garrisons in suitable places, who reduced the Irish by destroying their means of subsistence. The green corn was cut and burned, and in a few months the soldiers knew every hiding-place as well as the mountaineers themselves. Early in August, Ludlow turned northwards and garrisoned Carrickmacross. Between that place and Dundalk he came to a cave where a number of men had taken refuge. The soldiers tried to smoke them out, and entered when they supposed them smothered, but the leader was killed by a pistol from inside. It turned out that the cave was ventilated by a hole some way off, and Ludlow ordered this to be stopped. After a time groans were heard, which soon grew fainter, and the man who had fired the shot was drawn out dead. 'The passage being cleared, the soldiers entered, and, having put about fifteen to the sword, brought four or five out alive, with the priest's robes, a crucifix, chalice, and other furniture of that kind. Those within preserved themselves by laying their heads close to water that ran through the rock. We found two rooms in the place, one of which was large enough to turn a pike.' This is not a nice story; but Ludlow, who wrote in cold blood long afterwards, does not offer any apology nor show that he thought any necessary. Nearly two hundred years later the French in Algiers did the same thing on a much larger scale, but they knew that public opinion would be against them, and it was. St. Arnaud did not even venture to tell his own men that five hundred enemies of both sexes and all ages lay suffocated in the cave.[239]

[Sidenote: The last of the 'creaghts.']

[Sidenote: Arrival of Fleetwood, September.]

After filling the mouth of the cave with large stones, Ludlow established posts at Castle Blayney and Agher, where he found one of the O'Neills living with his wife, whom he described as the Duchess of Artois' niece, and some children. They wandered about with the cattle as 'creaghts,' seeking for grass and water, and at each halt building a house 'in an hour or two.' Steps were soon afterwards taken to abolish this system, as one 'whereby the enemy comes to be relieved and sustained and the contribution oft damaged.' It was impossible to catch people who had no fixed abode, and who might even commit murder with every chance of impunity. Lisnaskea was fortified and small holds of the Irish at Belturbet and in one of the Lough Erne islands were taken. Reynolds, who had reduced Leitrim, joined Ludlow at Lisnaskea, and the news of Fleetwood's arrival reached them there. Ludlow says he was glad to be superseded, his exertions for the public having been 'recompensed only with envy and hatred,' and he hastened to join the new commander-in-chief at Kilkenny.[240]

FOOTNOTES:

[222] Diary in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 260; _Ludlow_, i. 289, 294. Ireton's correspondence with Galway, December 7-12, 1651, is printed in Hardiman's _Hist. of Galway_, 129; Corbet, Jones, and Weaver to Lenthall, and to Cromwell, December 2, in appx. to Firth's _Ludlow_, i. 496.

[223] _Ludlow_, i. 265; Bishop of Down's letters, May 13 and 29, 1651, in _Nicholas Papers_, i. 250, 255.

[224] _Ludlow_, i. 300-304; the Four Commissioners to the Council of State, January 8, 1651-2, _ib._ 499; orders by the same Commissioners, January 13 and February 13, in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 277, 283.

[225] Clanricarde to Ludlow, February 14, 1651-2. In the text of Ludlow the date is wrongly given as March 14, but see the appx. i. 505, and _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 58, with Ludlow's answer in both places, and another to Sir Richard Blake, who had 'reiterated in effect the former application,' _ib._ 509.

[226] Dean King's report, April 1, 1652, in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 300.

[227] Order of the Irish Council as to Dominick Bodkin, &c., May 20, 1656, printed in O'Flaherty's _Western Connaught_, p. 244; W. Heald to T. Holder, December 12, 1651, in _Contemp. Hist._, iii. 353; Corbet, Jones, and Weaver to Cromwell, December 2, 1651, in appx. to _Ludlow_, i. 497.

[228] Corbet, Jones, and Ludlow to Lenthall, May 6, 1652, in appx. to Ludlow, i. 516. The articles of surrender are in Hardiman's _Hist. of Galway_, appx. xxix. to xxxiii., along with the strictures of the Commissioners and the list of those who had accepted or rejected the latter furnished by Coote, November 26, 1652.

