320 
IRELAND. 
With the mod fervile Tub mi (Hon to the pope, this man 
was deflitute alike of the principles of religion and thofe 
of honour ; furious and implacable; vulgarly infolent to 
his fuperiors, and to his inferiors brutally tyrannical. 
From fuch a governor, delegated by fuch a prince, op- 
predion the molt atrocious was naturally expected. Num¬ 
bers of proteftants had before abandoned a country, where 
■their lives and property were expofed to the malice of the 
wiled wretches; and fifteen hundred families, inhabitants 
■of Dublin, accompanied lord Clarendon on his departure 
for England. By Tyiconnel’s arrangements, only three 
•proteftant judges were buffered to remain on the bench. 
To fill the corporations with catholics, they were dif- 
folved by legal procefs, or intimidated into a furrender of 
their charters, when new ones were granted. One third 
•of the members were allowed to be proteftants, while the 
other two thirds were catholics; and in the feleftion of 
thefe, fo little attention was paid to decorum, that, in a 
.northern town, a man who had been condemned to the 
gallows for his crimes was raifed to the office of chief 
magiftrate. 
'‘Amidft the terror and confternation every where dif- 
fufed by an ignorant, bigotted, and lawlefs, government, 
it cannot appear furprifing that -commerce and credit were 
deffroyed, and tradefmen and artificers reduced to beg¬ 
gary or the necefiity of emigration. The king’s minifters, 
alarmed at the prodigious decreafe of the Irifh revenue, in¬ 
veighed againli the ruinous violence of Tyrconnei; and 
lord Beliafis, though a catholic, emphatically declared, 
that his madnels was fufficient to ruin ten kingdoms. 
Tyrconnei repaired to the king at Chelier, and eaiily juf- 
tified his condufl. At his departure from Dublin on this 
occafion, he reminded the Romilh miniffers of the power 
■which their party had acquired, and “ prayed God to damn 
them if ever they fhould part with it.” On his return, 
he refolved by a brilliant ftroke to convince his fovereign 
both of his abilities and his zeal. Propofing to convene 
a parliament, which, from previous arrangements, would 
be intirely in the catholic intereft, he framed the heads 
©f a bill, that, under pretence of relieving the injured pa- 
pifts, was defigned to overthrow the whole fettlement of 
Ireland. ' Two of the judges were deputed to comnni- 
«icate this fcheme to the king, who, coinciding in j:he 
views of Tyrconnei, and fearing an oppofition in the ca¬ 
binet, introduced the bufinefs immediately to the privy- 
council, and warmly declaimed againlt the injuftice of 
the acts of fettlement. Pliant as the members in gene¬ 
ral were to the royal pleafure, this propofal was of fuch 
an alarming and dangerous tendency, that the agents, ad¬ 
mitted with difficulty to be heard, were infulted even in 
the royal prefence, and difmiffed with difgrace. As they 
returned from the council, the mob attended them with 
potatoes elevated on poles, loudly vociferating, “ Room 
for the Irifh ambaffadors!” Sunderland afterwards de¬ 
clared that he had refufed a bribe of 40,000b offered him 
to promote Tyrconnel’s plan. 
This mortification was in fome meafure compenfated 
by the birth of a male heir to the crown, on which occa¬ 
fion the joy of the catholics, both in Britain and Ireland, 
was unbounded ; but thefe feelings were foon damped by 
the rumour of the preparations of the prince of Orange. 
