derate catholics of Ireland, were enforced to take arms, for the preservation of their religion, for the defence of his ma jesty's just prerogatives and rights, and for the maintenance of the rights and liberties of their country, labored to be destroyed by the malignant party; and, whereas his majesty in his high wisdom, and in his princely care of his said subjects welfare and safety, and at their humble suit, that his majesty might be graciously pleased to hear their grievances, and vouchsafe redress therein, did direct there should be a cessation of arms, and thereupon did direct the right hon. the marquis of Ormond, to treat of, and conclude the said cessation with the said confederate catholics; know ye, that the supreme council, by the express order and authority of the said catholics, by them conceived and granted in their general assembly at Kilkenny, on the 20th day of the last month of May; and in pursuance of the said order and authority, reposing special trust and confidence in the wisdom, circumspection, and provident care, honor and sincerity of our very good lords, Nicholas lord viscount Gormanstown, Donogh lord viscount Muskerry, and our well-beloved sir Lucas Dillon, knight, sir Robert Talbot, bart. Tirlagh O'Niel, esq. Geoffry Brown, esq. Ever Macgennis, esq. and John Walsh, esq. have constituted, appointed, and ordained the said Nicholas lord viscount Gormanstown, Donogh lord viscount Muskerry, &c. our commissioners, and do, by these presents, give and grant to our said commissioners, or any five or more of them, full power and authority to treat with the said lord marquis of Ormond, of a cessation of arms, for one whole year, or shorter, and to conclude the same for the time aforesaid, upon such terms, conditions, or articles, as to the commissioners aforesaid, in their judgments, consciences, and discretions, shall be thought fit and expedient; by these presents ratifying and confirming whatever act or acts our said commissioners shall do or execute concerning the said cessation. Given at Kil kenny, the 23d of June, 1643. CHAP. VI, The cessation at last concluded. BUT a difference arising upon two points, viz. the dissolution of the present Irish parliament, and liberty to use hostilities against all such persons as should appear in arms against either party, (which the commissioners of the confederate ca- tholics were ordered to insist upon, and the marquis of Ormond peremptorily refused), caused the treaty to be adjourned to the following month.* One reason, among many others, for insisting on the disso. lution of that parliament, was, " its having expelled,2 by an arbitrary order, all those members who had been indicted in the illegal manner, and by the iniquitous means already mentioned; and its afterwards having passed another order, that no persons should sit either in that, or any future parliament, till they had taken the oath of supremacy." By the first of these orders, forty-six members were expelled, and their places supplied by clerks,3 soldiers, serving-men, and others not legally, or not at all chosen or returned; and by the last, a The king, in his letter of the 2d of July 1643, to the lords justices and marquis of Ormond, authorizing them to conclude this cessation with the confederates, commands them " to assure the Irish, in his name, that he was graciously inclined to dissolve the present parliament, and call a new one, between that and the 19th of November following.”—Borl. Hist, of the Irish Rebellion, fol. 164. The marquis of Ormond utterly rejected the proposal of the confede rates commissioners for a new parliament.-Cart. Orm, vol, i. fol, 438. Borlase adds another cause of the adjournment of the treaty, viz. " that the marquis of Ormond would not admit the title or name, attributed by the Irish commissioners unto them, in behalf of those for whom they treated; as likewise not admitting the cause for which they took up arms, as in the protestation is expressed. Whereas the Irish commissioners on the other side, still proposed all in behalf of the catholics of Ireland, with protestation that the said catholics took arms in defence of their religion, his majesty's rights and prerogatives, and the liberties of Ireland, and no ways to oppose his majesty's authority."-Irish Rebel. fol. 166. much greater number, unexceptionable," says Warner, ❝ in all respects but that of their religion."* The other point was insisted upon, from a well-grounded suspicion, that the Scottish forces in Ulster, that had taken the covenant, and received their pay from the English parliament, now in open rebellion against the king, would reject the cessation, as they soon after actually did. And of the reasonableness of that suspicion, the marquis of Ormond himself, was then probably convinced, from his knowledge of their disposition and circumstances; at least, on the 8th of March following, he certainly was so, when he told lord Digby," that the soldiers and common people in that quarter, were so deeply infected, that he had little hopes they could be unanimously, or in any considerable number, drawn to serve the king against the rebels in England or Scotland: of the new Scots," adds he," your lordship sees there is no hope :" and yet, even at this juncture (as we shall hereafter see) when these forces were guilty of frequent breaches of the cessation then concluded, and did at last openly reject it, he refused to join with the confederates, or even to countenance them by his authority, to make just reprisals upon them. During this adjournment of the treaty, a small, but ill intended, incident had like to have frustrated all hopes of its success. One captain Farrer, in the government's service, had been taken prisoner by the confederates; while one Synott, a captain among the confederates, was in the same condition with the government. The lords justices and council desiring to have Farrer exchanged for Synott, directed the following notice to the supreme council of the confederates. "We, the lords justices and council, do declare, if captain Farrer be 5 Carte's Orm. vol. iii. fol. 256. 