[229] Clanricarde to Philip O'Reilly and Lieut.-General O'Ferrall, April 4 and 12, 1652, in _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 76; Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, 97, ed. 15, with Anglesey's letter of August 1680, appended p. 39; _Clarendon S.P._, iii. 66.

[230] Charles II. to Clanricarde, February 10, 1651-2 (enclosing one of February 6 to Duke of Lorraine), and March 23, in Clanricarde's _Memoirs_, part ii. 51; Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p. 97; _Clarendon State Papers_, iii. 66; _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 122; Ludlow, i. 317, 323, 527; _Warr of Ireland_, by a British officer, 138; Bishop of Ferns' letter, April 21, 1651, in _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, ii. 92; Bishop of Clonfert's letter, August 31, 1652, _ib._ i. 386.

[231] _Aphorismical Discovery_, ii. 138-144; _ib._ iii. 54, 285-293; Clarendon's _Ireland_, p. 194. See also Gardiner's _Commonwealth_, ii, 46, 59.

[232] The tenour of the articles entered into can be seen from the subsidiary agreement printed in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 293, the declaration of Walter Bagenal and others against him, and the despatch of Corbet, Jones, and Ludlow in appx. to Ludlow's _Memoirs_, i. 515. For Mrs. Fitzpatrick, _ib._ 340. In his preface to _Contemp. Hist._, iii. xviii., Sir J. Gilbert says the witness against her was suborned, but he gives no authority, and in the collection of massacres appended to Clarendon's volume on Ireland, several murders by Florence Fitzpatrick are mentioned, Elizabeth Baskerville testifying 'that Mrs. Fitzpatrick blamed the murderers because they brought not Mrs. Nicholson's fat or grease, wherewith she might have made candles.'--Lodge's _Peerage_, ed. Archdall, ii. 345.

[233] Most of the articles are printed in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 293-335.

[234] _Ludlow_, i. 320, and his letter of June 24 to Lenthall, _ib._ 526. There is a good memoir on the siege of Ross by J. P. Prendergast in Kilkenny _Arch. Journal_, iii. 24-35, and a criticism of the same by Archdeacon Rowan in the _Kerry Magazine_, 1855, p. 101. Chudleigh's monument at Kinsale says he 'causavit terris velificasse ratem,' which is rather ambiguous, for no boat could actually sail on land. Perhaps it is doubtful Latin for 'inland.' Smith, in his _History of Kerry_, 1756, p. 315, says the boats were 'brought up by the river Lane by strength of men's hands,' and he afterwards mentions one Hopkins, sexton of Swords near Dublin a few years before, who lived to be 115, and who was one of the men employed in drawing the boats to the lake.

[235] Ludlow, Waller, Corbet, Jones, Coote and fourteen other superior officers to Lenthall, May 5, 1652, in appx. to Ludlow, i. 512; Declaration of May 12 in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 315; Scobell's _Acts and Ordinances_, 1650, cap. 27.

[236] The Leinster Articles, May 12, 1652, are in _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 94, 315; Ludlow, Corbet, and Jones to Lenthall, May 13, in appx. to _Ludlow_, i. 520.

[237] _Ludlow_, i. 322, with Mr. Firth's note; Jones and Corbet to Lenthall July 22, 1652, in _Contemp. Hist._ iii. 339. The articles, June 22, are printed _ib._ 324.

[238] _Aphorismical Discovery_, with the articles of surrender, dated August 14, 1652, iii. 128-133, and the note _ib._ 392; Clarke's _Life of James II._ i. 268; _Memoirs of the Family of Grace_, 1823, 27-34.

[239] _Ludlow_, i. 328, 342; _Aphorismical Discovery_, iii. 125; Thureau-Dangin, _Hist. de la Monarchie de Juillet_, vi. 343; Kinglake's _Crimean War_, ii. 8. The French Government argued that conquest must precede philanthropy.

[240] _Ludlow_, i. 330. Fleetwood landed at Waterford on or just before September 11.