HISTORY OF ENGLAND

CHAPTER 11.RINUCCINI AND CROMWELL IN IRELAND.WE must first describe the alterations of fortune in Ireland,and their connexion with those in England.Among the Catholics, no less than among the Protestantsof that country, there were two distinct parties, one of which,consisting of the original English colonists adhered to theinstitutions introduced under the kings of England, eventhose of the schismatic Henry VIII ; while the other, whichincluded the native Irish, desired to restore the absolutesupremacy of Catholicism in the island, and would even havelent its aid towards a separation from England.In order to win over the latter Charles I had allowed offersto be made to them through Glamorgan, which he dared notown to in England. They did not however give satisfactioneven in Ireland, either in form or in substance : it was noticedas an omission that neither the restoration of the monasticestates confiscated by Henry VIII, nor of the bishopricswhich had passed into the hands of the Protestants, was dis-tinctly promised. Fault was found with Glamorgan's powers,because they were issued under the lesser seal only, and theKing consequently remained free to do what he liked.Before this time the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, JamesButler Earl of Ormond, had already negotiated a treaty, inwhich he refused to agree to concessions so extensive as thosegranted by Glamorgan. After the latter's attempted compromisehad miscarried, through becoming publicly known,Ormond virtually concluded his in the summer of 1646. TheCatholics of the original English colony contented themselveswith verbal assurances, for instance, that the penal laws whichOrmond gave should be repealed. Thc conclusion of thisXI. 2. RINUCCINI AND CROMWELL IN IRELAND. 23A.D. 1646.treaty is connected with that combination between the Frenchand the Presbyterians by which Scotlarid was to be freed fromEnglish influence, the Presbyterian party reconciled with theKing, and a limit put to the overweening power of the Independents.By its aid the French endeavoured to anticipatesuch an alliance of the strict Catholic party with Spainas they encountered elsewhere.But it was the misfortune of Charles I that he failed to winover to his side the religious convictions of his different territoriesin Ireldnd no less than in Scotland.An assembly of the Catholic clergy in Waterford not onlyfound the terms of the treaty unacceptable, since it containec'no certain security for the freedom of the Church, but evencalled to account the members of the government whichhad concluded it. Dissatisfied with their explanations tha assemblydeclared its consent to a violation of the oath taken tothe Irish confederacy, and visited them with spiritual censures.The herald, who was to proclaim the peace, was repulsedfrom Waterford : even in Kilkenny the proclamation was onlymade in open opposition to the bishops with whom the peoplesided.All this was mainly the work of the Papal Nuntio, GiambattistaRinuccini, who as early as the year 1645 arrivedunnoticed in Ireland, provided with money and arms, and atfirst cherished the design of rendering Glamorgan's treatyentirely conformable to the Catholic interests, which were atthe same time those of the Papacy I.Immediately on his arrival he was struck with the distinctionbetween the two parties as well as betwzen the tworaces. By the one, the stalwart, uncultivated, confidingnatives, he was, as he tells us, received as a messenger fromGod. They flocked around him and spoke to him always ofthe speedy restoration of the Church, and the vbservance ofthe oath of the confederation. The others, men of less conspicuousstature, but keener ir~tellects, saw in him the treasurerof a prince. They consulted him only in matters of business,Nonziatura in Irlanda di Msgr. G. Battista Rinuccini negl~ anni 1645 a 1649,Pubblicata da Aiazzi 18qq.