CHAPTER XLVIII

CLARENDON AND TYRCONNEL, 1685-1686

[Sidenote: Accession of James II., February 1685.]

[Sidenote: Public uneasiness.]

As soon as the bad news reached him, Ormonde called the Council together. All leave was stopped, officers were ordered to their quarters, and on the following day King James was proclaimed with great pomp, but with many gloomy forebodings among the Protestants of Dublin. The Lord Lieutenant's commission expired with Charles II., Lord Granard and Archbishop Boyle remaining Lords Justices. But Ormonde gave a dinner to all the officers then in Dublin, at the Royal Hospital, just built most appropriately upon the site once occupied by the Priory of St. John and dedicated to the use of worn-out soldiers. Raising his glass, he said, 'Look here, gentlemen! They say at Court that I am now become an old doating fool; you see my hand doth not shake, nor does my heart fail, nor doubt but I will make some of them see their mistake,' and so drank the new King's health. He then left Ireland for the last time. On the road he chanced to see in the _Gazette_ that his regiment of horse had been given to Richard Talbot without any notice to him. Many of those Protestants who were in a position to do so, followed their protector to England, many sought the colonies, and the shadow of coming change was over those that remained. Even before Ormonde's arrival in London, rumours were rife there that the repeal of the Act of Settlement was intended.[139]

[Sidenote: Purging the army.]

Just three months after his accession, James made Talbot Earl of Tyrconnel. The new peer was soon back in Ireland busying himself in remodelling the army, though Granard ostensibly remained at its head, much blamed for his complete surrender to the favourite. Monmouth's invasion gave an excuse for disarming the Protestant militia; he was outlawed as in England, and the arrest of those who spread his declaration was ordered. Irish troops were sent to Ulster, and communications with Scotland were maintained by sea, with a view to frustrating Argyle's expedition. In the meantime the cashiering of English officers and the substitution of Irish ones went on steadily. Soon after the failure of both the English and Scotch adventurers, Tyrconnel and Granard jointly reported that they had made many changes, but that those who lost their commissions were mostly somebody's servants, 'no officers and good for nothing, as most of the lieutenants and cornets of this army are at present.' Colonel Justin MacCarthy asked for the dismissal of Captain Bingham, absent without leave, and the appointment of Thomas Nugent, who had served under him in France, and had lost an estate during the usurpation. One reason given for taking their arms from the militiamen was that they were often carelessly kept, and might get into bad hands. In the autumn the arms surrendered were accordingly stored at Dublin or Athlone for Leinster; at Cork, Kinsale, Limerick, Waterford, and Duncannon for Munster; at Galway or Athlone for Connaught, and for Ulster at Londonderry, Carrickfergus, and Charlemont. Tyrconnel knew where to find them when they were wanted for his own purposes later.[140]

[Sidenote: Influence of Tyrconnel.]

Tyrconnel, though as yet only a colonel, assumed the position of an Inspector-General, and everybody gave way to him because he was believed to represent the King's views. Orders were given to get rid of all officers and soldiers who had served under Cromwell, upon which Ormonde remarked that there were indeed a few who, after serving Charles I. to the end, and Charles II. after Worcester, 'took service in Ireland against the Irish barely for subsistence, and yet had served the Crown as long as it had a foot of ground to fight upon.' To represent such men as Cromwellians was a cruel injustice, and some of them were among the best in the army. 'This I take to be the case of one Quartermaster Benson in the Lord Blessington's troop, and may be of more in the army.' His representations were allowed no weight, and he believed that officers appointed by him were more certain to be cashiered than others.[141]

[Sidenote: Clarendon made Lord Lieutenant.]

Rochester as Lord Treasurer, and his elder brother Clarendon as Lord Privy Seal, seemed all-powerful for a time, since their royal brother-in-law was still anxious to conciliate the Church of England, and fidelity to that Church was the one point upon which the Hydes showed resolution. In other respects they were both very subservient, and the King hoped that the doctrine of Filmer's foolish book would prevent them from ever asserting their independence. To get him out of the way, Sunderland had recommended Rochester for the Lord Lieutenancy, and for the same reason Rochester recommended Sunderland; but neither of them would go. In September, Clarendon was nominated, to the general joy of the Church party, but the best informed did not envy his position. He was not required to resign the Privy Seal, but Commissioners, of whom John Evelyn was one, were appointed to do the work during his absence in Ireland. Tyrconnel prepared to go to England, where he might undermine the Viceroy by his direct influence with the King. Even among those of his own religion, his schemes caused an uneasy feeling, and the gallant Colonel Grace, who became Governor of Athlone, put information which reached him from Ireland into Clarendon's hands.[142]

[Sidenote: Clarendon's arrival, January 1686.]

