Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)
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Title: Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)
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IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS
VOL. II.
Printed by
Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square
London
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS
With a Succinct Account of the Earlier History
by
RICHARD BAGWELL, M.A.
In Two Volumes
VOL. II.
London
Longmans, Green, and Co.
1885
All rights reserved
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XIX.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH TO THE YEAR 1561.
PAGE
The Protestants rejoice at Elizabeth's accession 1
Dispute as to the O'Neill succession 2
Sussex Lord Deputy--the Protestant ritual restored 5
Parliament of 1560--the royal supremacy 6
Expectations of a Catholic rising 7
Attitude of France, Spain, and Scotland 8
Clearsightedness of Elizabeth 10
Desmond, Ormonde, and O'Neill 10
Reform of the coinage 12
Fitzwilliam Lord Deputy 14
Claims and intrigues of Shane O'Neill 15
Conciliatory attitude of the Queen 19
Shane O'Neill supreme in Ulster 21
CHAPTER XX.
1561 AND 1562.
Sussex completely fails in Ulster 23
He plots against Shane O'Neill's life 27
A truce with Shane 30
Who goes to England 32
Shane O'Neill at Court 33
The Baron of Dungannon murdered 38
Shane in London--he returns to Ireland 40
Desmond and Ormonde 41
Official corruption 43
CHAPTER XXI.
1561-1564.
Grievances of the Pale 46
Desmond and the Queen 48
Projects of Sussex 49
Elizabeth attends to the Pale 50
Shane O'Neill professes loyalty 51
Shane oppresses O'Donnell and his other neighbours 52
Sir Nicholas Arnold 57
Failure of Sussex 58
He attempts to poison Shane 64
Royal Commission on the Pale 65
Desmond and Ormonde 66
CHAPTER XXII.
1564 AND 1565.
Great abuses in the Pale 68
Extreme harshness of Arnold 73
Shane O'Neill in his glory 74
Shane's ill-treatment of O'Donnell 76
Shane and the Scots 79
Nothing so dangerous as loyalty 80
CHAPTER XXIII.
1565.
Desmond, Thomond, and Clanricarde 82
Ormonde will abolish coyne and livery 83
Private war between Desmond and Ormonde 85
Shane O'Neill and the Scots 89
Supremacy of Shane 90
Sidney advises his suppression 91
Desmond and Ormonde--Sidney and Sussex 92
Ireland is handed over to Sidney 94
Failure of Arnold 98
CHAPTER XXIV.
1566 AND 1567.
Sidney prepares to suppress Shane 102
Who thinks an earldom beneath his notice 103
The Sussex and Leicester factions 105
Mission of Sir F. Knollys 105
The Queen still hesitates 106
Shane's last outrages 107
Randolph's expedition reaches Lough Foyle 108
Sidney easily overruns Ulster 109
Randolph at Derry 110
Sidney in Munster--great disorder 111
Tipperary and Waterford 112
Horrible destitution in Cork 113
Sidney's progress in the West 114
Failure of the Derry settlement 115
Defeat and death of Shane O'Neill 117
His character 118
Sidney and the Queen 120
Sidney and Ormonde 121
Butlers and Geraldines 122
The Queen's debts 123
CHAPTER XXV.
1567 AND 1568.
Sidney in England--Desmond and Ormonde 124
Cecil's plans for Ireland 126
The Scots in Ulster 127
Massacre at Mullaghmast 130
The Desmonds--James Fitzmaurice 131
Starving soldiers 132
Miserable state of the North 133
Abuses in the public service 134
Desmond in London--charges against him 134
Charges against Kildare 138
Sir Peter Carew and his territorial claims 139
He recovers Idrone from the possessors 144
James Fitzmaurice's rebellion 145
The 'Butlers' war' 146
CHAPTER XXVI.
1568-1570.
Sidney's plans for Ulster 149
Fitzmaurice and the Butlers 150
Parliament of 1569--the Opposition 152
The Bishops oppose national education 155
Fitzmaurice, the Butlers, and Carew 156
Atrocities on both sides 161
Sinister rumours 161
Ormonde pacifies the South-East 162
Sidney and the Tipperary gentlemen 163
Sidney's march from Clonmel to Cork and Limerick 164
The Butlers submit 166
Humphrey Gilbert in Munster 167
Fitzmaurice hard pressed 168
Ulster quiet 169
CHAPTER XXVII.
1570 AND 1571.
The Presidency of Connaught--Sir Edward Fitton 170
Services of Ormonde 171
Thomond in France--diplomacy 172
Session of 1570--attainders and pardons 174
First attempt at national education 176
Commerce--monopolies--Dutch weavers 177
The Presidency of Munster--Sir John Perrott 179
Fitton fails in Connaught 182
Tremayne's report on Ireland 184
Ormonde in Kerry--services of the Butlers 184
Perrott's services in Munster 186
CHAPTER XXVIII.
FOREIGN INTRIGUES.
Fitzmaurice proposes a religious war 190
Catholics at Louvain--suspicious foreigners 190
Archbishop Fitzgibbon and David Wolfe 192
Fitzgibbon's own story 193
Philip II. hesitates 196
Thomas Stukeley 196
English and Irish parties in Spain 199
Ideas of Philip II. 201
Fitzgibbon, Stukeley, and Pius V. 202
Fitzgibbon negotiates with France and England 205
CHAPTER XXIX.
1571 AND 1572.
Want of money--Perrott and Ormonde 207
Perrott will end the war by a duel 209
Proposal to colonise Ulster--Sir Thomas Smith 211
Sir Brian MacPhelin O'Neill 213
Want of money--the army reduced 214
Fitton, Clanricarde, and Clanricarde's sons 216
Fitton driven out of Connaught 219
Perrott's activity in Munster 221
A mutiny 223
The Irish in Spain--Stukeley 225
Effects of the day of St. Bartholomew 227
Rory Oge O'More 227
Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne 228
Fitzwilliam cannot govern without men or money 229
CHAPTER XXX.
1572 AND 1573.
Smith's failure in Ulster 231
Submission of James Fitzmaurice 233
Treatment of the Desmonds in England 234
Walter, Earl of Essex 239
Alarm at his colonisation project 241
Essex proposes to portion out Antrim 242
Smith is killed 246
Perrott's government of Munster 248
Desmond escapes from Dublin 252
Wretched state of King's and Queen's Counties 253
Fitzwilliam and Fitton quarrel 254
Catholic intrigues 257
Failure of Essex 258
The Marward abduction case 261
CHAPTER XXXI.
1573 AND 1574.
Threatening attitude of Desmond 263
Fitzwilliam and Essex 268
Essex governor of Ulster 269
Essex powerless 272
Troubles of Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam 274
Evil condition of Munster 276
Essex and Desmond 278
Ormonde solemnly warns Desmond 281
Campaign in Munster--Desmond plots 283
Essex struggles on in Ulster 284
CHAPTER XXXII.
ADMINISTRATION OF FITZWILLIAM, 1574 AND 1575, AND
REAPPOINTMENT OF SIDNEY.
Essex wrongfully seizes Sir Brian MacPhelin 288
Violent disagreement of Essex and Fitzwilliam 290
The Essex scheme is finally abandoned 294
Profit _versus_ honour 295
Official corruption 296
Arrest of Kildare 297
The revenue--a pestilence 300
General result of the grant to Essex 301
The Rathlin massacre 301
Ulster waste--Sidney's advice 304
Bagenal's settlement at Newry 306
CHAPTER XXXIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF SIDNEY, 1575-1577.
Sidney and the Butlers 307
Ormonde and his accusers 308
Death and character of Carew 309
Sidney's tour--Leinster 310
Munster 312
Fitzmaurice in France 314
Sidney in Limerick, Clare, and Connaught 316
Sidney on the Irish Church 319
Troubles in Connaught--Clanricarde's sons 321
Sir William Drury Lord President of Munster 322
Essex in England 324
His return, death, and character 325
Leicester and Essex 326
Agitation in the Pale against the cess 327
The chiefs of the Pale under arrest 332
A composition agreed upon 333
CHAPTER XXXIV.
LAST YEARS OF SIDNEY'S ADMINISTRATION, 1577 AND 1578.
Lord Chancellor Gerard's opinions about the Pale 334
Drury's opinions about Munster 336
Maltby's opinions about Connaught 338
Rory Oge O'More 340
Rory is killed by the Fitzpatricks 344
Sidney's last days in Ireland 347
Character of Sir Henry Sidney 350
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE IRISH CHURCH DURING THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS OF
ELIZABETH'S REIGN.
The Queen aims at outward uniformity 353
See of Armagh--Adam Loftus 354
Papal primates--Richard Creagh 356
See of Meath--Staples 359
Other sees of the Northern province 360
Province of Dublin 361
Province of Cashel 364
Province of Tuam 367
Spiritual peers--Papal and Protestant succession 367
David Wolfe, the Jesuit 370
INDEX 373
_MAP._
IRELAND ABOUT 1570 _To face p. 149._
_Errata._
Page 46, line 2, for 1561 _read_ 1562.
" 47, headline, for 1561 _read_ 1562.
" 156, _for_ Archbishop of Ross _read_ Bishop of Ross.
" 173, _for_ Henry III. _read_ Charles IX.
" 283, _for_ Thomas Butler _read_ Theobald Butler.
" 367, _for_ Dermot O'Diera _read_ Cornelius O'Dea.
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS.
CHAPTER XIX.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH TO THE YEAR 1561.
[Sidenote: Accession of Elizabeth. Joy of the Protestants.]
