O'Neill was sentenced to death for high treason and for four murders proved against him, according to the judge's notes. That he had levied war against the King is obvious, and the question is not worth discussing. He was not accused of murdering any one with his own hand, but as an accessory before the fact or by giving orders to the actual assassins. In the case of Lord Caulfield the fragments of evidence which we possess do not make the facts absolutely clear. The original capture was treacherous in the highest degree, and the murder was committed by Sir Phelim's foster-brother. The young lord had been over five months O'Neill's prisoner at or near Charlemont, and according to one witness he directed the escort to take him to Cloughoughter, in Cavan. Sir Phelim's own house at Kinard was the first halting-place, and there the deed was done, fifteen or sixteen of Caulfield's Scotch and English dependants being slaughtered at the same time. O'Neill was not present, but he had used very suspicious language shortly before, and the assassin was allowed to escape in his gaoler's company, and was not caught. Of three warders, one who was an Irishman was not punished, while the other two, being English and Scotch, were duly hanged by Sir Phelim's orders. The gaoler was restored to his post at Armagh. In all the cases much of the evidence is hearsay; but the murders charged, with many others, were committed within a few miles of Charlemont, and Sir Phelim, who commanded in chief, never punished anybody. Michael Harrison swore that in December 1641 he heard O'Neill say, 'with great ostentation, that he would never leave off the work he had begun until mass should be sung or said in every church in Ireland, and that a Protestant should not live in Ireland, be he of what nation he would.'[249]
[Sidenote: Execution of Sir Phelim O'Neill.]
[Sidenote: The alleged royal commission.]