sent intelligence of their situation to the king in Scotland; to their landlords, the corporation of the city of London, who sent them several pieces of ordnance; and also to the lords justices at Dublin, who despatched thirty barrels of powder and a supply of arms, which reached the city in the beginning of December. (14) Assisted by these seasonable supplies, they held possession of Derry; but, though unmolested by the enemy, the inhabitants and soldiers, during the winter season, suffered many severe privations.

The eyes of the whole empire were now intently directed to the progress of these events in Ulster. So soon as the Scottish parliament were informed by Charles, on Thursday the twenty-eighth of October, of the breaking out of the rebellion, they ordered immediate inquiry to be made into the quantity of shipping on the western coast, and the number of disposable men who could be transported to Ulster. When more accurate intelligence was received, on the first of November, of the extent of the insurrection and the dangerous situation of the northern protestants, they offered a supply of three thousand stand of arms, and ten thousand men for the

for and towards the repairing of the decayed walls, gates, and ramparts of the city, and doing other necessary works there, and hath begun a trench without the walls of the city of good consequence, intended to be perfected; for all which he cannot have expended less than L.5000 sterling."

14 The manner in which this intelligence of the state of Derry was conveyed to Dublin, and the relief sent thither, are thus stated by captain Lawson :—“ Having a ship come into Carrickfergus, at the first of the rebellion, which was laden with eighty-five tuns of salmon for the accompt of him, [captain Lawson,] captain Finch, and captain Osborne, with other goods from Derry and bound for France, he caused the same to transport from thence to Dublin, Sir Thomas Lucas, and captain Charles Boulton, where being landed, and the ship intending forwards to France, was presently after cast away, worth L.2000 sterling, occasioned by the same. And by that conveyance, captain Boulton getting to Dublin, shortly afterwards brought back from thence to Londonderry thirty barrels of powder, with other arms and munition, being the first relief and supply which came thither for the supplies of the regiments and soldiers there, without which they had been utterly lost and perished, as being destitute before of any powder or arms."

relief of Ireland. (15) But as their own resources were insufficient for raising and supporting such an army, and as Ireland was a dependency of England, it was obviously necessary that the authorities of the latter kingdom should not only previously give their sanction to the introduction of Scottish forces into that part of their realm, but should also engage to support them, when employed in their service.

A negociation to this effect was accordingly opened with the English parliament, on the return of Charles to London, in the latter end of November. The commons had already, on the first of that month, when O'Connolly communicated to them the intelligence of the rebellion, voted a liberal supply of money, and a considerable levy of men, for the relief of Ireland. (16) When they received fuller information of the dangerous state of the kingdom, they voted, ten days afterwards, a much larger supply; and, at the same time, they agreed to negociate with the Scottish parliament for the proposed aid of ten thousand men. On the tenth of December, the first conference on this subject took place in London, between a committee from the two houses of parliament on the one hand, and commissioners sent up from Scotland, on the other.

15 The entry on the journals of the Scottish parliament, relative to this offer, is as follows:-The committee reported to the house," That they had found it expedient, how soon ever the parliament of England should approve the conveniency of their aid and assistance in this business, that eight regiments of foot should, with all diligence, be levied, consisting of 10,000 men, whereof 2500 to be highland men, and 7500 to be levied out of the lowland shires, with ammunition to them. They made report likewise, that they could supply their brethren in Ireland with arms out of the common magazine for 3000 men, two part muskets, and the third part pikes: England giving assurance for redelivery and payment of the same.” Balfour, iii. 134.

16 The state of the distressed protestants in Ireland very soon excited the commiseration of the English; as appears from a discourse, which I have met with, entitled, "Ireland's Advocate, or a Sermon preached upon November 14th, 1641, to promote the contributions by way of lending, for the present relief of the protestant party in Ireland. In the parish church of St. Stephens, Coleman Street, London, by the pastor there.” Lond. 1641. Pp. 36.

But the jealousies which existed between Charles and the commons, and which were now rapidly ripening into an open rupture, unhappily retarded the issue of this negociation. The king, in the first instance, wished to cast upon the parliament the whole weight of conducting the affairs of Ireland at this critical period; with the view of drawing off their attention from his proceedings at home, and enfeebling their growing opposition to his arbitrary measures. (17) He was, therefore, secretly averse to the employment of any Scottish auxiliaries. The commons, on their part, were afraid of weakening the resources, necessary for the conflict which they saw approaching between them and their sovereign, by granting too liberal a supply for the reduction of the Irish rebels. They were also afraid-and subsequent events proved the justness of their apprehensions-that the premature pacification of Ireland would afford Charles, in the coming hour of need, a reinforcement of troops from that country, hostile to the cause of truth and freedom. Charles, on the other hand, taking advantage of their apparent indifference to the fate of Ireland, suddenly changed his policy, and proposed to raise a body of ten thousand volunteers, and to go over in person to chastise the rebels. But the parliament utterly refused to listen to a proposal, the effect of which would have been, to place the king at the head of a force entirely subject to his authority alone, and ready to be employed, at a moment's warning, against themselves.