The proclamation of Anne Boleyn's daughter can hardly have caused general
satisfaction in Ireland, but it was hailed with joy by Protestant
officials whose prospects had been clouded during the late reign. Old Sir
John Alen was soon in Dublin, whence he wrote to congratulate Cecil on
his restoration to office, and to remind him of his own sufferings under
Queen Mary. Thomas Alen, when reminding the new secretary of his great
losses, rejoiced that God had sent light after darkness, and that he and
his friends were going to have their turn. A sharp eye, he said, should
be kept on Sir Oswald Massingberd, who was suspected of a design to pull
down Kilmainham, lest its beauty and convenience should again attract the
Lord Deputy. Massingberd should be sternly restricted to his revenue of
1,000 marks, and the great seal should be transferred to a lawyer of
English birth. The prior was so far successful that Kilmainham soon
afterwards ceased to be a royal residence. He probably sold the lead, and
the damage being aggravated by a great storm, the commandery was not
thought worth repairing, and the chief governor's abode was transferred
to Dublin Castle. Sir Ralph Bagenal, formerly lieutenant of Leix and
Offaly, had been dismissed for denying the Papal supremacy, and had been
forced to seek refuge in France, where he lived by selling at a great
sacrifice a property worth 500_l._ a year. Queen Elizabeth gave him the
non-residence fines of twelve bishoprics; but there were legal obstacles,
and he begged for something more substantial. Staples, the deprived
Bishop of Meath, pointed out his griefs to Cecil, and thinking, no doubt,
more of the Queen than of his correspondent, complained that Pole had
made it a grievous article against him that he had presumed to pray for
the soul of his old master. Pole probably hated Henry VIII. enough to
wish his soul unprayed for, but the complaint is a very odd one from a
Protestant divine.[1]
[Sidenote: The limitations of the Tyrone Patent are disputed. Shane
O'Neill.]
Sidney, whom most men spoke well of, was confirmed in the office of Lord
Justice, and had soon plenty of work in the North. The old Earl of Tyrone
was sinking fast, and the horrors of a disputed succession were imminent.
Henry VIII. had conferred the Earldom on Con O'Neill for life, with
remainder to Matthew Ferdorogh O'Neill and his heirs male for ever. The
Barony of Dungannon was at the same time conferred upon the remainder
man, with a proviso that it should descend upon the heir to the Earldom.
Matthew's mother was Alison Kelly, and at the time of his birth she was
the wife of a smith at Dundalk. He was reputed to be Kelly's son until he
was sixteen, when his mother presented him to Con as his own child.
'Being a gentleman,' said his eldest son, 'he never refused no child that
any woman named to be his,' and he accepted Matthew with a good grace.
There was a Celtic law or doctrine that a child born in adultery should
belong to its real father, but there is no evidence to show that the rule
was actually binding in Ulster in the sixteenth century. Shane, the
legitimate eldest son, made a plain statement to the contrary, and
illustrated it by an Irish proverbial saying that a calf belongs to the
owner of the cow, and not to the owner of the bull. Matthew became a good
soldier, and Con was willing to have him for a successor. But as Shane
grew up he learned to oppose this arrangement, and, having good abilities
and boundless ambition, he was designated by a great portion of the clan
as successor to the tribal sovereignty. Shane oppressed his father, and
perhaps ultimately induced him to acquiesce in the popular choice; but to
make all safe, he took the precaution of murdering the Baron of
Dungannon, whose prowess he had reason to remember, and whom he had no
wish to meet again in the field. He steadily maintained that his victim
was the smith's son, and no relation; but the Irish annalists lend him no
countenance, for they remark that the deed was 'unbecoming in a kinsman.'
The Baron had left a young son, on whom his title devolved, and the
government were bound by the patent to maintain his ultimate rights to
the Earldom. It is uncertain whether Henry VIII. knew that Matthew
Ferdorogh was born while his mother lived in wedlock with the smith, but
probably he may be acquitted of having encouraged one of the worst Brehon
doctrines.[2]
[Sidenote: Strength of Shane's position.]
Yet Shane's case against the Government was a strong one; for it was not
disputed that his father had known the facts, and he was thus able to
contend that the King had been deceived, and that the limitation in the
patent was void. Besides, it was asked, why was not the Earldom given in
the usual way to Con and his heirs male? Whether Shane knew of the
above-mentioned Brehon regulation or not, it was his interest to affect
ignorance, to represent both his father and King Henry as the victims of
deception, and to take his stand on strict hereditary right for the
title, and on tribal election for his personal supremacy. About strict
veracity he was no more scrupulous than Queen Elizabeth herself. The
dilemma was complete, for English lawyers could not for very shame deny
the moral claims of the legitimate heir, nor could politicians ignore
those Irish captainries which the Crown had acknowledged over and over
again. By Celtic usage Con had of course no power whatever to alienate or
transmit the property of the tribe: in that he had only a life interest.
Shane argued, moreover, that according to the law of the Pale no lands
could pass by patent without an inquisition previously taken. None could
be taken in Tyrone, for it was no shire. If the English law were
followed, there was, therefore, no power to divert the inheritance from
him as rightful heir; if the Irish law prevailed, then he threw himself
on the suffrages of the tribe.[3]
[Sidenote: Sidney visits Shane O'Neill.]
Shane O'Neill robbed his father and mother of all they possessed, and
drove them into the Pale, where the unfortunate Con died early in 1559.
Shane, who had recovered from his defeat by the O'Donnells, and secured
himself by assassination against his most dangerous rival, claimed both
the Earldom of Tyrone and the tribal sovereignty of the North. At first
the Queen was strongly inclined to admit his pretensions. The patent was
indeed fatal to them, but Elizabeth had an eminently practical mind, and
the fact that Shane was in quiet possession weighed with her more than
his legitimacy. In the absence of positive orders, Sidney did his best to
maintain peace in the North. He repaired to Dundalk, and summoned Shane
to attend him. The wily chief was loud in his professions of loyalty, but
feared possible loss of reputation among his own people, and refused to
go. Having less reason to regard appearances, Sidney visited Shane in his
camp, and consented to act as god-father to his son, and to enter the
mysteriously sacred bond of gossipred, or compaternity. O'Neill bound
himself to keep the peace until the Queen should have pronounced on his
claims, and Sussex, who hated him, expressed a belief that he would not
keep his promise. Sidney could obtain nothing more, and Shane's arguments
were indeed such as could not easily be refuted.[4]
[Sidenote: Sussex, Lord Deputy, 1559. His instructions.]
Sussex struggled hard to avoid returning to the hated Irish service, and
pleaded occupations public and private. He declared, with perfect truth,
that Sidney would govern Ireland much better than he could, and he was
doubtless unwilling to leave the field clear to Lord Robert Dudley. But
the Queen would take no denial, and he had to go. She was at this time
inclined to govern Ireland in her father's cheap and rather otiose
fashion, and the number of pardons granted during her first years shows
that she aimed at a reputation for clemency. She understood the magnitude
of the task awaiting her in Ireland, but declared herself unable to spare
the necessary forces on account of the huge debt bequeathed by her
sister, and of the expensive legacy of a Scotch and French war. The
exchequer of Ireland had been much mismanaged, and its reform was urged
on the restored governor, whose standing army was fixed at 1,500 men, 300
of them horse and 300 kerne. He was authorised to spend 1,500_l._ a
month, but urged, if possible, to reduce the expense to 1,000_l._ The
amount either of men or money was not to be exceeded, except under the
pressure of necessity. The first duty of the new Lord Deputy and his
council was to set the service of God before their eyes, and, pending a
Parliamentary inquiry, all English-born officials were, at least in their
own houses, to use the rites and ceremonies established in England.[5]
[Sidenote: Arrival of Sussex. The Protestant ritual restored.]
Sussex landed at or near Dalkey, and on the following day rode into
Dublin. He was received on St. Stephen's Green by the Mayor and Aldermen.
Shaking hands with the chief magistrate, the Earl is reported to have
said, 'You be all happy, my masters, in a gracious queen.' Three days
later he was sworn in at Christ Church, Nicholas Darton, or Dardy, one of
the vicars-choral, chanting the Litany in English before the ceremony,
and the choir singing the _Te Deum_ in English afterwards. Ormonde at the
same time took the oath as a Privy Councillor and as Lord Treasurer of
Ireland. Thus was the Protestant ritual quietly re-introduced, Sidney
having been sworn with the full Roman ceremonial. The work of painting
the two cathedrals, and of substituting texts of Scripture for 'pictures
and popish fancies,' had begun three months before.[6]
[Sidenote: The Queen is gracious to the Irish nobility.]
Many important men had hastened to offer their services and forward their
petitions to the new Queen. Conspicuous among them was Richard, second
Earl of Clanricarde, called _Sassanagh_, or the Englishman, of whose
loyalty the Queen had a very good opinion, but who in one important
respect fell short even of a Court standard of morals. The names of seven
of his wives and sultanas have come down to us, and of these at least
five were living at this time. He was acknowledged as captain of
Connaught, his Earldom was confirmed by patent, and he received other
marks of favour. The Queen also lent a favourable ear to Ormonde's uncle,
brother, and cousin, and to the new Earl of Desmond. Connor O'Brien, whom
Sussex had established in the Earldom of Thomond, and MacCarthy More,
were also well treated, and so were several of the corporate towns.[7]
[Sidenote: Parliament of 1560. The royal supremacy restored.]
