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CAU came over to Ireland in 1598 in command of a troop of horse. In 1615 he was appointed one of the Council for Munster; and afterwards one of the Commissioners for parcelling out the escheated lands in Ulster. He secured considerable estates for himself. Sir B. Burke writes: "In these employments King James I. found him so faithful, diligent, and prudent, that his Majesty deemed him highly deserving the Peerage of Ireland, and accordingly … created him, 22nd December 1620, Lord Caulfeild, Baron Charlemont." He died 17th August 1627, aged 61, and was buried in Christ Church, Dublin. He was succeeded by his nephew, Sir William.

Caulfeild, Toby, 3rd Baron Charlemont, son of the 2nd Baron, was governor of Charlemont Fort at the breaking out of the War of 1641-'52. On 22nd October 1641, the fort was surprised by Sir Phelim O'Neill, by whose orders, it is said. Lord Charlemont was put to death shortly afterwards. His brother William, the 5th Baron, was mainly instrumental in having Sir Phelim O'Neill taken prisoner and executed, and was in 1665 created a Viscount.

 Caulfeild, James, Earl of Charlemont, great-grandson of the 1st Viscount, was born in Dublin, 18th August 1728. Delicate health obliged his being educated at home, where he early exhibited those strong literary and artistic tastes that clung to him through life. From 1746 to 1754 he spent in continental travel—visiting places of historic interest, cultivating his taste for art, and becoming acquainted with eminent men. Passing through Holland, he went on to Turin, where he formed a life-long intimacy with David Hume. After a winter at Rome (where he conceived an almost filial respect for Benedict XIV.), in company with a party of friends he visited the Greek islands, Constantinople, the Levant, and Egypt. Returning home through Spain and France, he visited the philosopher Montesquieu. In June 1754 he returned to Ireland, in his twenty-sixth year—in the full maturity of his powers, endowed with the most refined intellectual tastes. Foreign travel had not dimmed his love for his native land. He was now created LL.D., appointed Governor of Armagh, and was given a seat at the Privy Council. Ireland was at this time in a most wretched condition. She had lost most of the ground gained by Swift and Molyneux; as Mr. Wills says, "The Irish administration had by art, influence, and the subordinate methods of intrigue, by the management of the public purse, and by the dexterous adjustment and counterpoise of factious interests, gained and preserved an uncontested ascendancy in every department." The mass of the people, ground to the earth by the Penal Laws, passed their lives in a condition of abject misery. Charlemont joined the liberal party, and the first public business in which he concerned himself was an effort to effect a reconciliation between Primate Stone, the virtual governor of Ireland, and Mr. Boyle, Speaker oi the House of Commons. The quarrel was concerning the apportionment of £200,000 Irish surplus. Charlemont apparently succeeded in his good offices, unaware that his relative, Mr. Boyle, had in truth been induced to accede to the Primate by the promise of an Earldom, and £3,000 per annum for thirty-one years. In February 1760 Thurot occupied Carrickfergus and threatened Ulster. Lord Charlemont hastened at once to the north, to command a contingent of the raw levies that poured in for the protection of Belfast. We find the following in his memoirs: "The appearance of these men, many of whom were my own tenants, was singular and formidable. They were drawn up in regular bodies, … some few with old firelocks, but the greater number armed with what is called in Scotland the Loughaber axe, a scythe fixed longitudinally to the end of a long pole, … the town was perfectly undisturbed by tumult, by riot, or even by drunkenness." Before long Thurot was obliged to evacuate Carrickfergus, leaving behind General Flobert and some other wounded officers and men. Flobert, as a prisoner, was received with distinction in Dublin, and Lord Charlemont accompanied him to London. Fellowship with the great minds in the metropolis was his highest pleasure. He was on terms of intimacy with Burke, Johnson, Hume, Goldsmith, Beauclerc, Reynolds, Hogarth, Baretti, and indeed all the members of the great Club, At the coronation of George III. we find him vindicating the right of the Irish Peeresses to walk in the procession—a question which created no little commotion. The liberal tendency of his mind was evinced by his seconding the proposal to permit six Catholic regiments to be raised for the service of Portugal. Government was, however, too suspicious of the Catholics to endorse such a proposition. In the course of 1762 the tithe exactions, landlord oppression, and heavy taxes laid on the cottiers for the making and repairing of roads, culminated in serious disturbances amongst the Protestant population in the north, and led to an emigration to the American colonies. 76