Chapter XXVII: The Ormonde Peace, 1646 (2)

Castlehaven was sent to sound the clergy at Waterford, but he found them impracticable, rejoined Ormonde near Cashel, and persuaded him to get back to Dublin as quickly as possible, lest he should be intercepted and captured. Castlehaven argued that the clerical party was getting stronger every day, 'and that the Supreme Council were dissolved on the proclamation of peace, and consequently of no authority to make good the public faith.' Other advices were to the same effect, and it seemed probable that O'Neill's object was to get between the viceroy and his capital. Castlehaven tried in vain to gain over MacThomas, who followed Ormonde as far as Callan, but without coming to blows. Orders were sent to Willoughby to seize the fortified pass over the Barrow at Leighlin Bridge with his infantry. Colonel Walter Bagenal, who was in command there, offered no opposition, and Ormonde joined the main body at Kilcullen. He had sent Castlehaven and his brother-in-law, Sir George Hamilton, to the corporation of Kilkenny, offering to stand by them if they wished it and would adhere to the peace, but they begged him to pass on his way. The mob plundered his baggage, and the very men, says Bellings, 'who a fortnight before had employed both cost and invention in erecting statues and triumphal arches adorned with inscriptions, setting forth his own actions, and the trophies of his ancestors, were suddenly as busy in pulling them down, and defacing the monuments of his solemn entry, lest the northern army, which could have easily mastered, might be incensed to their destruction.' Willoughby, when expecting an attack, found that the bulk of his powder, which had been given in part payment of 30,000_l._ by the Confederates at the first cessation, was so bad as to be quite useless, and but for the eight barrels lately borrowed from Sir John Sherlock he would have been in no condition to fight.[98]

[Sidenote: Lord Digby's proposals.]

[Sidenote: Triumph of Rinuccini,]

[Sidenote: who imprisons the Supreme Council.]

[Sidenote: O'Neill and Preston at Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde ignores Glamorgan.]

Digby remained at Kilkenny and made one more effort for the King. He proposed that the nuncio and three or four bishops should give an undertaking in writing to support the peace and unite with Ormonde against the common enemy, on condition of receiving a firm private assurance that the penal laws should be repealed and that they should not be disturbed in their church possessions until a meeting of a new Parliament to carry out the articles. Rinuccini would hear of nothing less than Glamorgan's treaty fortified by part of Sir Kenelm Digby's. Of the latter he never received the official text, and his instructions were not to proceed without it. He entered Kilkenny in triumph and took the city into his protection, relieving it from the interdict which Roth, Bishop of Ossory, had proclaimed. O'Neill's army encamped in the immediate neighbourhood and made all resistance impossible. Rinuccini then proceeded to imprison the old Supreme Council. Mountgarret's eldest son Edmond, Bellings the secretary and historian, and Lord Muskerry, the viceroy's brother-in-law, were among those confined in the castle. Geoffrey Brown, who had been conspicuous among the commissioners for concluding the peace, and was intended to be a judge, was arrested at Galway, but the citizens refused to send him to the nuncio. O'Neill and Preston both entered Kilkenny, and assisted 'the lord nuncio and congregation of the clergy' in choosing a new council of seventeen members. Four were bishops, Walsh of Cashel, Bourke of Clonfert, Macmahon of Clogher, and French of Ferns; among the others were Glamorgan, who was appointed general of Munster in Muskerry's place, Owen Roe O'Neill, Preston, and Sir Phelim O'Neill. The great object was now to take Dublin, and Ormonde was told that he had no chance of defending himself against 17,000 foot and 1700 horse. If the city was taken by assault it was likely that neither man, woman, nor child would be spared, but this might be averted if Ormonde would adhere to the Glamorgan treaty. 'If,' was the Lord-Lieutenant's answer, 'I could have assured the clergy my lord of Glamorgan's conditions, I had not retired hither. They are things I have nothing to do with, nor will have. If they be valid in themselves, they need no corroboration; if invalid, I have no power to give them strength.' After this Rinuccini concluded that if he wanted Dublin he would have to get it taken, while Ormonde, who felt his weakness, opened communications with the English Parliament.[99]

[Sidenote: O'Neill threatens Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: His army.]

[Sidenote: O'Neill and Preston on bad terms.]

[Sidenote: A clerical commissary.]

[Sidenote: The nuncio and his generals.]