The first Parliament of Elizabeth met on January 12, 1560, and was
dissolved on February 1. It was attended by three archbishops, seventeen
bishops, and twenty-three temporal peers, including all the earls then
extant in Ireland. Ten counties sent two knights each, and twenty-eight
cities and boroughs were represented by two burgesses each. Ten other
counties, King's and Queen's among them, are mentioned, Connaught
counting as one, and Down being divided into two; but they either
received no writs or made no returns, and the same may be said of the
borough of Kilmallock. James Stanihurst, Recorder of Dublin and member
for that city, was chosen speaker. The chief business was to establish
the Queen's title, and to restore her father's and brother's
ecclesiastical legislation. First-fruits were restored to the Crown, and
so was the commandery of St. John. Massingberd's alienations were
annulled, and, as he was suspected of secret dealings with the Irish, he
was attainted unless he should surrender within forty days.
[Sidenote: Variations from the Anglican theory.]
So far English legislation was closely followed, but in two important
respects the Church was made more dependent on the State than in England.
Royal Commissioners, or Parliament in the last resort, were to be the
judges of heresy without reference to any synod or convocation, and
_congés d'élire_ were abolished as useless and derogatory to the
prerogative. These matters having been arranged to his satisfaction,
Sussex again went to England, and Sir William Fitzwilliam, who had just
come over as Treasurer at War, was appointed Lord Justice in his room.[8]
[Sidenote: The Catholics will not yield.]
Fitzwilliam, who was new to Ireland, at first found the Irish pretty
peaceful, but admitted that the overtaxed people of the Pale were less so
than they were bound in duty to be. Causes of disturbance were not long
in coming. Old O'Connor escaped from Dublin Castle, and uneasiness was
immediately observable in the districts where he had influence. Calvagh
O'Donnell's wife, who was Argyle's half-sister, had brought over some
1,500 Scots, 'not to her husband's enrichment,' as the Lord Justice
supposed, but as a plague to Shane, who had married O'Donnell's sister
and ill-treated her. Shane had engaged a similar force, and all these
combustibles could scarcely be stored without mischief. The priests who
were beaten in England showed signs of an intention to transfer the
struggle to Ireland, where they had many partisans and might create more.
At all events, they were flocking across the Channel, 'not for any great
learning the universities of Ireland shall show them as I guess.' The
Government only was weak. There were but fifty hundredweight of lead in
store, and Fitzwilliam thought he might have to strip the material for
bullets from some house or church.[9]
[Sidenote: Intrigues of Kildare. Lord Justice Fitzwilliam expects a
general rising.]
Kildare, whose foreign education and connection made him more dangerous
than any of his ancestors had been, was undoubtedly playing with edged
tools. Desmond refused to pay cess. The two earls had met at Limerick,
and would certainly join Donnell O'Brien if he landed with the expected
foreign aid. There were rumours of French ships on the coast, and
frequent messengers passed between Kildare, Desmond, and Shane O'Neill.
Edmond Boy, a Geraldine who was usually employed on this dangerous
service, warned a relation who had married an Englishman to sell all and
fly the realm, for if all promises were kept, her husband would never
reap that he had sown. Kildare not only kept his followers under arms,
but declared that he and his friends would be slaves no longer, presided
at assemblies of Irishmen, and ostentatiously heard mass in public. Of
all this there was ample evidence, and in addition, Lady Tyrone had
sought interviews with the Lord Justice, and sworn the interpreter to
secrecy. Laying the Bible first on her own head and then on his, 'which
is the surest kind of oath taken with them,' she made a very positive
statement as to the alliance of her son Shane and the two Geraldine
earls. The Countess indeed, Fitzwilliam told Cecil, was 'something
busy-headed and largely-tongued, crafty and very malicious, no great heed
to be given to her, unless some other thing might lend credit to the tale
she telleth, as in this there is.' There was quite enough to cause
anxiety, and the Government were almost defenceless. 'Send us over men,'
the Lord Justice cried, 'that we may fight ere we die.'[10]
[Sidenote: Attitude of Spain, France, and Scotland.]
It was still the policy of Philip II. to appear as Elizabeth's protector,
anxious to save her from the consequences of her own rashness and to give
her time to repent. This half contemptuous patronage was the result of
mere statecraft, and the Queen gave no credit for kindliness to a man who
had no such element in his nature. The first sighs of the great storm had
been heard in the Netherlands. With France and Scotland united, and with
England crushed as Philip thought she might be, the power of Spain in
Northern Europe would be endangered. The Catholic King would therefore
give no help to Catholic Ireland. The Christian King could give none; nor
even maintain his ground in Scotland. The French fleet had been cast
away, and the Huguenots were at no pains to hide their sympathy with
English and Scotch reformers. The conspiracy of Amboise showed what might
be expected. Francis II. was nought, and the hatred of Catherine de'
Medici for her lovely daughter-in-law paralysed the efforts of the
statesmen who ruled about him. Brave and full of resource, but without
help or hope, D'Oysel was shut up in Leith, the national skill of his
followers making the best of rats and horseflesh while Winter's ships lay
off Inchkeith, the unchallenged tyrants of the sea. Mary of Lorraine died
with a Calvinist preacher by her bedside, and the power of Rome was for
ever broken in Scotland. Under such circumstances no outbreak in Ireland
could have a chance of success, and the plottings of the Geraldines with
O'Briens and O'Neills came for the time to nothing.
[Sidenote: Sussex made Lord-Lieutenant, 1560.]
Fortified by constant intercourse with the Queen and Cecil, Sussex
returned to Ireland with the title of Lord-Lieutenant, which had not been
conferred since the death of Henry VIII.'s son, and which was not to be
conferred again till it was given to the rash favourite whose fate
darkened Elizabeth's last days. He told the Queen that he was willing to
surrender his post to anyone who would go against Shane O'Neill on easier
terms. 'She seeth,' he said, 'that I affect not that governance.' He had
repudiated with scorn the accusation that he had put to death those who
surrendered under protection. 'If the cause,' he said, 'were mine own I
would ask trial like a gentleman, but it is the Queen's. My word is not
the Earl of Sussex's word but Queen Elizabeth's word, my lie her lie.'
Noble words: but too imperfectly remembered in the hour of trial.[11]
[Sidenote: Private and public instructions to Sussex.]
Sussex's written instructions show no apprehension of foreign enemies,
except that he was authorised to contribute a sum not exceeding 250_l._
to the fortification of Waterford. If Sorley Boy MacDonnell's profession
of loyalty were fulfilled, he might receive a grant of the lands he
claimed. But Shane O'Neill was to be curbed either by fair means or
force. There was no longer a disposition on the Queen's part to accept
him as an established fact, and the young Baron of Dungannon was if
possible to be maintained against him. Noblemen and gentlemen were to be
encouraged to surrender their estates and to receive them back by fresh
grants, while Sussex was urged to proceed with the settlement of Leix and
Offaly, which was visible only on paper. The garrisons were in fact the
only fixed inhabitants. The remaining instructions were such as were
generally given to Irish governors, and were chiefly concerned with
improvements in the revenue and with the satisfaction of private or
official suits.[12]
[Sidenote: The Queen sees the difficulty of Irish government.]
But in private conversation with her representative Elizabeth held
language of which her indefatigable secretary did not fail to make a
minute, and which showed how deeply impressed she was with the magnitude
of the Irish difficulty. The chief danger was evidently from Kildare's
dealings with the foreigners, and Sussex was to persuade him if possible
to go to England. It was the habit of Irish lords on such occasions to
plead the want of ready cash, and the Earl was to be authorised to draw
to any reasonable amount on London on giving his bond for repayment in
Dublin. Kildare would have been a gainer, and the Queen a loser by the
exchange. If he would not cross the Channel by this golden bridge Sussex
was authorised to use a letter written by the Queen herself to Kildare,
in which she commanded his attendance at Court. A date was to be affixed
which might make it appear that the royal missive had followed and not
accompanied the Lord-Lieutenant to Ireland. If this failed, Kildare and
his most prominent friends, including Desmond, were to be arrested at the
earliest opportunity. 'And for satisfaction of the subjects of the land
the Lord-Lieutenant shall cause to be published by proclamation or
otherwise the reasonable causes of his doings, leading only to the quiet
of the realm.'[13]
[Sidenote: Attempts to reconcile Desmond and Ormonde.]
The death of the Regent and the expulsion of the French from Scotland put
an end for the time to any apprehensions from France. If Desmond and
Ormonde were once at peace the Lord-Lieutenant would have leisure to
settle Shane O'Neill's account. The manors of Clonmel, Kilsheelan, and
Kilfeacle had long been in dispute between the two earls, and a thousand
acts of violence were the result. The lawsuit was now about to be decided
in a pitched battle. Men came from the Lee and the Shannon on one side
and from Wexford on the other, and met near Tipperary, but separated
without fighting, probably owing to the efforts of Lady Desmond. Sir
George Stanley, Marshal of the Army, the veteran negotiator Cusack, and
Parker the Master of the Rolls, were sent to Clonmel to decide the most
pressing matters in dispute, which consisted chiefly of spoils committed
by the tenants and partisans of the two earls on each other. The White
Knight especially, whose lands bordered on Tipperary, was constantly at
war with his Butler neighbours. An award was given, on the whole
favourable to Desmond; but the peace thus obtained was not destined to
endure.[14]
[Sidenote: Shane O'Neill holds his own.]
