city wore the appearance of a large human slaughter-house, where victims were daily offered up to all the horrible passions that disgrace human nature. To the horrors of martial law, formidable enough at all time, and under the most favourable circumstances, but horrible under such a tiger as sir C. Coote, was now added the illegal and detestable expedient of the rack, employed for the purpose, not as the justices pretended, of extorting confessions of guilt, but of deterring the nobility and gentry of the pale, from venturing to Dublin, whom very shortly afterwards they summoned to meet them, there to consult on affairs of state-and whom in the event of not coming, they intended to denounce, and actually did denounce, as rebels. The lords and gentry of the pale had drawn up a petition to the king, containing a statement of the complicated grievances under which they laboured, and praying relief. They applied to sir John Read to take charge of it, which he readily undertook. Not having any idea of concealment, and not regarding the act as criminal, or implicating him in any danger, he applied to sir William Parsons for a pass to go to England. He was invited into Dublin, under pretence of a conference-but was on his arrival, most treacherously seized and put to the rack, in order, as was said, to extort some confessions from him, although it was never pretended that he had been implicated in any illegal act whatever. He was afterwards sent to England-attainted in Dublin as a traitor-his estate confiscated-and his wife and children turned out of doors without redress.t solved not to gratify them in parting with it. Their hanging a man of character at all, deserving in many respects, and exceptionable in none but his religion, inclines one to think, that they intended this war should be understood to be a war of religion. But their hanging him in such a manner, by martial law, by Sir C. Coote's authority only, against justice and humanity when brought thither and protected by lord Ormonde, could be only meant to prevent all submissions, or to offer such an indignity to his lordship, as should provoke him to resign his commission, and to oppose them no longer in council."709 "They resolved to supply the want of legal evidence, by putting some prisoners to the rack. They began with Hugh Mac-Mahon, who had been seized on the information of O'Connaly, and from whom they expected some important discoveries. But torture could force nothing from him essential to their great purpose."703 "This examination, however, being not enough to the point to satisfy men of sense, the next day sir John Read, by the same stretch of arbitrary power, was brought to the rack. This gentleman was of the privy chamber to the king, a lieutenant colonel in the late disbanded army, and engaged by the lords of the pale to carry over their petitions to the king and queen. He intended to make no secret of his journey, and therefore sent a letter by a servant of his own to Parsons, to desire a pass; who in answer, required him to repair to Dublin, that the council might confer with him."704 "Sir J. Read was sent a prisoner to England; and whilst absent, 702 Warner, 182. 704 Warner, 177. 703 Leland, III. 189. Christopher Barnewall, a venerable old man, sixty-six years of age, was next put to the rack and tortured; but the extremity of his suffering could not force him to make confessions of guilt, being wholly innocent himself, and not privy to the guilt of others. Their cruelty to him excited the detestation of all good men.* III. Banishment of the lords of the pale from Dublin, under pain of death. It forms an important feature in the insurrection in Leinster, that previous to that event, there had not been a good understanding between the Ulster Irish and the inhabitants of the pale. Very considerable jealousies and hostilities had existed on both sides. And when the revolt took place in Ulster, the nobility and gentry of the pale repaired to Dublin, and tendered their services to the lords justices to preserve that quarter of the country from the incursions which. might naturally be expected from the insurgents. This procedure threw no small difficulty in the way of those officers, as a full and complete compliance with this request would have marred their grand project of extirpation. They could not refuse altogether. But they complied in such a way as to render their compliance wholly nugatory. They ordered 500 stand of arms for the county of Louth, by far the most exposed to danger-500 for lord Gormanston, and 900 for other persons whose names or locations are not specified. These and in those circumstances, was indicted and outlawed for high trea son; his lady and goods were seized upon, and she and his children turned out of doors: and when she petitioned to these worthy justices to assign her some part of her effects to maintain her family, they absolutely refused to allow her any, though the barons of the exchequer, to whom her petition was referred, certified, that it did not appear to them, what her husband's offence was, nor how, nor for what cause the crown might be entitled to his goods