The new Lord Lieutenant left London on the 16th of December, escorted by the fashionable world in two hundred carriages, some of which went as far as St. Albans. He did not reach Dublin until January 9, his mode of travelling being leisurely in the extreme. At Coventry he met a servant of Sarsfield, who expressed surprise, the latest letters from England saying that his appointment to Ireland was cancelled. The same man announced that Tyrconnel was just leaving for England. Clarendon noted that the two Coventry churches were well filled, thanks to 'executing the law upon the non-conformists in making them pay.' He was sumptuously entertained at Chester and at St. Asaph, where he heard many stories about Tyrconnel. One of them was that he entered the church at Whitechurch where a Talbot was buried whom he claimed as ancestor. 'This church,' he said, 'was in better order when you took it from us Catholics, but we shall have it shortly again, and then you shall pay for all.' There was in those days no road over Penmaenmawr, and it was customary to send heavy vehicles by water from Chester or Neston. Sometimes the journey could be made from Conway by the sands, but on this occasion tides did not serve. To Clarendon's great surprise his servants managed to drag the carriages over the mountains, the horses drawing in single file and four or five men shoving behind, 'so that this journey will be famous, three coaches and a waggon having been brought over Penmaenmawr.' Lord Bulkeley entertained the Lord Lieutenant at Beaumaris, the terrors of the Menai Straits were successfully overcome, and the sea-sick company reached Dunleary at last, in the early morning of January 9. The Primate sent his coach, and Clarendon was sworn in the same day, his head still swimming from the waves. 'I have,' he told the Council, 'the King's command to declare upon all occasions, that whatever imaginary (for they can be called no other) apprehensions any men here may have had, His Majesty hath no intention of altering the Acts of Settlement.' Tyrconnel reached London on the same day, having purposely missed the Lord Lieutenant at Holyhead, though he thought it worth while to give out that he was most anxious to meet him. 'Count Tyrconnel is come,' says a London letter, 'and kindly received as he can wish: played the devil on the road for horses.'[143]

[Sidenote: Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.]

Just before Clarendon's departure for Ireland, the French King took a step which profoundly affected the history of Europe, and of England and Ireland particularly. After having long been shamelessly infringed, the Edict of Nantes was formally revoked in October 1685. The Protestant Chapel at Charenton was pulled down by the mob of Paris. It was pretended that there were no longer any heretics in France, and that therefore the law which still partly protected them, was no longer necessary. In official correspondence, the reformed faith was known as the R.P.R. (religion prétendue réformée). Thousands conformed insincerely, but a vast number preferred expatriation at the risk of their lives, and carried their industry, their skill, and some of their capital into Holland, Germany, and England. The tale which these refugees had to tell fell upon no deaf ears, and great sums were subscribed for their relief, but James II. took care that as many as possible should remain unrelieved. The newspapers and gazettes controlled by the Court were silent on the subject of the persecutions, but private letters of news got into print, and the appearance of the fugitives in person was more eloquent than any article. The King could not prevent a great collection in their favour, but he directed that no one should benefit by it who would not take the Anglican sacramental test. Sincere French Calvinists were thus excluded from relief. This was the period of his reign when James, deceived by the slavish doctrines of some High Church divines, thought it possible to be a despot with the help of the Established Church. When he found that there were limits to what that Church would bear, he turned to the Nonconformists in the name of religious liberty. After the failure of his schemes, the victorious Protestants were guilty of grievous persecution, but they remembered that James was the ally of the King who had ruthlessly destroyed the religious liberties of his own subjects.[144]

[Sidenote: Refugees from France and Ireland.]

[Sidenote: James attacks the Church establishment.]

While Huguenot visitors excited the anger and pity of English Protestants, Irish Roman Catholics kept pouring into London to remind them of dangers nearer home. Tyrconnel's countrymen gathered round him, and it was soon known that he would return to Ireland as generalissimo, and that great military and judicial changes would follow. Rumours of all this, and even the names of those who were to lose their places and of their successors were known in Dublin long before any intimation was given to the Lord Lieutenant, who found that he had very little power. The archbishopric of Cashel was vacant, and he proposed to fill it by making two translations and a new appointment: 'though there be but one see vacant, yet, for the enlargement of His Majesty's first-fruits, and to make them as considerable as I can upon this occasion, I have humbly proposed these removes.' This was for the King, but in writing to Sancroft the Lord Lieutenant did not think it necessary to mention his plan of supporting the Church by taxing her. The process was too slow for James, who preferred to keep vacant sees in his own hands. By this means the establishment might be made to pay for the clergy of the King's religion. When Clarendon had been a little more than two months in Ireland, Sunderland informed him that the King had long thought it necessary to make great changes there, and that these could no longer be delayed without much prejudice to his affairs. Catholics were to be admitted to the Council and to be sheriffs, magistrates, and members of corporations. New commissions in the army were already prepared and would soon be sent over.[145]

[Sidenote: Protestant judges turned out.]

