"and the person, heirs, and rights of our most serene king, Charles,-as also the legal rights " and privileges of this nation,-against all usurp"ers and invaders, at the hazard of my fortune "and of my life. So help me God!"

The first measure of the supreme council was to consult the clergy on the lawfulness of the confederacy and of the war. The answer of the clergy, -given on the 12th of May, was expressed in the following terms: "As the war, which the Irish "catholics begin against the sectaries, particularly "the puritans, is undertaken for the defence of the "catholic religion;-for the conservation of our "sovereign lord king Charles, and his just prero

gatives;-for the defence of our serene queen, "and the security of their royal progeny, most un"worthily treated by the puritans; and also for "the defence of our lives and fortunes, and the "just and legitimate immunities and liberties of "this our nation, against unjust invaders and oppressors, particularly the puritans:-We are of "opinion, and do declare, that it is, on the side of "the catholics, just and legitimate.-But if, in carrying it on, any proceed, with an unjust, "avaricious, hating, revengeful, or other such si"nister intention, or any wicked design or end, we "think such persons sin mortally, and should be "chastised, coerced, and punished by ecclesias"tical censures * "

• Translated from an authentic and elegant work,"Vindicia Catholicorum Hiberniæ, authore Philopatre "Irenæo, ad Alitophilum, libri duo; Parisiis, 1650;" attributed to Mr. Richard Bellings.

The supreme council proceeded to appoint sir Phelim O'Neil to the command of the catholic forces in Ulster, colonel Preston, a brother of lord Gormanstown, to the command of the catholic forces in Leinster; colonel Garret Barry, of the Barrymore family, to the command of the catholic forces in Munster; and colonel de Burgh, of the Clanrickard family, to the command of the catholic forces in Connaught. The next measure of the supreme council, was to obtain, from his majesty, a cessation of arms.-Charles was anxious for it, and signed a commission, on the 14th January 1642, directed to the earl, afterwards marquis of Ormond, and afterwards lord lieutenant of Ireland, --and to other persons of distinction,-authorizing them to treat with the confederates :-This Ormond declined. His majesty repeatedly and pressingly urged it, by letters and messages;Ormond still delayed. At length, on the 15th of September 1643, a cessation of arms was agreed upon by him and the confederates; and, notwithstanding their distress, the catholics advanced 30,800l. sterling to Ormond, to be applied for his majesty's service; and sent two thousand men to fight under Montrose in Scotland.

LXXX. 9.

The Interference of the Pope's Nuncio in the Proceedings of the Confederates.

WHILE the council of Kilkenny held their first sittings, an event happened, which from the first,

counteracted, and in the end, defeated all their

measures.

In 1644, pope Urban sent father Scarampa, an oratorian, to communicate with the supreme council. He remained in Ireland till November 1645, when John Baptist Rinuccini, archbishop of Fermo, arrived at Kilkenny, in the character of apostolic nuncio extraordinary, from the pope to the council. On the 12th of that month, he presented himself, with his credentials, to the supreme council, and shortly exposed to them the object of his mission.He then said: "There will not, in all probability, "be wanting those, who will assert, that I have been "sent, by the most holy father, and universal pastor "of the church, Innocent the tenth, to excite the "catholic inhabitants of this kingdom against the "most serene king of Great Britain and Ireland. "How far this is from the truth, God, the searcher "of hearts, is not ignorant! I therefore protest " and most solemnly swear, that I will plan nothing 'against the interests of the most serene king "Charles. Moreover,―to all catholics, as well present as absent, I signify, that nothing more, agreeable to the supreme pontiff, can take place, "than that the confederates in Ireland, having "recovered the free exercise of their religion, "should observe due subjection, service, and re"verence to his serene majesty, though not a "catholic."

The cessation of arms concluded between Ormond and the supreme council, was received with general joy by the confederate nobility, and the

greatest and best part of the clergy: but the nuncio, and general Owen O'Neil,--who afterwards drew over general Preston to his views,-rejected it: the former, because there was no provision made for the free exercise of the catholic religion, without which, the confederates, in the nuncio's view of the case, were engaged, by their oath of association, never to conclude a peace; and the latter, on the same account, and also because no stipulation was made for restoring him and his numerous followers to their forfeited lands in Ulster. The nuncio further alleged, that the commissioners who had concluded the peace, had not, as they were bound by their instructions, insisted on the repeal of the penal statutes against the romancatholic religion.

The confederates, however, adhered to the cessation and, with the leave of Ormond, sent over seven persons of rank to his majesty, to treat with him for a permanent peace. They reached his majesty, on the 23d of March 1645; the king agreed to all the terms proposed by them, except those, by which they claimed the free exercise of their religion, and the quiet enjoyment of the ecclesiastical property then actually possessed by them. The concession of these, would, his majesty observed, irritate all the protestants in the three kingdoms against him. He therefore ordered the commissioners to return to the council, and treat with Ormond, on this point.

Soon afterwards, the earl of Glamorgan, a roman-catholic, and connected, by his marriage,

with the house of O'Brien, attended at Kilkenny; accredited, as he said, by his majesty, to treat with the supreme council. On the 25th of August 1645, articles of peace were signed by the earl and the supreme council, containing an express stipulation, that the catholics should enjoy the free exercise of their religion, and retain all the churches, then in their possession, and the property belonging to them.

It was intended that this treaty should be kept a secret, till a more favourable combination of circumstances should remove the objection to its publication; but accident brought it to light; and the monarch then shamefully disavowed the powers, under which Glamorgan had professed to act.A new treaty was therefore entered into with Ormond; it was signed on the 28th of March 1646, but appears not to have been delivered till the 29th of the following July*. It contained no stipulation for the free exercise of the catholic religion, or the enjoyment of ecclesiastical property: these were to be the subject of a future arrangement, and to be allowed in the mean time by connivance. The pope himself felt the necessity, which induced the supreme council to submit to such terms. Discoursing with Mr. Richard Bellings, on what had passed between his majesty, and the deputies to him from the council, his holiness observed, that it was not to be wondered, that his majesty should think it unsafe to consent to the insertion of the contested article, as this would

* Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. i. p. 574