deputy as ever was penned, soliciting mercy for her husband; but he was inexorable. She likewise made the most urgent solicitations to Charles for his interference,* but equally in vain. He was earl of Strafford, when her husband was in prison, under the sentence of death by martial law: and he was so hard-hearted as he her no relief." gave 19174 * Copy of the lady Mountnorris's Petition to his Majesty, with his Majesty's answer. "To the king's most excellent majesty, the humble petition of the lady Mountnorris. "Most gracious sovereign, "Having, by several petitions, humbly presented the sorrows of her heart and soul to your sacred majesty, in the behalf of her condemned husband, who hath suffered in honour, health, and imprisonment, for a word misinterpreted, and already unto twenty thousand pounds lost in estate, unparalleled precedents for a peer of that realm; and still pursued in the castle chamber, in Ireland, where he can expect but sad events, if your majesty's impartial justice redeem him not. He hath been à careful and faithful servant in chief place to your majesty's blessed father, for forty years; and if he hath erred through human defects, he most humbly craveth pardon, and layeth himself at your majesty's feet, to do with him whatsoever your majesty shall command. Her humble suit, on her knees, is no more, but that your sacred majesty will command his coming into England, being now useless here, his places taken from him, his health impaired, and his estate ruined; and she and her twelve children shall, as in duty bound, pray for your majesty's long and happy reign over us.” "At the Court at Windsor, 18th July, 1636. "His majesty is pleased, that, upon such a submission made by the lord Mountnorris, as the lord deputy of Ireland shall approve of, he shall have his liberty to come into England; whereof the lord deputy is to take notice, and give order herein accordingly. 174 Clarendon's S. P. I. 449. FRAN. WINDEBANK."175 175 Idem, 594. determined not to impair the despotic authority of his representative, by interposing the royal clemency between him and any of the objects of his malice or vengeance. A few revolving years presented to the lips of the obdurate favourite, and his equally obdurate monarch, the bitter chalice of heartless persecution, which they had held forth to those of the heart-broken mourner. The conduct of Charles, on this occasion, is among the clearest proofs he ever afforded of an unrelenting disposition. Never was there a stronger claim to the exercise of clemency; and never did the lordly insolence of an overbearing satrap more fully require a humiliating degradation. The most zealous advocates of the unfortunate monarch cannot deny that this is an indelible blot on his escutcheon. When such elevated characters met such a fate, we may well conceive how dreadful must have been the situation of the nation at large, how grinding the tyranny under which they groaned, and how unfounded lord Clarendon's dreams of a "blessed state of peace and security." It may be objected, that, as these noblemen were not Roman Catholics, their cases do not apply. This objection is of no avail. It rather strengthens than enfeebles my argument. Tyranny ran riot with far more impunity over the Roman Catholics than over the Protestants. The oppression of six of the former would not excite so much clamour as that of one of the latter. CHAPTER VII. Further review of Clarendon's millenium. Plots and conspiracies. Droppers of letters. Wholesale spoliations in Ulster. Law, conscience, and honour of James I. Sir John Davies. Frontless fraud and chicane. We have examined the correctness of lord Clarendon's fascinating portrait of the Irish millenium, that "blessed condition of peace and security," which continued "during the whole happy reign of king James," and was "increased and improved under his late majesty," so far as respects the holy, the sacred right of adoring the Living God as conscience dictates; and also as respects the security of person. It now comes before us on the question of security of the rights of property, the universal stimulus to the exercise of all the talents and endowments bestowed upon us by our Creator. The noble author informs us, that "whatsoever their land, labour, or industry produced, was their own, being free from having it taken from them by the king, on any pretence whatsoever.' Of this specious tale, it is sufficient to say, that it is just as fair and as correct a portrait as the religious one which we have reviewed. Clarendon's regard to truth ran pari passu in both cases. I hope to make it appear, that, during the whole period embraced in his millenium, there was hardly a man in the kingdom whose property was secure. Under the most frivolous pretexts, the nobility and gentry were plundered of estates which had remained in their families for ages; and such scenes of rapine and depredation were exhibited, as never were exceeded in any country in the world, in a time of peace. These depredations were of two kinds : by the government, on a large scale, but confined to particular situations; and by fraudulent and rapacious individuals, on a small scale, but extended all over the country. To present the subject more clearly and distinctly to the reader, I shall consider each branch separately; and, although the government, throughout the reigns of James I. and Charles I. maintained an almost unceasing predatory warfare on individual property, yet in this review, I shall confine myself to the three great cases : I. The lawless spoliation in Ulster, where six counties were at once seized by king James; II. The seizure of a large portion of King's and Queen's counties, Longford, Leitrim, and Westmeath ; III. The projected seizure of the entire province of Connaught by Strafford, the final accom plishment of which was prevented solely by the civil wars in Scotland and England. I. The Spoliation of Ulster. The unceasing rapine perpetrated on the Irish, for four hundred years, from the invasion by Henry II. till the reign of James I. was speciously covered with the mantle of rebellion, which was always within reach. The deputies of the kings of England, or the deputies of those deputies, or even the provost marshals, could, at any time, to suit their purposes, excite a rebellion, or what, in the castle style, was denominated a rebellion. Every act of resistance of insult, outrage, or aggression, was thus designated in proclamations, and afterwards in histories, The prescription was simple. It had been administered times without number, and never failed of success. It was only to make an inroad, or to commit some depredation on such of the Irish nobility or gentry as might be selected for the purpose, the more flagrant the better; provoke them to resistance, as I have already stated; then proclaim them traitors, and let the armies loose to destroy them. The pedantic James changed the system; and substituted the fraud of the fox for the violence of the lion. He accomplished the same end, without the expense of raising a soldier, or firing a gun; and acquired, without disbursing a shilling, six entire counties in one province, and |