The Ten Years' Rebellion

The long period of almost unbroken oppression and cruelty through which the Irish had passed since the accession of Elizabeth, had now prepared the way for another desperate revolt against English rule. The massacres and desolation of the unhappy island by Elizabeth's agents; the pitiless confiscations of estates, followed by the planting of the land by James; the brutal persecution of the religion of the vast majority, by both; and, more recently, the imperious tyranny of Wentworth,—had planted in the breasts of the Irish a deep-seated hatred of their English masters. Nor was it the native Irish alone who harbored this enduring hostility. It was shared also by the descendants of the first English settlers,—those whom we have called, to distinguish them from the natives, the Anglo-Irish. They, too, were Catholics, and had suffered for their faith in common with their Celtic neighbors. They, too, had been deprived of their fair domains, and had seen their relatives and friends put mercilessly to the sword. Only an opportunity was wanting to set the whole island in a blaze of rebellion.

This opportunity seemed to come with the political storm which had lately arisen in England. Charles and his Parliament had reached an open, bitter, and lasting quarrel The Puritans, the Independents, the Scottish Presbyterians, were resolved to resist Charles's usurpation of powers which did not belong to the crown; and Charles was equally determined not to yield. After his failure to seize five of the leading members of Parliament, Charles had left London; and now England was on the very verge of civil war (1641). Wentworth had meanwhile been succeeded in the government of Ireland by two Lords justices, Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase. Both of these men leaned to the side of Parliament as against the king, and they were both wanting in firmness and vigor of conduct. The characters and the desires of these new rulers of Ireland enabled the revolt to grow more formidable than if they had been resolute, and loyal to Charles's crown.

In the course of the long and unhappy years of Ireland's oppression, large numbers of Irishmen had left their native country, and had enlisted in the armies of foreign nations. Among them were many sons of the old Irish chiefs, as well as members of the long-settled Anglo-Irish families. They had served, often with conspicuous valor, on many fields, under the banners of Spain and France. Thus a multitude of Irishmen of military experience were on the continent, prepared, at the ripe moment, to carry the aid of their skillful arms to their own land. Two of the most noted of these Irish soldiers were Hugh O'Neil, the son of the brave Tyrone, and Rory O'More. Hugh O'Neil was killed at Brussels, while on his way to Ireland. But it always seemed that, when Ireland needed a valiant leader and a strong arm, the ancient royal house of O'Neil was ready to supply them. Phelim O'Neil, a nephew of Tyrone, and a man of harsh and savage nature, took his cousin's place, as one of the Irish rebel chiefs. Rory O'More, however, was the leading spirit of the revolt, which had been carefully planned, and was now to burst forth with great violence, and to last, with scarcely a pause, for the long period of ten years.

Rory O'More was an Irish gentleman of old family. He was tall and handsome in person. His manners were free and attractive. He had displayed, as a soldier in the Spanish army, a courage and skill in warfare which won him much renown. He was a sincere and ardent patriot. So beloved and trusted was he by the Irish, that it was a common saying that the Irish rested their faith on "God, the Virgin, and Rory O'More." O'More soon drew to him a devoted band of Irish lords, gentlemen, and soldiers. To his standard came McGuires and O'Neils, O'Reillys and McMahons, Dillons and O'Byrnes. Second among the leaders of the revolt was the brutal Phelim O'Neil. The plan of the revolt was soon decided upon, and was twofold. It was agreed that an attempt should be made to seize Dublin castle by surprise, and that, at the same time, a general rising should be made throughout the province of Ulster. O'More took command of the forces which were to be directed against the castle, and Phelim O'Neil was entrusted with the task of kindling rebellion in northern Ireland.

The attempt upon the castle failed. A traitor in O'More's camp betrayed the plan to the lords justices. The latter had thus far made no effort to quench the rebellion, though they knew it was about to break out. It is probable, indeed, that the lords justices wished to see a revolt, so that the lands of the leading rebels might be confiscated, in which case they hoped to receive their share. But they were forced to defend Dublin castle. Sufficient troops were hastily gathered, several leading rebels were arrested in Dublin, and O'More and his adherents were forced to abandon their project. Phelim O'Neil, on the other hand, completely succeeded in his efforts in Ulster. The news soon arrived in Dublin that the whole province was in arms. In no long time, O'Neil was at the head of thirty thousand men. The greater part of this force was composed of those Irish who had been driven off the land, who had subsisted miserably in the bogs and woods, and who had thus become vagrants and outlaws. They were, indeed, a mob of desperate, ill-conditioned men, for the most part armed only with knives and pitchforks, but who burned to avenge themselves upon the English intruders in the land.

The war in Ulster at once assumed a horrible, barbarous character. On both sides the most hideous cruelties were committed. Which side began the awful series of massacres which took place, cannot now be definitely decided. Two massacres occurred at nearly the same time. The English fell upon the unprotected Irish at Island Magee and included in their slaughter the aged, the sick, women, and little children. Phelim O'Neil, who was promptly joined by many of the old Ulster chiefs, spread a not less ruthless havoc through Tyrone. He attacked the English settlements, plundered and burned their houses, stripped men, women, and children, and, in the dead of winter, drove them naked into the woods and bogs and along the cheerless roads; and in some places mercilessly mutilated and hanged them.