Rinuccini wished O'Neill to attack Dublin before Ormonde could return thither; but the Ulster general excused himself on the ground that he had no artillery, and came to Kilkenny instead. Benburb had been fought and won by men who were defending a strong position in their own country, and the means for a serious siege were wanting. An officer who was with the northern army near Birr described it as consisting of 5000 infantry, of which rather more than half were pretty well armed, 'the rest as the rabble used to be in the beginning of the distractions.' The horse were under 400, good and bad, and there were only five field-pieces 'of about a foot and a half long.' When O'Neill was at Kilkenny a month later Ormonde learned that his army was composed of 8000 foot, more than half of them without muskets, and seventeen or eighteen small troops of miserable horse 'whereof not above two armed with pistol, and none with defensive arms.' About 8000 'of the Ulster families, unarmed,' accompanied the troops. Preston's cavalry were well appointed, but it was estimated that the combined armies could not in any case exceed 13,000, with five pieces of artillery and very few stores of any kind. The two generals acted quite independently. O'Neill took all the castles and towns in Queen's County, and made himself master of Athlone. Preston temporised, and both were much more intent upon outwitting each other than upon taking Dublin. The Leinster people did not like to see the hungry northerns devouring their province, and they flocked to Preston's standard, so that he became as least as strong as his rival. Early in October Rinuccini went to Kilkea, then in the possession of Robert Nugent, provincial of the Jesuits, to whom it had been granted for the use of the Society by his kinswoman Elizabeth Countess of Kildare. Nugent lent 1500_l._ to the nuncio, and voluntarily undertook the task of victualling the army; but this clerical commissary was not more successful than a clerical general proved to be later on. 'The good man,' says Bellings, 'how perfect soever his mathematical demonstrations might have been, failed in the practice, which affords a thousand circumstances that commonly lie out of the road of divinity and speculation.' The two armies were together, though not united, in the neighbourhood of Kilcock, whence they advanced by Harristown and Naas to Lucan, within seven miles of Dublin. The Leinster men thought O'Neill's object was to conquer them, while he believed, or perhaps only professed to believe, that Preston was conspiring with Ormonde to place him between two fires. Successful joint action under these circumstances was impossible, and it appeared to the nuncio that 'arms at first devoted to religion were about to minister to private passions alone.' The two generals met at Lucan, but could not agree, and Rinuccini joined them there in hopes of at least preventing a collision between Leinster and Ulster.[100]

[Sidenote: Ulster and Leinster irreconcilable.]

[Sidenote: Dublin in danger.]

[Sidenote: Negotiations with the Scots,]

[Sidenote: and with the Parliament,]

[Sidenote: but nothing is settled.]

'Besides the hatred of the generals,' Digby wrote from the midst of Rinuccini's partisans, 'their men have a greater animosity one against another, than those at Dublin have against either.' But for this the capital might probably have been taken, for the defences were very weak, ammunition was scarce, and famine was always in sight. The fortifications were, however, repaired as well as possible, the ladies, with the Marchioness of Ormonde at their head, setting an example to the citizens by carrying baskets of earth. Ormonde had destroyed the bridges over the Liffey, and the mills, so that the Irish had great difficulties about food. Negotiations were opened by the Lord Lieutenant with the Ulster Scots, but they ended in nothing, for the survivors of Benburb were too few and too much discouraged to play an active part. Colonel George Monro, whose Royalist proclivities were doubtless known to Ormonde, apologised for his enforced inactivity. The Lord Lieutenant suggested that 500 Scots should come to Dublin, but the officers did not see their way to go so far south, though they were willing to act as a garrison for Drogheda. The Lord Lieutenant was not likely to accept such an offer, for Drogheda was in no danger. Negotiations had also been opened with the Parliament, whose fleet lay out in the bay. Sir Francis Willoughby, Sir Gerald Lowther, Chief Baron, and Sir Paul Davis, clerk of the Council, sailed on Michaelmas Day, and reached London a fortnight later. They were heard by a committee of the Commons, and five commissioners, of whom Sir John Clotworthy was one, reached Dublin on November 12 with power to treat for its surrender. The negotiations lasted for ten days, failing at last mainly because Ormonde would not deliver up the sword of state without actual orders from the King, and thus dissolve the remnant of the Irish Parliament on which the Protestants relied. The other points upon which the Lord Lieutenant insisted and the commissioners failed to satisfy him, were that they could give him no assurance for their estates 'to the Papists who adhered to his Majesty's Government since October 22, 1641'; that the Covenant should not be pressed, nor the Book of Common Prayer suppressed; and that official vested interests should be preserved. Ormonde was perhaps less anxious to come to terms because the mere appearance of the commissioners had averted the danger of a siege, and because he had been allowed to procure powder from the Parliamentary ships. The supplies intended for Dublin were carried by Clotworthy and his colleagues to Ulster.[101]

[Sidenote: Vacillation of Preston.]

