Q: Who were the Puritans?
A. The Puritans were a set of fanatics who rose to power in England and Scotland in the reign of Charles I. They were followers of Calvin, and so intolerant that they enforced their views by penal laws and the free use of “the sword.
Q. How did their success affect Ireland?
A. Having obtained control of the government, their leaders declared that “they would not leave a priest in Ireland,” and that “their conversion would be effected with the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other.”
Q. Were these threats made by those in authority?
A. Yes; Lord Clarendon says that the Puritan leaders “had sworn to extirpate the whole Irish nation,” and Carte affirms that “the lords-justices had set their hearts on the extirpation, not only of the mere Irish, but likewise of all the English families that were Roman Catholics.”
Q. What measures did the Catholics take for their safety?
A. A gentleman named Roger Moore induced the native Catholics to unite for nlutual defence. Accordii^ly, on the 23d of October, 1641, they anticipated their enemies, and took the field under Sir Phelim O’Neill.
Q. What did O’Neill do on that day?
A. He declared by proclamation that the object of the Catholics was not hostility “to any subjects, either English or Scotch, but only the defence and liberties of the Irish natives of this kingdom.”
Q. Was this declaration true?
A. It was, most undoubtedly; but, as a set-off to the wholesale slaughter committed by themselves during the war, the Puritans afterwards pretended that a great slaughter of Englishmen took place on the day of the rising.
Q. Were there any grounds for this charge?
A. No; there were none whatever, as is proved from the testimony of respectable Protestant historians, and from the contradictory and irreconcilable statements of those who afterwards made the charge. Besides, there is no mention of any such massacre in the despatches of the lords-lieutenants of the time, and these functionaries, certainly, would not miss the opportunity of exciting hate against the rebels, as they styled the Catholics, if the charges were true.
Q. Where was the first massacre committed?
A. At Island Magee, where three thousand men, women, and children were put to death in one night by the Scotch garrison of Carrickfergus, which came upon them suddenly, November, 1641.
Q. Who was the chief author of butcheries like this?
A. Sir Charles Coote, who declared that he would not spare even a babe, though ** it were but a span long.” This child-slayer kept his word faithfully; but, as might be expected, he extended his hate to adults also. Thus, by his orders, nineteen persons were massacred near Dublin, and fifty-six drowned in the bay of that city.
Q. What was the effect of these atrocities? [196]
A. The Catholic lords of the Pale met the native leaders at the hill of Crofty on December 8th, and, on being assured that their object was “to maintain the royal prerogative, and make the subjects of Ireland as free as those of England,” they, too, joined the national cause.
Q. How did the English parliament raise money?
A. It confiscated two million five hundred thousand acres of land from Catholics, and then, having sold them to Protestants for one million pounds, it was thus enabled to put a large army in the field.
Q. Who took command of the government forces?
A. James Butler, Duke of Ormond, one of the most crafty and treacherous characters that ever appeared in Irish history.
Q. What orders did he receive for the conduct of the war?
A. The Council at Dublin Castle sent him the following instruction:— “It is resolved that it is fit that his lordship do endeavor with his majesty's forces to wound, kill, slay, and destroy, by all the ways and means he may, all the said rebels, their adherents and relievers; and burn, waste, spoil, consume, destroy, and demolish all the places, towns, and houses where the said rebels are or have been relieved or harbored, and all the hay and corn there; and kill and destroy all the men there inhabiting, capable to bear arms.” Given at the Castle of Dublin, on the 23d of February, 1642.
Q. What encouragement did the native leaders receive from the clergy?
A. On the 22d of March, 1642, the bishops of the Synod of Kells pronounced the war “just and lawful,” and forbade all unnecessary violence.
Q. What convention was held by the Catholics?
A. On the loth of May following, the bishops, lords, and commons of Ireland held a convention at Kilkenny, and organized a regular form of government, called “The Catholic Confederation.” The supreme power was vested in a council composed of three archbishops, two bishops, four lords, and fifteen commoners. Lord Mountgarret was made president of this council.
Q. To what did the Confederates bind themselves?
A. They took an oath by which they bound themselves to maintain the fundamental laws of Ireland, the free exercise of the Catholic religion, and never to accept any peace without the consent of the General Assembly of the Catholics of Ireland.