As a preliminary to the general remodelling, Primate Boyle was deprived of the Great Seal, and no bishop has held it since. He was approaching his eightieth year, and accepted dismissal with a good grace, declaring, with imperfect apprehension of an archbishop's duties, that he had made the whole business of his life to serve the Crown. Roman Catholics had found him impartial, and even Tyrconnel admitted this, but attributed it to craft, 'and, by God, I will have him out.' It was thought prudent to appoint a Protestant successor until the King felt strong enough for more extreme measures. The man chosen was Sir Charles Porter, who was needy and extravagant and thought likely to be subservient, but who afterwards showed unexpected independence. The next step was to remove three judges--Sir Richard Reynell from the King's Bench, Robert Johnson from the Common Pleas, and Sir Standish Hartstonge from the Exchequer. They were all able men and nothing could be said against them, but they were Protestants, and that was enough. Johnson had been sixteen years a judge. Clarendon had pointed out that the Act of Supremacy obliged all officials to take the oath; if the King dispensed with that, he suggested that English Roman Catholics should be sent over. James answered that he did not see how employing some Catholic natives could harm 'the true English interest there, so long as the Act of Settlement is kept untouched, which it must always be, though many ill and disaffected people are secured in their possessions by it.' Ten days later Lord Chancellor Porter reached Dublin and publicly announced the King's resolution not to have the Acts of Settlement shaken.[146]

[Sidenote: Roman Catholic judges appointed.]

The new Chancellor had heard the common report that there were to be three Roman Catholic judges, but he was told nothing officially, and the appointments were almost ostentatiously made without consulting him or the Lord Lieutenant. The vacancy in the King's Bench was filled by Thomas Nugent, a son of the late Earl of Westmeath, who boasted about his promotion, and had his robes made in Dublin long before. Clarendon says he was 'a man of birth indeed, but no lawyer, and so will do no harm upon the account of his learning.' He and Lyndon, the other puisne judge, squabbled 'like two women' about precedence. Viceroy and Chancellor agreed that Nugent was foolish and troublesome. The new judge of the Common Pleas was Denis Daly, 'one of the best lawyers of that sort,' says Clarendon, 'but of old Irish race, and, therefore, ought not to be a judge'; otherwise there was nothing against him except that he was 'very bigoted and national.' He had been bred a lawyer's clerk, and made money, which he invested in land under Settlement titles. The appointment to the Exchequer was in some ways the most important of the three Courts, because it was the only one from which no writ of error lay in England. Charles Ingleby, an English Roman Catholic, having refused to go to Ireland, the place was given to Stephen Rice, whose abilities as a lawyer were not disputed. Clarendon was not even formally consulted, though his patent gave him the appointment of all judges and officers of the Exchequer except the Chief Baron. Nugent, Daly, and Rice were dispensed from taking the oath of supremacy, which had been invariably required ever since the second year of Elizabeth.[147]

[Sidenote: A new Privy Council.]

[Sidenote: Tyrconnel made commander-in-chief.]

