310 IRE 
time excited a rebellious difpofition in the people of Ire¬ 
land. Among thefe may be reckoned, the hatred of the 
old Irifh to what they confidered an ufurpation of their 
country by the Engliih government; the oppreflions ex- 
ercifed in the management of the plantations; the difpof- 
felTing of proprietors, by fictions of law, and the revival 
of obfolete claims of the crown ; the infincerity of the 
king, who fo often evaded the confirmation of the graces; 
the rigorous government of Strafford j'and the zeal and 
fuccels with which catholic ecclefiaftics, educated abroad, 
endeavoured to inftil into the minds of the Iri111 the molt 
rancorous hatred of herefy and heretical government. 
Thus irritated and goaded, it cannot appear furprifing 
that the catholics of Ireland Ihould feize fo favourable an 
opportunity for re-afl’erting their independence, as the 
ftate of affairs in Great Britain at this time afforded. 
Though rumours of confpiracies were at different times 
propagated, they paffed totally unheeded by the lords 
juftices. Sir William Parfons is even fuppofed to have 
been pleafed with the idea and connived at the fcheme of 
rebellion, as l'uch an event would enable him to augment 
his fortune by confifcations ; while his coadjutor, was, 
except in military affairs, both ignorant and indolent. 
The chief inftigator of rebellion was Roger Moore, the 
head of a once-powerful houfe in the Queen’s County, 
and allied to fome of the belt families of the old Engliih 
ftock in Ireland. He became the idol of the old Irifh, 
who celebrated him in their fongs, and proverbially de¬ 
clared that their dependence was on God, our lady, and 
Roger Moore. With this man was affociated Connor 
Macguire baron of Ennilkillen, and fir Phelim O’Nial of 
Kinnard in the county of Tyrone, who on the death of 
the titular earl of that name, fon of the famous rebel Hugh 
O’Nial, in Spain, became the oftenfible head of the fept, 
and afpired to the princely poffeflions of his anceltors. 
Thefe were joined by fir James Dillon, of a refpeClable 
Englifh family, Turlough 0 'Nial,a brother of fir Phelim, 
and many others of lefs note, whole numbers and animo- 
fity were much increafed by the furious denunciations 
againff popery in Britain, and apprehenfions of attempts 
by the Scotch and Engliih puritans,’ 1 to exterminate the 
Irifh catholics. By the contrivance of thefe men, not 
only were the troops deftined for the fervice of Spain de¬ 
tained in Ireland, but many more were enlilted on that 
pretence. In order to pay thefe troops, they propofed to 
feize all the rents of the kingdom without exception. 
The infurrection was intended to be general; and, as the 
approach of winter was judged the molt proper time for 
the commencement of operations, becaufe fuccours could 
not then be fo eafily fent from Britain, the 5th of October, 
3641, was appointed for the rifing. Difcouraged, how¬ 
ever, by the coldnefs of the principal catholics of the 
Pale, who declined to engage in the plot, from the hope 
of obtaining a redrefs of their grievances by legitimate 
means, the enterprife was deferred, and almoft abandoned 
by the principal confpirators ; till at length, encouraged 
by Moore to perfevere in their plan, the 23d of October 
was fixed for its execution. To Moore, afiifted by Mac¬ 
guire, Byrne, and other leaders of the confpirators, was 
alligned the talk of furprifing the caftle of Dublin with 
two hundred men from Leinlter and Ullter, who, to pre¬ 
vent alarm, were to pafs as recruits for the fervice of 
Spain, and to enter the capital on a day when a weekly 
market occafioned a more than ordinary concourfe of 
.people. Different leaders were appointed to feize the va¬ 
rious fortreffes in Ullter, and thefe, after performing their 
refpeCtive talks, were to march under fir Phelim to fecure 
to their friends the poffeflion of the metropolis. It was 
agreed that the infurreCtion Ihould be conducted with as 
little bloodllied as pollible, and all the loyal gentry im- 
prifoned as hoftages. 
