THE STORY OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 22 July 1920, Page 9

THE STORY OF IRELAND

(By A. M. Sullivan.)

CHAPTER LV.—SOMETHING ABOUT THE CONfioe" NG ELEMENTS OF THE " CIVIL WAR IN MAT& as2v J HE CONFEDERATE CATHOLICS T^^n^^vHS? 111 POSITION, AND ESTABLAND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT IN IREno,/ h ? PterS ° f Irish hisior y are more important, none have been more momentous in their results, than 16% K .f™ m f s 1 career of the Confederation of and the mo,!\lfffi of all the most intricate and involved and the most difficult to summarise with fitting brevity clearness for young readers. J n that struggle there were not two but at least tour or five distinct parties with disin* iS 6 ' T d t 0 a great . er , or lesser degree inflictfa nin" S- nd IeWS;I eWS; P artia »y and momentarily comthe "S lfl t t i"S Prions, and changing alliances; so that ninnn + nSff + proceeded was, in its character and comate kiL P Tf h lUly i amele onic.'' As for the "nfortunIV to e'r,ff l greatly t 0 be blamed ' he ™s also greatiniustice P S He 10 *!?. man ° f P assion > m alA, or &"£*, He n Va ? mildly > kindl y' an d justly disposedbut weak vacillating, and self-willed; and, under the r n( J da + nger ' hiS - ea kn-s degeneratea into miserable duplicity at times. In the storm vafita^ 1 - 8 * Mm - in ] ? ngland ' hiß enemies "ound gre g a\S: uaSnf that mfw n a g Mm !, P ° pish *****»" and'inslnhe T?uS Pnn \ a ! f ° r f? y authorising and encouraging alPthe S Pr otT t l^ b + tV the SamG , Wh ° had * ust tu *a rote ? tants that were and were not in the newlvp anted province of Ulster. To rid himself «f 5,- « anient replied, by maliciously insinuating a belief that the outser:^ fcl^ l IOIr A Sh Protestants became from lies of the Pat? mS? 8^6 better Puritans the old famisided ,v h P thL e Iy gaining royalists. The former siaea with the parliamentarians and against the kiW aSins\%hrC^ho S r rUSted , hiS ****"*£ * StM V" d Sec^ etly feared he would allow tnem to live and hold possession of lands in Ireland - in which case there would be no plunder, no "plan aSoAs » ft? Scts \ classes from whomt Ws reign the Ulster colonists had largely been drawn w the £LS?VT ° f qUarrel a &it the frish 'whom the English parliamentarians hated with a fierceness for which there could be no parallel. This lattef nartv combined religious fanaticism with revolutionary p a Sot? and to one and the other the Irish were intolerablv obnoxious; to the one, because they were Papists idol! and'holv OW 0f A^ tichri K Bt ' Whm to slay waf work good ' beca " S they had sided. With the to The Catholic prelates and Clergy could not be expected Cathol°rei; wlnle l a . fi erce. struggle in defence of the Catholic religion, and in sustainment of the sovereign against rebellious foes, was raging in the land. In S a war they could not be neutral. A provincial synod was held at Kelt 22nd March, 1642, whereat? afteffull examination and deliberation, the 'cause of' the con e ;>vX S ~to ? e and the Kl,lg '" i fr f d ° m ° —ship CO and loyalty to the sovereign-was declared just and holy. The assembled prelates issued an address vehemently denouncing excesses or severities of any kind, and finally tte°\otl? S of tO May n 7on:wtng. a nal ""* at Kilkenny on fcne 10th of May following. - On that day accordingly (10th of May, 1643), the national synod met in the city of St. Canice "The occasion was most solemn, and the proceedings were characterised by calm dignity and an enlightened tone. An oath of association, which all Catholics throughout the land were enjoined to take, was framed; and those who .were bound together by this solemn tie were caned tte confederate Catholics of Ireland.' A manifesto explanatory of their motives, and containing rules to guide the confederation, and an admirable plan of provisional government, was issued «." was ordained thatT general assembly, comprising all the- lords spiritual and temporal and the gentry of their party, should be held; aid that the assembly should select members from its body to represent he different provinces and principal cSes and dav to C Sv d d?L SUpr . Council, which should sit from day to day, dispense- justice, appoint to offices, and carry

on as it were the executive^o"yofnmentl of the country. Severe | penalties i were M pronounced against all who made the c war an excuse for the commission of crime; and after three days' sittings this important s conference brought its labors to a close." - - . •., . ; ''The .national synod did not break up till about the end of May, and long before that period the proclamations issued by the prelates and lay-lords, calling on the people to take the oath of association, had.the happiest results. Agents from the synod crossed over into France, Spain, and Italy, to solicit support and sympathy from the Catholic princes. Father Luke Wadding was indefatigably employed collecting moneys and inciting the Irish officers serving in the Continental armies to return and give their services to their own land. Lord Mountgarret was appointed president of the council, and the October following was fixed for a general assembly of the whole kingdom." " ..On the 23rd October following the . general assembly thus convoked, assembled in Kilkenny, "eleven bishops and fourteen lay lords represented the Irish peerage; two hundred and twenty-six commoners, the large majority of. the constituencies. The celebrated lawyer Patrick Darcy, a member of the commons house, was chosen as chancellor, and everything was conducted with the gravity and deliberation befitting so venerable an assembly and so great on occasion;" A Supreme Council of- six members for each province was. elected. The archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, the bishops of Down and of Clonfert, Lord Gdrmanstown, Lord Mountgarret, Lord Roche, and Lord Mayo, with fifteen of .the most eminent commoners, composed this council. Such was the national government and legislature under which Ireland fought a formidable struggle for three years. It was loyally obeyed and served throughout the land; in fact it was the only sovereign ruling power recognized at all outside of two or three walled cities for the greater part of that time. It undertook J all the functions properly appertaining to its high office; coined money at a national mint; appointed judges who went circuit and held assizes; sent ambassadors or agents abroad, and commissioned officers to the national armies—the latter being Owen Roe O'Neill, who had landed at Doe Castle in Donegal in July of that year, and now formally assumed command of the army of Ulster. While that governing body held together, unrent by treason or division, the Irish nation was able to hold its crowding foes at bay, and was in fact practically free.

(To bo continued.)