Lord Dillon in England. The terms he was himself Protestant, to England. On his arrival, Dillon informed Charles that the Catholic lords were ready to support the Crown, on the condition of complete liberty of religion and of the complete independence of the Irish Parliament.' Pym, who does not seem to have been acquainted with this negotiation, knew of Dillon's arrival. Dillon was arrested and examined by a committee, from which, on the 27th, Pym made his report. That report disclosed at least part of the plan of the Catholic peers The Lords Justices were to be removed, and Ormond was to take their place. The Irish Parliament, when it met in January, was to continue in session. At its recommendation some officers would be dismissed, and others put in their room, because, as matters stood, 'most of the officers' were 'more faithful to the Parliament of England than to the King.' The petition which Dillon had brought from Longford, in which full toleration was demanded, would then be granted.2 Dillon's scheme. The Com Such were the overtures of which Dillon had made himself the mouthpiece. Can it be wondered that the Commons saw in them a fresh danger to the State? It is true that mons take they did not know, as we know, that the plan for supplanting the Lords Justices by Ormond, and for securing the toleration of the Irish Catholics, had been in agitation during the whole summer, and was now favourably regarded by the King.3 alarm. 1 Giustinian to the Doge, Dec. 17, D. 21, Ven. Transcripts, R.O. 27, Jan. 3 2 D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. clxii. 282 b. • On Jan. 22, 1642, Rossetti wrote from Cologne, upon news derived from England somewhere about Dec. 20. that 'loro Maestà per restituirsi ... nello stato di prima non puoco speravano nelle forze degl' Hibernesi.' and that the Irish were gaining strength, non senza intrinseco gusto del Rè d'Inghilterra, ancorche egli mostri et non possi far di meno di mostrare estrinsecamente l'opposito, poichè se bene vien ciò discorso in diversa maniera, tutto però sino dall' anno passato andavasi disponendo per potere poi anche tener in freno quel Parlamento dalle precipitose risolutioni che si facevano contro la Regia autorità, intendendosi oltre di ciò di sradicare affatto la Religione Puritana, e concedere la libertà di conscienza a Cattolici con l'uso libero della Protestante et queste due solamente fossero e Nor was it merely a future peril against which it was necessary to guard. Almost at the very moment at which the House was listening anxiously to Dillon's revelations, the blow had fallen in Ireland. By the junction of the Catholic lords with the Ulster rebels, what had hitherto been a local rising had grown to the dimensions of a national resistance. The Lords the Catholic It is unnecessary to enter in detail into the causes which brought about the breach between the Lords Justices and the Lords of the Pale. Each, with good reason, Justices and thoroughly distrusted the other. The Lords Justices Lords. believed that the Lords were intriguing against them with the King, and that they would never cordially support a government by which their religion was proscribed. The Lords. believed that the Lords Justices would never agree to tolerate their religion, or allow them to exercise any political influence. On December 3 the Lords Justices invited the Lords of the Pale to come to Dublin to a conference on the The Lords state of the kingdom. The Lords, suspecting danger, declined to come, and assembled on the 9th at Swords to consult together, refusing to disperse on but refuse to orders so to do. Dec. 3. summoned to Dublin, Dec. 7. come. Dec. 15. Sir Charles Coote sent A few days later Sir Charles Coote was sent out by the Government to punish some wreckers at Clontarf. tott. Already that officer had earned for himself the detestation of the Irish. Having been sent against the Wicklow rebels he had led the way in those deeds of cruelty which were soon to balance the cruel actions of the Irish in the North.2 His soldiers had been recruited from the Protestant fugitives from Ulster, and such men knew no mercy. To them an Irishman was but a savage beast, to be destroyed without pity. It was at least believed that Coote had looked on approvingly when one of his soldiers was carrying the body of an infant on the point of a pike, and had jestingly observed that he 'liked permesse e stabilite, conforme pur hoggi dì si vede andarsi levando a poco a poco tutte l'altre.' The Lords Justices and Council to Kildare and others, Dec. 3. The Lords of the Pale to the Lords Justices, Dec. 7, Temple, part ii. 22. 