244 



I R E L A N'D. 



History. 



relieved by 

 the parlia- 

 ment farces 

 A. O. 1617 



Battle of 

 Dunganhil), 



Battle of 



Knock- 



oncss. 



long, he was obliged to submit either to the English 

 parliament, or to the "Irish generals. He preferred the 

 former alternative ; his overtures were accepted ; and 

 '230O men were ordered to march to the immediate re- 

 lief of the city. In the mean time disputes had arisen 

 between O'Neil and Preston, which probably would 

 have produced a separation, if not mutual hostilities, 

 had not the intelligence of the advance of the parlia- 

 mentarian forces arrived. In consequence, however, 

 of some difference between their leader and Ormond, 

 they refused to act, and were sent back to Ulster. 

 Ormond was now obliged reluctantly to give his sanc- 

 tion to the attempt which had been previously made to 

 separate Preston from O'Neil ; but his suspicions with 

 regard to the former being soon confirmed, he saw him- 

 self again reduced to the necessity of submitting to the 

 English parliament. Accordingly, on the 29th of June 

 164-7, a treaty with the parliament was signed. The 

 king's garrisons were to be detivered up to the com- 

 missioners of parliament, and the commissioners on 

 their part promised security to such of the recusants as 

 did not engage in rebellion ; liberty for all to leave 

 Ireland who chose to accompany Ormond ; and the 

 repayment of a large sum which he had expended in 

 the service of the king. 



Immediately on the conclusion of the treaty, Jones, 

 the parliamentarian governor of Dublin, marched against 

 Preston; at first he was unsuccessful, but being rein- 

 forced, a desperate battle took place at Dunganhill, in 

 which the army of Preston was routed with dreadful 

 slaughter. O'Neil was immediately called to the de- 

 fence of Leinster by the Nuncio and his party, who 

 rather rejoiced than grieved at the defeat, as it thus 

 rendered O'Neil of more consequence. 



In Munster the forces of the parliament were com- 

 manded by Lord Inchiquin, and the Catholic army by 

 Lord Taafe. The latter was as anxious to avoid a ge- 

 neral battle as the former was to draw it on, and for 

 this purpose, as well as to obtain subsistence to his 

 troops, he reduced the castle of Cahir, and thus opened 

 to himself the fertile plains of Tipperary. He next 

 took Cashel by storm. Taafe was soon obliged to put 

 himself in motion, and to hazard a battle. The two 

 armies met at a place called Knockoness, and the Ca- 

 tholics were defeated with great slaughter. The state 

 of the confederates, at least of the more moderate part 

 of them, seemed now desperate : their two principal 

 armies under Preston and Taafe had been defeated, 

 and it might be apprehended, that as soon as spring ar- 

 rived, the army of the parliament would follow up 

 their success to the complete destruction of their cause. 

 Thus situated, a new attempt was made to treat with 

 the King, or rather with the Queen and Prince of Wales, 

 who were at this time in France, while the Nuncio, by 

 his influence, obtained the sending at the same time a 

 deputation to the pope. The Queen promised to send 

 A person in a short time to Ireland ; and the moderate 

 confederates were privately assured that this should be 

 Ormond. 



This pleasing intelligence was soon followed by the 

 defection of Inchiquin from the Parliament ; but as the 

 Nuncio still continued opposed to all moderate measures, 

 the affairs of the confederates were more injured by 

 him than they were benefited by any other circumstance. 

 He even influenced O'Neil so far as to induce him to 

 declare war against the supreme council, and to his 

 army all who were inimical to the peace and to the 

 English flocked. It became therefore necessary to pro- 

 claim O'Neil a traitor, which was accordingly done. 



In 1648, Ormond arrived: his first object was, if History, 

 possible, to unite the Protejtant and Catholic royalists ; '"'V"' 

 and this object was rendered more attainable by two Union ofth 

 events; in the first place, the return of the Nuncio's Protestant 

 commissioners from Rome without supplies or even an<1 t-itho. 

 promises of assistance ; and secondly, the intelligence '' Ij"^' 1 !"'' 

 that the English army had demanded the death of the 

 King. Peace, therefore, was concluded on nearly the 

 same terms as in 1646; all the penal statutes against 

 the Catholics were to be repealed, and they were to be 

 allowed the free exercise of their religion ; but the 

 point relative to the establishment of the Catholic reli- 

 gion was left unsettled. 



The intelligence of the execution of Charles, which 

 arrived soon afterwards, proved that this treaty could 

 be of no service to the royal cause in England, by en- 

 abling Ormond to send Irish forces thither; but in 

 other respects this 'event, by the indignation which it 

 excited, was beneficial to the royal cause in Ireland. 

 Of this indignation, Ormond resolved to take advan- 

 tage without loss of time. The governor of Dublin was, 

 however, firmly attached to the parliament, and Sir 

 Charles Coote, who occupied Derry, returned no an- 

 swer to Ormond's offers. On the other hand, the Bri- 

 tish forces in Ulster declared for the royalists, and 

 blockaded Coote. Ormond soon found, however, that 

 he could not take advantage of the favourable change 

 of circumstances, without a supply of money to sup- 

 port his troops ; and this he could not obtain ; the con- 

 federate Catholics could not raise it, and Prince Ru- 

 pert, who had come to Ireland for the express purpose 

 of aiding Ormond, not only refused to supply him with 

 money, but even embarrassed his plans. 



Jones, the governor of Dublin, a man of penetration, 

 intrigue, and activity, was not, in the mean time idle ; 

 he even endeavoured, and not without success, to de- 

 tach O'Neil, and carried his intrigues into the very 

 heart of Preston's army. Ormond, though disappoint- 

 ed in many of his expectations, was convinced that if 

 he was inactive, or discovered his disappointment, he 

 would injure the royal cause ; he therefore put his 

 troops in motion, and being sensible of the effect which 

 would be produced on all parties, by gaining posses- 

 sion of the capital, he took advantage of Jones having 

 marched to some distance from it, and laid siege to it. siege of 

 He had some expectation that on his approach, such of Dublin, 

 the inhabitants as were royalists, would discover them- A> D - 

 selves, and raise a disturbance in the city ; but this not 

 being the case, he deemed it prudent to encamp at 

 Finglass, two miles from it. While there, he dispatch- 

 ed Inchiquin to Drogheda, whither Jones had sent his 

 cavalry for the purpose of intercepting the supplies of 

 the besiegers. Inchiquin on this occasion being anxi- 

 ous to shew his sincerity and zeal in the cause to which 

 he had come over, exerted all his talents and activity ; 

 he surprized the cavalry of Jones; took Drogheda; de- 

 feated some parliamentary troops which were conveying 

 ammunition to O'Neil; reduced Dundalk, and then 

 returned safely to Ormond. 



Ormond now pressed the siege of Dublin with hopes 

 of its speedy surrender ; but these hopes were utterly 

 dissipated by the arrival from England of a reinforce- 

 ment to the garrison of 2000 infantry and 600 cavalry, 

 and the intelligence that Cromwell was about to laud 

 in, the south of Ireland. Much difference of opinion 

 existed in a council of war summoned on this occasion. 

 Inchiquin was sent into the south with part of the 

 forces ; but in what manner to carry on the siege with 

 diminished forces, was a matter of serious considera- 