This offer of Charles, however, quickened the parliament in their negociation with the Scottish commissioners. After several ineffectual attempts on the part of the house of lords, where the royal influence was predominant, to retard its successful issue, the terms upon which the Scots offered their aid were agreed to, on the twenty-fourth of January. When these proposals were, two days afterwards, submitted to the king, he objected to the third article, by which it was stipu

17 Laing, i. 224.

lated that the Scottish forces were to be put in possession of the castle of Carrickfergus. At length, however, he reluctantly acquiesced; and on the eighth of February he finally issued his commission for their transportation to Ulster. (18) Two thousand five hundred men were, in the first instance, to be embodied and sent forward to occupy Carrickfergus ; and the remainder of the stipulated supply of ten thousand were to follow, at their earliest convenience; and on their arrival, to be put in possession of the town and castle of Coleraine. (19)

Though great exertions were made to raise and embody these forces with despatch, it was the middle of March before they had reached the appointed rendezvous on the western coast of Scotland. Detachments from seven regiments, viz. Glencairn's, Argyle's, Eglinton's, Sinclair's, Home's formerly Cochrane's, Monro's and Lindsay's, formed this first draft of two thousand five hundred men, under the command of major-general Robert Monro,-an officer of considerable experience and great military skill. They lay, for more than a fortnight, in the towns of Irvine, Ayr and Kilmarnock, waiting for a favourable wind. In the beginning of the following month they put to sea, under convoy of an English frigate; but were soon after driven into Lamlash, in the island of Arran. After being detained another fortnight in this secluded harbour, they again set sail on the evening of the fourteenth of April. The following day, they reached Carrickfergus; and before night were securely established in the possession of the town and castle. The regiments of lords Conway and Chichester, who previously formed the garrison, having surrendered their quarters, marched to Belfast; and, with the other British regiments in Ulster, placed themselves under the command of Monro, agreeably to the terms of the treaty with the English parliament.

The Scottish general did not long remain inactive. Leav

18 Rymer, vol. ix. part iij. p. 83.

19 Rushworth, iv. 501-2.

ing a garrison of eight hundred men in Carrickfergus, upon the twenty-seventh of April he marched with the remainder to Belfast, where he was joined by the regiments of lords Conway and Chichester. On the following day, he formed a junction at Lisburn with the forces from the county of Down under the command of the lords Claneboy and Ards.

Monro had now at his disposal, an effective body of, at least, three thousand five hundred men, and eight troops of horse. With the one-half of this force he proceeded to attack the rebels in the woods of Kilwarlin; where, under the command of Magennis the lord Iveagh, and to the number of near three thousand, they occupied an important pass on the road to Newry. After a short skirmish, the rebels were put to flight; and the British, following the example which the Irish had too often set in previous encounters,—of refusing quarter, cruelly and unjustifiably put to death all who fell into their hands. (20) On Saturday, the thirtieth of April, both divisions of the army met at this pass; and having defeated another body of the rebels at Loughbrickland, they marched to Newry, which had been in possession of the Irish above half-a-year. The town, being imperfectly fortified, was immediately taken by Monro; and, with the exception of a few houses, given up to plunder. The castle held out for two days; but on the third of May it was surrendered to the British. The garrison were treated with shocking severity, -they were immediately put to death; and many of the inhabitants, who had fled for refuge to the castle, and some women, (21) lost their lives in this indiscriminate slaughter.

20 Livingston, who, as one of the chaplains to the Scottish army, was present at this skirmish, gives us the following curious piece of information, respecting the rebels who were killed :-" They were so fat, that one might have hid their fingers in the lirks of their breasts." Life, p. 37.

21 The Irish women were so obnoxious to the English and Scots, on account of their well known cruelties to the protestants, who fell into the hands of the rebels in the beginning of the insurrection, that the soldiery could scarcely be refrained from cutting them off whenever they met with them. This was the case at Newry. An eye-witness relates that the