efore the
king's coming and rewarded with imprisonment in the castle of
Edinburgh--and when Hamilton and Argyle withdrew suddenly from the
capital, and charged Charles with a treacherous plot to seize and carry
them out of the realm.

[Sidenote: The Irish Rising.]

The fright was fanned to frenzy by news which came suddenly from
Ireland. The quiet of that unhappy country under Strafford's rule had
been a mere quiet of terror. The Catholic Englishry were angered by the
Deputy's breach of faith. Before his coming Charles had promised for a
sum of L120,000 to dispense with the oath of supremacy, to suffer
recusants to practise in the courts of law, and to put a stop to the
constant extortion of their lands by legal process. The money was paid;
but by the management of Wentworth, the "Graces" which it was to bring
received no confirmation from the Irish Parliament. The Lord-Deputy's
policy aimed at keeping the recusants still at the mercy of the Crown;
what it really succeeded in doing was to rob them of any hope of justice
or fair dealing from the government. The native Irishry were yet more
bitterly outraged by his dealings in Connaught. Under pretext that as
inhabitants of a conquered country Irishmen had no rights but by
express grant from the Crown, the Deputy had wrested nearly a half of
the lands in that province from their native holders with the view of
founding a new English plantation. The new settlers were slow in coming,
but the evictions and spoliation renewed the bitter wrath which had been
stirred by the older plantation in Ulster. All however remained quiet
till the fall of Strafford put an end to the semblance of rule. The
disbanded soldiers of the army he had raised spread over the country,
and stirred the smouldering disaffection into a flame. In October 1641,
a rising, organized with wonderful power and secrecy by Roger O'Moore
and Owen Roe O'Neill, burst forth under Sir Phelim O'Neill in Ulster,
where the confiscation of the Settlement had never been forgiven, and
spread like wildfire over the centre and west of the island. Dublin was
saved by a mere chance; but in the open country the rebellion went on
unchecked. The trembling planters fled for shelter to the towns as the
clansmen poured back over their old tribal lands, and rumour doubled and
trebled the number of the slain. Tales of horror and outrage, such as
maddened our own England when they reached us from Cawnpore, came day
after day over the