316 IREL 
portation of his troops acrofs the river, till the opportu¬ 
nity of annoying the foe was loft. With the fame ruinous 
jealoufy, they not'only denied him a paffage through the 
town to fupport one of his detachments, half of which 
was in confequence deftroyed, but alfo perm iff on to lodge 
his men in huts under the walls. Cromwell, tampering 
through the agency of -lord Broghill with the proteftant 
forces of Muniter, found means to prevail upon all the 
principal garrifons to declare at once in his favour, and 
was thus ipared the rieceflity of returning, with an army 
oppreffed with fatigue and ficknefs, for winter-quarters 
to Dublin. 
After an unfuccefsful attempt to obtain poffeflion of 
Kilkenny by treachery, Cromwell, in February 1650, pro¬ 
ceeded to reduce that place by force. The garrifon, origi¬ 
nally compofed of 1200 men, but reduced by a contagious 
diforder to 450, made fo obftinate a refiftance, that they 
were at length permitted to conclude an honourable capitu¬ 
lation. At Clonmel, the next objeCt of his attack, a de¬ 
fence equally vigorous was made by Hugh O’Nial, with 
1200 northern Iriih. On the firft affault, the Engliih army 
loft 2000 men, and their general found it expedient to 
depend chiefly on a blockade. A body of troops, under 
lord Roche, haftening to the relief of the garrifon, was 
totally defeated by Broghill, who advanced to afflft the 
befiegers. In this battle the Romifh bifliop of Rofs, an 
active partifan, was taken, and offered his life if he would 
prevail on the garrifon of a neighbouring fortrefs to fur- 
render ; but the prifoner, with a fpirit not lefs heroic than 
that of the Roman Regulus, when carried within hearing 
of the garrifon,' exhorted them to maintain their poll 
againft the enemies of their country and religion; and 
then cheerfully refigned himfelf to an ignominious death. 
O’Nial, after a fiege of two months, during which his am¬ 
munition and provifions were exhaufted, feeing no prof- 
peCt of relief, contrived, by a mafterly piece of conduct, 
to withdraw his troops fecretly from Clonmel, and conduCI 
them in fafety to Waterford. 
Cromwell, being fummoned to England to lead an army 
againft the Scots, who had received Charles II. as their 
king, deputed Ireton, his fon-in-law, to command the 
Englifh forces againft Ormond and the Irifli confederates. 
Carlow, Waterford, Dungannon, and other fortreffes, hav¬ 
ing by this time furrendered to the parliamentary troops, 
Ireton detached part of his army to commence the block¬ 
ade of Limeric, while he himfelf marched to Athlone ; 
and fir Charles Coote, who had completed the conqueft of 
Uifter, by the reduction of Carrickfergus, Ennilkillen, and 
Charlemount, dire&ed his courfe fouthward, apparently 
with a view to form a junction with the commander-in¬ 
chief, for the fubjeflion of the weftern counties. Not- 
withftanding the imminent danger with which this rapid 
progrefs of the republican arms threatened the catholics 
of Ireland, fuch was the infatuation of their ecclefiaftics, 
that no means of thwarting Ormond in his operations 
were negleCted by them- The prelates went fo far as to 
pubiifh a declaration againft the continuance of his ma- 
jefty’s authority in the marquis, accompanied by a fen- 
tence of excommunication againft all who fhould adhere 
to him or pay him fubfidy or obedience. From thefe vio¬ 
lent proceedings the marquis at length found his fituation 
fo irkfome and even dangerous, that he determined to 
quit the country. Having deputed his authority to the 
earl of Clanricarde, a catholic, and therefore the more 
agreeable to the Romi'h prelates, he failed from Galway, 
and after a dangerous voyage arrived in France. 
