BOOK VIII. CHAP. XXI. The marquis of Ormond returns to Ireland. HIS excellency having arrived at Cork, on the 29th of September, 1648, was received with general acclamations of joy ; and on the next day, the general assembly, sitting at Kilkenny, gave a very signal proof of their desire to be again received under his government,' by fixing a public brand on the two principal opposers of the late peace, the Nuncio Renuccini, and general Owen O'Nial.* For they proclaimed the latter a rebel and a traitor; and upon entering into a treaty of peace with the marquis, they drew up a charge against the former, "representing the manifold oppressions, transcendent crimes, and capital offences, which he had been continually, for three years past, acting within the kingdonm, to the unspeakable detriment of their religion, the ruin of the nation, and the dishonor of the see of Rome." This heavy accusation met with no opposition, even from such ecclesiastics as were at present in that assembly. "It seems exceedingly strange to me," says the Nuncio himself,3 in a letter to cardinal Panzirolo on this 1 Cart. Orm, vol. ii. fol. 42. Dr. Leland, from Mr. Carte, gives the following character of this general: "Owen O'Nial had served in the imperial and Spanish armies with reputation. He was governor of Arras, when the French besieged this town in 1640; and, though obliged to surrender upon honorable terms, yet his defence gained him the respect, even of his enemy. Experience had formed him an able and skilful soldier; quick in discerning, diligent in improving any advantage offered by the enemy; more circumspect than enterprizing; of a genius peculiarly suited to defence, and excellent in protracting a war; qualities of especial use in that service which he was now to undertake. His knowledge of the world, his prudence, his sobriety and caution, appeared to greater advantage, as they were contrasted by the ignorance and rudeness, and intemperance and levity of sir Phelim. To the secret mortification of this his kinsman, Owen was unànimously declared by the northern Irish, head and leader of their confederacy." Carte's Orm. Lel. vol. iii. p. 178. occasion, "that although there were eight bishops present in this assembly, which offered such violence to my authority, and passed an order, that none should hereafter obey my commands, not one of them did protest or declare against it, or depart from the place in which it was held; or even make an apology, by a letter to his holiness, or myself, for their conduct; affirming only, that therein they followed the example of those of Portugal, who drove cardinal Palotto out of the kingdom, and imprisoned his auditor." With the above-mentioned charge, sir Richard Blake, chairman of the assembly,+ sent him notice, by their order, that there was a declaration and protestation preparing against him, which were sent to his holiness, to the end that his lordship might prepare for his journey, and for his defence; and that, in the mean time, he should not intermeddle, by himself or any of his instruments, directly or indirectly, with the affairs of the nation, on the penalty which might ensue, by the law of God and nations-"+ The Nuncio, accordingly, left Ireland on the 23d of Fe. bruary following, to the great joy of the principal nobility and gentry, and the most respectable ecclesiastics of the kingdom. Yet while he was preparing for his departure, the lord lieute nant sent him a private message, by two of his particular friends, the bishop of Ferns and Nicholas Plunkett, esq. "that if he would then,s at parting, take off his excommunication, and dispose the people to an absolute obedience to the peace, * There were in this assembly, "two archbishops, ten bishops, three earls, twelve viscounts, seven barons, twenty baronets, the principal gentlemen out of the three provinces of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, besides some of the chief nobility of Ulster."-Bishop of Ferns's Lett. to the Nuncio. Vindic. Catholic. p. 180 "Notwithstanding this message, he remained four whole months af terwards in the kingdom; and then left it of his own accord, and without any further message from the general assembly, when things seemed to be inclining to some kind of peaceableness between those of his party, and the other confederate catholics."