forced to fly into France, whither his Queen had sometime before withdrawn herself, they sent the Marquis of Antrim to Lord Muskery, agents thither to signify to the Queen and Prince their willingness to conclude a peace, in order to contribute what in them lay to free the King from his misfortunes; whereupon Ormond who happened to be there at that time, returns into Ireland, about Michaelmas 1648, and concludes the peace with the general assembly of the confederates on the 17th of January following, commonly called the peace of 48. This peace was immediately received by all the confederate Catholics, except a small party headed by Owen Roe O'Neil, who being only a soldier of fortune but confessedly the best commander they had in the kingdom, held out, because they unad visedly refused to give him any considerable post in the army, until Ormond after he was shamefully surprised and routed before Dublin, and Cromwell landing there in a few weeks after, with a strong reinforcement, was glad to give his own terms when it was too late; whereupon he and his party submitted to the peace, pursuant to a special Treaty concluded on the 12th of the ensuing October, and then all the confederates joined heart and hand, against the parliamentarians: but Owen Roe unfortunately dying soon after, there was none left able to make head against Cromwell; who therefore carried all before him wherever he went, with little or no opposition, but what Hugh 2 August 1649. duff duff O'Neil gave him at Clonmel, where he lost Dear as many men as he did in gaining the rest of the kingdom, and would have lost a great many more, and gone at last without it, had not the people of Waterford failed to send the garrison ammunition, as they promised. Nevertheless, the confederates struggled hard to the last, and though they were offered most of their estates and other advantageous terms, as the case then stood, by the Rump Parliament, if they would submit to them and renounce the king's interest; yet they unanimously rejected all in their general assembly at Loughrea, in winter 1650, and never laid down arms until they were reduced to an impossibility of continuing the war any longer, in the year 1653. The most of the army, choosing rather to quit their native country, than to live under the Usurper's power and withal, being resolved to spend the remainder of their days in their prince's service, made conditions to go into foreign countries especially France and Spain; and the rest, who by reason of their age, charge, or sickness, were necessitated to stay behind, suffered entremely. For the common soldiers and great numbers of the poor country people were sold by wholesale for slaves. into the West-Indies, to the number of fifteen or twenty thousand souls: and the officers with the rest of the Catholic gentry of the kingdom, were all commanded over the river Shannon, into the province of Connaught and county of Clare, thence not to return upon pain of death, without special licence, where they were daily exposed to all manner of insolence, oppression, and cruelty, from the petty tyrants domineering over them. C 2 Cromwel Cromwell in the mean time, whether in hopes to gain upon the Irish, or at least to make some show of his inclination to justice, ordered a court of claims to be erected at Athlone, where all Catholics that could prove themselves innocent of the rebellion, or came within such qualifications as he prescribed, were allowed for their subsistence, to enjoy certain proportions of land in the said pro vince of Connaught, and county of Clare, that is, some a fourth, others a third part, according to their several qualifications, and some few, perhaps, the one half of the number of arces they were elsewhere possest of in 1641; yet the said petty tyrants were not well pleased at this small favour, but to the contrary believing that their own ill acquisitions could not be secure of lasting, while the former proprietors were in being, they often consulted among themselves, and were within an amesace of resolving to massacre them all at one puil, men, women and children; which they had certainly! done, but that the over ruling hand of Providence averted the blow, In this most dismal condition the Irish continued for several years, racked with daily apprehensions of the dangers that hung over their heads, and having no comfort under Heaven but the hopes to see the happy day of their prince's restoration, which they doubted not but would redeem them from their present captivity, and besides restore them to the inheritance of their father's estates. But how far they were deceived; and disappointed of these the reasonable hopes, shall be the subject of another discourse. The Athlone Court of Claims. The THE GENUINE History of Ireland. THE SECOND PART. The King that faithfully judgeth the Poor, his Throne shall be established for ever. PROV. 29, 14. ́ Woe to them that decree uprighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the needy from judgement, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fathelerss. ISAH. 10, É N the foregoing discourse we have taken a short view of the several Revolutions, that have happened in Ireland, from the first year of Queen Elizabeth's to the last of Cromwell's Usurpation; during which time we have partly seen how religion was made a stalking horse to violence and rapine, and gospel liberty turned into all manner of licentiousness; whereby the men in power might op press and phinder their neighbours, without any more concern or remorse. than if they had the same warrant from heaven which the Israelites received by the hands of Moses, to run away with the spoil of the Egyptains. Upon the whole matter, I think it very evident that that Tyrone's taking arms was so far from being a Rebellion either by the laws of God, or the fundamental laws of the land, that it was rather a necessary self-defence against the unwarrantable attempts of Queen Elizabeth, who had not only usurped the crown upon Queen Mary of Scotland, but also endeavoured after an arbitrary manner to encroach upon the people's civil and religious rights, contrary to all laws both human and divine. And as for that Earl's having in King James's time fled out of the kingdom upon St Lawrence's treacherous information, it may be reckoped a sin against prudence, which may oblige an honest man to stand to the defence of his own innocence, honor and reputation, even with the hazard of his life, but it cannot be called a treasonable crime, or an act that proved him guilty of having had ill designs against the crown. Nevertheless, since there was one positive, though in reality a perjured witness to swear to the accusation; and that both he and the Earl of Tyrconnel fled for the same; it must be owned that there was grounds enough for attainting them by act of parliament, which could not legally have been done, had they stayed and stood their trial. But as to the insurrection of † 1641, there is no doubt but the letter of the law makes it rebellion, for subjects under a lawful monarch, whether jointly or severally considered, are still by our laws but * Tyrone's war no rebellion. + The troubles 41, not so criminal in the Irish, as in their neigh bours. |