[Sidenote: One of Digby's schemes.]

[Sidenote: Preston's mental reservations.]

The conduct of Preston throughout the whole of these proceedings showed the weakness of the Confederate position as well as of his own character. First he gave Ormonde to understand that he would prevent O'Neill from marching southwards, and then he let the nuncio persuade him to join forces with the northern general in the attempt to intercept Ormonde and in threatening Dublin. On August 26 he wrote to invite the Lord Lieutenant's commands as to the disposition of troops to prevent O'Neill from entering Leinster. On September 5 he excused himself from personal attendance. On the 17th he lamented that clerical threats of excommunication prevented him from obeying any of the Lord Lieutenant's orders. On October 10 he found that the peace published in his camp and by his authority was 'destructive to my religion and liberty of the nation,' and contrary to his oath as a Confederate. On the 21st he swore solemnly to aid O'Neill in attacking Dublin, to 'use and exercise all acts of hostility against the Lord Marquis of Ormonde and his party,' and to damage him in every possible way. Digby, who was a sanguine man, thought it possible to kidnap O'Neill and Rinuccini and carry them to Dublin, and to spike Preston's guns, and he was also inclined to believe that something might be done with that vacillating general. Ormonde was less hopeful, but his patience was inexhaustible, and he resolved to make another effort, and Preston took care to let him know privately that he was not really irreconcilable, and would not join O'Neill, and that if he captured towns or castles it was only to prevent the Ulster general from getting them. Clanricarde was sent for from Portumna, and came to Luttrellstown, where he was in a position to communicate with all parties.[102]

[Sidenote: Extreme demands of the nuncio.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde's distrust of the Confederates.]

[Sidenote: Agreement between Digby and Preston.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde does not adopt it.]

[Sidenote: Proposed treatment of Protestants.]

[Sidenote: Dublin cannot be taken.]