Q. What accessions were made to the national army?
A. Hundreds of soldiers serving in France and Spain now hastened to the assistance of their struggling country. Thus, on July 6th, Colonel Owen Roe O’Neill landed in Donegal with one hundred officers and a supply of ammunition; and in September, Colonel Thomas Preston arrived at Wexford with five hundred officers, a number of engineers, and a quantity of military stores.
Q. Who were the prmcipal leaders on the Catholic side?
A. At a meeting of the General Assembly, held October 23d, Owen Roe O’Neill was appointed to carry on the war in Ulster; Thomas Preston, in Leinster; Gerald Barry, in Munster; and John Burke, in Connaught.
Q. Give a summary of the war for the first two years.
A. Besides obtaining possession of the greater portion of the island, the Confederates were successful at Portlester, Kilworth, and Galway; but they were defeated at Kilrush, Liscarroll, Ballynakill, Rathconnell, and Ardmore, [198] where one hundred and forty persons were massacred in cold blood.
Q. What put an end to hostilities for a time?
A. On the 13th of September, 1643, the Anglo-Irish majority of the Supreme Council signed a twelve months' truce with Ormond at Castlemartin, and, in gratitude for this supposed favor, they agreed to supply King Charles with thirty thousand pounds in money, and provisions to assist him against the Puritans, who were up in arms. By the diplomacy of Ormond the truce was prolonged foi half a year.
Q. How did the Puritans act in the meanwhile?
A. They protested loudly against making peace with papists, and ordered Gen. Monroe to break the truce, which he did by taking Newry, and putting to death sixty men, eighteen women, and two ecclesiastics. After this he enriched his own country by the immense booty he sent from Antrim to Scotland, one item alone being nine thousand head of cattle.
Q. Did the Catholics desire peace?
A. The native Irish did not, but those of English or Anglo-Norman descent desired ardently to be reconciled with their kin. Hence, by their influence, deputies were sent to the king to inform him that his dutiful Catholic subjects would lay down their arms if the penal laws were repealed. Charles would probably have promised this, had he not feared the Puritans, who demanded that all these enactments be strictly enforced.
Q. What order did the English parliament issue to its officers carrying on the war?
A. It issued the “No Quarter Act,” which is as follows: “The lords and commons, assembled in the parliament of England, do declare that no quarter shall be given to [199] any Irishman, or to any papist born in Ireland, which shall be taken in hostility against the parliament, either upon sea, or within the kingdom or dominion of Wales; and, therefore, do order that the lord-general, the lord-admiral, and all other officers and commanders, both by sea and land, shall except all Irishmen and all papists born in Ireland, out of all capitulation hereafter to be made with the enemy, and shall, upon the taking of every such Irishman and papist born in Ireland, as aforesaid, forthwith put every such person to death.” a.d. 1644.
Q. Did this infamous order open the eyes of the Catholics?
A. No; despite this bloody edict of parliament, Orn.ond, the king's representative, still managed to mislead the majority of the Confederates by his promises.
Q. Were any Irish in the service of the king?
A. Yes; at this time fifteen hundred of them were serving in Scotland, where they won a succession of victories over the king's enemies.
Q. Were the Confederates in Ireland equally fortunate?
A. No; the strong fort of Duncannon was surrendered to the Puritans, by an Englishman, and the town of Sligo was carried by assault, October 26th, 1645. Despite these losses, however, the Catholics were much encouraged by the arrival of John Baptist Rinuccini, Archbishop of Fermo, who landed in Munster as nuncio of Innocent X, with a supply of arms and money.
Q. What took place within the next few months?
A. There arose two parties in the Supreme Council — the Anglo-Irish, who wished to deal gently with the government; and the native Irish, headed by the nuncio, who advocated the vigorous prosecution of the war. The [200] former had been deceived by Orniond; but, nevertheless, like penitent children, they longed for a reconciliation. When, therefore, the king sent them Herbert, Earl of Glamorgan, they concluded a treaty with him which secured to them equal rights, civil and religious, March 28th, 1646. Then to show their loyalty, they voted six thousand troops to assist Charles against his enemies; but to their astonishment, when the treaty was made public, the king disavowed it.
