quis of Ormond, at Brussels, to "assure his Majesty of his affection and duty, and that if his Majesty would vouchsafe himself to come into Ireland, he was confident the whole kingdom would declare for him." He opposed Lord Broghill's suggestion that terms should be made with Charles before his restoration. After the Restoration, he was confirmed in his post of President of Connaught, was appointed Keeper of the Castle of Athlone, Governor of Galway, and was elevated to the peerage, 6th September 1660, as Earl of Mountrath. For a time he was Lord-Justice. The large estates he held before the war were augmented by further grants. He died 18th December 1661, and was buried in Christ Church, Dublin. Some contemporary English rhymer, quoted by Prendergast, sounded his praise thus:
"Brave Sir Charles Coote
I honour; who in 's father's steps so trod
As to the rebels was the scourge or rod
Of the Almighty. He by good advice
Did kill the nitts that they might not grow lice."
The earldom became extinct in 1802, on the death of the 7th Earl. 52 80 93 271
Coote, Richard, Earl of Bellamont, nephew of the 1st Earl of Mountrath, was, it is believed, born in Ireland in 1636. He sat as member for Droitwich in the English Parliament of 1688, and was among the first to espouse the cause of William of Orange, for which he was advanced from being Lord Collooney to the Earldom of Bellamont. He was attainted by James's Irish Parliament of 1689. In May 1695, he was appointed Governor of New England, but did not arrive at his post until 26th May 1699. He succeeded by affability and condescension in thoroughly ingratiating himself with the people—wisely avoiding all differences with the legislature, and was voted a larger salary than any of his predecessors. He did much to suppress piracy. Captain Kidd, an American trader, well acquainted with the coasts and the resorts of the pirates, had been, in 1695, fitted out with a vessel at a cost of £6,000, and commissioned under the Great Seal to apprehend and execute such malefactors. He proved himself a traitor to the Government, and became the most dreaded freebooter of the Spanish main. The Earl induced him by delusive promises to surrender at Boston in 1699, whence he was soon after transmitted to London for trial. His immense stores of booty fell into the Earl's hands, and were scrupulously consigned to Government agents. The Earl of Bellamont's death at New York, 5th March 1701 (aged about 65), was regarded as a public calamity. The title became extinct on the death of the 3rd Earl in 1766. 37* 52 216
Coote, Sir Eyre, General, a descendant of a younger brother of the Earl of Mountrath, was born, most probably at his father's seat in the County of Limerick, in 1726. He entered the army at an early age, and it is believed served against the Pretender in 1745. In the beginning of 1754 his regiment embarked from Ireland for the East Indies. In January 1757 Coote, then a captain, was ordered by Admiral Watson to take possession of Calcutta, surrendered by the Nabob. He acted as Governor until dispossessed by Clive, who claimed to be his superior officer. At the battle of Plassey he held a prominent and responsible position, and was afterwards detached with a party in pursuit of M. Law, who had collected together the dispersed French. In the same year. General Lally threatening the siege of Trichinopoly, Coote, then a Colonel, drew together what forces he could, and invested Wandewash, which he took in October 1759. General Lally attempted to retake this important post, and a battle was fought under its walls, 22nd January 1760, in which Coote was successful, and the French retired to Pondicherry. The siege of this place commenced 26th November, and was carried on with unremitting diligence until January 1761, when it was captured by the British forces; the garrison, consisting of 1,400 European soldiers, became prisoners of war, and a vast quantity of military stores and treasure fell into the hands of the victors. This was almost a final blow to the French power in India. Mr. Mill praises his admirable good sense and temper displayed during the siege. When for a time replaced by Major Monson (through mistake of the Directors in London), he acted cheerfully under him, and helped "to encircle the brows of another with laurels which belonged to his own." 168 On Coote's return to England next year he was presented with a £700 diamond-hilted sword by the Directors of the East India Company. At the close of 1769, or very early in 1770, he was appointed Commander-in-chief in India, and he reached Madras in the course of the latter year; but owing to a dispute with the Governor of Fort George, almost immediately returned home overland. In 1771 he was invested with the order of the Bath, and in 1773, was appointed Governor of Fort George in Scotland. On the death of General Clavering, he was again appointed Commander-in-chief in India, and a member of the Council, and in April 1779, reached