Preston never really co-operated with O'Neill, but he joined him in making certain proposals to Ormonde in which the nuncio's hand can be very clearly seen. The first was that the Roman Catholic religion should be exercised in every part of Ireland as in Paris or Brussels. The third was 'that Dublin, Drogheda, Trim, Newry, Carlow, Carlingford, and all the garrisons within the Protestant quarters be garrisoned by the Confederate Catholics.' They were to be held for the King, but only in name. 'The madness of their propositions to you,' Digby wrote to Ormonde after he had joined Clanricarde, 'makes him almost despair of doing any good with Preston.' Ormonde did not condescend to discuss the propositions at all, but contented himself with asking who composed the Council of the Confederates and by whose authority they were established. 'These questions,' says Bellings, pithily, 'were too knotty to be resolved on the sudden, and therefore, as it is the custom in such cases, they were not answered.' Four days later Clanricarde was at Tecroghan, near Trim, and at once opened communications with Preston. Safe-conducts were granted to him and Digby, but to the latter, who was still nominally Secretary of State, not without great difficulty. 'I conjure you,' said Ormonde, '(as you expect to serve our master, or his hereafter) not to venture any more among so faithless a generation, if you have any probable hope of getting away from thence. For, if I have any judgment, your coming will be fruitless.' And fruitless it was. Two days later the Parliamentary commissioners reached Dublin, and O'Neill, probably fearing to be caught in a trap, threw an extempore bridge over the Liffey at Leixlip, collected his men by firing a gun, and passed them all over to the left bank. It was thought that Sir Phelim O'Neill, who was jealous of Owen Roe's supremacy in Ulster and who had married Preston's daughter, might be induced to join the latter. Digby's plan was to make Clanricarde general, who would thus be in a position to make the best terms for his own Church, while loyally co-operating with the Lord Lieutenant. Preston and his friends bound themselves most solemnly to embrace the peace in consideration of such additional securities as Clanricarde undertook to procure. These included the repeal of the penal laws and enjoyment by Catholics of such churches and ecclesiastical possessions as they held at the conclusion of the peace, until a settlement by a free Irish Parliament, 'his Majesty being in a free condition himself.' To confirm these promises Clanricarde was to procure an engagement under the King's hand as well as from the Queen and Prince of Wales and the French crown. The peace once concluded on these terms the Catholics were to be 'forthwith invested in such commands by his Majesty's authority, both in field and garrison, as may pass for a very sufficient part of the security.' Ormonde was no party to this treaty, which could not be performed without his help, and he was not anxious for it after he had got rid both of O'Neill and the Parliamentary commissioners. Rinuccini's influence was at work all the time, and it was insisted that the first thing should be the admission of a Prestonian garrison into Dublin. Ormonde insisted on the original peace being first accepted, and so the negotiations fell through. Digby thought that if Preston had been promptly dealt with he would have attacked O'Neill, but his judgment is not for a moment to be set against Ormonde's. Preston was satisfied, and in a letter to the mayor and citizens of Kilkenny, urged the acceptance of Clanricarde's terms. What the ultimate position of the Protestants would have been may be judged from this document. 'We have,' he said, 'by the divine Providence, wrought the splendour of religion to that extension as from Bunratty to Dublin there is Catholic religion publicly professed and exercised, and from Waterford to the lower parts of Tyrone, and confined heresy in this province to Dublin, Drogheda, Dundalk, and Trim, these places which in four days will be garrisoned by my army, by God's help; and then think you in what posture of religion these parts are in, for us and ours, having all penal laws against Catholics repealed; all in our own hands, churches and church livings secured till the King in a free Parliament declare the same for us; the government in the Catholics' hands; petitions of right allowed the parties grieved; and, to make this good, our arms in our own hands.' This was written under the impression that Dublin would soon be in his hands, though in the same letter he admits that he could not take it even with O'Neill's help. Rinuccini and his council had already left the camp, and Preston's officers were soon induced to break with Clanricarde on the ground that no concessions would be of any use without a garrison in Dublin. 'That being denied did beget a desperation of future performances.'[103]

[Sidenote: The popular tide turns against Rinuccini.]

[Sidenote: The Supreme Council released.]

[Sidenote: The Confederate constitution breaks down.]

[Sidenote: Officers not 'excommunication-proof.']

[Sidenote: Preston submits to the nuncio.]

[Sidenote: Ormonde in Westmeath.]

The nuncio, says Bellings, entered Kilkenny, 'very incognito in his single litter without guards or attendance, and the council and congregation dropped in one after another without pomp or ceremony.' The tide had turned, and the odium which so often attaches to authority in Ireland, especially when it fails to make itself feared, was borne by the clerical party. Rinuccini, yielding very unwillingly to Nicholas Plunket and fearing lest the mob should do it without his leave, allowed the old council to be liberated, and devoted his attention to the elections for the next general assembly. All over the country the clergy administered oaths to candidates binding them to reject the peace. Absolution for other sins was denied to those who refuse to take such an oath, and O'Neill's soldiers were everywhere called in to enforce the clerical decrees. The vacant places in the Ulster returns were filled up from the creaghts or nomad herdsmen whom Owen Roe had planted in the Queen's County--'nay,' says Bellings, 'with such an overcharge of supernumeraries, as for some boroughs three have been returned and actually voted.' When the session began, the verification of these returns proved to be impossible, and after much wrangling the assembled members turned as they were to other business, 'and all formalities, how necessary soever, were quite omitted.' In the meantime Preston had again gone over to the nuncio. On December 10 Walter Bagenal wrote by his orders to Ormonde, pressing him to advance at once so as to join forces against the northern army, all the nobility and gentry being ready to support him. 'If you fail or delay,' Bagenal concluded, 'you ruin us all and yourself in us.' On the same day that this was written, Preston made his submission to the nuncio, who had threatened excommunication. Ormonde advanced to the neighbourhood of Gowran, which was to be the place of meeting. He found reason to believe that there was another plot to cut him off. A letter from Preston to Clanricarde was brought to him at Grangebeg in which the general said that 'his officers not being excommunication-proof, were fallen from him to the nuncio's party.' On first receiving this Clanricarde had so far forgotten his usual serenity as to call Preston traitor. It was followed by a similar letter to Ormonde, and by an abject declaration of obedience to the nuncio's commands. Ormonde professed to believe that the letter, which was printed and circulated, was 'a forgery, as also the reports raised that some of your army are gathered in a body at Castle Dermot, with intent to intercept my return, or destroy the remainder of my quarters.' He withdrew into Westmeath and Longford, where there was still some country undevastated by O'Neill, and where he maintained good discipline among his men. Dublin was relieved for a short time without distressing the country, and the Westmeath gentry actually scraped together a voluntary contribution of 1000_l._ At Kells an attack was made upon some of Ormonde's men by a party of O'Neill's soldiers. Ormonde says two officers were barbarously murdered. Bellings admits that a very bad impression was made, but O'Neill was hardly a party to the negotiations. After conferring with the Lord Lieutenant, Clanricarde went to Kilkenny in the vain hope that he might to some extent counteract the nuncio and induce the assembly to embrace moderate ideas. Ormonde soon found it necessary to reopen communications with the English Parliament.[104]

