Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/62

  to meet the infanta, and it was not until 27 July 1662 that he landed at Dublin after a journey characterised by the utmost pomp. He was at once occupied in dealing with the grievances caused by the Act of Settlement, in purging the army of its dangerous elements, and in quieting the presbyterians after the blow of the Act of Uniformity. His office was a most responsible one. Plots of various kinds were formed during 1663 for seizing Dublin Castle and for a general insurrection, but were crushed with firmness, though without undue severity.

Ormonde had now become the mark of much jealous intrigue in England. Sir Henry Bennet plotted against him from private pique and as the friend of Clarendon; Lady Castlemaine hated him for having stopped the king's grant to her of the Phoenix Park; Buckingham was irritated at his backwardness in forwarding his ambitious schemes; and the queen mother was angered at the firmness of his refusal to regard the case of her protégé Antrim with favour. Ormonde's character made him the natural object of the attacks of all that was base in the court. He had been noted for purity of life and purpose, and for unswerving devotion, even when such qualities were not rare in the court of Charles I. But in that of Charles II he was almost the sole representative of the high-toned virtues of a nobler generation. By force of what is emphatically called 'character,' far more than by marked ability, he stood alone. The comrade of Strafford, one who had willingly sacrificed a princely fortune for a great cause, he held aloof while persons like Bennet intrigued and lied for office, money, or spite. His strict purity of life was a living rebuke to the Sedleys and Castlemaines, who turned the court into a brothel. Compelled to see the councils of the king guided by dishonour or greed, he acquired over him the influence which Charles was always ready to concede to nobility of character (, Diary, 19 May 1668). Proud of the loyalty of his race, unspotted through five centuries, he bore in after years calumny, envy, and his seven years' loss of court favour, waiting until his master should be shamed into an acknowledgment of the wrong. In investigating the careers of other men of this time we are always face to face with intrigue and mystery. Ormonde's and his son Ossory's are unique in their freedom from any suspicion of double dealing.

Meantime Ormonde was sorely puzzled how to frame an explanation of the Act of Settlement which should soothe the prevailing discontent. With this purpose he went to London in June 1664, and from 29 July until 26 May 1665 was busily engaged with a committee of council on the work, in the course of which he appears (, iv. 211, Clar. Press) to have exhibited much self-sacrifice. This 'explanation' having received the seal, he returned to Ireland in August, but did not make his solemn entry, which was the occasion of excessive display, until 17 Oct. He succeeded in passing the Act of Explanation through parliament on 23 Dec., which fixed the general rights of the several parties in Ireland. Ormonde's heart was thoroughly in his government and the welfare of his country. He vehemently opposed the bill passed in England prohibiting the importation of Irish cattle; and, when it was passed, he prohibited the import of Scotch linen, and further obtained leave for a certain number of Irish vessels to trade with the foreign enemies of England. In every way he encouraged native manufactures and learning, and it was to his efforts that the Irish College of Physicians owed its incorporation. He watched carefully over its internal peace, and promptly suppressed the disturbance at Carrickfergus, where the garrison had mutinied for arrears of pay.

In 1667 and 1668 Buckingham put himself at the head of all those who had grievances against Ormonde, and proceeded to find matter in the few arbitrary acts for which evidence was forthcoming whereon to frame an impeachment. In his almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troublous times Ormonde had no doubt acted now and then in a way which offered advantages to men eager for his overthrow. He had, for instance, billeted soldiers on  civilians and executed martial law (, 4 Nov. 1667). Ormonde was urgently pressed to return to England, whence he had intelligence that Orrery was secretly plotting against him. He therefore left Dublin on 24 April, arriving in London amid general respect on 6 May. An inquiry into the management of the Irish revenues was at once set on foot, and Buckingham, probably with Arlington's assistance, caballed vigorously for Ormonde's removal from the lord- lieutenancy (ib. 4 Nov. 1668, and 1 Feb. 1669). To this constant insistence Charles at length unwillingly gave way, and on 14 March 1669 appointed Lord Robarts in his room. Ormonde received the dismissal, which was made with every public expression of trust and satisfaction in his services by Charles, with perfect dignity, and earnestly enjoined all his sons and friends on no account to quit their posts in the army or elsewhere, while he continued to fulfil with dignified persistence all the