Clarendon was ready to do anything that the King wished, but he usually gave good advice, which was very seldom taken. Indeed, James said plainly that he had made up his mind to remodel the administration, both civil and military, and would go to work at once quite irrespective of anything the Lord Lieutenant might say, who, having been only a short time in Ireland, could not possibly give His Majesty 'so good an account as he had already received from persons of undoubted integrity and zeal for his service.' Having begun with the bench, he went on to name nineteen Roman Catholic Privy Councillors, who were not to take the oath of supremacy. Among them were the three new judges, Richard Hamilton, Lord Galmoy, Justin MacCarthy, and Tyrconnel. Clarendon did not think that the dignity or usefulness of puisne judges would be enhanced by making them politicians, and neither Rice nor Daly were anxious for such promotion, though it flattered the vanity of Nugent, who was much the least able of the trio. Nagle, whose fees exceeded a Chief Justice's salary, agreed with the Lord Lieutenant that a practising barrister was unfitted for the position. Having a large family, he could not afford to lose briefs, and he declared, and perhaps at this time really fancied, that he was not ambitious. In the meantime it became known that Tyrconnel, in pursuance of the scheme hatched before Charles II.'s death, was about to return as lieutenant-general, with power over the army, independent of the Viceroy, who was informed by Sir Robert Hamilton that he had seen the commission. Clarendon thought the creation of such a potentate absurd, as indeed it was, and he professed to disbelieve the story; but a fortnight later Rochester wrote to confirm Hamilton's statement. Alarmed by such reports and by what they saw going on, several Protestant families left Ireland every week, carrying with them what they could realise. Industry was paralysed, and large employers of labour prepared to wind up their business and to make haste out of the country. The Government and the judges on circuit tried to settle men's minds, but it was persistently rumoured that by Christmas Day no Protestant would be left in the army. At last Tyrconnel arrived, and the alarmists were soon seen to be better informed than those who cried peace when there was no peace.[148]

[Sidenote: Catherine Sedley in Ireland.]

The struggle for supremacy at Court between Rochester and Sunderland was still undecided, but the latter gradually gained ground, though he had supported the Exclusion Bill, while Halifax, who had been largely instrumental in rejecting it, was turned out of the Government, and even out of the Privy Council. Sunderland was ready to increase his power over James by turning Roman Catholic, while Rochester, who would not go that length, was willing to let the King believe that he was open to conviction. The reputation of Sunderland is so bad as to need no remark, but Rochester, who did suffer for his religious opinions, was not above supporting Catherine Sedley, James's ugly but witty mistress, against Mary of Modena. With Father Petre's help, the Queen won, and Catherine, who became Countess of Dorchester in January 1686, was ordered to retire into Flanders, but resolutely refused to inhabit any country where there were convents, and preferred Ireland, where the Lord Treasurer's brother could protect her. She was through life immoderately proud of her ill-gotten rank, and insisted upon being fully recognised. When Clarendon went to the Curragh races he did not take his wife, because Lady Dorchester would have gone too. She was commonly the first at church in the morning, and Lady Clarendon thought she might make a very good Irish saint 'if our preachers do not make her despise them.' But after a time she found Ireland dull, and returned to England in August. The discarded favourite ceased to be politically important, but she had pensions, and used to dine with Clarendon both before and after the Revolution. He and his brother lost influence at Court by supporting her, and in Irish matters their loss was Tyrconnel's gain.[149]

[Sidenote: Protestant officers and soldiers got rid of.]

While still at Court, Tyrconnel had devoted his attention to the Irish army, since there was no immediate prospect of gaining the viceroyalty for himself. To the King he said his main object was to get Cromwellian officers and soldiers dismissed, and Clarendon, who clung to office, was willing to go a good way with him. Lord Granard, who commanded the forces under the Lord Lieutenant, was superseded with a pension and the post of President of the Council; but there had never been such an office in Ireland, and the old soldier felt himself quite unfit for work of that sort. In the end he had the pension without the place. The ground having been thus cleared, Tyrconnel was sent over with a lieutenant-general's commission, making him quite independent of the viceroy. He desired Thomas Sheridan, who was in favour at Court, to help Sunderland in undermining Rochester while he was in Ireland. Sheridan said he did not want to burn his fingers 'like the cat in the apologue,' but it was arranged that he should correspond with Tyrconnel, visit Sunderland at times, and tell the King as much as was desirable for him to know. The new general carried with him a long list of officers to be removed in favour of his own friends and relations. He wished to have some thousands of Irish Catholics incorporated in the English army, excluding the native Irish. In this scheme Sheridan refused to help, saying that the O's and Macs were ten to one of the others. During the whole time of his power Tyrconnel continued to favour the Anglo-Irish at the expense of the old Irish, and this preference was a source of weakness to the Jacobite cause. The King had to pension some of the loyal Protestants who had been cashiered, and a much greater number carried their swords and their grievances to the Prince of Orange. The same process was going on in the ranks, and in nine months 2300 recruits were enlisted, of whom five-sixths were Irish Roman Catholics. But the pace was too slow to satisfy Tyrconnel, who landed on June 5.[150]

[Sidenote: Contest between Clarendon and Tyrconnel.]

[Sidenote: Hard cases.]