[Sidenote: Discord at Kilkenny.]

[Sidenote: A clerical majority.]

[Sidenote: The things that are Cæsar's.]

[Sidenote: Mazarin supports the peace,]

[Sidenote: but it is rejected publicly, Feb. 2, 1646-7.]

The Confederate assembly met at Kilkenny on January 10, 'with all those signs,' said Rinuccini, 'of discord and intrigues which generally reign in such meetings.' The tempers of the old council had not been improved by imprisonment, while the clergy, knowing that they had a majority, were in no conciliatory mood. Bellings admits that former assemblies had been turbulent 'and loud in their ayes and noes, yet now it was grown clean another thing.' Edmond Dempsy, Bishop of Leighlin, who was a famous preacher, and had probably a good voice, sat upon a lofty bench which recalls the revolutionary Mountain. He had only to wave his hat to raise a storm, the mass of members, 'like a set of organ-pipes, as senseless and louder, depending for their squeaking, or being still, on the hand of another.' After a few days the turmoil partially subsided, and then the nuncio demanded an audience. He was received with the same ceremony as at first, and proceeded to justify his assumption of dictatorial power. He declared in plain terms that the ecclesiastical authority was superior to the temporal, 'and that ignorance of the true source of power had ruined the neighbouring kingdom.' Above all things he urged the assembly to reject the peace with Ormonde, and to take a fresh oath adverse to it. A letter was read from Dumoulin, the French agent, who had positive orders from his government to press for confirmation of the peace, but this had no effect, though a letter from Mazarin had been previously received urging them to merit help from France by re-establishing the King of England. A remarkable speech of Walter Bagenal's has been preserved by Bellings, in which he urged them to remember how strong England was and how certainly they would be overwhelmed if they did not support the King. Ormonde sent Lord Taaffe and Colonel John Barry to represent him at Kilkenny, but the clericals would listen to nothing, and it soon became evident that the peace would be rejected publicly. This was done after three weeks' wrangling, but by no means unanimously, and Scarampi started at once to carry the news to Rome. It was found necessary at the same time to declare that the commissioners and others who had a hand in the peace had 'faithfully and sincerely carried and demeaned themselves in their said negotiation pursuant and according to the trust reposed in them, and given thereof a due acceptable account to this assembly.' This important matter being settled, a new and stringent oath of association was taken by which all bound themselves to make no peace without the consent of the General Assembly. One of the conditions precedent was that the Roman Catholic clergy should enjoy all churches and church property in as ample a manner as the Protestants enjoyed them on October 1, 1641, in all places which the Confederates should at any time possess 'saving the rights of Roman Catholic laymen according to the laws of this kingdom.' The law, in other words, was to protect Roman Catholics, but not Protestants. All this referred to the secular clergy only, for the question of abbey-lands was too dangerous to touch. To avoid the appearance of an open breach with the Lord Lieutenant, Dr. Fennell and Geoffrey Baron, who had just returned from France, were deputed to see him. Their proposals for a sort of offensive and defensive alliance with Ormonde came to nothing, but successive truces were patched up until April 10.[105]

FOOTNOTES:

[82] _Embassy in Ireland_, November and December, 1645, pp. 98, 103, 554, 569. Correspondence between Glamorgan and Ormonde in _Confederation and War_, v. 197-200; 208-210. It appears from Dumoulin's letters to Mazarin that Leyburn was at Limerick in April 1645, _ib._ 314, 325.