2 Diary of Coote's Force, Clarendon MSS. 1,584. such frolics.' At Clontarf, he burnt not only the village, but the house of a gentleman who was at that time at the meeting at Swords. The Lords at Swords were not more ready to disperse upon the news of the outrage. The whole country round was in a disturbed condition. Whilst Irishmen were abroad plundering English troops, English troops were attacking the plunderers, cutting down and hanging those whom they caught. Junction of te Lords of the Pale with the Ulster rebels. The Lords and their followers had already abandoned Swords. On the day on which Clontarf was burnt they had summoned a meeting of the gentry of the county of Meath, at the hill of Crofty. Whilst they were still in discussion, a party rode up, amongst which were the leaders of the Ulster rebels. It was not long before an agreement was struck up, and two discordant elements were merged, at least for a time, in national resistance.1 Ormond stood by the King, and took no part in the resistance of the Catholic lords; but the relations between him and the Lords Justices were not such as to make any military success possible. He would gladly have atJustices. tacked the Northern rebels earlier, but the Lords Justices, prudent from their own point of view, preferred waiting for a Puritan army which would show no mercy to Irish Catholics. Already, before the actual combination between the two Irish parties had been formed, the Lords Justices and their supporters in Dublin congratulated themselves on the prospect opened before them. "Those great countries of Leinster, Ulster, and the Pale," they wrote to Leicester, "now lie the more open to His Majesty's free disposal, and to a general settlement of peace and religion by introducing the English."2 Ormond and the Lords Sir William The consequences of the reluctance of the Lords Justices to act vigorously, excepting through their own instruSt. Leger in ments, were bitterly felt in Munster. Sir William St. Leger, the President of that province, was a hale old soldier, with a soldier's contempt for unarmed multitudes, Munster. 1 Carte's Ormond, iii. 141. 2 The Lords Justices and some of the Council to Leicester, Dec. 14, Carte's Ormond, iii. 176. Nov. 20. Nov. 25. and a soldier's preference for prompt action in time of peril. "In these days, my lord," he had written to Ormond, "Magna Carta must not be wholly insisted upon." The Munster rebels must be attacked at once. "It is not possible," he thought, "that 12,000 naked rogues could stand before 1,000 well-armed horse. I would venture my life to go through the North with 2,000 foot and 600 horse." 1 Not long after these words were written his skill and courage were put to the test. In Tipperary a rabl le carried off a large number of cattle belonging to the President's brother-in-law. Taking with him two troops of horse, St. Leger rode off in pursuit of the offenders, killing and hanging those whom he could seize, sometimes, it is said, persons who had no part in the robbery. The news of these violent proceedings raised the nobility and gentry of the district. Some of them told St. Leger that he had been to blame in exasperating the people. Replying fiercely that they were all rebels, and that he would not trust a soul of them, he rode off to Waterford. Subsequent attempts to restore peace were unavailing. The English were everywhere plundered when out of the protection of stone walls, and there were some murders. The influence of the Irish gentlemen and of the Catholic priests was thrown on the side of mercy, but that influence was not always available. By the middle of December Munster was in full revolt, and the English had been driven for refuge to such fortified posts as they still held.2 By the vigour of Clanricarde some sort of order was still preserved in Connaught. December. Dec. 21. Feeling produced on the Such was the news which dinned upon the ears of the Con- Commons. wrong place. A member stood up and named Bristol as an evil counsellor. Orders were given to produce the 1 St. Leger to Ormond, Nov. 8, 13, Carte's Ormond, Letters xxxiv., XXXV., xxxviii. 2 Account of the insurrection in Tipperary, Carte MSS. ii. fol. 74. letters in which, in 1626, he was charged by the King with having persuaded him at Madrid to change his religion.1 Even amongst the Lords, the events of the last few days had not been without effect. They asked the Commons to join them in bringing to justice the person who had informed the King against Newport. Their attention was, however, soon drawn in another direction. A crowd of apprentices and others, attracted by curiosity or love of excitement, had come to Westminster to see the members When the Lords arrived they Bishops! No Popish Lords!" The mob at Westminster. as they entered the House. broke out into shouts of "No The Archbishop Williams clutched at a lad who was amongst the noisiest. His comrades rushed to the rescue. was hustled and his gown torn. Williams insulted. The rioters chased by the officers. About 500 of the rioters poured into Westminster Hall, where they found Lunsford, and a party of officers who had formerly served in the discharged army. Lunsford and his friends drew their swords and chased the mob out of the Hall, following them up King Street, and striking at those whom they could reach. A few of the fugitives were wounded, and for a time the officers appeared to have everything their own way. After a while the runaways recovered their spirits, and with a shower of stones drove their assailants to take refuge in Whitehall.2 Measures the Lords. The Lords not unnaturally treated the appearance of the mob as an interference with their freedom. On the one hand they offered to do justice to any man who had been proposed by injured by the officers. On the other hand, they asked the Commons to join in a declaration against riotous assemblies, and to petition the King for a guard.3 The danger to themselves was a very present one. The crowd had remained shouting and gesticulating after its vic tory, and when the sitting came to an end Hertford warned ' D'Ewes's Diary, Harl. MSS. clxii. fol. 284 b. C. J. ii. 358. 2 Slingsby to Pennington, Dec. 30, S. P. Dəm. Letter, Dec. 31 Jan. 10 • L. F. iv. 493. Salvetti's Neus |