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ORMONDE, JAMES BUTLER, 1ST DUKE
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See also:ORMONDE, See also: On the 18th of March 1643 he won the battle of New See also:Ross against Thomas Preston, afterwards Viscount See also:Tara. In September, the See also:civil See also:war in See also:England having meanwhile broken out, Ormonde, in view of the successes of the rebels and the uncertain See also:loyalty of the Scots in See also:Ulster, concluded with the latter, in opposition to the lords justices, on the 15th of September, the " cessation " by which the greater See also:part of Ireland was given up into the hands of the Catholic See also:Confederation, leaving only small districts on the See also:east See also:coast and See also:round See also:Cork, together with certain fortresses in the See also:north and See also:west then actually in their See also:possession, to the English commanders. He subsequently, by the king's orders, despatched a See also:body of troops into England (shortly afterwards routed by See also:Fairfax at See also:Nantwich) and was appointed in See also:January 1644 lord lieutenant, with See also:special instructions to do all in his power to keep the Scotch See also:army occupied. In the midst of all the plots and struggles of Scots, Old Irish, Catholic Irish of English race, and Protestants, and in spite of the intrigues of the See also:pope's See also:nuncio as well as of attempts by the parliament's commissioners to ruin his power, Ormonde showed the greatest firmness and ability. He assisted See also:Antrim in his unsuccessful expedition into See also:Scotland. On the 28th of March 1646 he concluded a treaty with the Irish which granted religious concessions and removed various grievances. Mean-while the difficulties of his position had been greatly increased by Glamorgan's treaty with the Roman Catholics on the 25th of August 1645, and it became clear that he could not long See also:hope to hold See also:Dublin against the Irish rebels. He thereupon applied to the English parliament, signed a treaty on the 19th of See also:June 1647, gave Dublin into theij hands upon terms which protected the interests of both Protestants and Roman Catholics so far as they had not actually entered into rebellion, and sailed for England at the beginning of August. He attended See also: Ormonde now, though in great straits for want of See also:money, resided in See also:constant attendance upon Charles and the queen-See also:mother in Paris, and accompanied the former to See also:Aix and See also:Cologne when expelled from France by See also:Mazarin's treaty with Cromwell in 1655. In 1658 he went disguised, and at great See also:risk, upon a See also:secret See also:mission into England to gain trustworthy intelligence as to the chances of a rising. He attended the king at See also:Fuenterrabia in 1659 and had an interview with Mazarin; and was actively engaged in the secret transactions immediately pre-ceding the Restoration. On the return of the king he was at once appointed a See also:commissioner for the See also:treasury and the See also:navy, made lord steward of the household, a privy councillor, lord lieutenant of See also:Somerset (an See also:office which he resigned in 1672), high steward of See also:Westminster, See also:Kingston and See also:Bristol, See also:chancellor of Dublin University, See also:Baron Butler of Llanthony and earl of Brecknock in the See also:peerage of England; and on the 3oth of March 1661 he was created duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage and lord high steward of England. At the same See also:time he recovered his enormous estates in Ireland, and large grants in recompense of the See also:fortune he had spent in the royal service were made to him by the king, while in the following year the Irish parliament presented him with £30,000. His losses, however, according to See also:Carte, exceeded his gains by £868,000. On the 4th of See also:November 1661 he once more received the lord lieutenantship of Ireland, and was busily engaged in the See also:work of settling that See also:country. The most important and most difficult problem was the See also:land question, and the See also:Act of Explanation was passed through the Irish parliament by Ormonde on the 23rd of December 1665. His See also:heart was in his government, and he vehemently opposed the See also:bill prohibiting the importation of Irish See also:cattle which struck so fatal a See also:blow at Irish See also:trade; and retaliated by prohibiting the import into Ireland of Scottish commodities, and obtained leave to trade with See also:foreign countries. He encouraged Irish manufactures and learning to the utmost, and it was to his efforts that the Irish See also:College of Physicians owes its See also:incorporation. Ormonde's See also:personality had always been a striking one, and in the new reign his virtues and patriotism became still more conspicuous. He represented almost alone the older and nobler See also:generation. He stood aloof while the counsels of the king were guided by dishonour; and proud of the loyalty of his race which had remained unspotted through five centuries, he See also:bore with silent self-respect calumny, envy and the loss of royal favour, declaring, " However See also:ill I may stand at court I am resolved to See also:lye well in the See also:chronicle." He soon became the See also:mark for attack from all that was worst in the court. See also:Buckingham especially did his utmost to under-mine his See also:influence. Ormonde's almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troublous times was no doubt open to See also:criticism. He had billeted soldiers on civilians, and had executed See also:martial See also:law. The See also:impeachment, however, threatened by Buckingham in 1667 and 1668 See also:fell through. Nevertheless by 1669 constant importunity had had its usual effect upon Charles, and on the 14th of March Ormonde was removed from the government of Ireland and from the See also:committee for Irish affairs. He made no complaint,insisted that his sons and others over whom he had influenceshould retain their posts, and continued to fulfil with dignified persistence the duties of his other offices, while the greatness of his character and services was recognized by his See also:election as chancellor of See also:Oxford University on the 4th of August. In 167o an extraordinary See also:attempt was made to assassinate the duke by a See also:ruffian and adventurer named Thomas See also:Blood, already notorious for an unsuccessful See also:plot to surprise Dublin See also:Castle in 1663, and later for stealing the royal See also:crown from the See also:Tower. Ormonde was attacked by this See also:person and his accomplices while See also:driving up St James's See also:Street on the See also:night of the 6th of December, dragged out of his See also:coach, and taken on horseback along Piccadilly with the intention of See also:hanging him at See also:Tyburn. Ormonde, however, succeeded in overcoming the horseman to whom he was See also:bound, and his servants coming up, he escaped. The See also:outrage, it was suspected, had been instigated by the duke of Buckingham, who was openly accused of the See also:crime by Lord See also:Ossory, Ormonde's son, in the king's presence, and threatened by him with instant death if any violence should happen to his father; and some See also:colour was given to these suspicions by the improper See also:action of the king in pardoning Blood, and in admitting him to his presence and treating him with favour after his See also:apprehension while endeavouring to steal the crown jewels. In 1671 Ormonde successfully opposed Richard See also:Talbot's attempt to upset the Act of See also:Settlement. In 1673 he again visited Ireland, returned to London in 1675 to give See also:advice to Charles on affairs in parliament, and in 1677 was again restored to favour and reappointed to the lord lieutenancy. On his arrival in Ireland he occupied himself in placing the See also:revenue and the army upon a proper footing. Upon the outbreak of the popish terror in England, he at once took the most vigorous and comprehensive steps, though with as little harshness as possible, towards rendering the Roman Catholics, who were in the proportion of 15 to 1, powerless; and the mildness and moderation of his See also:measures served as the ground of an attack upon him in England led by See also:Shaftesbury, from which he was defended with great spirit by his son Lord Ossory. In 1682 Charles summoned Ormonde to court. The same year he wrote " A See also:Letter . . . in See also:answer to the earl of See also:Anglesey, his Observations upon the earl of Castlehaven's Memoires concerning the Rebellion of Ireland," and gave to Charles a general support. On the 9th of November 1683 an English dukedom was conferred upon him, and in June 1684 he returned to Ireland; but he was recalled in October in consequence of fresh intrigues. Before, however, he could give up his government to See also:Rochester, Charles II. died; and Ormonde's last act as lord lieutenant was to proclaim James II. in Dublin. Subsequently he lived in retirement at Cornbury in See also:Oxfordshire, See also:lent to him by Lord See also:Clarendon, but emerged from it in 1687 to offer a See also:firm and successful opposition at the See also:board of the See also:Charterhouse to James's attempt to assume the dispensing power, and force upon the institution a Roman Catholic See also:candidate without taking the oaths according to the statutes and the act of parliament. He also refused the king his support in the question of the See also:Indulgence; notwithstanding which James, to his See also:credit, refused to take away his offices, and continued to hold him in respect and favour to the last. Ormonde died on the 21st of See also:July 1688, not having, as he rejoiced to know, " outlived his intellectuals "; and with him disappeared the greatest and grandest figure of the times. His splendid qualities were expressed with some felicity in verses written on welcoming his return to Ireland and printed in 1682: " A See also:Man of See also:Plato's See also:grand See also:nobility, An inbred greatness, innate honesty; A Man not See also:form'd of accidents, and whom Misfortune might oppress, not overcome .. . Who weighs himself not by See also:opinion But See also:conscience of a See also:noble action." He was buried in Westminster See also:Abbey on the 1st of August. He had, besides two daughters, three sons who See also:grew to maturity. The eldest of these, Thomas, earl of Ossory (1634-168o) predeceased him, his eldest son succeeding as 2nd duke of Ormonde. The other two, Richard, created earl of See also:Arran, and John, created earl of Gowran, both dying without male issue, and the male descent of the 1st duke becoming See also:extinct in the person of Charles, 3rd duke of Ormonde, the earldom subsequently reverted to the descendants of Walter, 11th earl of Ormonde. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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