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strance," says the marquis himself," "whatever mischief it may do, hath yet done this good, that it put us quite from all disputes upon the necessity of conditions, and was no small cause of the speedy, and I hope, happy conclusion of the peace."*

CHAP. XXIII.

The peace of 1648 concluded and proclaimed.

ON the 17th of January, 1648,' the general assembly repaired to the presence of the lord lieutenant in his castle at Kil kenny, and there, with all solemnity imaginable, presented to him, sitting on a throne of state, the articles of the peace, by the hands of sir Richard Blake, their chairman, which he received; and having confirmed them, on his majesty's be half, caused them to be publicly proclaimed. Nine Roman catholic bishops, present in the assembly, joined, the next day, in a circular letter, which they sent to all the cities and corpo rations of their party, exhorting them to receive and obey the peace now concluded; which was in substance that which had been made in 1646, but rejected by a former assembly."‡

1 Id. ib. vol. ii. fol. 50.

6 Carte's Orm, vol. iii. fol. 602. "This agreement," says Borlase, "passed with that miraculous consent and unity, that in the whole assembly, in which there were (nine) catholic bishops, there was not one dissenting voice."―Irish Rebel. fol. 260.

While the marquis of Ormond was treating at Kilkenny with the con federates on the peace of 1648, the English parliament having had notice of it from colonel Jones, ordered their commissioners treating with Charles in the isle of Wight, to prevail upon him to disavow it. "Whereupon his majesty signified, that in case other things were composed by the treaty (with the parliament) the concerns of Ireland must be left wholly to the houses." And in the interim wrote to Ormond, "to require him to desist from any further proceedings in that peace."-Borl. ib. fol. 259.

In that letter they observed to the people, "that although in their thoughts and occasions, during these seven years wars, they had still the same loyalty, which now made them comply with his majesty in his greatest necessity, and had often publicly sworn it, yet they lay under the suspicion of many men; but that by the present agreement, all blemish of that kind was taken away. That, as for their religion, they had received good satisfaction for the being and safety of it; that by the temporal articles, their lives, liberties, and estates were provided for; so as now," added they,

The lord lieutenant, in a letter to lord Digby, January the 22d, after telling him, that the peace was concluded, adds, "I must say for this people, that I have observed in them, great readiness to comply with what I was able to give them; and a very great sense of the king's sad condition." And in another letter, of the same date, to the prince of Wales, he takes notice" of the very eminent loyalty of the assembly, which was not," says he,3« shaken by the success which God hath permitted to the monstrous rebellion in England; nor by the mischievous practices of the no less malicious rebels in Ire land."

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After the signing of the articles, his excellency made a speech to the assembly, wherein he congratulated them, not only on the score of what they had already obtained by that peace, in point of freedom of worship, abatement of penalties, and other advantages; but also on the hopes of further indulgence and favor in all these respects, according to their future merits." For he told them, "that, besides the provision made against their remotest fears of the severites of certain (penal) laws; and besides many other freedoms and bounties conveyed to them, and their posterity, by these articles; there was a door, and that a large one, not left, but purposely set open, to give them entrance to whatever of honor or other advantage they could reasonably wish." And yet, about the same time that his lordship made this public and solemn declaration to the assembly, he, in a private letter to sir Charles Coote, a parliamentarian rebel," averred with much confidence,' (they are his own words) that the advantages, which the Romish professors were supposed to have, in religion or authority, by that peace, were no other but pledges for his majesty's confirmation of the other concessions, and that they were to determine therewith ;"* as in truth they did.

2 Ib. vol. iii. fol. 600. 3 Id. ib. fol. 601.
$ Cart. Orm. vol. ii. fol. 52.

4 Ib. vol. iii.

66 you have a clear quarrel, without the least color of suspicion; for you fight purely against sectaries and rebels, for God and Cæsar; and under those banners you may well hope for victory,”-Enquiry into the share, §2. p. 267.

* Yet the king himself, in a letter to the marquis of Ormond, March 9th, 1648, told him on this occasion, "that he had lately received from lord Byron the articles of the peace, which he had made in Ireland, toge

CHAP. XXIV.

The happy effects of this peace.

Ormond's defeat at Rathmines. Cromwell's arrival in Ireland.

THERE was for some time great union and harmony between the English and Irish forces, now joined under the marquis of Ormond's command. His excellency in a letter to the king, June 28th, 1649, acquainted him," that the ground of his greatest confidence of future success was their present cordial conjunction against the rebels, their former disaffection to each other appearing, then, only in an emulation rather of advantage than hindrance to his majesty's service."* To this union it was certainly owing, that their first operations were extremely successful; for, in the space of a few months, they became masters of Sligo, Drogheda, Dundalk, Waterford, Trim, Newry, and in short of all the strong holds and towns in the kingdom, except Londonderry and Dublin. Towards this latter city, therefore, his excellency marched the combined armies; hoping to repair the mischiefs he had done by his lae surrender of it to the English rebels, and to reduce it once more under his majesty's obedience. His excellency's excessive confidence in these united forces, though now in want of almost every necessary for his enterprise on Dublin, is one of the supposed causes of his fatal disappointment in that attempt. That this confidence was indeed excessive, appears by his letter of July 18th, to the king, from his camp at Finglas; for there he tells him, "that which only threatens any rub to our success, is our wants, which have

1 Id. Carte's Orig. Papers, vol. ii. p. 387.

Carte's Orig. Pap. vol. ii. p. 389,

ther with a copy of his letter to him; that he was extremely satisfied with both, and would confirm, wholly and entirely, all that was contained in the articles."-Cart. Collect, of Orig. Papers, vol. ii. p. 963.

