Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/330

O'Brien the disappointed cavalry left their colours with a view to joining either Jones or O'Neill. Inchiquin quelled the mutiny with great skill and courage; and Ormonde could only promise that the king would pay all arrears as soon as he could. In January 1648-9 Rupert's fleet was on the Munster coast, and Inchiquin saw Maurice at Kinsale about the contemplated visit of the Prince of Wales to Ireland (ib. vii. 237). He was still fearful lest a royalist government of his province should lead to the oppression of the English race, who would with good cause despair 'of ever having any justice against an Irishman for anything delivered him on trust' (ib. p. 247). The conclusion of the peace between Ormonde and the confederate catholics, the execution of the king, and the flight of Rinuccini followed close upon each other at the beginning of 1649. O'Neill, acting in concert with the bulk of the priests, refused to accept the peace, while Monro and his Scots made professions of royalism. Inchiquin received a commission from Ormonde as lieutenant-general, made himself master of Drogheda, and prepared to besiege Dundalk. George Monck, first duke of Albemarle [q. v.], was governor of this town, and he had just concluded an armistice for three months with O'Neill. On 1 July Inchiquin captured the convoy of ammunition which Monck sent to O'Neill's assistance, and the garrison of Dundalk then compelled their leader to surrender (, Hist. Commonwealth, i. 110). After this Newry, Trim, and the neighbouring strongholds were soon taken, and Inchiquin returned to the royalist camp near Dublin. Ormonde, who now seemed to have Ireland almost at his feet, sent him with a large force of horse to Munster, where he was now lord-president by Charles II's commission, and where Cromwell was expected to land. He was thus absent from the fatal battle of Rathmines, fought on 2 Aug. 1649, after which most of his old soldiers joined the parliamentarians under Jones.

Cromwell landed on 18 Aug., and stormed Drogheda on 12 Sept. It was evident that nothing could resist him, and the Munster garrisons, who had protestant sympathies, began to fall away from Inchiquin (ib. i. 151). A conspiracy of certain officers to seize his person was frustrated, and he gained admission to Youghal while the conqueror was busy at Wexford. Inchiquin returned to Leinster at the end of October, and on 1 Nov. was at the head of some three thousand men, chiefly horse, and he advanced through the hills from Carlow to attack about half that number of English soldiers who had been left sick in Dublin. The Cromwellians, many of whom had but imperfectly recovered, had a hard fight on the shore at Glascarrick, between Arklow and Wexford; but their left was covered by the sea, and they succeeded in beating off their assailants (, i. 267; ;, Cromwell, letter 109). At this moment Munster revolted from Inchiquin. Blake's blockade having been temporarily raised by bad weather, Rupert escaped from the Irish coast, and on 13 Nov. Cromwell wrote that Cork and Youghal had submitted. The other port towns followed suit, and Broghill succeeded to most of Inchiquin's influence in Munster (Report on Carte Papers, pp. 139-45). The English or protestant inhabitants of Cork, 'out of a sense of the good service and tender care of the Lord Inchiquin over them,' asked Cromwell to see his estate secured to him and his heirs; but to this the victor 'forbore to make any answer' (Youghal Council Book, p. 281). On 24 Nov. Inchiquin, at the head of a force consisting; chiefly of Ulster Irish, made an attempt upon Carrick-on-Suir, but was repulsed with great loss (, letter 110). He then retired westward, and obtained possession of Kilmallock, but had only some four hundred men with him (, p. 436). On 19 Dec. he wrote to Ormonde concerning the Clonmacnoise bishops: 'I am already condemned among them; and I believe your Excellency has but a short reprieve, for they cannot trust you unless you go to mass' (Clarendon State Papers, ii. 503). In January 1649-50 he withdrew into Kerry, and raised some forces there, with which he returned to the neighbourhood of Kilmallock about the beginning of March (, pp. 439, 445). Henry Cromwell joined Broghill, and defeated these new levies which consisted chiefly of Englishmen towards the end of the month; and Inchiquin, after plundering most of the county Limerick, crossed the Shannon into Clare 'with more cows than horses' (ib. p. 448).

Neither Ormonde nor Inchiquin had now much to do in Ireland, and neither henceforth appeared to the east of the Shannon. The Roman catholic hierarchy had met in December 1649 at Clonmacnoise; but they could never work cordially with a protestant chief like Ormonde, and their object was to obtain the protection of some foreign prince. In their declaration made at Jamestown on 12 Aug. 1650, they absurdly accused Inchiquin of betraying Munster, and charged both him and Ormonde with spending their time west of the Shannon 'in play, pleasure, and great merriment.' They had no army, and the walled towns refused to admit them, so