Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 3 (of 3), 1660-1690Bagwell, Richard
History
Ireland under the Stuarts and During the Interregnum, Vol. 3 (of 3), 1660-1690
Bagwell, Richard
Ireland -- History -- 17th century
Donough MacCarthy, the Muskerry of the Civil War, was created Earl of
Clancarty before the Restoration, and after it regained most of his
property. He had married Ormonde's sister, and his third son Justin,
who served long in the French army, returned to England with the rank
of colonel at a time when the no-popery feeling was at its height.
Justin promoted the marriage of his nephew Donough, the fourth Earl,
with Sunderland's daughter. The young lord, though he had been brought
up a Protestant by Fell, was not kept safely by him at Oxford, and
soon returned to the Church of Rome. His romantic story has been told
by Macaulay, and the tale was dramatised by Tom Taylor. His uncle
had married Strafford's daughter, and was thus by several alliances
connected with the most powerful people at the English Court. When
Charles first entertained the idea of remodelling the Irish army he
thought of employing MacCarthy as a fitting instrument. Halifax warned
him of the danger of meddling with an army 'raised by a Protestant
Parliament to secure the Protestant interest; and would the King give
occasion to any to say that where his hands were not bound up he
would show all the favour he could to the Papists?' Since the Oxford
dissolution Charles no longer feared Parliament, and replied that he
did not care what people said. He repeated the whole conversation to
MacCarthy, which was hardly the way to secure honest advice. Soon after
the accession of James, Justin was in command of a regiment at Cork,
and became very popular, even with the Protestants of that town. When
Clarendon arrived his relations with him were at first quite amicable,
but he was more or less in co-operation with Tyrconnel, and a coolness
soon arose. He seems to have made love to the Lord Lieutenant's married
sister, which did not mend matters. MacCarthy became major-general in
April 1686, when Tyrconnel was made lieutenant-general, and, like him,
was sworn of the Privy Council.[205]
[Sidenote: Sarsfield.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive