History of England, from the Accession of James the Second, the — Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 965 pages of information about History of England, from the Accession of James the Second, the — Volume 4.

History of England, from the Accession of James the Second, the — Volume 4 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 965 pages of information about History of England, from the Accession of James the Second, the — Volume 4.
over, when the signal was given, every man flew to the place where he had hid his arms; and soon the robbers were in full march towards some Protestant mansion.  One band penetrated to Clonmel, another to the vicinity of Maryborough; a third made its den in a woody islet of firm ground, surrounded by the vast bog of Allen, harried the county of Wicklow, and alarmed even the suburbs of Dublin.  Such expeditions indeed were not always successful.  Sometimes the plunderers fell in with parties of militia or with detachments from the English garrisons, in situations in which disguise, flight and resistance were alike impossible.  When this happened every kerne who was taken was hanged, without any ceremony, on the nearest tree.76

At the head quarters of the Irish army there was, during the winter, no authority capable of exacting obedience even within a circle of a mile.  Tyrconnel was absent at the Court of France.  He had left the supreme government in the hands of a Council of Regency composed of twelve persons.  The nominal command of the army he had confided to Berwick; but Berwick, though, as was afterwards proved, a man of no common courage and capacity, was young and inexperienced.  His powers were unsuspected by the world and by himself;77 and he submitted without reluctance to the tutelage of a Council of War nominated by the Lord Lieutenant.  Neither the Council of Regency nor the Council of War was popular at Limerick.  The Irish complained that men who were not Irish had been entrusted with a large share in the administration.  The cry was loudest against an officer named Thomas Maxwell.  For it was certain that he was a Scotchman; it was doubtful whether he was a Roman Catholic; and he had not concealed the dislike which he felt for that Celtic Parliament which had repealed the Act of Settlement and passed the Act of Attainder.78 The discontent, fomented by the arts of intriguers, among whom the cunning and unprincipled Henry Luttrell seems to have been the most active, soon broke forth into open rebellion.  A great meeting was held.  Many officers of the army, some peers, some lawyers of high note and some prelates of the Roman Catholic Church were present.  It was resolved that the government set up by the Lord Lieutenant was unknown to the constitution.  Ireland, it was said, could be legally governed, in the absence of the King, only by a Lord Lieutenant, by a Lord Deputy or by Lords Justices.  The King was absent.  The Lord Lieutenant was absent.  There was no Lord Deputy.  There were no Lords Justices.  The Act by which Tyrconnel had delegated his authority to a junto composed of his creatures was a mere nullity.  The nation was therefore left without any legitimate chief, and might, without violating the allegiance due to the Crown, make temporary provision for its own safety.  A deputation was sent to inform Berwick that he had assumed a power to which he had no right, but that nevertheless the army and people of Ireland would willingly acknowledge

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History of England, from the Accession of James the Second, the — Volume 4 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.