Meanwhile Shane O'Neill, in spite of his 'misused' MacDonnell wife,
sought Argyle's sister in marriage; but that chief was engaged in the
English and Protestant interest, and sent the letter of proposal to
Elizabeth. So far from allying himself with the O'Neills, Argyle offered
to provide 3,000 Highlanders for immediate service in Ireland, if the
Queen would pay them, and 1,000 for permanent garrison duty on the same
terms. James MacDonnell was willing to serve in person. These were no
empty promises, for Argyle and MacDonnell had the men ready in the
following spring; and the Queen thought she saw her way to 'afflict Shane
with condign punishment to the terror of all his sept.' Gilbert Gerrard,
Attorney-General of England, who had been sent over to report on the
revenues, told Cecil that Ireland would be difficult to govern, and that
many people cared for nothing but the sword. O'Donnell, O'Reilly, and
Maguire might be induced to act loyally in hopes of throwing off
O'Neill's tyranny, and the MacDonnells from the fear of losing their
estates. All pointed to the necessity of vigorous action; but the summer
passed and nothing was done.[15]
[Sidenote: Reports as to the Queen's marriage.]
These were the days when everyone expected Elizabeth to marry. Cecil went
to Scotland, where the general wish was that the half-witted Arran
should unite the two kingdoms. On his return he found that his policy had
been thwarted by 'back counsels;' and he talked of resigning his place.
Sussex wrote in horror at the prospect, for he thought the Queen would be
but slenderly provided with counsel elsewhere, and under certain
circumstances, such perhaps as a Dudley ministry, he himself would not
serve ten months in Ireland--no, not for 10,000_l._ The dark tragedy on
the staircase at Cumnor left Dudley free, and for a moment most men
supposed that the Queen's partiality would end in marriage. Sussex did
not take so unfavourable a view of the match as the secretary. According
to his view the great national requirement was an heir to the Crown, and
there would be a better chance of one if Elizabeth married the object of
her affections. Sussex declared himself ready to serve, honour, and obey
any one to whom it might please God to direct the Queen's choice. Had
this advice been given to Elizabeth the writer might be suspected of
flattery, and of seeking friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; but,
spoken to such unwilling ears as Cecil's, it must be considered highly
honourable.[16]
[Sidenote: Reform of the coinage.]
In Ireland as in England, Elizabeth gained great and deserved credit by
reforming the coinage. From the time of John till that of Edward IV.
there had been no difference between the two standards; but in the latter
reign that of Ireland suffered a depreciation of twenty-five per cent. An
Irish shilling was henceforth worth no more than ninepence in England.
There must have been a loss to the public and a gain to the Exchequer at
first, but bullion finds its own level like water, and there were no
further fluctuations. Having become a settled and understood thing, the
difference caused little trouble. But when Henry VIII. began to tamper
with the currency great loss and inconvenience followed. The quantity of
silver--the common drudge 'twixt man and man--in any given piece of money
could scarcely be guessed at by the ordinary citizen. Barrels full of
counterfeit coin were imported, and added much to the confusion.
Tradesmen raised prices to save themselves. All good coin was exported
to buy foreign wares, and the course was continually downwards, as it
must inevitably be under similar circumstances. Inconvertible notes
proved highly inconvenient in America and in Italy; but they were nothing
to the metallic counters of the Tudors, which depended less upon credit
than upon uncertain intrinsic values. Communications were difficult,
there were no newspapers, and money dealers flourished. At every exchange
a burden was imposed on industry. Those who have been in Turkish towns,
and have seen a sovereign waste as it passes from one currency to
another, can form an idea of what Dublin and Drogheda suffered through
the ignorance and dishonesty of the English Government.
[Sidenote: Chaotic state of the currency.]
What Henry began Edward and Mary continued, and Ireland was deluged with
innumerable varieties of bad money. Some of Mary's shillings were worth
little more than the copper they contained. She also by proclamation
authorised the adulterated rose-pence of her father and brother to be
used in Ireland, though they were prohibited in England. In a paper drawn
up for Elizabeth's Council, five kinds of small coins are enumerated, of
every degree of baseness, and of values between 5-1/3_d._ and 1-1/3_d._
English. One of these, the old Irish groat, was worth threepence, but had
several varieties. Thus _Dominus_ groats were those struck before Henry
VIII. assumed the royal title, _Rex_ groats were those struck after; none
were of a good standard. The quantity of coin no more than three ounces
fine was estimated at from 60,000 to 100,000 lbs. To cleanse the Augean
stables it was proposed to restore the Irish mint, which had been
abandoned for want of silver at the end of Edward VI.'s reign. The repair
of the furnaces was begun, wood was cut, and the mixed money was cried
down for a recoinage. But the inducements offered proved insufficient,
and the merchants hoarded the Irish money instead of bringing it in. The
plan was then changed. A reward was offered for bringing in the bad coin,
and fresh money was struck in England on the basis of the practice which
prevailed from Edward IV. to Henry VIII. Ninepence sterling was fixed as
the value of an Irish shilling; some of the old money, particularly that
of the lower denominations, seems to have been put in circulation, but
it was used merely as counters and was not complained of. The currency
question slumbered until 1602, when Elizabeth fell away somewhat from her
early virtue, and partially revived the grievance which she had
redressed.[17]
[Sidenote: The O'Mores.]
Kildare had the wit to see that times were changed, and that the Crown
would be too strong for any possible combination; but others were less
well informed, or more sanguine. Some of the O'Mores held a meeting at
Holy Cross in Tipperary, where Neill M'Lice was chosen chief of Leix. The
object of this unfortunate clan was of course the retention of their
lands, to which they clung with desperate resolution. Shane sent a rymer,
one of those _improvisatori_ who were always at hand to carry dangerous
messages, bidding them to trust no man's word, but to wait for orders
from him. Desmond was also consulted. According to one account he offered
the conspirators a refuge in the last resort; according to another, he
had promised to send actual assistance. The matter came to Ormonde's
ears, and he appeared suddenly at Holy Cross, dispersed the meeting, and
took three of the principal men prisoners.[18]
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam made Lord Justice. Shane O'Neill holds out.]
Elizabeth saw that nothing of importance could be done without an effort,
and being in one of her frugal moods, she was disinclined to make that
effort. She summoned Sussex over for a personal conference, reminding him
that she had formerly been charged with other items besides his salary,
and suggesting that part of it should now be devoted to the payment of a
Lord Justice, 'which, considering our other charges, we think you cannot
mislike.' As soon as Fitzwilliam's commission arrived, Sussex left
Ireland; but Shane O'Neill did not wish to let the Lord-Lieutenant have
the sole telling of the story. Shane was in communication with Philip,
who bade him not be discouraged, for that he should not want help.
Letters to this effect were brought by the parish priests of Howth and
Dundalk, and O'Neill then wrote to the Queen in a very haughty strain. He
asked leave to correspond freely with the Secretary, and solicited the
admission of his messenger to the Queen's presence. 'There is nothing,'
he said, 'I inwardly desire of God so much' as that 'the Queen should
know what a faithful subject I mean to be to her Grace.' For her
Majesty's information, he stated forcibly his case against the Dungannon
branch, invariably calling his rival Matthew Kelly, and laying great
stress on his own election by the tribe. 'According,' he wrote, 'to the
ancient custom of this county of Tyrone time out of mind, all the lords
and gentlemen of Ulster assembled themselves, and as well for that I was
known to be the right heir unto my said father, as also thought most
worthiest to supply my father's room, according to the said custom, by
one assent and one voice they did elect and choose me to be O'Neill, and
by that name did call me, and next under your Majesty took me to be their
lord and governor, and no other else would they have had.' The effect had
been magical. All the North for eighty miles had been waste, without
people, cattle, or houses, 'save a little that the spirituality of Armagh
had,' and now there was not one town uninhabited. If the Queen would give
Ireland into his keeping, she would soon have a revenue where she had now
only expense.
[Sidenote: Shane will not acknowledge 'Matthew Kelly.']
As to Matthew Kelly, he had tried to turn him out of lands which his
father had long ago given him, in which the bastard pretender was
'maintained and borne up by the chin' by Sussex. Had he not been wholly
occupied in hunting Matthew up and down, he would long since have
expelled the Scots, who had been reinforced by Lady Tyrone, and supported
by Sussex. The Lord-Lieutenant had given them MacQuillin's land, 'which
time out of mind hath been mere Englishman,' having held his estate since
the first conquest. The Queen was thus answerable for the strength of the
Scots, and without her help he could not undertake to drive them out.
Kelly had been killed in a skirmish by chance of war, and he was not to
be held answerable for so usual an accident. In fact, he was a blameless
subject, who had committed no fault knowingly; 'but through being wild
and savage, not knowing the extremity of her Majesty's laws, nor yet
brought up in any civility whereby he might avoid the same, having also
many wild and unruly persons, and hard to be corrected in his country.'
By a stretch of legal ingenuity their misdeeds might possibly be laid at
his door, and to avoid that, and 'not for any mistrust of his own
behaviour,' he asked for protection. Unable to trust Sussex, he had sent
over the respectable Dean of Armagh to bring a safe-conduct from the
Queen herself, which would enable him to lay his case in person before
the English Council, and to return safely. For his expenses he should
require 8,000_l._ sterling, which, with a fine irony, he declared himself
quite willing to repay in Irish currency. For fear of mischances, the
Earl of Kildare and other men of rank should be directed to put him
safely on board, and to deliver him at Holyhead into Sir Henry Sidney's
charge. After his return Sussex should not be allowed to molest him for
three months.
[Sidenote: Shane's grievances against Sussex.]