[83] Lord Lieutenant and Council to Secretary Nicholas, January 5, 1645-6, printed in appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_ and in _Confederation and War_, v. 234. Interrogatories, etc., _ib._ 211-222. Digby's letter to Nicholas, January 4, 1645-6, was one of those which Fairfax rescued from the sea at Padstow, _Husband_, p. 816.

[84] The King's declaration, January 24, 1645-6, printed (from Reliquiæ Sacræ Carolinæ) in _Confederation and War_, v. 252. Glamorgan to Ormonde, January 7, 20 and 29, _ib._ 244, 255; Supreme Council to Ormonde, January 16, _ib._ 246; _Embassy_, p. 115; the King to Ormonde, January 30, _Carte MSS._ vol. lxiii. _f._ 386.

[85] Rinuccini to Pamphili, March 5, 1645-6, in _Embassy_; Fr. Barron to Wadding, May 11, 1646, in _Spicilegium Ossoriense_, ii. 24; Charles I. to Henrietta Maria, January 8 and February 8, 1645-6. Nuncio's Memoirs (April or May) in Birch's _Inquiry_--"Pamphilius et nuncius in hoc negotio caste et sincere partes egerunt suas; alii vero Regem Reginamque impulerunt ad deferendum tractatum pontificium, et spem in baculo arundineo, hæreticorum brachio, collocandam." Colepepper to Ashburnham, Feb. Cal. of _Clarendon S.P._ 2135.

[86] Sir Kenelm Digby's articles were printed by Birch, and are also in _Embassy_, pp. 573, 577. The nuncio's advice to Glamorgan, _ib._ p. 120, and his speech, p. 122; Ormonde to Glamorgan, February 3, 1645-6, _Carte MSS._, vol. lxiii. f. 354; Glamorgan to Ormonde, February 8, in _Confederation and War_, v. 258, and Ormonde's answer, February 11, in appendix to Carte's _Ormonde_. Chester surrendered on February 3.

[87] The articles were printed in London in September 1646, and are reprinted in _Confederation and War_, v. 286. Glamorgan's oath of allegiance to Rinuccini, February 16, 1645-6, is given (Latin) in Gardiner's _Civil War_, ii. 420. The King to Ormonde, February 27, 1644-5; May 22, 1645, in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. and July 31 in Halliwell's _Letters of the Kings of England_. On August 24, 1646, Charles wrote to his wife: 'I have returned two messengers into Ireland with my approving the peace there, to which I shall firmly stick,' _Charles I. in 1646_.

[88] N. Plunket to Ormonde, May 7, 1646, in _Confederation and War_ v. 335; Digby's Declaration, July 28, and Proclamation of Peace, July 30 and August 3, _ib._ vi. 55-60; Daniel O'Neill to Ormonde, April 18, in _Contemp. Hist._, i. 671; Rinuccini's letter, March 22, in _Embassy_, p. 153; the Newcastle letter, June 11, in Birch's _Inquiry_, p. 208.

[89] There are accounts of this siege in _Bellings_, v. 20-24; in Penn's _Memorials_, i. 165-210; and in Rinuccini's _Embassy_, pp. 182-191; and see Frost's _Hist. of Clare_, pp. 371-376.

[90] All the contemporary accounts mention O'Neill's short speech, which evidently made a great impression. None say whether it was in English or Irish. The 'British Officer' has been followed in the text, 'MacArt spoke in the front of his own men these words, as I was told, or to that effect.' The much longer speech in the _Aphorismical Discovery_ is obviously a mere grammarian's figment containing allusion to Gratian, Hannibal, Scipio, Plutarch, Polybius, the Maccabees, etc. The number of Monro's army are given from his account, but the 'British Officer' thinks the foot were near 5000. The numbers of the Irish are from O'Neill's journal, and O'Mellan says nearly the same.