The Lord Lieutenant and the Commander-in-chief had a preliminary interview on the day of the latter's arrival. On the morrow they met for business, and Tyrconnel made a long rambling speech of which Clarendon took notes at the moment, and which may be taken as the key to what followed: 'My Lord, I am sent hither to view this army and to give the King an account of it. Here are great alterations to be made, and the poor people who are put out think it my doing, and, God damn me, I have little to do in the matter: for I told the King that I knew not two of the captains nor other officers in the whole army. I know there are some hard cases, which I am sorry for; but, by God, I know not how to help them. You must know, my Lord, the King, who is a Roman Catholic, is resolved to employ his subjects of that religion, as you will find out by the letters I have brought you, and therefore some must be put out to make room for such as the King likes.' Meritorious officers were displaced without pity, and Clarendon mentions a few specially ill-treated men among the multitude who were in the 'common calamity of being put out.' Thus Captain Brook was deprived of his troop, for which he had paid 1600_l._ two years before, and Lieutenant Pargiter of his commission for which he had given 800_l._ The privates were treated in the same way. When a troop or company was mustered Tyrconnel merely sent an order to the captain to dismiss such men as Colonel Richard Hamilton marked upon the list. 'Could not I have done that as well?' asked the Lord Lieutenant pathetically. Four hundred men were thus turned out of the regiment of Guards in one day. The General himself was so little of a soldier that he could not draw up a regiment, and his orders sometimes disgusted officers of his own Church as much as the Protestants. He told Lord Roscommon to admit only Roman Catholics into Ormonde's regiment. Major Macdonnell, who had served in Germany, received the same order, and gave it out on parade, but in his walks about Kilkenny freely declared that he had never known a distinction between soldiers on the score of religion. Tyrconnel denied his orders, but Roscommon was as outspoken and as sure of his fact as Macdonnell. The men dismissed were often physically superior to those who supplanted them, and many recruits spoke no English, which in Dublin excited the mockery of street boys. The disbanded men despised their successors, and 'rapped them soundly at fisticuffs.' To make sure of getting good Catholics, one of the places selected for recruiting was St. John's Well, resorted to by pilgrims at Midsummer.[151]

[Sidenote: Tory Hamilton's case.]

Captain William Hamilton had been in the King's service ever since he could carry a musket. He had almost cleared Ulster of Tories, and Sir William Stewart, afterwards Lord Mountjoy, suggested that he should be made a magistrate for Armagh, Monaghan, and Tyrone until some more substantial reward could be given. Hamilton's success was largely due to the clever way in which he employed two soldiers as spies, but he was ready enough to risk his own life. 'Neal O'Donnell,' he wrote, 'fled a considerable way, but being overtaken by my cousin, Archibald Hamilton, when his feet could not carry him off, he turned and first snapped his gun at me, and then fired a pistol at my cousin, who was not above four yards from him, on which my cousin fired at him, and, being the better marksman, knocked the rogue over, so that he had as fair play for his life as ever any Tory had.' Among the changes following the death of Charles II., Tory Will, as he was called, lost his military employment, great zeal in the service of Government having never been a sure way to promotion in Ireland. He had, however, many friends, including Rochester, and by purchase or patronage he managed, after a visit to England, to secure a troop of horse. His old lieutenant was cashiered, and Tyrconnel appointed Daniel Magennis, with whom and his brother Murtagh he had had a dispute, saying that they would soon make friends in the same troop. The Lord Lieutenant thought differently. By blood or fosterage many outlaws had interest with the native gentry, though in this case Clarendon thought the Magennises were chiefly anxious to appropriate some of the credit which had been given to Hamilton. The quarrel came to a head at Downpatrick. Murtagh refused to withdraw in writing some charge which he had made against Hamilton, who seems to have struck, or at least threatened, him with his cane, but without drawing his sword. Magennis's friends held Hamilton while he stabbed him to death, also wounding a Mr. Maxwell who was with him. The Assizes were going on, Nugent and Lyndon being the judges, and when the first report came that Magennis was the victim, the former said they would try the case at once. 'But quickly after the truth was brought that Magennis had killed Hamilton; upon which the whole court was emptied in a minute, and only the judges and the prisoners left in it.' The coroner's jury found a verdict of murder, and even Nugent made some difficulty about bail, but Tyrconnel overruled everyone, saying that it was often given in murder cases; and he took Magennis with him to England to get a pardon.[152]

[Sidenote: Aston's case.]

