XXVII. to impose their opinions on other men; while the ro- CHAP. manists would not be contented unless they should have power to compel all others to submit to their imposition on pain of death; a charge indeed too clearly proved by experience wherever this religion has prevailed. The brave O'Neal, who pleaded that he had taken no part in the original conspiracy, had been invited from abroad by his countrymen, and had always acted as an honourable enemy, was yet condemned by Ireton and his pliant court; but the expostulations of some officers of a more generous spirit prevailed on the republican commander to permit a reexamination of the cause, and the sparing of O'Neal's life. Galway would have surrendered on a summons Siege of from Ireton, if the death of that general at Limerick, Galway. by a pestilence which then wasted Ireland, had not encouraged the citizens to resistance. Uniting under Preston, they summoned Clanricarde to their aid, who convened in this town an assembly of nobility, prelates, and gentry, to consult on measures of defence. Ludlow, to whom the command of the English troops devolved, acted with a severity which -affected the whole body of the Irish with dismay, giving no quarter to those who had joined the enemy since the arrival of Cromwell, and treating all as foes who withdrew not immediately, on proclamation for that purpose, from the quarters of the confederates. -A submission was offered in the name of the nation by an assembly held in Leinster, and also by that of Galway, as soon as Coote approached its walls; but -such offers were now too late, as no general treaty would XXVII. CHAP Would be admitted, and individual submissions only at discretion accepted. Yet even in this desperate situation, the infatuated clergy and their adherents continued their seditious practices, clamoured against Clanricarde, and senselessly demanded the restoration of the original confederacy. From a scene of consternation, confusion, and uproar, Preston, the governor, fled by sea, leaving the citizens and garrison to their fate, who without the least regard to Clanricarde's authority, surrendered the town to the astonished republicans, who had expected a siege of tedious length. Further 1652. Vainly hoping still to cause a diversion in favour proceedings of the royalists in Britain, when their case was desperate, Clanricarde, flying from Galway and penetrating into Ulster, where he was joined by some reinforcements, reduced the castles of Ballyshannon and Donegal. But soon obliged to abandon these posts, and pursued till his forces were dispersed, and his life in danger, he capitulated with the republicans, who granted him leave to reside some time unmolested in their quarters, and afterwards to transport himself with three thousand Irish into the service of any potentate not hostile to the English commonwealth. Fleetwood, who had become a son-in-law of Cromwell by his marriage with the widow of Ireton, found, on his arrival, with the commission of chief commander of the forces in this kingdom, the country reduced, and the people every where submitting to the terms dictated by the victorious republicans. Murders committed in the beginning of the rebellion were avenged by death and the total confis cation XXVII. cation of property. Persons who had only assisted CHAP in the war, were punished with banishment and the confiscation of a third part of their lands. The marquis of Ormond, lord Inchiquin, the earl of Roscommon, and Bramhal, the protestant bishop of Derry, were distinctly named, as incapable of pardon for life or estate. High courts of justice were erected in the several Executions. provinces for the trial of men accused with massacres. So many of the original perpetrators of murder had, in a war of ten years, perished by the sword, famine, or pestilence, or had escaped from the kingdom, that only two hundred on the severest inquisition, were sentenced to death. In Connaught lord Mayo, in Munster colonel William Bagnal, were conderaned on evidence not sufficiently clear. Lord Muskerry falsely accused, was honourably acquitted, and allowed to retire to Spain. In Ulster, where the most numerous and horrid murders had been perpetrated, none remained for legal punishment but Sir Phelim O'Neal. This chieftain, so infamous for deeds of religious massacre, had, from the arrival of Owen O'Neal, sunk into obscurity; but, near the conclusion of the war, had again arisen intò notice by the removal of abler commanders, and given some assistance to Clanricarde. But finally defeated, and destitute by the dispersion of his followers, he concealed himself in a sequestered island, whence he was dragged by lord Caulfield, heir of that governor whom he had treacherously made a prisoner in the castle of Charlemont, and whom his barbarous retainers had afterwards murdered. Repeatedly offered XXVII. CHAP. offered life, liberty, and estate, on condition of his producing any material proof of his having received a commission from the king for his insurrection, he acknowledged the forgery which I have already related, and persevered to the last moment of his life in denying that he had ever been authorised by his Majesty. Declaring that he would not, by a calumny against the late king, augment the load which already oppressed his conscience, he displayed in his last moments a spirit worthy of a better character. Rebellion had no longer existence in Ireland, but its ghastly effects were too long visible. The sword, famine, and its concomitant pestilence, had reduced great part of the island to a state of dreary solitude, and scarcely a house had remained undemolished Forfeitures except within the walls of towns. Forfeited lands 1653. were assigned for the payment of adventurers and arrears of the army; and courts were established at Dublin and Athlone for the determining of claims within a limited time, under the direction of Edmond Ludlow, Miles Corbet, John Jones, and John Weaver, who were united with Fleetwood in the civil administration, with the title of commissioners of parliament. Connaught was reserved entirely for the Irish, within which they were to be confined by the Shannon and a chain of garrisons. The adventurers accepted as a full satisfaction the moiety of the forfeited lands in nine principal counties, and the other was reserved for the soldiery, who had served since the arrival of Cromwell in 1649. But for those troops, who had fought against the Irish before that period, though their condition was XXVII. was much more distressful, no provision could be CHAP. obtained, except some lands in Wicklow and the adjoining counties, not sufficient to discharge a fourth of their arrears, since they were considered as infected with a mixture of royalists, and consequently not immaculately loyal to the republican cause or the purity of religion. A revenue was also ordered to be raised for disabled soldiers, and for the widows and orphans of those who had fallen in the public service. Except a part of the lands of bishops, and of deans and chapters, granted to the university of Dublin, these, with the forfeited lands in the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork, remained unappropriated, and reserved by parliament for future disposal. ous transac 1654. In the forming of these arrangements a change took Miscellane place in the administration in consequence of a revo- tions. lution in England, where Oliver Cromwell had forcibly dissolved the Long Parliament, and seized the sovereign power under the title of lord protector. In Ireland, where the news created pleasure in the army, but horror in some others, a resolution was with difficulty procured, by a majority of one in the council of state, for the acknowledgement of his title by a proclamation. His second son, Henry, sent into this country to examine into the state of affairs, and to establish his authority, found the commissioners guilty of enormous frauds for their own emolument, the courts of judicature shamefully mismanaged, and the obstinate republicans unfit to be left entrusted with places of power. According to an instrument of government composed by the protector, VOL. II. which с |