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218 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
that no toleration should be shown to the Catholics of Ireland; the other in Febru- ary, 1642, directing that two and a half million acres of Irish land should be granted to English adventurers in compensation for money lent to the Irish Parliament.
Moreover, up to this time the Anglo-Irish Catholic lords, despite some promises to the contrary, were reluctant to join the insurgents. Now however, they had a common cause with their fellow-religionists. Negotiations were opened and after two meetings with the repre- sentatives of the lords near the ancient site of Tara, Rory O’Moore succeeded in inducing them to join forces with the Old Irish, and the rebellion spread throughout the country.
In October, 1642, at Kilkenny, the leaders of both the Irish and the Anglo-Irish, ‘the lords and gentry of the confederate Catholics,’ as they were referenced, formed a union, albeit loose, of the “old” and the “new,” as it were, a union since known as the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny. Six persons from each province were elected to a Supreme Council, and the assembly then took measures for the raising of troops and the levying of taxes; it in fact arrogated to itself all the powers of an independent Parliament.
The year 1642 also saw the outbreak of civil war in England between the King and the Parliament-the hostilities lasted until 1649 and ended in defeat for the Royalists.
On the green hills of Ulster the white cross waves high, And the beacon of war throws its flames to the sky;
For the taunt and the threat let the coward endure, Our hope is in God and in Rory O’Moore.
Do you ask why the beacon and banner of war On the mountains of Ulster are seen from afar? ‘Tis the signal our rights to ragain and secure, Through God and the Virgin and Rory O’Moore.
Oh! Lives there a traitor who’d shrink from the strife- Who to add to the length of a forfeited life
His country, his kindred, his faith would abjure?-
No! we’ll strike for our God and for Rory O’Moore.
(Charles Gavin Duffy, Ballad Poetry of Ireland)
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