6 Belling's MSS, 4 Ubi supra. "His majesty on this occasion, afterwards ordered the lord lieutenant to call before him the speaker and members of the house, and require them to vacate that order, there being no law or statute in force in Ireland to support the same. This was an act necessary to vindicate his own prerogative, which had been invaded by that order, as well as to give some satisfaction to the Roman catholics, who were thereby aggrieved in a point which they had most at heart, and on which depended all their hopes of redress, either of present or future grievances."-Carte's Orm. vol. i. fol. 523. forthwith released by the rebels, and safely sent hither, that forthwith, upon his coming so released, we will give order for the releasing Synott, lately employed as captain among the rebels, out of prison, the jailor's just dues being first paid; and will then permit him to depart freely, without interruption." The following spirited answer shews, how highly the confederates resented this (as they deemed it) new insult on their loyalty. "WE do not know to whom this certificate is directed;" for we avow ourselves, in all our actions, to be his majesty's loyal subjects. Neither shall it be safe hereafter, for any messenger to bring any paper to us, containing other language than such as suits with our duty, and the affections we bear to his majesty's service; wherein some may pretend, but none shall have more real desires, to further his majesty's interests, than his majesty's loyal and obedient subjects. MOUNTGARRET, MUSKERRY, &c." Shortly after the sending of this answer, sir William Parsons, sir Adam Loftus, sir Robert Meredith, and sir John Temple, privy-counsellors, were charged before the council, by the lords Dillon and Wilmot, sir Faithful Fortescue, and others, with having, by divers ways and means, abused the trust reposed in them by his majesty, in their several offices and employments; and with having traitorously endeavoured to withdraw his majesty's army in Ireland, from its obedience, to side with the rebels in England. "Upon this charge, they were all imprisoned in the castle of Dublin." But we find, "that they were so dear to those English rebels, and so highly valued by them, that they avowed them for theirs, by offering in exchange for them, three of the king's chief commanders, whom they had prisoners in London."† 7 Id ib. Borl. Irish Rebel. 8 Cart. Orm. vol. i. 9 Ib. vol. iii. fol. 271. * The charge against sir John Temple in particular, the famous author of the History of the Irish Rebellion, shews his early bent as a writer, to publish falsehoods, viz. "The said sir John Temple did, in the month of May last and June instant, write two traitorous and scandalous letters against your majesty, to Godwin and Reynolds (two agents of the English parliament), which letters have been since read at the close committee, and use made of them to cast false aspersions on your majesty, as fomenting and favoring the rebels in Ireland.”—Carte's Orm. vol. iii. fol. 206. By some means, however, they were soon after bailed. On which The king had often and earnestly pressed the lords justices,to conclude this cessation, as the only visible means by which his distressed army in Ireland could be relieved, or himself supplied in England or Scotland with those additional forces, of which he then stood in the greatest need; but not till after the receipt of his fifth letter of September 7th, 1643, were his commands, in that respect, obeyed. And thus, at length, on the 15th of that month, the marquis of Ormond, and the Irish commissioners, signed the instrument of the cessation at Sigginstown; which, being confirmed by the lords justices and council, was notified, by proclamation, to the whole kingdom; the commissioners of the confederate catholics insisting, all along, on their title of dutiful and loyal subjects, which no consideration whatever could make them forego. CHAP. VII. The advantages of the cessation to his majesty's army. AND in truth the confederates, by consenting to this cessation (as both armies were then circumstanced) gave an undeniable proof of their having highly merited that title. Sir Philip Percival, commissary-general of the provisions of the king's forces, declared in a memorial which he afterwards gave in to the English parliament," that both the state' and the army were, at that juncture, in the greatest distress; that the streets of Dublin had no manner of victuals, many times for one day; that the soldiers would not move without money, shoes and stockings; for want of which many had marched barefooted, and had bled much on the road; and that others, through unwholesome food, had become diseased and died.* 10 Borlase's Irish Rebel. 11 Cart. Orm. vol. i. 1 Ib. fol. 156. occasion, lord Digby wrote to the marquis of Ormond, March 29th, 1644, "that their bailing was represented in England, as a very odious thing to the people of Ireland, and threatened to be of great disservice to his majesty. If that be your excellency's opinion," adds his lordship, " you cannot want a pretence to make them fast again; and it is his majesty's pleasure you should do so."-Ib. "To express the necessity of the cessation (says Borlase) many persons of quality signed, the said 15th of September, 1743, a writing, therein coa |