Q. What misfortune overtook the faithless Charles?
A. His subjects rose in rebellion, and defeated his troops in several battles; at last he was forced to seek refuge among the Scotch, who sold him to his own parliament for the sum of four hundred thousand pounds.
Q. Which was the greatest battle fought during this war?
A. That of Benburb, where Owen Roe O’Neill, with five thousand native troops, defeated General Monroe, at the head of eight thousand Puritans, In this battle the loss on the Catholic side was but seventy killed and two hundred wounded, whereas on that of the enemy it was three thousand two hundred and forty-three, with several prisoners, thirty-two standards, and an immense quantity of guns, tents, ammunition, etc., June 4th, 1646.
Q. Did the Confederates continue to prosper?
A. They did for a time; but, at length, the rival parties in the Supreme Council came to an open rupture, and to this alone must be attributed their subsequent failure at Dublin and elsewhere. Then, owing to the influence of the Anglo-Catholics, the war languished for two years, when Rinuccini left the country in disgust, February, 1649. Six months later, the Puritans defeated Ormond at Rathmines, and then Oliver Cromwell, the [201] famous Puritan general, landed at Dublin with fourteen thousand men, to put an end to the struggle.
Q. For what is Cromwell's career in Ireland noted?
A. It is remarkable for the amount of blood which he shed in a few months. Thus, at Drogheda, although quarter had been promised, the work of slaughter lasted five days, and the three thousand men comprising the garrison were put to the sword, together with one thousand unresisting victims, who had sought refuge in the great church. The few who escaped death were sent as slaves to the Barbadoes, September nth. At Wexford the enemy broke into the town during a truce, and “no distinction,” says Lingard, “was made between the defenceless inhabitants and the armed soldiers; nor could the shrieks of three hundred females, who had gathered round the great cross, preserve them from the swords of these ruthless barbarians.” By Cromwell himself the number slaughtered here is put down at two thousand, including men, women, and children, October i6th.
Q. Did parliament sanction the conduct of Cromwell?
A. Yes; on the 2d of October it declared “that the house doth approve of the execution at Drogheda, both as an act of justice to them and mercy to others who may be warned by it.”
Q. What great leader did the Irish lose at this crisis?
A. Owen Roe O’Neill, who was suddenly struck down by death at Clough Oughter Castle, as he was marching to meet Cromwell; and thus perished the only hope of his country, a victim, it is supposed, to the fear and malice of his enemies, November 6th, 1645.
Q. Did the Irish, endeavor to protract the struggle?
A. Yes; after Charles I had been beheaded by his subjects in 1649, the Royalists proclaimed the Prince of [202] Wales king, under the title of Charles II. The Irish leaders, however, withdrew their support from him for having violated his promises to them, when he found it necessary to court the favor of their Scotch enemies, and, as a last resource, they invited the Duke of Loraine to Ireland as protector; but Onnond and Prince Charles found means to defeat this new move.
Q. What acts of tyranny were now committed?
A. Cromwell was installed as lord-protector in 1653, whereupon he confiscated three million acres of land in Ireland, and drove the native owners into Connaught, where they were pent up in bondage for seven years, May ist, 1654. “All of them who after that time should be found in any other part of the kingdom, man, woman, or child, might be killed by anybody who saw or met them.” The total amount of land confiscated from the Catholics under the Commonwealth was seven million seven hundred and eight thousand two hundred and thirty-seven iacres.
Q. What other events are worthy of note?
A. Forty thousand fighting men were forced to seek shelter in foreign lands; and at least sixty thousand boys and girls, men and women, were sent as slaves to Virginia, New England, and the West India Islands, a.d. 1655. In this year also regular posts were first established in Ireland.
Q. When did Cromwell die?
A. Cromwell died in 1658, after having put to death three bishops, three hundred priests, and many thousands of people, besides those slain in battle.
Q. Mention a few of those who were especially conspicuous during this epoch.
A. Among the Puritans were Ireton, Jones, and [203] O’Brien or Inchiquin, “the church-burner;” and on the side of the Catholics, Sir Richard Belling, David Rothe, Bishop of Ossory, Heber McMahon, Bishop of Clogher, Rev. GeofFry Keating, the historian, and Father Luke Warding [sic for Wadding], one of the most learned men of his age. [End Chap. V.]
