icon 0
icon TOP UP
rightIcon
icon Reading History
rightIcon
icon Log out
rightIcon
icon Get the APP
rightIcon

A Popular History of Ireland V2 From the earliest period to the emancipation of the Catholics

Chapter 4 THE INSURRECTION OF 1641.

Word Count: 3488    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

supplies from England were most difficult to be obtained by their enemies. II. A simultaneous attack on one and the same day or night on all the fortresses within

to effect, except the seizure of Dublin Castle-the most diff

d with Sir Phelim O'Neil, while McMahon, Plunkett, and Byrne, with 200 picked men, were to surprise the Castle guard-consisting of only a few pensioners and 40 halbediers-turn the guns upon the city to intimidate the Puritan party, and thus make sure of Dublin; O'Moore, Lord Maguire, and other civilians, were to be in town, in order to direct the next steps to be taken. As the day approached, the arrangements went on with perfect secrecy but with perf

usted with a knowledge of next day's plans, we have now no means of deciding. O'Connolly's information, as tendered to the Justices, states that on hearing of the proposed attack on the Castle, he pretended an occasion to withdraw, leaving his sword in McMahon's room to avoid suspicion, and that after jumping over fences and palings, he made his way from the north side of the city to Sir William Parsons at the Castle. Parsons at first discredited the tale, which O'Connolly (who was in liquor) told in a confused and rambling manner, but he finally decided to consult his colleague, Borlase, by whom some of the Council were summoned, the witness's deposition taken down, orders issued to double the g

ts, neither English nor Scotch; but only for the defence and liberty of ourselves and the Irish natives of this kingdom." A more elaborate manifesto appeared shortly afterwards from the pen of Rory O'Moore, in which the oppressions of the Catholics for conscience' sake were detailed, the King's intended "graces" acknowledged, and their frustration by the malice of the Puritan party exhibited: it also endeavoured to show that a common danger threatened the Protestants of the Episcopal Church with Roman Catholics, and asserted in the strongest terms the devotion of the Catholics to the Crown. In the same politic and tolerant spirit, Sir Conor Magennis wrote from Newry on the 25th to the officers com

ll strangers were ordered to quit the city under pain of death. Sir Francis Willoughby, Governor of Galway, who arrived on the night of the 22nd, was entrusted with the command of the Castle, Sir Charles Coote was appointed Military Governor of the city, and the Ear

eign of James I. His success as an Undertaker entitles him to rank with the fortunate adventurers we have mentioned; in Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, Queen's, and other counties, his possessions and privileges raised him to the rank of the richest subjects of his time. In 1640 he was a colonel of foot, wi

, not by an abstract standard but by the public morality of his age, he will be found fairly deserving of the title of "the great Duke" bestowed on him during his lifetime. When summoned by the Lords Justices to their assistance in 1641, he was in the thirty-first year of his age, and had so far only distinguished himself in political life as the friend of the late Lord Strafford. He had, however, the good fortune to restore in his own person the estates of his family, notwithstanding that they were granted in great part to others by King J

onsent, while awaiting their cue from the Long Parliament, to throw reinforcements into Drogheda, which thus became their outpost towards the north. II. In Ulster there still remained in the possession of "the Undertakers" Enniskillen, Deny, the Castles of Killeagh and Crohan in Cavan, Lisburn, Belfast, and the stronghold of Carrickfergus, garrisoned by the regiments of Colonel Chichester and Lord Conway. King Charles, who was at Edinburgh endeavouring to conciliate the Scottish Parliament when news of the Irish rising reached him, procured the instant despatch of 1,500 men to Ulster, and authorized Lords Chichester, Ardes and Clandeboy, to raise new regiments from among their own tenants. The force thus embodied-which may be called from its prevailing element the Scottish army-cannot have numbered less than 5,000 foot, and the proportionate number of horse. III. The Irish in the field by the first of November are stated in round numbers at 30,000 men in the northern counties alone; but the whole number supplied with arms and ammunition could not have reached one-third of th

ld not have exceeded one-tenth as many, but the presence of so large a number may be accounted for by the supposition that they had fled from the mainland across the peninsula, which is left dry at low water, and were pursued to their last refuge by the infuriated Covenanters. From this date forward until the accession of Owen Roe O'Neil to the command, the northern war assumed a ferocity of character foreign to the nature of O'Moor

six companies marching from Dublin to reinforce the town; but though the investment was complete, the vigilant governor, Sir Henry Tichburne, successfully repulsed the assailants. O'Moore, who lay between Ardee and Dundalk with a reserve of 2,000 men, found time during the siege to continue his natural career, that of a diplomatist. The Puritan party, from the Lord Justice downwards, were, indeed, every day hastening that union of Catholics of all origins which the founder of the Confederacy so ardently desired to bring about. Their avowed maxim was that the more men rebelled, the more estates there would be to confiscate. In Munster, their chief instruments were the aged Earl of Cork, still insatiable as ever for other men's possessions, and the President St. Leger; in Leinster, Sir Charles Coote. Lord Cork prepared 1,100 indictments against men of property in his Province, which he sent to the Speaker of the Long Parliament, with an urgent request that they might be returned to him, with authority to proceed against the parties named, as outlaws. In Leinster, 4,000 similar indictments were found in the course of two days by the free use of the rack with witnesses. Sir John Read, an officer of the King's Bedchamber, and Mr. Barnwall, of Kilbrue, a gentleman of threescore and six, were among those who underwent the torture. When these were the proceedings of the tribunals in peaceable cities, we may imagine what must have been the excesses of the soldiery in the open county. In the South, Sir William St

n the flourishing villages of Fingal, and the flames kindled by his men might easily be discovered from the round tower of Swords. On the 17th, the summoned Lords, with several of the neighbouring gentry, met by appointment on the hill of Crofty, in the neighbouring county of Meath; while they were engaged in discussing the best course to be taken, a party of armed men on horseback, accompanied by a guard of musketeers, was seen approaching. They proved to be O'Moore, O'Reilly, Costelloe McMahon, brother of the prisoner, Colonel Byrne, and Captain Fox. Lord Gormanstown, advancing in front of his friends, demanded of the new-comers "why they came armed into the Pale?" To which O'Moore made answe

