163, 166, 169, 174, 181, 195, 211, 231,
239, 242-254; Clarendon, ii. 578-600.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Feb. 22.]
derived but little of that benefit which he expected from the cessation in
Ireland. He dared not withdraw the bulk of his army before he had concluded
a peace with the insurgents; and they, aware of his difficulties, combined
their demands, which he knew not how to grant, with an offer of aid which
he was unwilling to refuse. They demanded freedom of religion, the repeal
of Poyning's law, a parliamentary settlement of their estates, and a
general amnesty, with this exception, that an inquiry should be instituted
into all acts of violence and bloodshed not consistent with the
acknowledged usages of war, and that the perpetrators should be punished
according to their deserts, without distinction of party or religion. It
was the first article which presented the chief difficulty. The Irish urged
the precedent of Scotland; they asked no more than had been conceded to the
Covenanters; they had certainly as just a claim to the free exercise of
that worship, which had been the national worship for ages, as the Scots
could have, to the exclusive establishment of a form of religion which had
not existed during an entire century.
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