THOMAS L. COONAN. The Irish Catholic Confederacy and the Puritan Revolution. Pp. xii, 402. Dublin: Clonmore and Reynolds; New York: Columbia University Press, 1954. $6.00

• DOI: 10.1177/000271625630400160
• Author: William Haller
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

179

lizing

printed

tracts,

sermons,

and

other

literature

to

the

fullest,

the

author

depicts

the

struggles

of

a

&dquo;Godly

preaching

min-

istry&dquo;

and

its

&dquo;gathered&dquo;

flocks

ass

they

strove

to

win

religious

liberty

from

Charles

I

and

to

prevent

their

newfound

freedom

from

degenerating

into

chaos.

In

these

pages,

replete

with

quotations

and

para-

phrases

of

hundreds

of

sermons,

the

reader

follows

the

battles

of

the

Saints

first

against

Laud

and

episcopacy,

then

against

parliament

and

presbytery

and

finally

against

Levellers

and

sectaries.

At

last

Cromwell,

Ireton,

and

the

army

intervened

to

provide

the

compromise

of

Independ-

ency,

which

charged

individuals,

magis-

trates,

and

churches

alike

to

maintain

truth

and

oppose

heresy,

&dquo;but

nothing,

certainly

not

the

prison

or

the

halter,

can

really

serve

to

that

end

but

’Gospel

conviction’

&dquo;

(p.

339).

Throughout

the

protean

conflict

the

close

correlation

between

religious

and

political

liberty

is

lucidly

illustrated.

There

are

many

heroes

in

the

struggle

for

liberty

and

reformation

as

depicted

by

Profesor

Haller,

but

John

Milton

stands

forth

above

them

all.

Although

no

Car-

lyle,

Professor

Haller

has

perhaps

ascribed

too

much

importance

to

his

hero.

While

admitting

that

Milton’s

tracts

had

little

effect

until

1649,

the

author

holds

to

the

opinion

that

Milton’s

&dquo;participation

in

the

argument

for

liberty

and

reformation

was

a

fact

of

extraordinary

significance&dquo;

in

the

history

of

Puritanism

for

his

writings

car-

ried

&dquo;the

enduring

ideas

of

Puritanism

to

later

generations&dquo;

(p.

xv).

Be

that

as

it

may,

Professor

Haller’s

admiration

for

Milton

the

literary

figure

caused

him

to

elevate

the

poet

to

a

loftier

stature

than

he

deserved

during

the

period

1642-49.

All

but

the

expert

will

find

some

sections

of

the

book

rough

sledding.

On

the

other

hand,

some

portions

are

delightful.

In

spite

of

its

unevenness

Liberty

and

Refor-

mation

in

the

Puritan

Revolution

is

a

fas-

cinating

study

based

upon

sound

scholar-

ship.

Long

awaited

it

should

be

well

re-

ceived

by

students

of

literature,

history,

and

political

science,

as

well

as

by

those

interested

in

man’s

struggle

for

freedom

as

it

unfolded

during

the

Puritan

revolution.

JOHN

J.

MURRAY

Coe

College

THOMAS

L.

COONAN.

The

Irish

Catholic

Confederacy

and

the

Puritan

Revolution.

Pp.

xii,

402.

Dublin:

Clonmore

and

Reynolds;

New

York:

Columbia

Uni-

versity

Press,

1954.

$6.00.

Dr.

Coonan

maintains

that

the

Irish

re-

bellion

of

1641

and

the

ensuing

Catholic

Confederacy

were

the

outcome

of

the

agi-

tation

of

the

Catholic

Irish

for

an

inde-

pendent

Irish

parliament

under

the

crown

analogous

to

the

English

parliament.

This

agitation

paralleled

that

of

the

English

parliament

against

Charles

I.

It

fore-

shadowed

the

coming

struggle

of

the

Amer-

ican

colonies

for

representative

government

under

the

crown,

independent

of

the

West-

minster

parliament,

and

thus

anticipated

the

future

constitutional

development

of

the

British

Commonwealth.

The

Irish

Catholic

Confederacy

was

made

possible

by

the

collapse

of

royal

power

before

the

attack

of

a

strongly

Protestant

parliament,

and

if

things

had

turned

out

differently

might

have

made

possible

the

early

estab-

lishment

of

a

Dominion

of

Ireland

with

its

own

parliamentary

government.

But

the

outcome

of

civil

war

in

England

left

the

Irish

with

the

English

parliament

and

the

Puritan

army

to

contend

with,

and

nothing

to

depend

upon

besides

its

own

resources

but

the

word

and

the

authority

of

a

defeated

king

who

had

previously

in-

flicted

Strafford

upon

his

Irish

subjects.

The

revolutionary

regime

in

England

had

no

intention

to

relinquish

any

aspect

of

the

sovereignty’in

England

or

Ireland

of

which

it

had

now

taken

possession.

Crom-

well

came

to

Ireland

and

put

an

end

to

Irish

Catholic

hopes.

But

the

reason

for

Cromwell’s

success

in

this

was

not

really

or

not

only

the

evil

embodied

in

him

and

his

cause,

but

also

the

weakness

of

the

Irish

Confederacy

itself,

which

began

dis-

integrating

from

within

almost

from

the

moment

of

its

inception.

The

roots

of

this

weakness

reached

far

back

into

Irish

history.

The

difficulty

was

that,

although

there

was

among

the

Irish

a

deep,

even

fierce,

sense

of

being

Irish

and

Catholic,

Irish

nationalism

had

been

able

to

develop

no

cohesion,

no

unity,

and

no

sense

of

what

effective

action

in

the

cause

of

national

unity

required.

There

was

conflict

of

in-