In another case William Aston, whose father had been a judge in the last reign, slew Mr. Keating in a sudden affray on the Quay. It was said that an English or Protestant jury would certainly acquit, since the victim was an Irishman, and Clarendon was pleased when a conviction followed. The fact of the homicide is not disputed, but Aston gave a paper to the sheriff on the gallows stairs in which he denied the malice prepense which is of the essence of murder. He said his intention was to wound Keating slightly for having grossly insulted his wife. He died a Protestant, and recorded that great efforts had been made by many priests to make him confess and be absolved according to Roman practice. The last of these visitors was Lord Abbot Taafe, who said he came thirty miles to save the prisoner's soul, 'which could not otherwise but be damned, if I died in the faith of the Church of England; and that he was anointed in Germany, but that our ministers had no ordination.' Clarendon refused to interfere, but both he and the judges, Nugent and Lyndon, interceded for Aston's family, and his small property was not confiscated.[153]

[Sidenote: The King throws over Clarendon.]

The army in Ireland consisted of about 7000 men, and was soon purged sufficiently to make it a safe tool. In August Sheridan, by Sunderland's orders, wrote to say that the pear was nearly ripe, and that Tyrconnel was wanted in London. He went over accordingly, accompanied by Nagle, by Dominic Maguire, the Roman Catholic Primate, and by Bishop Tyrrell of Clogher. The weight of all four was exerted to oust Clarendon. James shrank from the odium of appointing a successor who would not only be disagreeable to all Protestants, but to all who dreaded French influence. Tyrconnel, with characteristic duplicity, told Sheridan that he could give up Ireland to France without being Lord Lieutenant, but employed him to persuade James that the thing was impossible. Sheridan argued that England must always have the preponderating power in Irish politics, since the old Irish, who were ten to one, favoured Spain, and the Anglo-Irish France, while neither faction would submit to the other. But Tyrconnel was determined to be Viceroy. As the price of his help Sunderland might have 5000_l._ a year in Irish land or 50,000_l._ down. The Queen, who hated him, might be bribed with a pearl necklace worth 10,000_l._, which Prince Rupert had given to Margaret Hughes. Sunderland, as greedy and as extravagant as Catiline, was willing to take the money, though not the land, and offered Tyrconnel a lieutenant-general's place in England with 5000_l._ a year extra pay, and the reversion of the Lord Lieutenancy as soon as the penal laws were repealed. He said James could only be ruled by a priest or a woman, and that everything would follow if the Queen and Father Petre were made safe. But nothing less than the government of Ireland would satisfy Tyrconnel, though he was willing to be called Berwick's deputy provided he had all the power. If the King wanted to get him out of the way, he would go abroad for 10,000_l._ and 4000_l._ to pay the expenses of his late journeys to and from Ireland. Petre, who hoped for a red hat, and the archbishopric of York to support it, helped him, and James gradually yielded, though with many misgivings. Early in October Tyrconnel was made an English Privy Councillor, and in November it was generally known that he had carried his point, and was openly preparing for the Irish journey. Lord Powis had been talked of, but the King said very truly that there was rough work to be done in Ireland which no English nobleman would do. He pressed Sheridan to go as secretary, with Alexander Fitton as Chancellor, for he knew Tyrconnel too well to trust him without good advisers to moderate or counteract his violence. It would take twelve or eighteen months to reform the army, to call in the charters, and to get such corporations appointed as would elect the right sort of Parliament. When all that was done he would provide handsomely for Sheridan. Since James himself had no confidence in the man he was sending to represent him, it is not surprising to find Evelyn noting his appointment 'to the astonishment of all sober men and to the evident ruin of the Protestants in that kingdom, as well as of its great improvement going on.'[154]

[Sidenote: 'Lillibullero.']

In times of public excitement little things sometimes have a great effect, and are better remembered than more important events. Such were the letters of obscure men in the German Reformation, the _Marriage of Figaro_ before the French Revolution, John Brown's march in the American civil war, and such, in the Irish branch of our own revolution, was the song of 'Lillibullero.' Thomas Wharton, afterwards Marquis and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, boasted that by this ditty he had sung a king out of three kingdoms. It had a success altogether out of proportion to its merit, and in the next century my uncle Toby whistled the lively air on all occasions. The words allude to the period of suspense when James still hesitated about Tyrconnel's appointment.

Ara! but why does he stay behind? Ho! by my shoul, 'tis a Protestant wind. Lillibullero, bullen-a-la.

His landing was to bring commissions galore and to ruin the heretics of Ireland. Swift had some justification for calling Wharton the most universal villain he had ever known; but he was the shrewdest of politicians, and his doggerel tells exactly the same story as Evelyn's grave reflections.[155]

[Sidenote: Clarendon's weakness.]