The infatuated James js faid to have received the firll ad¬ 
vice of the projected invafion from Tyrconnei, who was 
immediately ordered to fend four thoufand men to Eng¬ 
land. For fome time however the catholics affefled to 
defpife the efforts of the prince, who, they laid, was com¬ 
ing to end his days, like Monmouth, on a fcaft'old ; and 
the lord chief juftice fpoke with delight from the bench 
of “ the Engliffi rebels who would every where be hanged 
in clufters.” Intelligence at length arrived of the landing 
and favourable reception of the prince. Tyrconnei now 
ifTu'ed new commilfions for the levying of troops to all 
who would accept them; and, excited by the prieffs, an 
armed rabble arofe in every part of the kingdom, who 
called thsmfelves the king's Jbldiers j but, being neither 
paid nor controuled by government, fubfifted by depre¬ 
dations. In the midil of this anarchy, a tremendous 
alarm was fpread through the country by reports of a 
plot for the univerfal mafiacre of the proteltants. The 
capital fuddenly became a feene -of uproar and dil- 
traftion; crowds of both fexes and all ages ruffied preci¬ 
pitately to the fhore, imploring to be conveyed away from 
the daggers of the Irifh. In vain did Tyrconnei difpatch 
two noblemen to affure the affrighted citizens of protec¬ 
tion ; the fugitives hurried on-board the veffels, which in 
umrfual numbers were lying in the harbour. A fimilar 
eft'eft was produced in other parts of the kingdom, efpeci- 
ally in fome places where the intelligence was not received 
till the very day ftated to have been fixed upon for the 
mafiacre The inhabitants fled in confternation, leaving 
their property at the mercy of the catholics. Some took 
refuge in places of ftrength, and others efcaped by fea; 
while the proteftants of the northern counties, collecting 
what arms they could, prepared for defence. 
On the firft alarm of an invafion of England by the 
prince of Orange, Tyrconnei had withdrawn from Lon¬ 
donderry the regiment, moftly proteftant, commanded by 
lord Mountjoy, by which that place had been garrifoned. 
Senfible of the overfight of leaving this pofi in the hand* 
of the townfmen, lie fent thither another regiment, coin- 
pofed of Irifh and Scottifli highlanders, all of whom were 
catholics. At the moment when the citizens had juIt re¬ 
ceived intelligence of the intended mafiacre, and were de¬ 
liberating on meafures for their lafety, they were alarmed 
to the higheli degree by the news of the approach of th'e 
deftined garrifon, conlifting of men ferocious in afpeCt 
and turbulent in demeanor. Amidft the general pertur¬ 
bation, an advanced party made its appearance, when nine 
young men, in a paroxyfin of enthufiafm, lnatched the 
keys, and fecured the gates. The fame fpirit was foon 
communicated to all ranks of the citizens, who, reinforced 
by a conflux from the adjacent country, refolved on de¬ 
fence. The magiftrates and graver citizens, however, 
thought it moft prudent to fubmit; and accordingly ad- 
dreffed the deputy, through the medium of Mountjoy, 
aferibing the exclufion of the king’s troops to the ungo¬ 
vernable fury of the populace, frantic with the fears of 
mafiacre. Mountjoy was difpatched to reduce them; and 
after feveral conferences, they agreed to fubmit on condi¬ 
tion that a free pardon fhould be granted ; that all who 
chofe fhould be at liberty to remove ; and that at leaft 
half' of the troops admitted fhould be compoled of protef¬ 
tants. A fpirit of refiftance was diffufed from Derry 
through other parts of Ulfter, where affociations were 
formed, county councils nominated, and a general coun¬ 
cil which was to meet at Hillfborough for the general di¬ 
rection of affairs. They publicly declared that they had 
united for the prefervation of their lives and religion ; 
that they had refolved to aCt in fubordination to theEng- 
lifh government, and to promote the convention of a free 
parliament. (See vol. vi. p. 696.) 
The event of their firft operations was difeouraging in 
the extreme. Deflitute almoft of arms, ammunition, and 
fkill, they unfuccefsfully befieged Carrkkfergus. On the 
approach of general Hamilton with a formidable force, 
they abandoned Newry, and, being overtaken at Dromore, 
were routed with (laughter. Another body of their troops 
likewife fuflained a deftru&ive defeat at the pafs of Ar- 
trea~; and Coleraine was relinquifhed by the garrifon. 
The proteftants of the north-weft had poured into Ennif- 
killen as their place of refuge, and now thole of the north- 
eaft retreated to Derry. Lundie, an officer profeffing ardent 
zeal for the proteftants, but juftly fufpected of fecret attach¬ 
ment to the depofed monarch, had been appointed gover¬ 
nor of the latter place by king William. This man, with 
fome other officers, refuting to take the oaths to the new 
fovereign, the people were filled with diltruft, and many 
prepared to abandon a poft which feemed deltined to be 
betrayed ; when an agent, whom they had difpatched to 
London to folicit fuccour, returned with affurances that 
troops 