Besides the main grievance about Matthew Kelly, Shane had fault to find
with governors in general, and Sussex in particular. When a very young
man he had discovered a plot to attack the Pale, and having respect to
the common weal of his native country, he had gone boldly to Sir Anthony
St. Leger without any safe-conduct. St. Leger had been so much impressed
with his virtue that he and all his Council had signed a contract, 'which
I have to be showed,' to give him 6_s._ 8_d._ sterling a day. Since that
he had suffered much, but not a groat of the pension had ever been paid.
Still he bore no malice, and had offered his services to Sussex against
the Scots. The Lord-Lieutenant was nevertheless firmly prejudiced in
favour of Matthew Kelly, and determined that he, the legitimate chief,
should be no officer of his. He accused Sussex of putting innocent men to
death, and thus making it impossible for any one to trust him. Sussex
always indignantly denied this charge, and he was borne out by Kildare
and by the Irish Council.
[Sidenote: He compares Tyrone favourably with the Pale.]
Shane proudly contrasted the state of his country with that of the Pale,
and suggested that the Queen should send over two incorruptible men
joined in commission with the mayor and aldermen of Dublin and Drogheda,
'which are worshipful and faithful subjects,' to judge which country was
the better governed. They might hear the charges against him, and also
the complaints of the families of the Pale, 'what intolerable burdens
they endure of cess, taxes, and tallages both of corn, beefs, muttons,
porks, and baks.' Not only did the soldiers live at free quarters, but
they had 'their dogs and their concubines all the whole year along in the
poor farmers' houses, paying in effect nothing for all the same.' Not
less than 300 farmers had gone into Shane's county out of the Pale. These
men were once rich, and had good houses, but they dared not so much as
tell their griefs to the Queen, 'yet the birds of the air will at length
declare it unto you.' Shane considered it 'a very evil sign that men
shall forsake the Pale, and come and dwell among wild savage people.'
[Sidenote: Shane's legitimacy.]
Besides his pretensions to the Earldom, or to the captaincy of Tyrone,
Matthew Kelly also advanced a claim to the manor of Balgriffin, in the
county of Dublin, which had been granted to Con O'Neill, with remainder
to his son, Matthew O'Neill, and in default of him and his heirs, with
remainder to the right heirs of Con. Shane had taken legal opinions, and
was advised that he had a title to Balgriffin, because there was no
Matthew O'Neill at the time of the grant. 'It follows plainly,' he
argued, 'that I am my father's right heir, legitimate begotten, and
although my said father accepted him as his son, by no law that ever was
since the beginning, he could not take him from his own father and mother
which were then in plain life.' Besides which he had inherited the land
of 'his own natural father the smith.' If the premise that Matthew was
Kelly and not an O'Neill be admitted, the reasoning is irrefragable.
[Sidenote: He desires an English wife.]
Badly as he had been treated, Shane declared himself ready to make
restitution wherever anything could be proved against him. His savagery,
which he confessed again and again, he thought could best be eradicated
by an English wife, 'some gentlewoman of some noble blood meet for my
vocation, whereby I might have a friendship towards your Majesty.' This
impossible she would indeed be much more than an intermediary between him
and the Queen to declare his grief and those of his country. 'By her good
civility and bringing up, the country,' he hoped, 'would become civil,
and my generation so mixed, I and my posterity should ever after know
their duties.' Some educated companion was necessary to him; for the men
of the Pale would not even show him how to address his letters properly,
and he feared to offend, whereas he desired nothing so much as her
Majesty's approbation and favour. How Shane treated an accomplished woman
when he had her in his power will appear hereafter.[19]
[Sidenote: Shane threatens the Pale.]
To enforce his demands, and to show how disagreeable he could be, Shane
burned three villages on the borders of the Pale. Their crime was giving
asylum to Henry, son of Phelim Roe O'Neill, who had offended by his
loyalty. With much difficulty and many smooth words, the invader was
prevented from spreading his ravages further; but he went so far as to
threaten the town of Dundalk for sheltering his disobedient namesake, and
he demanded an authority equal to that which Desmond had over the western
seaports.[20]
[Sidenote: He proposes to go to England.]
Shane's proposal to go to Court was accepted in order to gain time. A
safe-conduct was sent, and Fitzwilliam was instructed to make his
departure easy. Either really suspicious, or anxious to make it appear
that he was ill-treated, the troublesome chief then began to make
excuses, the most valid being that he had no money. Fitzwilliam wrote him
a soothing letter, and Shane then said his retinue could not be ready for
nearly two months. He held out stoutly for 3,000_l._ at least, but it was
feared that he would rebel on receipt of it, 'conduct,' said the Lord
Justice, 'which to his kind best belongeth.' In the meantime he amused
himself by plundering the O'Reillys and those on the borders of the
Pale.[21]
[Sidenote: Intrigues with Scotland.]
While Fitzwilliam was temporising with Shane in Ireland, Sussex was
intriguing against him in Scotland. His messenger carried credentials to
the Ambassador Randolph, to Argyle, and to James MacDonnell. He was
directed to visit them all, and if possible to see O'Donnell's wife, a
sister of Argyle, who continually hovered between Ireland and Scotland.
He was then to cross the Channel, find his way to O'Donnell, and offer
him the Earldom of Tyrconnel in the Queen's name. To Argyle Cecil wrote
as to a friend whom he had learned to value when in Scotland, urging him
to 'use stoutness and constancy, or the adversary will double his
courage, where contrariwise the Papist being indeed full of cowardness
... will yield.' Large offers were made to James MacDonnell and his
brother Sorley Boy, and it was hoped that all the most powerful men in
the North might thus be united against the redoubtable Shane.[22]
[Sidenote: The Queen prepares for war, but endeavours to conciliate the
Irish nobility.]
Sir Henry Radclyffe, the Lord-Lieutenant's brother, thought Shane had
money enough if he would be contented with reasonable expenses, but that
he had sought counsel of those who were against the journey, and was
chiefly anxious to gain time. He daily muddled his 'unstable head' with
wine, and every boon companion could affect his judgment. That drunken
brain was nevertheless clear enough to baffle Elizabeth for a long time.
Perhaps Shane really expected help from Philip. Radclyffe thought him
hopeless, and quoted Ovid as to the desirability of cutting out incurable
sores before they had time to poison the blood. These opinions prevailed,
and warlike preparations were swiftly and silently made. Six hundred
additional men were sent to Ireland, and a general hosting was ordered.
O'Reilly was encouraged to hope for the Earldom of Brefny, and robes and
coronets for him and for O'Donnell were actually sent. O'Madden and
O'Shaughnessy in Connaught, were thanked for former services, and
exhorted to deserve thanks in the future. Shane, wrote the Queen, was the
common disturber. He had offered to go to Court and then drew back,
though she had with her own hands given the required safe-conduct to his
messenger. Conciliation had been tried in vain; and she was now obliged
to resort to force. They were directed in all things to be guided by
Sussex, whom her Majesty quite exonerated from Shane's slanders.[23]
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam and Kildare.]
While his official superior was at Court, Fitzwilliam had no easy time in
Dublin. He disliked and distrusted Kildare, who declined all
responsibility for his bastard kinsfolk, the old scourges of the marches
living at free quarters and disdaining honest industry. The MacCoghlans
surprised one of the Earl's innumerable castles, in which they were
assisted by Ferdinando O'Daly, an Irishman in Fitzwilliam's service.
Kildare made a prisoner of O'Daly, and the Lord Justice thought his
position as the Queen's representative required his liberation. They were
'tickle times, and many evil and rude men depend upon his Lordship, who
with one wink might stir mischief.' The Lord Justice offered to make good
any harm that O'Daly might have done, but insisted on his enlargement,
because it did not stand with the credit of his office that any servant
of his should lie in gyves. Kildare at first refused to give the man up,
and on the Lord Justice persisting, said he was in the custody of his
captor, who had been promised a ransom of forty marks. O'Daly was
ultimately released, and probably Fitzwilliam paid the forty marks. In
the meantime Shane had been acting while his opponents talked.[24]
[Sidenote: Shane seizes O'Donnell and his wife.]
The O'Donnells, under a son of the chief, besieged an island in Lough
Veagh, occupied by one of those pretenders who were never wanting in any
Irish country. The chief himself lay at a Franciscan friary, eleven miles
from his son, and with only 'a few soldiers, besides women and poets.'
Among the women was his wife, by birth a Maclean, widow of an Earl of
Argyle, noted for her wisdom and sobriety, a good French scholar with a
knowledge of Latin, and a smattering of Italian, but at heart a rake who
had been dazzled by Shane's successful career. She contrived to let the
object of her admiration know her husband's defenceless condition, and he
was only too ready to take the hint. A meeting of the two chiefs was
arranged for May 15. O'Neill was not far off, and on the night of the
14th he appeared in force at the monastery gates. Had they been shut
defence might have been possible, for O'Donnell had 1,500 Scots
mercenaries within five miles; but they had been left open, probably on
purpose, and O'Donnell and his wife were carried off into Tyrone. The
night attack of four years before was thus amply avenged. Calvagh was
kept in close and cruel confinement, and as Shane's mistress the wise
countess soon had reason to deplore her folly and perfidy.[25]
[Sidenote: Shane is supreme in Ulster.]
