his own
scruples, feared to irritate the prejudices of his Protestant subjects. He
knew that many of his own adherents would deem such a concession an act of
apostasy; and he conjured the Irish deputies not to solicit that which must
prove prejudicial to him, and therefore to themselves: let them previously
enable him to master their common enemies; let them place him in a
condition "to make them happy," and he assured them on the word of a king,
that he would not "disappoint their just expectations."[1] They were not,
however, to be satisfied

[Footnote 1: Clarendon, Irish Rebellion, 25.]

with vague promises, which might afterwards be interpreted as it suited
the royal convenience; and Charles, to throw the odium of the measure from
himself on his Irish counsellors, transferred the negotiation to Dublin,
to be continued by the new lord lieutenant, the marquess of Ormond. That
nobleman was at first left to his own discretion. He was then authorized
to promise the non-execution of the penal laws for the present, and their
repeal on the restoration of tranquillity; and, lastly, to stipulate for
their immediate repeal, if he could not otherwise subdue the obstinacy, or
remove the jealousy of the insurgents. The treaty at Uxbridge had disclosed
to the eyes of the monarch the abyss which yawned before him; he saw "that
the aim of his adversaries was a total subversion of religion and regal
power;" and he commanded Ormond to conclude the peace whatever it might
cost, provided it should secure the persons and properties of the Irish
Protestants, and the full exercise of the royal authority in the island.[1]

[Footnote 1: Carte's Ormond, ii. App. xii. xiv. xv. xviii. iii. cccxxxi.
He thus states his reasons to the lord lieutenant:--"It being now manifest
that the English rebels have, as far as in them lies, given the command
of Ireland to the Scots" (they had made Leslie, earl of Leven,
commander-in-chief of all the English as well as Scottish forces in
Ireland), "that their aim is the total subversion of religion and regal
power, and that nothing less will content them, or purchase peace here; I
think myself bound in conscience not to let slip the means of settling that
kingdom (if it may be) fully under my obedience, nor lose that assistance
which I may hope from my Irish subjects, for such scruples as in a less
pressing condition might reasonably be stuck at by me.... If the suspension
of Poining's act for such bills as s