In adopting the rash policy represented by Tyrconnel, James parted with his two brothers-in-law, in whom the Church of England trusted. Rochester was dismissed from the Treasury, though with a large pension, and Belasyse, a Roman Catholic who had suffered by Oates's plot, was made First Lord. The Privy Seal was not restored to Clarendon, but given to Lord Arundel of Wardour, who had signed the secret treaty of Dover. Clarendon had been a painstaking governor, but he did not deserve much sympathy, for he was ready to support his master's arbitrary policy though he did not approve of it. That the King should be dissatisfied with one of his letters was, he said, a 'mortification beyond anything that can befall me in this world ... to live under your Majesty's displeasure is impossible for me.... I have made it the study of my life to practise obedience ... you will find a most resigned obedience in me.' This was very shortly before his dismissal, and after the blow had fallen he goes on in the same strain, talks of casting himself as quickly as possible at His Majesty's feet, and of obedience to him having been the business of his life. The same flavour of servility permeates his letters to his brother and to Sunderland. Short of changing his religion, there seems to have been no degree of compliance at which he would have stopped.[156]

[Sidenote: He leaves Ireland.]

When taking leave of his Council, Clarendon defended the English in Ireland from the charge of fanaticism. They were, he said, good Church of England men, and had been the first of the late King's subjects to restore him. They had also been against the Exclusion Bill, and were most ready to acknowledge royal authority. He pointed with some pride to the Irish Exchequer. Under Ormonde the annual revenue had risen to over 300,000_l._ a year without subsidies, and his successor had made it cover the expenses. All charges had been defrayed as they became due, and the army was paid up to the last month of his reign. James had indeed no fault to find with him but his religion. Having personally delivered the sword to Tyrconnel, Clarendon returned to England, and on March 3 Evelyn drove out of London to meet him. He was received at Court very soon after.[157]

FOOTNOTES:

[139] Proclamations of February 10 and 11, 1684-5, Carte's _Ormonde_, ii. 543. Ormonde's letters of February 22, March 1 and 4, in Singer's _Correspondence_ of Clarendon and Rochester. Luttrell's _Diary_, March 27. The story of the officers' dinner is in _Secret Consults of the Romish Party_, 1690. Ormonde's arms were placed over the entrance to the new hospital.

[140] Proclamations of Lords Justices against Monmouth and his adherents, June 13 and 22; as to the militia arms, June 20 and October 16, 1685. For Argyle's expedition, Earl of Antrim to Lords Justices, May 18, and Captain Thomas Hamilton of the _Kingfisher_ to Granard, June 17, in State Papers, _Ireland_, vol. cccli. As to the removal of officers, Tyrconnel and Granard, August 12, _ib._, and Justin MacCarthy to Granard, _ib._ Ormonde to Primate Boyle, October 17, 1685, _Ormonde Papers_, vii. 374. Tyrconnel reached Ireland before May 29, _ib._ 341.

[141] Correspondence between Ormonde and Roscommon, particularly August 15 and September 17, 1685, _Ormonde Papers_, vol. vii.

[142] Clarendon to Rochester, December 28, 1685, _Clarendon Correspondence_. Writing on December 20, 1685, Bishop Fell wishes Clarendon 'good luck with his honour, which to me seems sufficiently hazardous,' _Hatton Correspondence_. According to the _Sheridan MS._, Sunderland had suggested Clarendon to the King, 'for mending his fortune, of which he stood in need, pacifying Tyrconnel by saying that the two brothers would be ruined by being kept apart.

[143] Evelyn's _Diary_, December 16, 1685. Clarendon's letters, December 21 to January 10 and January 23, 1685-6. _Ellis Correspondence_, i. 9, 11. Luttrell's _Diary_, December 16 and 18, 1685. Clarendon's speech on taking office is in the _Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence_, ii. 475.

[144] Evelyn's _Diary_, November 3, 1685. A newsletter to Colonel Grace from Dublin, November 11, in _Clarendon's Correspondence_, notices the silence of the _Gazette_ there about the French persecutions and the persistence of unauthorised sheets: 'if it be a fiction, as certainly it is for the most part, why does not the Government take notice of it?... great concern that those of Geneva--Dublin have for their Calvinist brethren in France.' The latest lights are in Lavisse's 7th and 8th vols. and Rousset's _Hist. de Louvois_, iii. chap. vii. For the dragonnades in Bearn, Henry IV.'s own country, see Sainte-Beuve's article on the intendant Foucault, _Nouveaux Lundis_, vol. iii. In 1686 Avaux found there were 75,000 French refugees in Holland, Lavisse and Rambaut's _Hist. générale_, vol. vi.

