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220 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
experienced commander, Eoghan Ruadh, the Supreme Council, consistent in its desire to keep the Old Irish subordinate, divided them into seperate commands in each province. They then ratified this arrangement as permanent, before placing one of their own, James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, as commander-in-chief. Known disparingly to the Irish as ‘An Tiarna Beag’-‘The Little Lord,’ the untrustworthy and inexperienced Castlehaven had earlier volunteered his services to the opposition, but was turned down-O’Neill would later accuse him of showing either ‘supiness or cowardice in the operation of the war.’
This fatal arrangement left the commanders unable to strike decisively or to pursue victories with vigour; unsurprisingly, the resultant disunity proved to be a considerable ad- vantage to the enemy.
In September, 1643, prior to which no engagement of any real importance took place- up to this the campaign was conspicuous for skirmishes more than battles, the King, through James Buler, Duke of Ormond, his Deputy and commander of the Royalist forces in Ire- land, arranged with the Confederates for a cessation of hostilities. Even though Ormond himself was bitterly opposed to the Catholics, the King was in urgent need of all available support against his Parliamentarian enemies in England, so political and military reality prevailed. The truce was to last for a year; each party was to remain in possession of its own quarters; the Confederate agents were to have free access to the King, who was to receive £30,000 from the Supreme Council in return.
But confusion on a vast scale reigned as three separate parties all had armies in the field. Ormond held Dublin and command of the Royalist forces; the Confederation held most of each province. The Parliament had an army in the north-east, now grown to 20,000 and commanded by an unforgiving Scotsman, Major-General Robert Monro, and another in the South under Murrough O’Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, known to posterity from the self- explanatory epithet Murchadh na DTóiteán-variously ‘Murrough the Burner’or ‘Murrough of the Burning.s’
Very soon after the signing of the truce, King Charles became convinced that Ormond was not for making a lasting peace with the Confederates, and in 1644 he sent over the cava- lier Edward Somerset, the Earl of Glamorgan, to try and arrange terms secretly. Despite being one of his wealthiest and most generous supporters, Glamorgan was by no means the greatest diplomat ever sent by an English monarch. Neither was he the greatest soldier, in fact during a campaign the previous year in England, some 2,000 of his troops surrendered
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