THE STORY OF IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 26 August 1920, Page 7

THE STORY OF IRELAND

(By A. M. Sullivan.)

Chapter LVIII.— the King Disavowed the Treaty and the Irish Repudiated it. How .the Council by a Worse Blunder Clasped Hands with a Sacrilegious Murderer, and Incurred Excommunication. How at Length the Royalists and Confederates Concluded an Honorable Peace.

Elated by this great victory, that party in the confederation of which O’Neill was the military favorite, and the Nuncio the head, now became outspoken and vehement in their denunciations of the temporisers. And opportunely for them came the news from England that the miserable Charles, on finding that his commission to Glamorgan had been discovered, repudiated and denied the whole transaction, notwithstanding the formal commission duly signed and sealed by him, exhibited to the confederate council by his envoy ! Ormond, nevertheless, as strongly exhorted the “peace party” to hold firm, and to consider for the hard position of the king, which compelled him to prevaricate ! But the popular spirit was aroused, and Rinuccini, finding the tide with him, acted with a high hand against the Ormondists,” treating them as malcontents, even arresting and imprisoning them as halftraitors, whereas, howsoever wrong their judgment and halting their action, they were the (majority of the) lawfully elected government of the confederation. New elections were ordered throughout the country far a new general assembly, which accordingly met at Kilkenny, January 10, 1647. This body by an overwhelming majority condemned the peace as invalid ah initio, inasmuch as it notably fell short of the oath o federation; but the conduct of the commissioners and majority of the council was generously, and indeed justly, declared to have been animated by good faith and right intentions. The feuds, however, were but superficially healed ; discord and suspicion caused the confederate generals, according as they belonged to the conflicting parties-the “Pale English”, or the native Irish”— to fear each other as much 'as the Puritan enemy. Meanwhile an Irish Attila was drenching Munster in blood—Morrough O’Brien Lord Inchiqum called to this day 'in ~ popular traditions Morrough of the Burnings,” from the fact that the firmament over his line of march was usually blackened by the smpke of his burnings and devastations. One monster massacre on his '.part filled all the land with horror He besieged and stormed’ Cashel. The women and children took refuge in the erand cathedral

on the rock, the ruins of which still excite the ; tourist's admiration. "Inchiquin poured in volleys of musket bays through the doors and windows, unmoved by the piercing shrieks of the crowded victims within, and then sent m his troopers to finish with pike and sabre the work which the bullets had left incomplete. The floor was encumbered with piles of mangled bodies, and twenty priests who had sought shelter under the altars were dragged forth and slaughtered with a fury which -the mere extinction of life could not half appease. Ere the horror excited by this hideous butchery had died away, the country heard with consternation that the Supreme Council of the Confederation had concluded a treaty with Inchiquin, as a first step towards securing his alliance. In vain the Nuncio and the bishops protested against alliance or union with the man whose hands were still wet and red with the blood of anointed priests, massacred at the altar! The majority of the council evidently judged cerely, it may be credited,— under all the circumstances it was a substantial good to make terms with, and possibly draw over to the royal cause, a foe lo powerful. The bishops did not look on the question thus; nor did the lay (native) Irish leaders. The former recoiled in horror from communion with a sacrilegious murderer; the latter, to like aversion joined an absolute suspicion of his treachery, and time justified their suspicions. The truce nevertheless was signed at Dungarvan on May 20, 1648. Fully conscious that the Nuncio and the national party would resist such an unholy pact, the contracting parties bound themselves to unite their forces against whomsoever would assail it. Accordingly Preston, the favorite general of the "Ormondist" Confederates, joined his troops to those of Inchiquin to crush O'Neill whom with good cause they feared most. Five days after the league with sacrilege and murder" was signed, the Nuncio published a sentence of excommunication against its abettors, and an interdict against all cities and towns receiving it. Having posted this -proclamation on the gates of the cathedral, he made his escape from the city and repaired to the camp of O'Neill at Maryboro . Four months of wild confused conflict—all the old actors, with barely a few exceptions, having changed sides or allies-were ended in September by the arrival of Ormond at Cork-(he had fled to France e KT anUna I Cmtable if not trait °™us surrender of Dublin to the Puritans)—expressing willingness to negotiate anew with the confederation on the* part of .fang and his friends, on the basis of Glamorgan's 17 164 e q V^rr^ 3 s " bs equently-on January w/« i vT thl !.i reat y> "y acceptable to all parties was finally ra tified and published amidst nigs and the seven years' war was brought to an end . years in o vL an IV^ master had wasted *°ur llnZ <■ 7 i hesl . tatin S over the one clause which alone it may be said was at issue between them and Catholt n i tlonal P arfc y- that one simply securing the Catholic religion against proscription and persecution the church™ nß 'its e - re l ricfcion o? further spoliation of £ en* h Too £ er£S y ic ha7;h- coi - ceded * the happy peace or rSK li ~ he rejoicings over English Scotch and T f 6 i a i ha " Ce between the tesLt/cased in Ir eland Iff It "' ° Muiao and Pr °- death in London shoctd titw S° f *" J**' mentioned, had flun, IV V Charles, as already Scottish parliaLe^i^whlTe^^ 3o7 ? ° f th " nig element predominated Tt , L ™ land covenantee southern ride / Ils ™ l>elhou s subjects on offered to buy him from £Z' ?""??* f ° r &is blood > spent in haggling ovei tS 1 ' Ar a short time sold the Camiy Saints hundred thousand poundsSar inf "*? ***% ° f four world has not a parallel The b V* m Which the paid, and the English bore thefr fe was duly they murdered him publiclv 5 feS to London, where 30, 1649. Purely at Whitehall on January A few weeks after this Pvonf «,* tins event the uncompromising

•.. and true-hearted, r but ; impetuous .•• and imperious Nuncio, Rinuccini, bade adieu"; to the hapless land into whose cause he had entered heart and soul, but whose distractions prostrated his warm hopes. He sailed from Galway for home, in his ship,,the San Pietro, on February 23, 1649. ~' : <;' ; • .'• .H '> .*■ '- And now, while the at-length united confederates and royalists are proclaiming the young Prince of Wales as king throughout Ireland, lo! the huge black shadow of a giant destroyer near at hand is flung across the scene! (To be continued.)