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their demands were met may be inferred from the following direction sent to the earl: 1—

"It is resolved, That it is fit that his lordship do endeavour with His Majesty's forces, to wound, kill, slay, and destroy by all ways and means he may, all the said rebels, their adherents, and relievers; and burn, spoil, waste, consume, destroy, and demolish all the places, towns, and houses where the rebels are, or have been relieved and harboured; and all the hay and corn there; and kill and destroy all the men there inhabiting, capable to bear arms. Given at His Majesty's Castle of Dublin, 23rd February 1642.

"R. DILLON

THO. ROTHERAM AD. LOFTUS F. WILLOUGHBY J. TEMPLE

2

ROBERT MEREDITH."

In reference to the above, Leland, a Protestant clergyman, says: "In the execution of these orders the justices declare that the soldiers slew all persons promiscuously, not sparing the women, and sometimes not the children." Nothing of the kind is alleged against the Irish of Clare, as we have seen, when in fair open war Protestants fell into their hands. Some private acts of vengeance are spoken to, but no massacre or slaying of captives by the organised Irish force.

The Earl of Thomond took no part in the struggle. He retired into England, leaving his castles of Bunratty and Clare in the hands of the king's forces; in the former of which a sum of not less than £2000 was discovered, and, needless to add, turned to their own account. He afterwards

tried, but failed, to have this regarded as a debt. He observed throughout a prudent caution, not making himself very obnoxious to the Irish, while appearing always on the side of the English.

The occupation of Limerick by the Confederate army under General Barry and Lord Muskerry, and the surrender of the castle when undermined some weeks after, left Clare as well as Limerick practically in the hands of the Irish. One check, however, they sustained in Clare. John O'Molony, Bishop of 1 Carte's Ormond, vol. iii. p. 61. Leland's Hist. Book v.

Killaloe, while organising the Catholics near Quin, was surprised by the English from Bunratty, defeated with some loss, and very nearly captured. The success of the Irish at and around Limerick could not therefore be regarded as assured while Bunratty remained in the hands of the English; so, though they were provided. with but little ordnance for the assault on so strong a castle, it was determined at all hazards to capture it.

Meanwhile the struggle between the king and the Parliament was progressing in England. Ormond was directed to negotiate a peace with the army of the Confederation, so as to secure its services for the king. One of the conditions demanded by the Irish, and conceded by Ormond, was embodied in the Sixth Article of the peace in the following words: "That the plantation of Connaught, Kilkenny, Clare, Thomond, Tipperary, Limerick, and Wicklow, may be revoked by Act of Parliament, and their estates secured in the next sessions." This was but an act of justice.

Had it been carried into effect by either the king or the parliamentarians, attended by freedom of worship, how much of the subsequent misery, and race-hatred, and bloodshed, would have been avoided! The two nations might have been linked in the bonds of peace, and would assuredly have grown happier and stronger side by side.

The conclusion of this peace changed the whole aspect of the war in Ireland. The Irish were henceforth fighting for the king, as well as for their own rights. As the garrison of Bunratty, consisting of 800 foot and 60 horse, under the command of Colonel M'Adam, and well supplied with provisions in view of the inevitable coming conflict, was on the side of the Parliament, it was necessary to besiege the place. A force of 3000 foot and 300 horse, under the command of Lord Muskerry, was sent into Clare for that purpose; and so important was the reduction of this fortress considered, that Cardinal Rinuncini himself, who had some time before been despatched from Rome with considerable supplies both in arms and money (2000 swords, 500 petronels, 20,000 lbs. of powder, and five or six small trunks of Spanish gold, all 1 Carte's Ormond.

landed at Kenmare, after a narrow escape from an English ship of war), took his place among the troops. Not only have we a good idea of the size of this fortress and its outworks, from the fact that 800 foot and 60 horse, with the usual followers of such a force, were accommodated within it; but we have a picture of its internal appearance and surroundings from the pen of the Cardinal, showing how an Irish chieftain beyond the Shannon could support his style and dignity in those days.