or other estate. After such proceedings as these, what fidelity had the king to expect from these ministers: and what mercy could those flatter themselves with, who laid down their arms and submitted to them ?”9705 *"The racking Mac-Mahon and Sir J. Read, did not content this merciless administration; and so Mr. Barnewall of Kilbrew was put to the same torture. He was one of the most considerable gentlemen of the pale; a venerable old man of sixty-six years of age, delighting in husbandry, a lover of quiet, and highly respected in his country. He had sent intelligence to the government of the motion of the Ulster rebels in the month of November; and the only thing that could be said against him was, that he had obeyed the sheriff's summons for the meeting at the hill of Crofty, when lord Gormanston declared an union with them. It does not appear that he approved the union, or that he actually had joined them upon any occasion; and so little did the ministers get by putting him to the torture, that it only served to make his innocence, and their own inhumanity, the more conspicuous."700 paltry supplies could answer no purpose against the insurgents, who at an early period of the insurrection, had 20,000 men in the field. But lest they should be able to do any good, the 300 ordered for Louth, were countermanded before delivery, and the 500 delivered to lord Gormanston were, by order of the lords justices, retaken by sir Henry Tichborne, within one week of the delivery. The remainder were reclaimed in like manner, but were scattered among so many different hands, that only one hundred and fifty were recovered. They then disarmed the Roman Catholics of Dublin-installed, as we have seen, sir C. Coote, of blood-stained memory, as governor of the city and banished, by three successive proclamations, the nobility and gentry of the pale from the city,t thus driving them to their country 66 BY THE LORDS JUSTICES AND COUNCIL. "William Parsons, Jo. Borlace. "For great and weighty reasons of state concerning highly the -peace and safety of this city and kingdom, we do hereby in his majesty's name strictly charge and command all manner of persons of what degree and condition soever, who are not dwellers in this city or suburbs, that within one hour, after publishing this proclamation, they depart from the suburbs of this city, and return to their own dwellings, and that upon pain of death to be presently executed upon them, if any of them be found here after that time. And all householders in the suburbs to whom any such may come, are to be equally guilty with such contemners, if they lodge or entertain any of the said persons hereby required to depart. R. DILLON, "Given at his majesty's castle of Dublin, 23d October, 1641. "This was a rigorous treatment of many gentlemen of the pale particularly, who had retired to Dublin as a place of security for their persons, whilst their goods and cattle were plundered by the robbers; who took advantage of these troubles to spoil and plunder, though they did not join the rebels. This measure was not only therefore very inconvenient to those gentlemen, but it proved in the end to many of them very fatal. For they were not only obliged to return to their houses without arms, exposed in a short time after to the violence of the rebels, whom they were unable to resist, but also to pay them contribution for leave to live in quiet, and to have a constant intercourse with them; which in the eye of the law is treason, and which induced several to join with them. This was particularly the case of sir Rob. Talbot; who, after engaging against the rebels in defence of the English, for which his two best houses were burnt down, and he had retreated with his family to Dublin, where he had offered to raise men if the council would furnish him with arms, had not leave to remain at Dublin, but was forced by this proclamation upon pain of death to depart he knew not whither, and therefore in the end to enter into the confederacy against his will."708 707 Nalson, II. 637. 708 Warner, 121. seats, wholly destitute of the means of defence against the incursions of the insurgents, of whom an immense body had entered the Pale. Their situation was therefore the most irksome and delicate that can be conceived. They were liable to be laid under contribution by the insurgents, who, if exasperated by resistance, were disposed to proceed to extremities with them. On the other hand, if they afforded them any relief-had any intercourse with them-or were even seen to converse with them, they were liable to indictment and punish. ment for treason. Some persons were actually indicted for being seen to converse with the rebels. And the pretext for the murders subsequently perpetrated at Santry was, that the wretched victims had relieved the rebels with refreshments, which they were unable to withhold. But this step, which was a considerable advance towards the grand object in view, did not satisfy the lords justices. They were every day more sure of their prey-but they were determined to accelerate the acquisition-to which end they finally left them no alternative but a recourse to arms or the utmost rigour of the law. On the 3d of December, they issued a summons for the lords and gentry of the pale to appear in Dublin on the 8th, to consult on some affairs of state, promising security for their persons, although about three weeks before they had, in proof of a total want of confidence, withdrawn the arms delivered them-and only two weeks previously had banished them from the city.