A messenger whom O'Neill had sent to Fitzwilliam used very insolent
language, such as he had no doubt been accustomed to hear from his
chief's mouth. The Lord Justice complained, and Shane, whose cue was not
to offend the Queen or her representative, said that his envoy was a
scamp who had exceeded his instructions, and that he had tortured him and
slit his ear. But the Government thought Shane incorrigible, and in this
at least they were supported by Kildare. O'Neill was proclaimed a rebel
and traitor. Either on this or some later occasion an Irish jester
remarked that, except traitor was a more honourable title than O'Neill,
he would never consent to Shane's assumption of it, a joke which gained
point from the feebleness of the proceedings against him. In the eyes of
the Lord Justice he was the bully of the North; in the eyes of the Irish
he was King of Ulster from Drogheda to the Erne, with power very little
diminished by the opposition of the English.[26]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Sir John Alen to Cecil, Dec. 16, 1558; Staples to same, Dec. 16; T.
Alen to same, December 18. Harris's _Dublin_, chap. ii.
[2] _Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland_, vol. iii.; Preface to _Book
of Aicill_, p. cxlviii.; Shane O'Neill to Queen Elizabeth, Feb. 8, 1561;
Campion's History; _Four Masters_, 1558. Maine's _Early History of
Institutions_, chap. ii.
[3] See the arguments in _Carew_, 1560, vol. i. p. 304.
[4] There is an account of the interview in _Hooker_.
[5] Instructions to Sussex, 1559, in _Carew_, pp. 279 and 284.
[6] Mant from Loftus MS.; Ware's _Annals_.
[7] Memorial of answers by the Queen, July 16, 1559, and Instructions to
Sussex, July 17, both in _Carew_; note of the Earl of Clanricarde's wives
and concubines now alive, Feb. 1559 (No. 18).
[8] The list of this Parliament is in _Tracts relating to Ireland_, vol.
ii., Appendix 2; _Printed Statutes_, 2 Elizabeth; _Collier_, vol. vi. p.
296 (ed. 1846); Ware's _Annals_; _Leland_, book iv. chap. i.
[9] Fitzwilliam to Sussex, March 8 and 15, 1560.
[10] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, April 11, 1560; Advertisements out of Ireland,
May (No. 15), and many other papers about this time.
[11] Memorial by the Earl of Sussex for the Queen, May 1560 (No. 21).
[12] See the two sets of Instructions in _Carew_, vol. i. May 1560, Nos.
223, 225.
[13] Memorial of such charge as the Queen's Majesty has given by her own
speech to the Earl of Sussex, &c., May 27, 1560, in _Carew_.
[14] Orders taken by the Lord-Lieutenant and Council, Aug. 1, 1560. Award
for the Earl of Desmond, Aug. 23.
[15] The Queen to Sussex, Aug. 15, 1560, and Aug. 21; list of plain
rebels, July 19. Gerrard, A.G., to Cecil, Sept. 5.
[16] Sussex to Cecil, Oct. 24 and Nov. 2.
[17] Ware's _Antiquities_, by Harris, chap. xxiii.; 'Le case de mixt
moneys' in Davies's Reports. There are a great many letters on this
subject in the R.O., 1560 and 1561. See particularly the valuation of
silver coins, &c., Dec. 1560 (No. 62), several of Feb. 23, 1561;
Fitzwilliam to Cecil, May 4; to the Queen May 5; and the Queen's letter
of June 16. See also Queen's Instructions to Sussex, May 22, 1561, in
_Carew_, and the proclamations near the end of the last volume of that
collection.
[18] Queen to Sussex, Dec. 15; to Ormonde, Dec. 16, 1560. Examinations of
Donell MacVicar, Jan. 14, 1561.
[19] The whole of Shane's statements are from his letter to the Queen,
Feb. 8, 1561. For the refutation of his charge against Sussex, see the
Queen to the Nobility and Council of Ireland, May 21, and the Council's
answer, June 12.
[20] Lord Justice Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Feb. 8, 1561; Jaques Wingfield to
Sussex, Feb. 23.
[21] Protection for Shane O'Neill, March 4, 1561; Fitzwilliam to the
Queen, April 5, 8, and 26.
[22] Sir William Cecil to Argyle, April 2, 1561 (not sent till the 27th);
Instructions by Sussex to William Hutchinson, sent into Scotland, April
27.
[23] Sir Henry Radclyffe to Cecil, May 3. The lines from Ovid are:--
Cuncta prius tentanda, sed immedicabile vulnus
Ense recidendum est, ne pars sincera trahatur.--_Met._ i. 190.
They were quoted by Sir Edward Dering in his speech against Bishops, &c.,
in the Long Parliament. The Queen to the Nobility and Council of Ireland,
May 21. Sussex to Cecil, July 17.
[24] Wingfield to Sussex, Feb. 23; Fitzwilliam to Cecil, April 5, and the
enclosures.
[25] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, May 30, 1561, and to Sussex same date. The
_Four Masters_ incorrectly place the event under the year 1559.
[26] Shane O'Neill to the Lord Justice, June 8. He calls his messenger
'nebulo,' and says 'diversis torquidibus torturavi eum et auriculam ejus
fidi.' Campion. _Four Masters_, 1561.
CHAPTER XX.
1561 AND 1562.
[Sidenote: Sussex returns and invades Ulster.]
Sussex landed on June 2, and advanced within three weeks to Armagh, where
he fortified the cathedral and posted a well-provided garrison of 200
men. Shane could do nothing in the field, but withdrew with his cattle to
the border of Tyrconnel. Calvagh O'Donnell was hurried about from one
lake-dwelling to another; and Hutchinson, the confidential agent of
Sussex in Scotland and Ulster, retired to Dublin in despair. Believing
that the possession of Armagh would give him an advantage in negotiation,
Sussex made overtures through the Baron of Slane; but O'Neill refused to
come near him until he had seen the Queen, who had given his messenger a
superlatively gracious answer. In the meantime he demanded withdrawal of
the garrison, maintaining that the war was unjust and unprovoked. He had
not, he said, libelled the Lord-Lieutenant, and had he done so he would
have scorned to deny his authorship. He professed great readiness to go
to London, but repeated that money was necessary, and laid upon the
Viceroy the whole responsibility of nullifying the Queen's good
intentions. In future, he grandly declared, he would communicate only
with head-quarters, and he hoped that her Majesty would support his
efforts to civilise his wild country. He was not such a fool as to put
himself in the power of an Irish Government, and he gave a long list of
Irishmen who had suffered torture or death through their reliance on
official promises. Sussex replied that the money was ready for Shane if
he would come for it before the campaign began, and he issued a
proclamation calling on the O'Neills to support the young heir to the
Earldom of Tyrone. Shane merely warned the Baron of Slane to look out
for something unpleasant; for Earl of Ulster he intended to be. That
great dignity had long been merged in the Crown, and the Baron could
hardly fail to see what Shane was aiming at.[27]
[Sidenote: Shane surprises the Viceregal army.]
When all was ready the army encamped near Armagh, which it was proposed
to make a store-house for plunder. Five hundred cows and many horses were
taken in a raid northwards; but the Blackwater was flooded, and nothing
more could be done for several days. Not to be quite idle, Sussex sent
Ormonde to Shane, who offered worthless hostages for his prompt departure
to England, but refused to give up O'Donnell. An attempt was then made
against some cattle which were discovered on the borders of Macmahon's
country. In compliance with a recognised Irish custom, Macmahon was
probably obliged to support a certain number of his powerful neighbour's
stock. Sir George Stanley, with Fitzwilliam and Wingfield, went on this
service with 200 horse, seven companies and a half of English foot, 200
gallowglasses, 100 Scots, and all the kerne in camp. Ormonde was ill, and
Sussex in an evil hour, as he himself says, stayed to keep him company.
The cattle were driven off, and no enemy appeared. On their return Shane
overtook the troops with twelve horse, 300 Scots, and 200 gallowglasses.
Wingfield, who commanded the rear guard of infantry, allowed himself to
be surprised, and for a time all was confusion. The column was long, and
some time passed before Stanley and Fitzwilliam knew what had happened.
They at once attacked the Irish in flank, and Shane in turn suffered some
loss; indeed, the annalists say, with a fine rhetorical vagueness, that
countless numbers were slain on both sides. But the cattle, the original
cause of the expedition, were not brought into Armagh. The moral effect
of the check was disastrous, and Sussex, though he put the best face on
the matter when writing to Elizabeth, exaggerating Shane's losses and
making light of his own, did not conceal the truth from Cecil. 'By the
cowardice of some,' he wrote, 'all were like to have been lost, and by
the worthiness of two men all was restored.' Wingfield was chiefly
blamed, but the Lord-Lieutenant bitterly reproached himself for remaining
behind when so large a force was in the field. Fifty of his best men were
killed and fifty wounded, and it was impossible to take that prompt
revenge which alone can restore the reputation of an army when defeated
in a hostile country by a barbarian enemy. 'This last July,' said the
unhappy Viceroy, 'having spent our victuals at Armagh, we do return to
the Newry to conduct a new mass of victuals to Armagh.'[28]
[Sidenote: Anger of the Queen.]
When Cecil heard the evil tidings he says himself that he was so appalled
that he had much ado to hide his grief, the rather that Lord Pembroke
being away there was no one with whom he could share it. To the Queen he
spoke as lightly as he could of a little bickering in which Shane had the
greater loss, which to the letter was true. For the benefit of the
general public Cecil gave out that Shane had been overthrown with the
loss of two or three captains. Privately he urged Sussex to use strong
measures with those who had shown cowardice. But it was seldom possible
to hide the truth from Elizabeth, and she soon knew all. She gave orders
that Wingfield should be deprived of all his offices, and dismissed her
service with ignominy. But the wrath of Sussex soon cooled, or perhaps
his conscience made him generous. It was discovered that Wingfield's
patent as Master of the Ordnance could not be voided, because he had
acted only as a simple captain. His services among the O'Byrnes were
remembered, and both Sussex and Ormonde interceded for him. At his own
urgent request he was summoned to Court, when he probably succeeded in
rebutting the charge of actual cowardice, and he remained Master of the
Ordnance till his death in 1587.[29]
[Sidenote: Shane again proposes to go to the Queen.]