"I have no hesitation in asserting," he writes, "that it is the most beautiful spot I have ever seen. In Italy there is nothing like the palace and grounds of the Lord of Thomond. Nothing like its ponds and park, with its 3000 head of deer."

And yet all in those parts were "wild Irish." The massive castle, still imposing even in ruin, standing on the Shannon, seven miles below Limerick, on the Clare side, tells its own tale.

The siege was protracted, owing as well to the naturally strong position of the castle as to the stubborn resistance offered by the garrison. It was open to the Shannon, from which supplies were poured in.

The river Raite, from which it takes its name, spreading out into marshes, encircled it on the south and east. The only assailable point was on the north-west, where a high spur of land overlooked the castle; and here a strong earthen mound was erected, upon which were placed four cannons. Muskerry had with him three officers of great ability, who had served for many years in the German wars-MajorGeneral Stephenson, Lieutenant-General Purcell, and Colonel Purcell. The attack was maintained with great vigour, especially after the arrival of two pieces of heavy ordnance from Limerick. The besieged, on the other hand, did not confine themselves to a mere defence. They sallied out from. time to time; and on one of these occasions had very nearly thrown the whole attacking force into confusion-the Irish outposts flying before them in a panic, for which Lord Muskerry court-marshalled and executed some of the leaders. The arrival of Cardinal Rinuncini in the camp threw great

spirit into the troops. He went into the trenches, keeping up the courage of the men by sharing their danger. A constant fire was kept up day and night on the castle without making much impression. It so wearied, however, the defenders, that when their commander, Colonel MacAdam, was mortally wounded by a stray shot, they lost heart, and offered to surrender. On the twelfth day after his arival in the camp, the Cardinal had the satisfaction to receive the keys of the fortress, allowing the garrison to depart in their ships for Cork. Though no special mention is made of it, the castle of Clare also must have been included in the surrender. Leaving a sufficient force in the castles, he returned in triumph. to Limerick, where the victory was celebrated by a solemn Mass and Te Deum in the cathedral. To add to their joy, news soon arrived of the capture of the castle of Roscommon by General Preston, and the great victory of Owen Roe O'Neill over Monroe, at Benburb, where no less than three thousand of the enemy were slain, with a loss on the Irish side of only seventy killed and two hundred wounded.1 These rapid successes raised the hopes of the Confederate Catholics to the highest pitch. In the summer of 1646, Clare had not so much as an openly hostile foot on her soil.

1 Haverty. To inflame the English mind, it was described in print on the walls of London as "the bloody fight at Blackwater on the 5th of June, by the Irish rebels against Major-General Monroe, when five thousand Protestants were put to the sword."

CHAPTER XXI.

FROM 1646 TO 1651.

Morogh na Thothaine-Cromwell-Ormond in Clare-Council of the Confederation takes refuge in Ennis-Ireton-Betrayal of the Irish Cause-Ludlow at Inchicronan-Surrender of Limerick-Mauria

Rhua.

THERE looms up now, in the history of this protracted struggle, on the English side, a Clare man whose exploits have secured him the unenviable title of Morogh na Thothaine-" Morogh of the burnings." He was grandson of that Lord Inchiquin who lost his life, as already related, at the Erne, in the expedition. against O'Donnell. Succeeding to the title while yet a minor, he was brought up, as a ward of the English crown, in the Protestant faith, and married, when he came of age, the daughter of Sir Anthony St. Leger, President of Munster. He was true to his training during the early period of his life, for never was there a more savage or bitter anti-Irishman. Having served for awhile on the Continent, he was appointed to a command under his father-in-law, and, having displayed great vigour and ability in repulsing an attack of the Irish on Cork in the April of 1642, he was entrusted by the Lords Justices, Sir John Borlase and Sir William Parsons, with the command of the army of Munster, vacant by the death of St. Leger, in the July of the same year. He was then but twenty-four years of age. He went to the king to solicit a formal appointment to the presidency of Munster, the duties of which he had been discharging since the death of his father-in-law; but, finding the Earl of Portland already named to it, he so resented the slight as to turn upon the king and take service under the Parliament. He addressed a Remonstrance to the Parliament against the truce for a

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