-Vindic. Catholic, in Hib. p. 174 "The court of Rome," says Mr. Carte, " though it was contrary to their maxims to fix a public mark of censure on the conduct of their ministers, disapproving his conduct, sent him orders to make haste thither," Orm. vol. ii. fol. 56. and the king's authority, he should not only receieve all pos sible civility from him, at his departure from Ireland, but that he would make a very advantageous mention of him to the queen, whose distressed condition," he said, "would certainly gain some credit to her at Paris, if it was not worse than London." But the Nuncio did not wait their coming; for on the night before, he went to sea in his own frigate, and, on the 2d of March, landed at St. Vaast, in the Lower Normandy. At his return to Rome, he was coldly received by the pope; and after having been told," "that he had carried himself rashly in Ireland," instead of being honored with a cardinal's hat, as he expected, he was banished to his bishoprick, and principality of Fermo; which he found in a distracted condi tion, by just such another insurrection of the people against their viceroy, as he had himself raised and fomented against the king's lieutenant in Ireland. These disappointments of his own, and the distractions of his people, affected him so sensibly, that he soon after died of grief. To what desperate courses general O'Nial was driven, by the assembly's pro. claiming him a rebel and a traitor, shall be hereafter related. CHAP. XXII. His excellency treats of a peace with the confederate catholics. "THE lord lieutenant being invited to Kilkenny, by the general assembly, October the 28th, in order to a more expeditious settling of the points in dispute, made his entry into that city in a splendid manner; having been met at some distance from it by the whole body of the assembly, and by all the nobility, clergy, and gentry in the neighborhood. He was received into the town by the mayor and aldermen, with all those ceremonies and honors, which such corporations used to pay to the supreme authority of the kingdom, and was 6 Walsh's History of the Irish Remonstrance. 1 Carte's Orm. vol. ii. fol. 45. «The malice and headiness of Owen O'Nial and his party afterwards, was as much, and in truth more, against the confederate Irish, than the king."-Borl. Irish Rebel, føl. 269, lodged in his own castle, with all his own guards about him." The next day after his arrival at Kilkenny, his excellency entered into a treaty of peace with the general assembly; and after he had advanced so far in it, as that, "he thought, he had good grounds, to hope it would be speedily concluded, upon the conditions he was empowered to give them, he found it suddenly interrupted by a very dangerous mutiny, raised by some leading officers in lord Inchiquin's army, who endeavored, not only to hinder the conclusion of the peace, but also to incline those under them to a treaty and submission to the English parliament." On this occasion, it was thought necessary by his excellency and lord Inchiquin, to suspend the conclusion of the peace, “in such a manner,3 as might induce the mutineers to believe it would be wholly laid aside for their satisfaction." On the other hand, the article concerning the free exercise of religion, was not yet adjusted to the satisfaction of the assembly; some of the clergy having much higher expectations, in that respect, than others thought fit to be insisted on. "This was the only point, in which there was danger of the treaty's breaking up unfinished, it being very difficult to give content therein to the Roman catholics, without at the same time disgusting the protestants." But an incident happening at this juncture, united the differing parties in that assembly, and greatly accelerated the peace. Some copies of the remonstrance of the indepen dent army in England, which had publicly avowed their design of subverting every thing, that had been hitherto known for government in these nations, were then brought to Kilkenny, and read with universal abhorrence. This s immedi ately removed all the difficulties which some of the Roman catholics, in zeal for their religion, had thrown in the way of the peace. The general assembly receded from their demands in that point. And on the 28th of December, upon consideration of his majesty's present condition, and their own hearty desires, says Mr. Carte, of spending their lives and fortunes, in maintaining his rights and interests, they resolved unanimously, to accept of the marquis of Ormond's answer to their propositions for religion. "That desperately wicked remon4. Id. ib. voľ· ii, føl, 43, a Cart, Orm, vol. iii. 3 Ib. $ Id. ib. fol. 49, 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 re paired 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 con sent and unity, that in the whole assembly, in which there were (nine) ca tholic bishops, there was not one dissenting voice."—Irish Rebel. fol. 260. † While the marquis of Ormond was treating at Kilkenny with the confederates 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 great. est necessity, and had often publicly sworn it, yet they lay under the suspi❤ cion 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, |