Having driven the English out of his country, Shane O'Neill proposed to
treat with Ormonde, no doubt with the deliberate intention of insulting
Sussex. To Ormonde accordingly he sent his messenger, Neal Gray, with
power to make terms. Shane was ready to go to the Queen, and to repair
the church at Armagh. But he would not make peace while the soldiers
remained there, and he declared that no one in his senses would believe
in the peace while such a sign of war remained. To show his own idea of
peace and friendship he asked Sussex to be his gossip, and to give him
his sister's hand. The Lord-Lieutenant declined to withdraw the garrison
until the Queen's pleasure should be known. Fitzwilliam had gone to her,
and Ormonde, knowing that nothing would be done till his return, had gone
home. If Shane hurt any of his neighbours in the meantime, he was warned
that he could never hope to see the Queen's face. Sussex marvelled at the
constant changes in Shane's answers. 'O'Neill desired me to procure the
Queen's pardon and protection, for the which at his request we have
already sent Mr. Treasurer, and now he desireth to send his own
messengers, whereby it seemeth he should seek delays, for that his
messengers cannot go and return with such speed as Mr. Treasurer will do.
And we know not to what other purpose he should send his messenger
thither. Therefore we will him to send us word by writing directly
whether he will go to the Queen's Majesty, according his oath taken, if
Mr. Treasurer bring him the Queen's pardon and protection.' To this Shane
haughtily answered that he would make no peace with any of his vassals
(urraghs) but at his own time and in his own way, and that he would
receive neither pardon nor protection from the Queen unless they were
delivered to his own messenger. In his natural anger at such an answer,
Sussex called loudly for strong measures: 'if Shane be overthrown, all is
settled; if Shane settle, all is overthrown.' It was no fault of his that
the arch-rebel would not go to the Queen. Indeed, it was well known that
Kildare had first advised that step to gain time, and then prevented its
being taken for the same reason.[30]
[Sidenote: Renewed preparations.]
Fitzwilliam was instructed to ask for an immediate aid of 200 men, and
3,000_l._ The men were ordered from Berwick, and 2,000_l._ of the money
was sent. Transports were pressed upon the Lancashire coast, and the
Queen wrote in her best style to encourage Sussex. His ill success, she
was sure, had come from no want of goodwill, and the chances of war were
to be borne patiently; but she marvelled that the General had not
punished those who showed cowardice. Traitors and cowards were to be sent
to gaol without favour or affection. The Queen impressed the value of
patience upon Sussex, her own principle being rather to recover the
subject by persuasion than force. She was willing to give Ormonde a
reasonable sum for Shane's expenses, leaving the question of security to
Sussex. She would not withdraw the garrison, but would undertake that it
should molest no one except notorious traitors proclaimed before last
March. In the meantime Sussex was to prepare for war by discharging
unserviceable men, and by withholding the pay of runaways. The
Lord-Lieutenant was required to forget his private dislike to Kildare,
and to work with him loyally for the good of the service.[31]
[Sidenote: Sussex proposes to have Shane O'Neill killed.]
Stung by failure, and fearing to be outwitted after all, Sussex now
devised a safer and surer method than either war or diplomacy. There had
perhaps already been one attempt to stab O'Neill, which he attributed to
Sussex; but we are not bound to believe this, for a chief who punished
unsuccessful agents by torturing them and slitting their ears was not
likely to gain much affection. Neill Gray now declared that he was ready
to serve the Queen, if Sussex would write to her on his behalf. The
nature of the service required was not such as could be publicly avowed,
and Gray swore on the Bible to keep it secret, on pain of death, if it
became known during the continuance of the Earl's government. 'For the
benefit of his country and his own assurance,' he agreed to do whatever
Sussex wished, and 'in fine I brake with him to kill Shane, and bound
myself by my oath to see him have 100 marks of land by the year to him
and his heirs for his reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness,
and to have the land, but fearful to do it, doubting his own escape
after. I told him the way how he might do it, and how to escape after
with safety;' and at last Gray promised to do it if he saw a prospect of
security. Sussex assured the Queen that his accomplice might do it
without danger if he chose, 'and if he will not do what he may in your
service, there will be done to him what others may. God send your
Highness a good end.' To hire a man to murder your enemy, and to
determine to murder that hireling in the event of failure, are hardly
matters deserving of divine favour, and it is deeply to be regretted that
no letter is extant from Elizabeth expressing horror at the scheme. Such
a letter may nevertheless have been written, for it would have been the
interest of Sussex to destroy all evidence of the contemplated crime. On
the same day that the Lord-Lieutenant attempted to make his sovereign an
accessory before the fact, he informed her of the way in which he had
received Shane's matrimonial proposal. 'I told him he should at his
coming find my sister at the Court, and if I liked the other, I would
further it as much as I could.' The treachery of Judas was hardly more
dramatically complete. It must not, however, be forgotten that Shane was
a proclaimed traitor, and that the political morality of the day was very
different from ours. Sussex may have thought he was doing little more
than putting a price upon an outlaw's head.[32]
[Sidenote: General disaffection.]
Nothing came of the plot; but Neill Gray was too deeply implicated to
venture on a double treason, and the Lord-Lieutenant's secret was kept.
But 'slanderous bruits' against him were rife on other accounts; for the
feeling on the border was in Shane's favour, and there was a general
hesitation about putting him down effectually. It was said that Sussex
would be superseded, and the date of his intended departure was named
positively. The hundred tongues of rumour were busy in giving the sword
to one man to-day and to another to-morrow. Everything was believed but
the truth, and as a natural consequence orders were badly obeyed. Sussex
urged strongly that the campaign must be prosecuted, or that everything
must be left to Shane, who claimed jurisdiction over all inhabitants of
the northern province, including those who held direct of the Queen, and
had never been subject to any O'Neill. 'So as we see, Ulster is the scope
he challengeth,' and if he once gained that there was no reason why he
should not shoot even higher. Amid the general disaffection Sussex was
afraid to carry out the Queen's orders about punishing Wingfield and the
other delinquents in the affair of July, when, as common report affirmed,
the army was overthrown with small loss to Shane.[33]
[Sidenote: Sussex again takes the field.]
With a heavy heart the Lord-Lieutenant led an unusually large force to
Armagh. The magnitude of the effort may be estimated from the fact that
four out of the five earls then in Ireland took part in the expedition,
Thomond and Clanricarde being left to defend the principal camp, eight
miles north of Dundalk. From Armagh Sussex made a rapid march across
Slieve Gullion to the head of Glenconkein, a wild forest tract near the
southern boundary of what is now the county of Londonderry. No resistance
was offered, and 4,000 head of cattle, with many ponies and stud mares,
were driven back, 'so that they might see them who would otherwise have
been hard of belief.' Knowing by experience how hard it was to progress
when thus encumbered, the Lord-Lieutenant ordered all the beasts to be
slaughtered, except a few which were kept for provisions. All the country
between Armagh and the mountains was destroyed, and the army then
proceeded to Omagh, and thence to Lough Foyle, where Con O'Donnell and
others were expected to appear, and where a victualling fleet was
supposed to be in waiting. But the ill fortune which attended Sussex in
Ireland did not desert him here. The ships, which had been forty days at
sea, were not to be seen, and the Earl, having had the poor satisfaction
of seeing Lough Foyle, returned to Newry with 500 cows which he picked up
on the march. 'Man,' he said, 'by his policy doth propose, and God at His
will doth dispose.' Con O'Donnell and Maguire, who were already well
affected, had been sworn to continue so; but no general confederacy had
been formed against Shane, and the impotence of the military
administration had been demonstrated once more. Yet Sussex thought
himself justified in saying that the credit of the army had been
restored, though no enemy had been seen, because Shane had lost 5,000
cows, and had been forced to fly from wood to wood. The cunning chief was
only waiting till the transient effort of civilisation was exhausted, and
he soon attacked Meath, in fulfilment of his promise to Lord Slane. Some
villages were burned, and Sir James Garland, a gentleman of importance
who had ventured to stray from his armed company, was taken prisoner. A
brother of Macmahon was with Shane, and we are told that 1,000 cows were
taken from his tribe in revenge; but the result of all the operations was
to prove that Sussex could neither conquer Ulster nor even defend the
Pale.[34]
[Sidenote: Kildare makes a truce with Shane.]
When Shane was returning practically victorious to Tyrone, Kildare
brought a letter authorising him to treat and coax O'Neill to visit
England. Fitzwilliam had already brought a conditional pardon. Sussex was
ordered to co-operate cordially with the Earl, who lost no time in
seeking a meeting with Shane. Accompanied by Lords Baltinglass, Slane,
and Louth, he came to Carrickbradagh, the usual place of meeting; but
Shane was in bad humour, and would listen to nothing. Next day he proved
more amenable, and the conversation resulted in his making a written
offer of terms, to which Kildare agreed with a readiness for which he was
afterwards blamed. The arrangement was generally condemned in official
circles, and was, with difficulty, accepted by the Lord-Lieutenant and
Council. Yielding everything and suggesting nothing, it was said that
Kildare had shown no regard for the Queen's honour, taken no pains to
fight her battle, and consented to abandon Armagh, for the retention of
which he should have held out to the last. The Earl merely answered that
the thing was done and could not be undone, and he had certainly full
power to treat.[35]
[Sidenote: Arrangement for Shane's visit to England.]