This plot was betrayed by the indifcretion of Hugh 
Mac Mahon, one of the confpirators, who confided the 
fecret to one Owen O’Connolly, of the old Irifh race, and 
whom, though bred a proteftant, he judged a fit perfon 
, A N D. 
to promote the undertaking, doubtlefs conceiving him to 
be fecretly attached to the religion of his anceftors, and 
all'o holliie to the Engliih government, on account of the 
fufferings of his family, deprived of their poffeflions by 
the fyltem of plantation. Their defign was communi¬ 
cated by O’Connolly, the very night previous to its in¬ 
tended execution, to fir Wiiliam Parfons; and, in confe- 
quence of this information, Mac Mahon and Macguire 
were apprehended ; but Moore, Byrne, and other leaders, 
made their elcape. Mac Mah6n, while waiting to be 
examined by the privy-council, amufed liimfelf by draw¬ 
ing with chalk the figures of men hanging on gibbets, 
probably to denote the deaths of his opponents ; as he 
boafted to the council, to whom, after a little hefitation, 
he confeffed the plot, that the infurreCtion was too mighty 
to be fuppreffed, and that his death would be feverely 
revenged. 
The confpirators, notwithftanding the difcovery of the 
plot, might ftill have executed their purpofe, had they 
perfevered with relolution. The capital was deftitute of 
troops, and the caftle defended only by about fifty men, 
compofing the ufual guard of the chief governors on oc- 
cafions of parade. The alarm of the citizens was great 
beyond expreffion, when a proclamation was iffued at 
midnight, notifying the difcovery of a dangerous confpi- 
racy, and exhorting all loyal perfons to provide for de¬ 
fence. In this ftate of diffraction, the principal pro¬ 
teftant merchants, perfuaded by fir John Temple, malter 
of the rolls, depofited their moft valuable elfeCts in the 
caftle, on promife of reimburfement; and thus a fupply 
was obtained for the army, when the treafury was quite 
empty, and the magiftrates were unwilling or unable to 
advance money for the public fervice. The catholic lords 
of the Pale immediately fignified their abhorrence of the 
rebellion, and demanded arms and ammunition to de¬ 
fend themfelves and annoy the infurgents. Such, how¬ 
ever, was the diltruft with which they were viewed by 
the puritanic adminiftration, that a very fmall quantity 
was granted, and even that was recalled as foon as tlie 
lords juftices received affurances of fuccours from England. 
This diftruft, and the impolitic mortifications to which 
many of the catholic nobles were fubjeCted, deprived the 
government, at this critical juncture, of much powerful 
iupport, and drove many well-difpofed perfons into the 
ranks of the difaffeCted. 
In Ulfter the confpirators had rifen with fuch unani¬ 
mity, that in eight days they were in complete poffeflion 
of the counties of Tyrone, Monaghan, Longford, Leitrim, 
Fermanagh, Cavan, Donegal, and Derry, with parts of 
Armagh and Dowm, excepting the towns of Derry, Cole¬ 
raine, Lifburn, Carrickfergus, Ennilkillen, and tome in¬ 
ferior fortreffes. The firft blow was (truck in the night 
of the azd Ofto'ber, by furprifing the fortrefs of Charle- 
mount, where fir Phelim O’Nial was admitted with his 
followers on his propofal to fup with lord Caulfield, the 
governor. A few days Afterwards fir Phelim publicly ex¬ 
hibited a forgdd commiflion to which he had attached a 
great feal torn from a patent of lord Caulfield’s, found in 
plundering Charlemount. By this inftrument it was pre¬ 
tended that the king had given authority to the Frith ca¬ 
tholics to feize the perfons and effects of all Engliih pro- 
teftants in Ireland. Unfortunately the temper of the 
king’s Englifh fubjeCts at this time encouraged the belief 
of any report however injurious to the character of his 
majeity, and thus aggravated the odium with which he 
began to be overwhelmed. 
The progrefs of the infurgents was foon checked by 
fuch of the proteftants as had efcaped to places of ftrength, 
on recovering from their firft confternation. The former 
were foiled in many fkirmifhes and affaults, and the fpi- 
rits of the latter were railed by the arrival of 1500 men 
from Scotland with arms, ammunition, and money. Not 
difpirited by partial defeat, the rebels, to the number of 
many thoufands, under the conduct of fir Phelim, re- 
folved to attack Carrickfergus, the chief poft of the loy- 
alifts 