Many of the poor creatures, expelled from their homes, died of cold and starvation as they were attempting to reach a place of safety. Failing to capture Enniskillen and Lisburn, O'Neil became savage with rage, and wreaked his fury upon every English village and town in his way. The entire English and Scottish inhabitants of three parishes were murdered. The town of Newry and the cathedral of Armagh were burned to the ground. Sometimes women and children were burned alive in the houses in which they had sought refuge.

But there were, happily, brighter sides to the picture. In some places the Catholic priests, at the risk of their lives, sheltered and fed the English fugitives, and aided them in their flight. Some of the Irish chiefs, too, although leaders in the rebellion, treated the English with true Christian gentleness. O'Reilly, who had headed the revolt in Cavan, did not kill any of the English, even in battle. He took the settlers prisoners, but had them escorted in safety to Dublin by some of his own soldiers. In many cases, too, the native Irish, though poor, and suffering grievously from the wrongs inflicted on them by the English, afforded protection and nourishment to the settlers as they fled from their homes. It is supposed that the number of persons slaughtered by Phelim O'Neil, and the other chiefs who followed his brutal example, was between four and five thousand; and that eight thousand died from cold and hunger. Great numbers of the fugitives from Ulster flocked, naked, cold, and starving, into Dublin, bringing with them the horrible tale of the burnings, massacres, and desolation they had left behind. But soon the lords deputies drove these fugitives, though loyal, out of Dublin; and, thus reduced to extremity, many of them joined hands with the rebels.

The revolt in Ireland soon assumed a twofold character. It had been begun by native Irish chiefs and their adherents. But now a revolt, quite separate from that of the native Irish, sprang up among the Anglo-Irish. The two did not unite their forces, or pursue a common plan of campaign. Each had its own separate aims, projects, and movements. The native Irish wished to achieve the entire and absolute independence of their country. The larger number of the Anglo-Irish did not desire separation from England. They still professed to be loyal to the crown. They only made war, they declared, upon the king's representatives and agents. They simply demanded freedom of worship, and security in their estates. They fought for their altars and their homes. On the other hand, the English and Scots who comprised the officials, officers, and soldiers in Ireland, were divided into two parties, between whom the breach became wider and wider every day. There was the party which supported the king in his struggle with Parliament; and there was the party which sustained Parliament against the king. Of the latter party were the lords justices.

The Earl of Ormond, a friend of the king, was put in command of the forces in Ireland. One of the curious entanglements of the rebellion was that Charles, in his desperation, wished to conciliate the rebels, in order that he might withdraw his troops for use against the Puritans in England. On the other hand, the lords justices, who wished for an excuse to confiscate the land, were listless in their attempts to put down the rebellion. The rising gradually spread from Ulster to Munster, and to Connaught, and finally into the English Pale itself. Seven lords of the Pale, with one thousand men of good station, held a conference with Rory O'More and his chiefs on Crofty Hill; and, soon after, the entire Pale was honeycombed with revolt.

At the close of the year (1641), the whole country, excepting Dublin and a few of the seaport and garrisoned towns, was covered by the rebellion. But Phelim O'Neil had not only practiced the most barbarous atrocities, for which he had been severely censured by the Catholic synod of Armagh, but had also shown much lack of capacity in war. The Irish chiefs accordingly appealed earnestly to Owen Roe O'Neil, Phelim's cousin, who was then in Flanders, to come over and take command of the insurgent army. Owen O'Neil, or, as he was familiarly called, "Red Owen," was a famous soldier, and a chivalrous, large-hearted, honest man. Soon after his arrival in Ireland, a wonderful change took place in the Irish forces. The wild levies of Phelim were transformed into sturdy, well-disciplined battalions. Re-enforcements kept coming from the continent; and, at about the same time, another soldier of mark, Colonel Preston, accompanied by five hundred military officers and a large quantity of stores, set out from the Pale to join the Anglo-Irish revolt at Wexford. Up to this time, the native Irish on the one hand, and the Anglo, Irish on the other, had fought the English separately. The time had now come for them to join in common action.

A great convention, composed of members from every part of Ireland, was summoned by the Ulster Catholics, and met at Kilkenny (October, (1642). It contained the Catholic lords, a large number of Catholic bishops and priests, and over two hundred lay delegates. This convention invested the executive power in a committee, consisting of six members from each of the four provinces. It divided the army into four divisions. To Red Hugh was given the command in Ulster. Gerald Barry received that of Munster, Colonel Preston that of Leinster, and Sir John Burke that of Connaught. The convention also created a high court, and made provision for its sessions, and appointed lesser judges and magistrates for the several counties. A great seal was devised, and the convention even took measures to coin Irish money. Thus an Irish government seemed to be established. Yet the convention, while thus taking energetic measures to organize civil war, declared that the war was not to be waged against the king, but against the Puritans, and in defense of the Roman-Catholic faith.