And yet Borlase confidently asserts, from Clarendon, "that from the first hour of the peace (of 1648) these English and Irish had not been without that prejudice towards each other, as gave the marquis much trouble; and that they were rather incorporated by their obedience and submission to the authority and pleasure of their chief commanders, than united by the same inclinations and affections to any public end.”—Hist. of the Irish Rebel. fol. 287.

been, and are such, that soldiers have actually starved by their arms, and many of less constancy have run home: many of the foot are weak; yet I despair not to be able to keep them together, and strong enough to reduce Dublin, if good supplies of all sorts come not speedily to relieve it. I am confident I can persuade one half of this army to starve outright; and I shall venture far upon it rather than give off a game so fair on our side, and so hard to be recovered if given over."

But while his excellency was thus securely making prepara tions for that enterprise at Rathmines, a place three miles from Dublin, his whole army was surprised and routed by Michael Jones, governor of that city for the parliament, on the 2d of August, 1649. "Jones,3 according to the marquis of Ormond's account, slew six hundred in that engagement; some upon the spot, and in the pursuit; but the greatest part after they had lain down their arms upon promise of quarter,* and had been for almost an hour prisoners ;† and divers of them were murder. ed after they were brought within the works of Dublin. This sudden and unaccountable defeat at Rathmines,‡ renewed, in the Irish, all their former suspicions, that his excellency had still some private understanding' with the English rebels; and these suspicions were increased by the constant ill success of all his subsequent undertakings against their partizans in Ireland. To these misfortunes was soon after added a general panic, occasioned by the unparalleled cruelties of Oliver Cromwell, who

3 Cart. Orig. Pap. vol. ii. p. 397.

"Fifteen hundred private soldiers, and three hundred officers, were made prisoners; about six hundred slain; many of these, to the disgrace of the conquerors, when they had accepted quarter, and laid down their arms."-Lel. Hist. of Irel. vol. iii. p. 316.

† "Soon after this defeat," says Borlase," Jones was writ to by his excellency, to have a list of the prisoners he had taken from him; to whom it was replied, "my lord, since I routed your army, I cannot have the happiness to know where you are, that I may wait upon you. Michael Jones."-Irish Rebel. fol. 280.

Borlase informs us, "that this defeat at Rathmines altered the result of councils at court, till then very strong for his majesty's repair into Ireland, the Scots having given ill proof of their integrity and faith. And certainly," adds he," the Irish were, at that time, so disposed, as probably they would have submitted to his majesty, whatever afterwards might have been the result of their compliance."-Hist. Irish Reb. fol. 280,

landed at Dublin on the 15th of that month with eight thousand foot, and four thousand horse; two hundred thousand pounds in money, and a vast quantity of ammunition, and all kind of necessaries for war. With these forces, he on the 3d of September, besieged and took Drogheda by storm.* And although all his officers and soldiers,' had promised quarter to such of the garrison as would lay down their arms; and performed it as long as any place held out, which encouraged others to yield; yet when they once had got all in their power, Cromwell, being told by Jones that he had now the flower of the Irish army in his hands, gave orders that no quarter should be given; so that many of his soldiers were forced to kill their prisoners."+

The marquis of Ormond, in a letter to lord Byron on this occasion, says, “ that Cromwell exceeded even himself, for any thing he had ever heard of, in breach of faith and bloody inhu manity; and that the cruelties exercised there for five days after the town was taken, would make as many several pictures of inhumanity, as are to be found in the book of martyrs, or the relation of Amboyna." In this carnage, out of three thousand, he left only about thirty persons alive; and these he sent to Barbadoes."

4 Carte's Orm. vol. ii. fol. 83.

$ Carte's Orm. vol. ii. fol. 44. Lel. Hist. vol. iii. p. 350,
6 Cart. Collect. of Orig. Pap. vol. ii.

* "Cromwell marched from Dublin to Drogheda, on the 30th of Aug, 1649, with an army of nine or ten thousand men."-Borl. Irish Reb. f. 282. "Cromwell, they say, made his soldiers believe, that the Irish ought to be dealt with as the Canaanites in Joshua's time.”—Dr. Anderson's Royal Genealogies, p. 786.

The brave governor sir Arthur Aston, sir Edmund Verney, the colonels Warren, Fleming and Byrne, were killed in cold blood; and in deed all the officers, except some few of the least consideration, that escaped by miracle."-Carte's Orm, vol. ii. fol. 84.

And yet, in the Journals of the Irish Commons, ann. 1697, we find recorded, "the very great and signal services done by this lieutenant-general Jones, in reducing Ireland to the obedience of England :" i. e. to the rebel parliament of England.-Com. Journ. vol. ii. fol. 864,

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