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 created by Ormonde was disbanded, and even private arms were taken from protestant householders. The gist of this long-laid plan was contained in a paper seized in Talbot's house as far back as 1671, and supposed to have been written by his brother Peter. The writer showed how the act of settlement might be neutralised, and the land restored to those who held it before October 1641, and he proposed ‘that the army should be gradually reformed, and opportunity taken to displace men not ill-affected to this settlement, and to put into the army or garrison in Ireland some fit persons to begin this work and likewise judges on the benches’ (, App. p. 41). Tyrconnel went to England towards the end of 1685, and remained there in possession of the king's ear, so that Clarendon found his position undermined when he came over as viceroy in January 1685–6. Changes in the army and judiciary were made without consulting the lord-lieutenant. Early in June 1686 Tyrconnel returned to Dublin with a commission as lord-general and a salary of 1,410l. He was made independent of Clarendon, who was thus reduced to a cipher. Tyrconnel, dining with Clarendon the day after his arrival, exclaimed: ‘By God, my lord, these Acts of Settlement and this new interest are damned things; we do know all those arts and damned roguish contrivances which procured those acts,’ and he continued to rant in this style for an hour and a half (Clarendon and Rochester Correspondence, i. 432). Yet he fully admitted that the act of settlement could not be repealed on account of the confusion which would follow. His conduct during the next few weeks was so violent that Clarendon thought it hardly consistent with sanity (ib. pp. 451, 464). Lady Tyrconnel was in Ireland at this time, and Clarendon did not like her. The oath of supremacy in corporations was dispensed with, thus making the Roman catholics almost everywhere predominant. Whole battalions of protestant soldiers were discharged, without even leaving them the clothes which they had paid for themselves (ib. p. 470). For horses bought in the same way compensation was nominally given, but only on condition of the owners coming to Dublin to seek it, so that many were out of pocket in the end (ib. p. 501). The ranks of Ormonde's old regiment were filled with Roman catholics, Tyrconnel charging the lieutenant-colonel, Lord Roscommon, upon his allegiance to admit no others (ib. pp. 502, 505), and the like was done in other regiments. Tyrconnel was at Kilkenny with Clarendon in July receiving the troops. A few days later he went to Ulster, and completed his inspection of the army. At the end of August he returned to England, where preparations for repealing the act of settlement were being made. It was soon known that the king intended to make him viceroy. On 8 Oct. he was made a privy councillor in England (, Diary), and on the 26th Sir Richard Nagle [q. v.] addressed to him his famous Coventry letter (Jacobite Narrative, p. 193). A letter dated 30 Nov. (, Original Letters, 2nd ser.) says visible preparations were being made—‘the Jesuit, Jack Peters, is very great, and Tyrconnel works by him.’

At the beginning of January 1686–7 Tyrconnel was appointed viceroy. He left London on the 11th, accompanied by his wife, and on the 17th they stayed the night with Bishop Cartwright at Chester (, Diary), but were detained at Holyhead by bad weather. In Wharton's famous song are the lines: Arra! but why does he stay behind? O by my sowl! 'tis a Protestant wind; But see de Tyrconnel is now come ashore, And we shall have commissions galore; Lillibullero, &c. Tyrconnel was sworn in as lord deputy on 12 Feb. Clarendon had been kept in the dark as much as possible. Tyrconnel's instructions (partly printed in, i. 53) gave him almost unlimited discretion, but he was particularly directed to admit Roman catholics to all corporations and to offices generally. A simple oath of allegiance was prescribed for all officers and soldiers, and no other oath was to be required of them. With packed corporations, subservient sheriffs, a judicial bench and commission of the peace to his liking, and an army carefully raised for a particular purpose, Tyrconnel had everything his own way. The disarmed protestants were at the mercy of marauders and undisciplined recruits, and were soon reduced to despair. Great numbers left Ireland, and even sold their land for what it would fetch under the circumstances (, Memoirs;, Diary, October 1686). Tyrconnel was at Chester with the king from 20 to 30 Aug. 1687, Nagle, Rice, and Churchill being there at the same time (, Diary).

A letter from Dublin in 1688 says that Tyrconnel had in eighteen months reduced Ireland ‘from a place of briskest trade and best paid rents in Christendom to ruin and desolation’ (State Tracts, 1660–89, p. 316). It is known from French sources that Tyrconnel arranged with James for making Ireland a French protectorate in case the English crown should again be on a protestant head (, chap. viii.). In the mean-