The enmity of the popilli clergy to Ormond arofe fron 
the determined hoftility of that ftatefman to their ambi¬ 
tious and unreafonable demands in regard to religion ; 
Clanricarde, who was as ftrongly attached to the royal 
caufe as Ormond himfelf, affumed the government only 
with the view of protesting, as long as poflible, the re¬ 
mains of the king’s faithful adherents in Ireland, and 
making a diverfion in favour of the royalifts of Britain, 
But, though the confederates had now a catholic chief 
& 
ANT). 
governor, and an army wholly catholic, as the proteftants 
who had fought-on the fame fide had in confequence of 
repeated infults either quitted the countiy or gone over 
to the republicans, y’et faCtion Itiil prevented any effec¬ 
tual refiltance to the arms of Ireton. The clergy foon 
found that Clanricarde was refolved to oppofe their ma¬ 
chinations to the prejudice of the intereft which he had 
efpoufed, and fought to eltablifh their own power by fo¬ 
reign affillance 5 for which purpofe they difpatched the 
Rotnifh bifliop of Ferns to Bruffels as their ambaffador to 
the duke of Lorraine. This prince affeCted extraordinary 
zeal in behalf of the Irifti catholics. Previous to Or¬ 
mond’s departure, a treaty had been fet on foot for the 
delivery of Duncannon fort into the duke’s hands as fe- 
curity for 24,0001. but it had failed through the reduction 
of that fortrefs by the republicans. The negociation was 
however renewed by lord Taafe, under the authority of 
the duke of York, brother to the nominal king; and he 
obtained 5000I. to purchafe arms and ammunition. With 
this lupply the prince lent an agent to fignify to the men 
in authority his willingnefs to repair in perfon to Ireland, 
with fuch aid as could not fail in a fhort time to recover 
the kingdom. Clanricarde appointed a committee to re¬ 
ceive and report the propofals of this envoy, which were. 
That the duke of Lorraine, his heirs and fucceffors, fhould, 
with a faving to the rights of his majefty and his iubjecls, 
be accepted as protestors of Ireland, with all the preroga¬ 
tives of royalty, until all difburfements made by him for 
the defence or recovery of the ifland fhould be repaid. 
Thefe propofals, indicating a fecret aim of the duke at the 
fovereignty of Ireland, were fo highly refented by Clan¬ 
ricarde, that he refufed an audience of leave to the duke’s 
envoy, though he confented to fome qualification of his 
demands, and offered to advance 2o,oool. on the fecurity 
of Limeric and Galway, leaving the adjuftment of all the 
articles relative to the proteCtorfhip for a treaty at Bruf¬ 
fels. Cominiffioners were accordingly appointed to ne- 
gociate this treaty, with exprefs orders to be guided in 
their proceedings by the directions of the queen, the duke 
of York, and the marquis of Ormond. Regardlefs of thefe 
injunctions, declaiming the lord-deputy’s commiffion, and 
guided only by the bigotted and feditious bifliop of Ferns, 
they figned a treaty in the name of the Irifti nation, by 
which the duke of Lorraine, was declared invefted with 
the virtual fovereignty of Ireland, under the title of Pro¬ 
tector Royal. The clergy, exulting in thejl’uccefs of their 
fcheine, propiifed theinfelves the fpeedy eilablifhment of 
a glorious hierarchy under a catholic prince, and began 
to take meafures for the conftitution of a new fupreme 
council undertheir own direction,or, to fpeak more plainly, 
for the ufurpation of the whole power of the kingdom. 
From this dream of ambition they were, however, foon 
awakened by the progrefs of the republicans; and their 
affairs now became fo defperate, that the duke of Lorraine 
was difcouraged from farther interference ; and he was 
furnifhed with a fair pretext for breaking off the treaty, 
by a formal proteft of Clanricarde againft the unautho¬ 
rized proceedings of his agents. 
Ireton, having diflodged the troops ftationed to guard 
the paffes, refolved to open the campaign of 1651 with 
the fiege of Limeric, while Coote laid fiege to Athlone, 
and made himfelf mafter of the town before Clanricarde 
could colieCt a force fufficient for its relief. Limeric was 
invefted; but the garrifon under Hugh O’Nial, the de¬ 
fender of Clonmel, made fo valiant a refiftance, and fuch 
frequent and deftruCtive fallies, that, nctwithftanding the 
defeat of lord Mufkerry, who was coming to the relief of 
the city, the republican general muft, by the approach of 
winter and the ficknefs of his troops, have been obliged 
to raife the fiege, had not internal fedition compelled a 
furrender. The foldiers and citizens were allowed to de¬ 
part unmolefted; the former without arms, the latter with 
their effeCts. Twenty-four perfons were excepted from 
mercy; and it is remarkable, that in the execution of thefe 
the punifliment fell chiefly on the adherents of the nun. 
a cio. 
