By
common consent a supreme council of twenty-four members was chosen, with
Lord Mountgarret as president; and a day was appointed for a national
assembly, which, without the name, should assume the form and exercise the
rights of a parliament.[1]
[Footnote 1: Rushworth, v. 516. Vindiciae Cath. Hib. 4-7. This work has
often been attributed to Sir Rich. Belling, but Walsh (Pref. to Hist. of
Remonstrance, 45) says that the real author was Dr. Callaghan, presented by
the supreme council to the see of Waterford.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1642. May 10.]
This assembly gave stability to the plan of government devised by the
leaders. The authority of the statute law was acknowledged, and for its
administration a council was established[a] in each county. From the
judgment of this tribunal there lay an appeal to the council of the
province, which in its turn acknowledged the superior jurisdiction of "the
supreme council of the confederated Catholics in Ireland." For the conduct
of the war four generals were appointed, one to lead the forces of each
province, Owen O'Neil in Ulster, Preston in Leinster, Barry Garret in
Munster, and John Burke in Connaught, all of them officers of experience
and merit, who had relinquished their commands in the armies of foreign
princes, to offer their services to their countrymen.
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