The whole country, it must be remembered, was in a state of the wildest and most irrepressible excitement.  The fall of such a ruler as Strafford—­one under whose iron will it had for years lain as in a vice—­would alone have produced a considerable amount of upheaval and confusion.  The army collected by him, and mainly recruited by Catholics, was regarded with strong disfavour both by Irish Protestants and by the English Parliament, and Charles, much against his will, had been forced to disband it, and the arms had been stored in Dublin Castle.  The men, however, remained, and among the leading Irish as well as English royalists there was a strong desire that they should be kept together, so as to serve if required in the fast nearing struggle.

Nor was this all.  Stafford’s persecution of the Presbyterians had done its work, and the feeling between them and the Irish Church party had been greatly embittered.  Amongst the Catholics, too, the most loyal even of the gentry had been terror-stricken by his confiscations.  No one knew how long his property would remain his own, or upon what pretence it might not next be taken from him.  Add to these the long-gathering passion of the dispossessed clans in the north, and that floating element of disaffection always ready to stir, and it will be seen that the materials for a rebellion were ready laid, and needed only a spark to ignite them.

As usually happens in rebellions the plans of the more prudent were thwarted by the impetuosity of the more violent spirits.  While Ormond, Antrim, and the barons of the Pale were communicating with the king, and considering what were the best steps to take, a plot had been formed without them, and was now upon the point of exploding.

Two men, Rory or Roger O’Moore, one of the O’Moores of Leix, and Sir Phelim O’Neill, a connection of the Tyrones, were its main movers, and were joined by Lord Maguire, a youth of about twenty-two, Hugh McMahon, the Bishop of Clogher, and a few other gentlemen, belonging chiefly to the septs of the north.  The plan was a very comprehensive one.  They were to seize Dublin Castle, which was known to be weakly defended; get out the arms and powder, and redistribute them to the disbanded troops; at the same time, seize all the forts and garrison towns in the north; turn all the Protestant settlers adrift—­though it was at first stipulated without killing or otherwise injuring them—­take possession of all the country houses, and make all who declined to join in the rising prisoners.

Never, too, was plot more nearly successful.  October the 23rd was the day fixed, and up to the very evening before no hint of what was intended had reached the Lords Justices.  By the merest chance, and by an almost inconceivable piece of carelessness on the part of the conspirators, it was divulged to a man called Conolly, a Presbyterian convert, who went straight and reported it to Sir William Parsons.  The latter at first declined to believe in it, but, Conolly persisting in his story, steps were taken to strengthen the defences.  The guard was doubled; Lord Maguire and Hugh McMahon were arrested at daybreak next morning; the rest, finding that their stroke had missed, fled with their followers.