* This summons could not be regarded otherwise than as a snare to entrap them. The gentlemen might well "Some have not scrupled on this occasion to impute the conduct of the lords justices to their avarice, and to surmise, that they never expected those noblemen would comply with their summons, and that all the measures they took at the same time were taken expressly with a design to terrify them from trusting themselves in Dublin, and from thence to take some advantage for the forfeiture of their estates. It answered this end very well, that sir C. Coote immediately after his inhuman executions and promiscuous murders of people in Wicklow, was made governor of Dublin, at the very time of sending out the summons to the lords of the pale!""799 "The lords and gentry of the pale, unable to resist so vast a body, that were entirely masters of the field, kept themselves quiet in their own houses, to which they had been ordered by the lords justices to retire, not thinking it prudent by a weak and fruitless opposition, and acts of hostility, to provoke an enemy that could destroy them in a moment, and take ample vengeance on their persons as well as estates, since they were on pain of death forbid a retreat in Dublin. In this condition they remained, when the lords justices on Dec. 3, 1641, directed their letters to divers of the nobility who were nearest to them (most of the English pale) acquainting them that they had immediate occasion to confer with them, concerning the present estate of the kingdom, and the safety thereof in those times of danger, 709 Carte, I. 258. hesitate to trust themselves in the power of men, whom they knew to be their inveterate enemies, and withheld by no ties of honour, as appeared in all their proceedings. But to remove all doubts of their views, and to deter those gentlemen from appearing on the 8th, the lords justices sent out a butchering party on the 6th or 7th to Santry, a small village in the neighbourhood of Dublin, where they murdered some innocent husband and requiring them to be at Dublin for that end, on the eighth day of the same month. "This summons alarmed several of those noblemen, who, lying most exposed to the enemy, could not hinder the rebels entrance into their houses, or the paying of them contributions, and had thereby been guilty of a correspondence which in the eye of the law was criminal (though unavoidable) and exposed them to the penalties of high treason, if they were to be judged with rigour. The reason assigned for convening them at that time appeared very suspicious, because of the jealousy which the justices had always expressed of them; and there was no reason to imagine, that their jealousies would be less, when their fears and danger would be greater, or that they were now ready to take their advice, when they had rejected it before, though given in concurrence with others of unexceptionable characters, and warranted by the authority of parliament. It appeared very strange and unaccountable, that those very persons who had about a fortnight before thought the abode of these lords in Dublin dangerous and incompatible with the safety of the state, and in con sequence thereof had banished them from thence, should now, by a sudden turn of sentiments and conduct, invite them thither to be consulted with for the safety of that state. Hence it was easily imagined, that the summons was only an artifice to draw those noblemen to Dublin, and when they were there to seize on their persons, confine them in an irksome prison, and perhaps prosecute them at law with a severity, which might end in the forfeiture of their estates, the ruin of their families, and the taking away of their lives by an ignominious execution. The apprehensions were much heightened by the ill opinion which they had entertained of the lords justices, who (they firmly believed) hated their persons as well as religion; and had designs upon their estates; which, having power in their hands to do what they pleased, and being restrained by no scruple about the means of doing it, they might very easily execute. Thus the fears and jealousies of these noblemen, upon occasion of this summons, drove them into such extremities, as despair of mercy is wont to produce in those who have transgressed the strict bounds of duty, and know their lives and estates without it to be forfeited to the rigour of law."710 "Tuesday, Dec. 7. A party of foot being sent out into the neighbourhood of Dublin, in quest of some robbers that had plundered an house at Buskin, came to the village of Santry, and murdered some innocent husbandmen, (whose heads they brought into the city in triumph, and among which were one or two Protestants,) under pretence 710 Carte, I. 243. |