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open
1 Chapter 1 JAMES I.-FLIGHT OF THE EARLS-CONFISCATION OF ULSTER- PENAL LAWS-PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION.2 Chapter 2 LAST YEARS OF JAMES-CONFISCATION OF THE MIDLAND COUNTIES-ACCESSION OF CHARLES I.-GRIEVANCES AND GRACES -ADMINISTRATION OF LORD STRAFFORD.3 Chapter 3 LORD STRAFFORD'S IMPEACHMENT AND EXECUTION-PARLIAMENT OF 1639-'41-THE INSURRECTION OF 1641-THE IRISH ABROAD.4 Chapter 4 THE INSURRECTION OF 1641.5 Chapter 5 THE CATHOLIC CONFEDERATION-ITS CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT.6 Chapter 6 THE CONFEDERATE WAR-CAMPAIGN OF 1643-THE CESSATION.7 Chapter 7 THE CESSATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.8 Chapter 8 GLAMORGAN'S TREATY-THE NEW NUNCIO RINUCCINI- O'NEIL'S POSITION-THE BATTLE OF BENBURB.9 Chapter 9 FROM THE BATTLE OF BENBURB TILL THE LANDING OF CROMWELL AT DUBLIN.10 Chapter 10 CROMWELL'S CAMPAIGN--1649-1650.11 Chapter 11 CLOSE OF THE CONFEDERATE WAR.12 Chapter 12 REIGN OF CHARLES II.13 Chapter 13 REIGN OF CHARLES II. (CONCLUDED.)14 Chapter 14 THE STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING IN IRELAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.15 Chapter 15 ACCESSION OF JAMES II.-TYRCONNELL'S ADMINISTRATION.16 Chapter 16 KING JAMES IN IRELAND-IRISH PARLIAMENT OF 1689.17 Chapter 17 THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-CAMPAIGN OF 1689-SIEGES OF DERRY AND ENNISKILLEN.18 Chapter 18 THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-CAMPAIGN OF 1690-BATTLE OF THE BOYNE-ITS CONSEQUENCES-THE SIEGES OF ATHLONE AND LIMERICK.19 Chapter 19 THE WINTER OF 1690-91,20 Chapter 20 THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR-CAMPAIGN OF 1691-BATTLE OF AUGHRIM-CAPITULATION OF LIMERICK.21 Chapter 21 REIGN OF KING WILLIAM.22 Chapter 22 REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.23 Chapter 23 ACCESSION OF GEORGE I.-SWIFT'S LEADERSHIP.24 Chapter 24 REIGN OF GEORGE II.-GROWTH OF PUBLIC SPIRIT-THE PATRIOT PARTY-LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ADMINISTRATION.25 Chapter 25 THE LAST JACOBITE MOVEMENT-THE IRISH SOLDIERS ABROAD- FRENCH EXPEDITION UNDER THUROT, OR O'FARRELL.26 Chapter 26 REIGN OF GEORGE II. (CONCLUDED)-MALONE'S LEADERSHIP.27 Chapter 27 ACCESSION OF GEORGE III.-FLOOD'S LEADERSHIP- OCTENNIAL PARLIAMENTS ESTABLISHED.28 Chapter 28 FLOOD'S LEADERSHIP-STATE OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN 1760 AND 1776.29 Chapter 29 GRATTAN'S LEADERSHIP- FREE TRADE, AND THE VOLUNTEERS.30 Chapter 30 GRATTAN'S LEADERSHIP-LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE ESTABLISHED.31 Chapter 31 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE-FIRST PERIOD.32 Chapter 32 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE-SECOND PERIOD.33 Chapter 33 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE-THIRD PERIOD- CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL OF 1793.34 Chapter 34 THE ERA OF INDEPENDENCE-EFFECTS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION IN IRELAND-SECESSION OF GRATTAN, CURRAN, AND THEIR FRIENDS, FROM PARLIAMENT, IN 1797.35 Chapter 35 THE UNITED IRISHMEN.36 Chapter 36 NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE AND HOLLAND-THE THREE EXPEDITIONS NEGOTIATED BY TONE AND LEWINES.37 Chapter 37 THE INSURRECTION OF 1798.38 Chapter 38 THE INSURRECTION OF 1798-THE WEXFORD INSURRECTION.39 Chapter 39 THE INSURRECTION ELSEWHERE-FATE OF THE LEADING UNITED IRISHMEN.40 Chapter 40 ADMINISTRATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS-BEFORE THE UNION.41 Chapter 41 AFTER THE UNION-DEATH OF LORD CLARE- ROBERT EMMET'S EMEUTE.42 Chapter 42 ADMINISTRATION OF LORD HARDWICKE (1801 TO 1806), AND OF THE DUKE OF BEDFORD (1806 TO 1808).43 Chapter 43 ADMINISTRATION OF THE DUKE OF RICHMOND (1807 TO 1813).44 Chapter 44 O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP-1813 TO 1821.45 Chapter 45 RETROSPECT OF THE STATE OF RELIGION AND LEARNING DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III.46 Chapter 46 THE IRISH ABROAD, DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III.47 Chapter 47 O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP-THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION- 1821 TO 1826.48 Chapter 48 O'CONNELL'S LEADERSHIP-THE CLARE ELECTION-EMANCIPATION OF THE CATHOLICS.