1629.

Faulkland

confede

make a fur

ther tender

to the king.

Faulkland advised the confederates to send over agents to the King; and they accordingly waited upon his Majesty, with an offer of a voluntary contribution advises the of 120,000l. to be paid in three years by quarterly in- rates to stalments, for which the King published by proclamation what is usually called his Graces, and pledged his royal word for their afterwards being confirmed by parliament. They were fifty-one in number. Some of the more important were, that subjects should be confirmed In their titles by limiting the claims of the crown to sixty years that recusants might sue out their liveries, ouster les mains, and other grants from the courts of wards that Catholic barristers might plead for five years without the oath of supremacy. The bounty was received, and the Proclamation of Graces issued: but was ill observed, and never confirmed by parlia

ment.

recalled,and

begins.

Through the influence of the Puritan party Faulk- Faulkland land was recalled, and the administration entrusted to terrorism two lords justices, Viscount Ely, the chancellor, and the Earl of Cork, the lord high treasurer, who without any instructions from the King, enforced with great severity the penalties of the second of Elizabeth. They were informed, that this severity was neither acceptable to the King, nor consistent with his interests in Ireland. Charles, however, quickly sacrificed his Ca

Dublin, by Downham, bishop of Derry, upon whom it had so powerful an effect, that the offer was rejected with indignation; and was soon after followed up by a proclamation most strictly commanding the forbearance of the exercise of Popish rites and c‹remonies.

1629.

tholic subjects to his enemies, and the system of ter-
rorism commenced. The archbishop, and the chief
magistrate of Dublin, at the head of a file of musque-
teers, entered the Catholic chapel in Cook Street, in
time of divine service; seized the priest in his vest-
ments at the altar, hewed down the crucifix, and car-
ried off all the sacred utensils and ornaments. Several
of the congregation pursued the assailants with stones,
and rescued their clergyman. The representation of
this incident to the English council produced an im-
mediate order, which was carried into effect, for seiz-
ing fifteen religious houses to the King's use, and as-
signing a newly-established seminary in Dublin to the
university. The most rigorous execution of the penal
laws was extended to every part of the kingdom: and
the King gave into the advice of the lords justices, that
the army should be provided for out of the weekly
fines to be imposed upon the Catholics, for absenting
themselves from the established worship*.
"We ap-

prove well," said the King in his answer, "that this
business, as you desire, may be presently put into such
a state, as that the money, which shall by that means
grow due unto us, may be ready to be levied by Mi-
chaelmas next." As long as the lords justices conti-
nued in the administration of Ireland, such present-
ments were made with extreme rigor, to the great
grievance of the recusants, and comparatively small
emolument of the crown: heavy fines also were im-
posed upon such juries as refused to find them.

The severity of the lords justices was far exceeded

* Lord Strafford's State Letters, Vol. II. fol. 91.

Commence

Strafford's

by that of their successor Lord Wentworth, better 1638. known under his superior title of Earl of Strafford, who continued lord deputy from the year 1633, to ment of the year 1641. The effect which Strafford's admi- government, nistration had in producing the grand rebellion, and the difference of the English and Irish writers thereupon, becomes a most important part of Irish history *.

noxious to

party.

This nobleman's desertion of the popular cause in Strafford ob. England had rendered him odious to a party power- the popular ful, implacable, subtle, and indefatigable. Their rancour pursued him into Ireland: they watched his conduct strictly, and interpreted his actions severely. He assumed his government with a contemptuous dislike of the country, and with a mind bent on rendering it profitable to his master. Hence he inferred the necessity of that severe administration, which suited his native austerity. Ireland he considered as a conquered kingdom in the strictest sense. He avowed and defended that opinion, under all the terrors of impeachment, when it was charged against him as a traitorous principle; maintaining, therefore, that Irish subjects had without distinction forfeited the rights of men and citizens.

duplicity to

before he ar⚫

Wentworth began to display his duplicity upon Strafford's the Catholics of Ireland, (they were then in the pro- the catholics portion of above one hundred to one Protestant) even before he had taken possession of his government. For political reasons †, he preferred any mode of

* Vid. my Historical Review, 1 vol, p. 118, and seq. "If, says he, it took that good effect, for which it was intended, which was to bring the Irish to a conformity in religion,

rives in Ire

land.

1633.

Haughtiness of Strafford.

taxation to that of raising the necessary levies upon the consciences of the natives. In order, therefore, to ensure to his royal master the continuance of the voluntary contribution for one year longer, he tells us that " he sent a private messenger of his own to Ireland, who was himself a Ca. tholic, with instructions to invite them to make an offer to his Majesty, of half a subsidy to be paid the next year; upon condition that all further prosecution upon the statute of the 2d Elizabeth, might be respited till his coming over. The instrument I employed, (says he) knows no other, but that the resolution of the state here is set upon that course, and that I do this privately in favor, and well wishing to divert the present storm, which else would fall heavy upon them all, being framed and executed by the Earl of Cork, which makes the man labour in good earnest."

The haughtiness of the deputy manifested itself even to his own party on his first landing: he omitted to summon several members of the council, and cavalierly dismissed the others, after he had kept them waiting for above two hours; and when on the following day they shewed symptoms of displeasure at the continuance of the contribution, he superciliously assured them, that no necessity induced him to take them in council on that business: for that rather than fail, he would upon the peril of his head, subsist the King's

it would come to nothing, and so would prove a covering narrower than a man could wrap himself in." St. Let. 1 vol. 76.

*St. Let, 1 vol. 212.

army without their help. The menace had its ef-
fect and he procured a written promise for the next
year's contribution from the Protestants, as it had that
year proceeded from the Catholics, who ought not,
said he tauntingly, to be permitted to be more forward
than the Protestants in their chearfulness and readiness
to serve the Kingt. His proposal to call a parlia-
ment was
was eagerly received, which they imagined
would supersede the necessity of any further contribu-
tion; so horribly afraid, says his lordship, were they
that the contribution money would be set as an annual
charge upon their inheritances, that they would re-
deem it at any rate.

For the purpose of securing a Protestant majority in parliament, the new lord deputy, by his own ac count of it to Secretary Coke §, says, "he sent out with the writs of summons about 100 letters in recommendation of quiet and governable men. The lower house," says he, " should be so composed, that neither the recusants, nor yet the Protestants, should appear considerably one more than the other: holding them as much as might be in an equal balance, as being thus easier to govern." And for varying the balance of votes according to the exigency

i. e. by free quarters. The Irish had frequently complained of the abuses of the military, which will appear from a report made in the preceding reign by the commissioners appointed by James to enquire into grievances, for which see my App. No. XIX, to vol. i. of Hist. Rev. Protection against this abuse was one of the graces recently purchased.

+ St. Let. p. 99. + Ib..p. 99.

St. Let. 1 vol p. 259.

1633.

How Strafed the par

ford manag⚫

liament.