Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/921

Rh ORMONDE 855 trating the attempts which she made to induce the duke of Gloucester to become Catholic. In 1658, at great risk, he went upon a secret mission into England, to gain trust worthy intelligence as to the chances of a rising. 1 He attended the king at the treaty of Fontarabia, and was actively engaged in the secret transactions immediately preceding the Restoration, In the distribution of honours which followed he had a considerable share : he was at once made lord steward of the household, a privy councillor, lord-lieutenant of Somerset, high steward of Westminster, Kingston, and Bristol, chancellor of Dublin University, Baron Butler of Llanthony, and earl of Brecknock ; and on 30th March 1661 he was created duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage and lord high steward of England. At the same time large grants, in recompense of the fortune he had spent in the royal service, were made by the king, while in the following year the Irish parliament presented him with 30,000. His losses, however, according to Carte, exceeded his gains by a sum almost incredibly enormous. On 4th November 1661 he once more received the lord-lieutenantship of Ireland, and was busily engaged in the settlement of that country until 1664, His heart was in his government; and he vehemently opposed the bill prohibiting the importation of Irish cattle, which struck so fatal a blow at her trade ; and, when it was passed, in order to lessen, as he thought, the misfortune, 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, He encour aged Irish manufactures and learning to the utmost, and it was to his efforts that the Irish College of Physicians owes its incorporation. Ormonde s personality had always been a striking one. He had been noted for purity of life and purpose, and for generous and unswerving devotion to the royal cause, when purity and devotion, stimulated by the great argu ment, were not rare in the court of Charles I, In the court of Charles II. he assumed a still more noteworthy character. At a time when every form of baseness had free course, he figured as almost the sole representative of the high-toned virtues of a nobler generation. Where everything was little he, by force of what is emphatically called &quot; character &quot; far more than by any special ability, was great. The friend and comrade of Stratford, one who had in the royal cause ungrudgingly spent a princely fortune, we see him standing aloof while persons like Bennet intrigued and lied for office or money. Of strict purity of life, he was a living rebuke to the Sedleys and Castlemaines who turned the court into a brothel. Com pelled to see the councils of the king guided by dishonour, he acquired over him the influence which Charles was always ready to concede to greatness (e.g., Pepys, 19th May 1668). Proud of the loyalty of his race, which had been unspotted through five centuries, he bore with silent self-respect calumny, envy, and his seven years loss of court favour, waiting until his master should be shamed into an acknowledgment of the wrong. He soon became the mark for attack from all that was worst in the court. Buckingham especially did his utmost to undermine his influence. In his almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troublous times Ormonde had no doubt acted now and then in a way which offered advantage to men eager for his overthrow. He had billeted soldiers on civilians, and had executed martial law, The impeachment, however, threatened by Buckingham fell through. Nevertheless, by 1669, constant importunity had had its usual effect upon Charles, and Ormonde was removed from the government of Ireland and from the 1 For a notice of this see Evelyn s Diary, 8tli June 1658. committee for Irish affairs. He made no complaint, in sisted that his sons and others over whom he had influ ence should retain their posts, and continued to fulfil with dignified persistence the duties of his other offices. The compromise made by Charles with his conscience was marked by a public declaration that, in spite of what had happened, Ormonde had in no degree lost his con fidence. By way of recompense, unsought honours came to him and his family. At the suggestion of Sheldon, Oxford chose him as her chancellor, while Dublin, ignoring Roberts, the new lord-lieutenant, gave to his eldest son Ossory the freedom of the city. In 1670, while driving through London, he was attacked and dragged out of his carriage by the well-known ruffian Blood, who had been deeply concerned in the attempt upon Dublin Castle in 1663. By whom he was set upon this deed is not known, though Ossory publicly laid it to the charge of Buckingham, Nothing appears to have saved Ormonde s life but the whim of Blood to hang him at Tyburn. The delay thus caused, and Ormonde s vigorous resistance, gave time for rescue. What was the mysterious connexion between Blood and the court has never been discovered ; but it is certain that Charles, when Blood was captured, himself asked Ormonde to pardon him. In 1671 Richard Talbot came over from Ireland in order, if possible, to secure the repeal of the Act of Settlement in favour of the dispossessed Irish gentry. Ormonde was placed on the committee of investigation, and did his utmost to frustrate Talbot s endeavours. The return of Ormonde to favour, and his appointment to the government of Ireland in 1677, were characteristic both of the times and of Charles himself (Carte). It appears probable that it was the result in a great measure of the desire of James to set up a rival to Monmouth, for whom Shaftesbury had requested the lord-lieutenantship. On his arrival in Ireland he Avas for a considerable time occupied in placing the revenue and the army upon a proper footing, Upon the outbreak of the Popish terror in England he at once took the most vigorous and compre hensive steps, though with as little harshness as possible, towards rendering the Catholics, who were in the pro portion of 15 to 1, powerless (Carte), So mild, however, did his measures appear that they served, in spite of the fact that Ireland was kept in perfect peace, as a reason for an attack upon him in England, which was led by Shaftesbury, and from which he was defended with great spirit by his son Ossory, He kept his course, giving even justice to both religious parties, and Charles had the good sense to refuse to remove him, Hitherto Ormonde had been singularly fortunate in his family life. But in 1680 he lost his eldest son Ossory, a pure and gallant man, and this Avas but the beginning of his private sorrows. In 1682 Charles summoned Ormonde to court, and from that time retained him about his person. His first duty was to answer, at the king s request, the memoirs published by the earl of Castlehaven, in which he had reflected upon Charles I, His vigour also during the election of aldermen and during the disputed election of sheriffs for the city after Shaftesbury s acquittal was of the greatest service to the court, On 9th November 1683 an English dukedom was conferred upon him, and in June 1684 he returned to Ireland; scarcely, however, had he set out when intrigues against him once more proved suc cessful, and he was recalled in October, .Before, however, he could give up his government to Rochester, Charles II. died, and Ormonde s last act as lord-lieutenant was to pro claim James II, in Dublin, On his return to London he was met with all the pomp and ceremony which, while him self of simple tastes, he had always practised as befitting