[91] The battle is described by Bellings and in the _Aphorismical Discovery_. In _Contemp. Hist. of Affairs in Ireland_, i. 676-686, are printed (1) a short notice from _Carte Papers_, xvii. 25; (2) Monro's despatch to the Scotch estates; (3) a London tract dated June 15, 1646; (4) Rinuccini's account (Italian) published as a tract at Rome and Florence; (5) the 'British Officer's' account from _Hist. of the Wars in Ireland_. An eighth account is in Colonel O'Neill's journal, _ib._ iii. 204. A ninth--not the least valuable--is in Young's _Old Belfast_, being a translation from the Irish of O'Mellan the Franciscan, who was chaplain to Sir Phelim O'Neill. The Rev. W. T. Latimer, in his _Hist. of Irish Presbyterians_ (Belfast, 1893) identifies the localities from O'Mellan and from his own local knowledge. I have satisfied myself by actual inspection that he is right. A tenth account is in O'Neill's letter (Latin) to Rinuccini printed in _Confederation and War_, v.

[92] Officers of Preston's army to the Supreme Council, July 27, 1646; Ormonde to Preston, August 3, and to Bellings, August 10--all in _Confederation and War_, vi. Rinuccini's _Embassy_, pp. 173, 181, 189; _Bellings_, v. 16; O'Mellan's _Narrative_.

[93] William Roberts, Ulster, to Ormonde, August 11, 1646; Declaration of William Kirkby, pursuivant; Letters by Scarampi--all in _Confederation and War_, vi. 67, 110, 126. Rinuccini in _Embassy_, pp. 192, 197; _Bellings_, vi. 16.

[94] Decree of Ecclesiastical Congregation, August 12, 1646, in _Confederation and War_, vi. 69; _Bellings_, _ib._ 17; Roberts to Ormonde, August 17, _ib._ 115; _Embassy_, p. 198.

[95] Narratives of Roberts and Kirkby in _Confederation and War_, vi. 119-130; Rinuccini's letter, August 22, _ib._ 96; _Embassy_, p. 200.

[96] Carte's _Ormonde_, i. 580-587; Remonstrance of the bishops and clergy, August 13, 1646, _ib._ ii. appendix No. 471.

[97] _Bellings_, vi. 18; Decree of Excommunication, September 1, 1646, in _Confederation and War_, vi. 132; Sall, Mayor of Cashel, to Ormonde, September 10, _ib._ 134; Preston to Ormonde September 5 and 17, _ib._ 132, 139.

[98] _Castlehaven_, p. 66; _Bellings_, vi. 19; _Aphorismical Discovery_, i. 125; Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 580-583.

[99] _Bellings_, vi. 21. Order by Rinuccini and the generals, September 26, 1646, in _Confederation and War_, vi. 144; Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 583.

[100] Rinuccini's letters, September 21 to December 29, 1646, in _Embassy_, pp. 204, 224 _sqq._ The nuncio was with the two generals at Lucan on November 11. Sir Robert Talbot to Ormonde, September 10; Captain Cadogan to same, September 12; Ormonde to the Council, October 11--all in _Contemp. Hist._, i. 703-713. Digby to Ormonde, October 13, in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 506. _Bellings_, vi. 22, 36.

[101] The negotiations between Ormonde and the Parliamentary commissioners are given fully in _Rushworth_, vi. 418-444. Bellings (vi. 28-35) gives the correspondence with the Ulster Scots. Digby to Ormonde, October 13, 1646; Ormonde to Digby, October 12 and November 20, in Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. iii.

[102] Preston's letters, of which the dates are in the text, are all in _Confederation and War_, vol. vi. Ormonde to Digby, October 22, 1646, and all Digby's letters at this time in Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. iii.

[103] Preston and O'Neill to Ormonde, November 2, 1646, and the answer, November 4, in _Contemp. Hist._ i. 713; Ormonde to Digby, November 10, in Carte's _Ormonde_, iii. 512, and all the letters there till November 26. Negotiations between Preston and Clanricarde in _Confederation and War_, vi. 151-162. Preston's letters to the mayor of Kilkenny (from Lucan), November 24, _ib._ 162; Theobald Butler to Ormonde, _ib._ 165.

[104] _Bellings_, vi. 46; vii. 18. Papers of December 1646, in _Confederation and War_, vi. 164-168, and in Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. iii. _Embassy_, p. 347; Walter Bagenal to Ormonde, December 10, _Carte MSS._, vol. lxiii.

[105] Rinuccini's narrative and speech in _Embassy_, pp. 241, 244, 250; _Bellings_, vii. 1-12. The new oath of the Confederacy in _Confederation and War_, vi. 168; Declaration by the General Assembly against the peace, February 2, 1646-7, _ib._ 177; overtures of Fennell and Baron, March 3, _ib._ 185.