[145] Clarendon's letters, February and March 1686, particularly that of February 14. Sunderland to Clarendon, March 11. An acute observer notes that the Irish Protestant refugees in England were too proud to complain and less noticed than the French, though they were 'our bone and our flesh.' Every Frenchman was distinguished by garb and speech, but those from Ireland by neither, and so in the crowd not discerned. _Character of the Protestants of Ireland_, May 1689, p. 8.

[146] Clarendon to Rochester, March 14 and April 17. James II. to Clarendon, April 6. In Burnet's _Hist._ i. 654, the remarks on Porter are much softened compared to his original MS., _Supplement_, ed. Foxcroft, p. 170.

[147] Clarendon's letters of April 17, 20, and 24.

[148] Clarendon to Rochester, April 17, 20, and 24, 1686; to Sunderland, April 24 and 27; to Rochester, May 11 and 15. Sunderland to Clarendon, March 11, May 22. In his diary on January 31, 1686-7, Clarendon says Nagle pretended that he had no wish to be Attorney-General, but 'I do not believe him in the least, for I am sure he is both a covetous and an ambitious man.'

[149] Clarendon to Rochester, May 1, 1686; Lady Clarendon to Rochester, March 15. Luttrell's _Diary_, January 19 and February 24. Evelyn to Clarendon, September 1686, appended to the _Diary_, iii. 425.

[150] _Sheridan MS._ Clarendon to Sunderland, May 30, June 1, and July 20, 1686. King's _State of the Protestants_, chap. iii. sec. 2. Luttrell's _Diary_, June 8. After the Revolution Sunderland thought it wise to disclaim any share in the Irish business: 'My Lord Tyrconnel has been so absolute there that I never had the credit to make an ensign or to keep one in, nor to preserve some of my friends, for whom I was much concerned, from the least oppression and injustice, though I endeavoured it to the utmost of my power,' letter in H. Sidney's _Diary_, ii. 378. Tyrconnel cashiered about 4000 Protestant soldiers and 300 officers, Fortescue's _History of the British Army_, iv. chap. 1.

[151] Clarendon to Rochester, June 8 and July 4. St. John's Well was at Kilmainham, near where O'Connell Road now crosses the railway, and the name is perpetuated in the intersecting road. A 'pattern' fair, which became very disorderly, was held here till about 1835, when the well was swallowed up by builders. See Frazer's _Balder the Beautiful_, i. 205 (Golden Bough).

[152] Letters in _Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence_, vol. i., particularly August 4 and 19, 1686. _Ormonde Papers_, vols. vi. and vii., particularly Sir W. Stewart to Arran, February 13, 1682-3; Tory Hamilton to W. Ellis, January 2, 1683-4, and Longford's letters in August 1686. King mentions the murder, chap. i. section 7. In the correspondence of the time Hamilton is generally called a very honest fellow. _Ellis Correspondence_, i. 166.

[153] Letters in vol. i. of _Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence_. Aston's dying declaration is appended to that of June 3. King's remark is (chap. iii. sec. 2), 'they might kill whom they pleased without fear of law, as appeared from Captain Nangles' murdering his disbanded officer in the streets of Dublin; but if any killed or hurt them they were sure to suffer; as Captain Aston found to his cost, who was hanged for killing a Papist upon his abusing the captain's wife in the street.'

[154] _Sheridan MS._ _Ellis Correspondence_, November 30, 1686. Luttrell's _Diary_, December 1. Evelyn's _Diary_, January 17, 1686-7. Sunderland was considered bribable, see his own statement in _Diary of H. Sidney_, ii. 379.

[155] The air of 'Lillibullero,' originally composed by Purcell for another song, is still whistled in Ulster under the name of 'Protestant Boys.' The words have been often reprinted, see Wilkin's _Political Ballads_, i. 275, and (with variants) the third part of _Revolution Politicks_, 1733. Purcell's music is given in the 1873 edition of Sterne's _Works_, i. 93, at the end of _Tristram Shandy_, 2nd part, chap. iii. See also Croker's _Historical Songs of Ireland_, pp. 1-11.

[156] See in particular Clarendon's letters to the King of October 23, 1686, and of February 6, 1686-7 (in the appendix). Evelyn's _Diary_, March 3 and 10.

[157] Clarendon's parting speech, February 12, 1686-7, is in the appendix to King's _State of the Protestants_. No mention is made of the Ulster Scots. Evelyn's _Diary_. Luttrell's _Diary_, March.