"as one that had held his eyes as open to these proceedings as any one, that to whatever other cause this mischief might be attributed, it arose solely from the ill-grounded and narrow suspicions of the parliament, and their obstinate refusal to yield to the King that confidence, which he so justly demanded from his people."* The same peremptory tone, which had produced such a desirable impression upon the Council, proved equally effectual in the parliament: and Sir Robert Talbot, one of the members, having been betrayed by the ardor of debate into some unguarded reflexions on his conduct, he was instantly expelled, and committed to custody till he should on his kness implore the Lord Deputy's pardon. The Lords, indeed, made an impotent show of patriotic resistance: but he disdainfully neglected to notice their proceedings, till at the end of the session he warned them of their irregularity. Thus triumphantly exacting implicit submission. from a nation hitherto noted for it's turbulence, and drawing large supplies from a parliament which now for the first time granted a subsidy; Wentworth proceeded, in reliance upon that decision which had hitherto proved so successful, to gratify his Sovereign by taking on himself and the Council the whole * This language from one, who had so actively infused these suspicions, and who had insisted that redress should ever precede supplies,' did not escape the unlucky jeers of his new associates at court. Laud, with his usual love for a jest, writes to him that when that part of his despatch, which mentioned his reprobation of the turbulent proceedings of the English Parliament, was read before the Committee of the Privy Council, Lord Cottington added, to complete the sentence, Quorum pars magna fui.' blame of refusing what the Irish confidently hoped Charles, in return for their liberality, would readily grant. These victories achieved over popular rights emboldened him to aspire to some additional reward. He solicited an earldom. But he was no longer to be gained over: Ireland had been a field, not only for his toils in behalf of regal authority, but also for the gratification of his own ambition. He had already received lavish praise: much remained still to be accomplished, for which the expected remuneration might frugally be reserved: by taking upon himself voluntarily, and with the most loyal selfrenunciation, the ungracious office (repeatedly urged by the King, with more earnestness than delicacy) of denying grants on the Irish establishment, though he had accumulated on himself a load of displeasure, he had rendered his royal master ungratefully reluctant to adopt any measure, which might appear to imply an approval of his whole conduct, his imperious speeches and his harsh refusals, and thus draw upon himself a portion of the odium he was so solicitous to avoid. Charles therefore, to the dissembled chagrin of the illustrious beggar, refused his request. He even went farther, and notwithstanding Wentworth's entreaty to be permitted to continue his subservient parliament by prorogation, urged him to get rid of it by dissolution. The obsequious Lord Deputy, not disgusted by this unkind treatment, proposed to give a new proof at once of his capacity and his devotion by undertaking to reduce the Irish to a conformity in religion. This chimerical enterprise he pursued by means far more rational, than are usually adopted upon similar occasions. In the execution of his schemes, however, for enhancing the wealth and respectability of the establishment, he occasionally found it necesary to resume his brief and imperious mode of procedure: and with it's usual efficacy he procured a speedy restoration of lands and tithes, which had been alienated by the fraud of Bishops or acquired by the rapacity of Peers, and enforced a ready. obedience to the Commission issued for the repair of churches. But whatever might be the effect of introducing the religion of England, in which Wentworth with a view to the gratification of his friend Laud assiduously laboured (though he made the proud and singular vaunt that, during his Irish government, not the hair of a man's head was touched for the free exercise of his conscience)' the introduction of the English laws was a benefit not to be disputed. By the Act of Poynings, all the English statutes to the time of Henry VII. had been established in Ireland: and, with the exception of a few inexpedient penal statutes, he now effected the admission of all those, which had been enacted subsequently to that æra; providing however, as he boasted, that the ministers of justice should be contained in proper subordination to the crown.' The amelioration of the military establishment likewise, as essential to the absolute autho rity now claimed by the Sovereign, engaged his particular attention. But the instrument, by which all these advantages were to be consolidated, was an ample and perma nent revenue. Upon the attaining of that, therefore, he exhausted all his talents and industry; and by a diligent superintendence of the Customs, rendering a licence necessary for the retail of Tobacco, introducing the statutes of Wills and Uses, opening a Victualling Trade between Ireland and Spain, and establishing the Linen Manufacture, he very extensively realised his object. In others of his proceedings, he was less fortunate. His attempt to increase the royal demesnes, by the discovery of defective titles, gave rise to great discontents. By his arrogant conduct, he offended the powerful and respectable Earl of St. Alban's and Clanrickarde, Hereditary Governor of the county of Galway; and he pursued with arbitrary and unjust vindictiveness Lord Mountnorris,* * The virulence of Wentworth's animosity against Mountnorris seems to have overpowered every feeling of humanity. Lady Mountnorris was a near relative of his beloved wife, Arabella Hollis, whose premature death had lately caused him the most bitter affliction. Trusting to the influence of this strong tie, she became an intercessor for her condemned husband, and addressed the following pathetic letter to Wentworth : "My Lord, "I beseech your Lordship, for the tender mercy of God, take off your heavy hand from my dear Lord; and for her sake, who is with God, be pleased not to make me and my poor infants miserable, as we must of necessity be by the hurt you do to him. God knows, my Lord, I am a distressed poor woman, and know not what to say more, than to beg upon my knees, with my homely prayers and tears, that it will please the Almighty to incline your Lordship's heart to mildness toward him: for if your Lordship continue my Lord in restraint, and lay disgraces upon him, I have too much cause to fear your Lordship will bring a speedy end to his life and troubles, and make me and all mine ever miserable. Good my Lord, pardon these woeful lines of a disconsolate creature; and be pleased, for Christ Jesus' sake, to take this my humble suit into your favourable consideration, and to have mercy upon me and mine; and God will, I hope, reward it into the bosom of you, and your sweet children by my kins Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, who upon his first accession to the government had enjoyed his friendship and confidence, to a capital sentence (dependent, for it's execution, upon his caprice) for a very trifling offence. With heavy, and deserved, censures were now mingled numerous calumnies. Resolving to brave the rumours which he could not suppress, with the assumed intrepidity of conscious innocence he requested leave of the King to come over to England. His reception at court corresponded with the importance of his services. When questioned by Charles concerning the state of Irish affairs, he displayed in the explanation of his measures the same address and vigour which he had previously shown in the execution of them; and pointed out in a perspicuous speech before the King and a Select Committee, the tendency of his exertions to promote at once the interest of Ireland and the authority of his royal employer. His hearers loaded him with applause; and among all the partizans of government throughout the kingdom his reputation became unbounded. An opportunity speedily occurred of binding his Sovereign by new testimonies of his zeal, As President woman: and for the memory of her, I beseech your Lordship to compassionate the distressed condition of me, "Your Lordship's most humble This letter, which is inserted in Clarendon's State Papers,' I. 449, is there endorsed with these words: "A copy of Lady Mountnorris' letter to the Earl of Strafford, when her husband was in prison, under sentence of death by martial law; and he was so hard-hearted, as to give her no relief." |