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O'NEILL & ORMOND A CHAPTER IN IRISH HISTORY O'NEILL & ORMOND A CHAPTER IN IRISH HISTORY BY DIARMID COFFEY 1^ MAUNSEL & COMPANY, LTD. DUBLIN AND LONDON 1914 All rights reserved. TO ERSKINE GUILDERS PREFACE THE history of Ireland from 1641 to 1653 is divided into three great episodes: the rising of 1641, the Confederation of Kilkenny, and the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. Ireland has never been the fighting ground of more parties and factions than she was in this period. It is therefore difficult to preserve the unity of the narra- tive, which must embrace a body constantly changing its purpose, and to show some continuity in what is often an apparently aimless maze of intrigue. This will serve to explain the title I have chosen " for my book, O'Neill and Ormond." Owen Roe O'Neill and James, Earl of Ormond stand out clearly as the leading figures of the time. They are strongly contrasted. O'Neill, the leader of the Irish, con- stantly struggling against every kind of difficulty, a strong, determined man, whose only aim is the ad- vancement and freedom of his people, falls a victim to faction and self-interest. The history of Owen Roe O'Neill is like the history of every great Irishman who has worked for his country a desperate struggle against overwhelming odds, only to end in death when the cause for which he has been fighting is lost and every hope of helping his country seems extinguished. Ormond, on the other hand, is the great English governor. He may have cared for Ireland, but he certainly cared more for the King and all that he stood for. Ormond always tried to act expediently, and though at one time he seemed to fail, in the end riii PREFACE and raised to the his party emerged triumphant, he, rank of Marquis and then Duke, proved that the is successful than policy of expediency more pure of the patriotism. Ormond is the great upholder be for the English power in Ireland, whether that benefit of Ireland or not. O'Neill represents the his pure patriot, who cares for his country and country died a rich and the other only. One duke, powerful ; was hounded to death by the least noble and most self-interested faction of his countrymen. " " The so-called massacre of 1641 is an important incident in this history. I have not gone into it in any great detail, as I consider the first 70 pages of Mr. " Lecky's History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Cen- " tury gives all that need be said on this subject. Mr Lecky there proves that the whole story of the mas- sacre is a wicked and deliberate exaggeration. It is a pity that he did not deal more fully with the events of the following years. I hope that this book may be of use to those who wish to know something of the Confederation of Kilkenny and the war in Ireland. " " The Rebellion of 1641 has been the name applied to the whole war. In using the word rebellion and rebel I should like to guard myself against any implied stigma in the words. Speaking technically, the Irish in 1641 were rebels, inasmuch as they were fighting the de facto government of Ireland, and had not, when the struggle began, any organised and recognised of their government own. In reality, the Irish in 1641 can no more be described as rebels than can the Italians in their war of liberation against Austria. Each was fighting against a foreign domination. I PREFACE ix have found it convenient to use the words rebellion and rebels, and hope that this explanation will pre- vent any misunderstanding on the point. This book deals only with a very short period of Irish history. I do not attempt to bring out the ceaseless effort of Ireland to throw off English supremacy, or to show the way in which English adventurers came to Ireland and were absorbed into the country until, when they had become Irish, they in their turn were attacked by a new swarm of in- vaders and in their turn driven out, as were the Desmonds. The Confederation of Kilkenny marks another stage in the absorption of the adventurers by the Irish, when for a moment it seemed that the whole of Ire- land was to be united. This time, however, the religious bar served to delay the absorption of some of the settlers, quite apart from those recently planted. Though in itself not comparable with national feeling, the religious bar served to mark off some of the set- tlers, and to delay but not to prevent their becoming Irish. Therefore, in the seventeenth century there was a large body hostile to Irish interests in Ireland. This body, allied by ties of friendship with many of the older Anglo-Irish families, took away from the wholeheartedness of the Palesmen in the Irish cause, and explains much of their vacillation and unpatriotic behaviour. Ormond was the chief representative of this faction. In the body of this book I have practically confined myself to stating the facts of Irish history during the period, in what I consider to be their proper perspec- x PREFACE tive. The conclusion to be drawn seems to me inevit- able, namely, that so long as the government of Ireland is conducted on un-Irish lines, so long will it lead to disaster. The fatal flaw in the whole movement of 1641 and after is found where, for personal or other reasons, a body of Irishmen looks away from the main issue of Irish government in Irish interests. Whether the other interest be that of England, or that of the Roman Catholic Church, or of the Puritans, it alike obscures the Irish issue, and prevents the real interests of Ireland being served. Living as we do in an age when religious controversy " has ceased to be based on the holy text of pike and gun," it is easy for us to see that the attitude of Rinuc- cini was one which would never conduce to a perma- nent settlement, but it must be remembered that in the seventeenth century Catholic was almost synony- mous with Irish, Protestant with English. Therefore, to seventeenth century, Irishmen Rinuccini's struggle for a Catholic government was almost the same as a struggle for an Irish government. In an age when the domi- nant creed called for the extermination of all other creeds, this was even more dangerous than any sec- tarian government must ever be. Likewise the English government in Ireland and the Protestant confession seemed to stand or fall to- there too gether ; religious and political interests were forced into unnatural union. Though no Irishman stands out as the champion of Protestantism as did Rinuccini of Catholicism, the whole war was given a religious aspect which was fatal to the interests of Ireland. PREFACE an that this The position of Bishop Bedell proves warring of the creeds was not the real national struggle of Ireland. Though it may have influenced many to take the Irish side who would not otherwise have done so, it was a source of weakness rather than strength. It need only be remembered that Castlehaven gave Ormond the disastrous advice to hand Dublin over to to Jones. Such allies to the Irish cause were hardly be desired. Ireland, in righting for existence, was, as usual, made the battle ground for contending forces wholly unconnected with her interests, but which were made to seem part of the Irish question. The King against the Parliament, the Catholic against the Protestant, were never vital Irish that were made questions ; they Ireland. to seem so explains much of the tragic history of These conclusions must, I think, be drawn by anyone who reads Irish history with an unprejudiced mind. In the body of this book I merely present the facts and leave the reader to draw the conclusion. I have dealt in some detail with events in Ireland from 1641 to 1649. To this I have prefixed a chapter sketching the history of Ireland from 1603 to 1641, in which the causes of the outbreak are considered. I have further included a brief account of the Crom- wellian settlement of Ireland. Among the authorities of primary importance for this period are the Irish State Papers. Of greater " interest is the collection of papers known as the Carte " Papers in the Bodleian Library. This enormous collection of documents, written by the leading actors in the war, was brought to Oxford by Mr. Carte, xii PREFACE author of the famous life of the Duke of Ormond. Nearly all the most interesting documents belonging to the Ormond family are to be found in the col- lection, which is indispensable to anyone writing on this period of Irish history. There is a good manu- script calendar of these papers in the Bodleian Library. The publications of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, particularly the second volume of the new series of the Manuscripts in the possession of the Marquis of Ormonde, which contains the letters written by the Lords Justices and Council to England from 1641 to 1643, are of great value, as is the volume of Franciscan Manuscripts for the doings of the Irish abroad. The letters of Rinuccini, the Papal Nuncio to Rome, edited by G. Aiazza, and translated by Miss Hutton, are also of the greatest importance. Being largely written in cypher, and intended to be strictly con- fidential, they throw much light on Irish history from 1645 to 1649. A contemporary history written by Richard Bellings, Secretary to the Confederated Catholics, an accurate a gives and, to large extent, impartial account of the rebellion.