It was agreed that Kildare and Ormonde should meet Shane, and remain in
his company till he came to the Queen's presence. His passport to go and
return safely was to be signed by the five Irish Earls, who were to
undertake for the safety of his dependents in his absence. Kildare in
particular undertook that the soldiers of Armagh, upon whose immediate
withdrawal Shane did not insist, should do no harm until after the
appointed meeting. A sum of money was to be advanced by Ormonde and
Kildare, and paid through the latter. No Irishman owing Shane allegiance
was to be maintained against him, and if such a person drove his cattle
into the Pale it was to be restored. In return he was to go to the Queen,
giving the very hostages which had been before rejected, and to forbear
taking vengeance on Maguire and others. Shane refused any alteration in
these terms; what he had written he had written. It was retorted that
'seeing he would put no more in writing than was in writing already, he
should look for the performance of all things written and of nothing
else.' Shane's own terms were granted, but there was little goodwill or
sincerity on either side.[36]
[Sidenote: Shane sails for England, 1561,]
Having practically humiliated the Lord-Lieutenant, Kildare had enough
address to give the Queen the appearance of a diplomatic triumph. It had
been agreed that the garrison should be withdrawn from Armagh, but the
Earl persuaded Shane that by not insisting strictly on this article he
would put her Majesty in good humour and make her favourable to his
suits. After expressing some indignation that any attempt should be made
to vary the written letter, Shane was at last graciously pleased to
humour the Queen, 'but as to th'erle of Sussex he would not molefye one
yoote of his agrements; and hereupon sent his man the garison to
remaynge.' Five hundred pounds were paid over to Shane before starting,
1,000_l._ awaited him at Chester, and a second 500_l._ in London.
[Sidenote: visiting Sussex on the way.]
Shane came to Dublin and waited upon Sussex, who received him graciously;
but this outward politeness scarcely concealed the real feelings of the
two men. Shane perhaps feared that the Lord-Lieutenant, who now had him
in his power, might after all send him over as a prisoner. For the same
reason an encouraging letter from Mary Stuart, which only reached him in
Dublin, had not the desired effect of preventing his journey. And thus,
accompanied by Kildare and Ormonde, without whose escort he had
positively refused to stir, and with a train suitable to his pretensions,
the uncrowned monarch of Ulster took ship to visit that great princess
whose authority even he was ready to acknowledge, upon the sole condition
that she should never exercise it. Shane afterwards complained that he
was treated as a prisoner on the journey, and that Sussex had charged the
Earls on their allegiance to secure him by handcuffs.[37]
[Sidenote: Unpopularity of English rule.]
Sussex did not conceal from the Queen his mortification at the treaty
which he had been obliged to sign, at the powers given to Kildare, and at
the abandonment of the campaign, from which so much had been hoped, and
for which such great preparations had been made. Her Majesty's letters
had contained expressions of disgust which not only reflected on himself,
but discredited the whole English interest of which he was the head, and
he bitterly resented the small thanks given him for five years of arduous
service. 'Our nation in this realm,' he said, 'is likened to the French
in Scotland. We be railed on at tables with terms not sufferable. The
people be incensed to wax mad, and this is hoped to be the jubilee year.'
He complained that the Queen's Irish policy was as useless and
unprogressive as Penelope's web, woven by one governor only to be picked
to pieces by the next. It would be for the Queen's honour either to
support her representative cordially, or to recall him honourably and
employ him in some other place, 'where I can do her better service than I
can now do here.' These criticisms were well deserved. The peace with
Shane was of Elizabeth's own making, and yet, with that want of
generosity which she sometimes showed, she tried to make out that its
terms were not sufficiently favourable to her. Sussex showed conclusively
that he had done the best thing possible under the circumstances which
the Queen had thought proper to create.[38]
[Sidenote: Shane O'Neill at Court, 1562.]
No sooner was Shane gone than Sussex obtained leave to follow him. The
Government was left to Fitzwilliam, whose expenses were to be borne out
of the pay and allowances of the absent Lord-Lieutenant, and who was
directed to give all possible help to Brian O'Neill. It was perhaps
thought profound policy to support the boy's claim to the Earldom of
Tyrone while the real chief of Ulster was out of the way. Sussex rightly
observed that if the Queen wished to support the young Earl she could
best do so by treating Shane coldly at first, and by keeping him at arm's
length till he himself arrived. This advice, which was not only sound in
itself but calculated to restore the credit of Sussex in Ireland, came
too late to be of much use; for Kildare had already presented Shane to
the Queen. The bare rough heads of his gallowglasses, who did not lay
aside their axes, their long curls, their wide-sleeved saffron shirts,
their short tunics, and their shaggy cloaks of fur or frieze, which in
Ireland covered a multitude of sins, made Englishmen stare; not less,
says Camden, than they now stare at Chinamen or American Indians. The
Ambassadors of Sweden and Savoy were present, and doubtless shared in the
general astonishment created by her Majesty's distinguished subject.
Shane prostrated himself before the Queen, and then on his knees
'confessed his rebellion with howling,' and made his submission in Irish,
which few or none could understand. The language was perhaps less humble
than the posture. But Cecil was not to be put off thus; the supposed
meaning of the speech was engrossed in English, and two days afterwards
was signed and sealed by Shane. 'For lack of education and civility,' he
is made to say, 'I have offended.' He thanked the Queen for his pardon,
promised to deserve well for the future, begged her favour for the
gentlemen of his company, his kinsmen and friends, and admitted in
writing that he had done homage on his knees to Elizabeth as Queen of
England, France, and Ireland. Shane's pretensions were so extraordinary
that the courtiers exercised their wit in inventing a style for him, and
they dubbed him 'O'Neill the great, cousin to St. Patrick, friend to the
Queen of England, enemy to all the world besides.'[39]
[Sidenote: Negotiations with Shane in England.]
Sussex received a copy of Shane's submission at Holyhead, forwarded it to
Fitzwilliam, and then went on to London; a journey which bad weather and
bad roads extended to about ten days. On his arrival he had to defend
himself against those who had tied his hands by the commission to
Kildare, and who now blamed him for not using them more vigorously
against Shane. He showed very conclusively that he had done his best
under the circumstances, and threw the blame on the Irish Earl, who was
entirely responsible for the terms of the treaty. Either Kildare made
good his case, or it was not thought prudent to follow the matter up
closely; for there seems no reason to suppose that he was censured. With
the help of Sussex, Cecil immediately set himself to discover the points
on which Shane differed from the Government. Written interrogatories were
drawn up and answered by Shane; and then the Lord-Lieutenant replied. The
nature of the controversy will be best understood from an abstract of the
papers, which bring out very clearly how entirely different were the
English and Irish points of view.
[Sidenote: Interrogatories administered.]
1. What petitions did Shane intend to make to the Queen when he first
proposed to come over?
_A._ To acknowledge my duty, to become known to her Highness as a
protection against unjust Governors, and to become civilised by the sight
of her Majesty's nobility.
_R._ The implied accusation is too vague.
2. Shane has been profuse in offering his services--what are they?
_A._ To help the Governor in preventing foreign enemies from landing in
the North. Sussex has brought in the Redshanks 'to the great danger of
the Crown of Ireland.' Their lands should be restored to loyal subjects
such as me, O'Neill, and my friends.
_R._ Judging from Shane's antecedents, is he likely to perform such a
promise?
3. Why should not the Baron's son be Earl according to his patent?
_A._ That Kelly was born in wedlock and reputed the son of John Kelly and
Alison his wife until sixteen. He was adopted by my father 'contrary to
all order of law and to the old proverb "who bulleth my cow the calf is
mine."' Matthew Kelly was then a trader in Dundalk called 'Matthew the
seller of salt.' My father rechristened Matthew, 'Ferdoragh,' who then
tried to usurp the headship of the O'Neills. Even if I were out of the
way there are one hundred of my name who would not allow Matthew's
pretensions.
Any patent must be void, for Con had no estate in the country, which was
held only by consent of the Lords and inhabitants.
By the law of the Pale no letters patent took effect without inquisition,
which could not be held in Tyrone because it was no shire. If 'the
Queen's law' is to prevail, then I am heir-at-law.
_R._ The Baron's son claims by letters patent, not by legitimation, and
the freeholders were consenting parties. Shane's Pale law is 'used in
shire-ground and not in the Irishry, where the Prince holdeth by
conquest, and ever hath done, and the breach thereof overthrows all the
new Earls' states in Ireland.'
4. How he proves his title to be O'Neill, having never been admitted by
the sovereign?
_A._ In Tyrone and most Irish countries the people assemble on the death
of a chief and choose 'the most ablest and the worthiest of the headmen.'
Shane was so elected without the usual contest. His ancestors never used
to be confirmed by the Crown, 'yet none the less do I mean to be as good
and true a subject as though any such confirmation were had in that
behalf.'
_R._ The eldest is not accounted the worthiest, but the strongest. Shane
forced the country to elect him. There are many precedents for the
admission of captains of countries by letters patent, and the practice
should of right be universal.
5. What authority and jurisdiction does Shane claim by virtue of tribal
election?
_A._ What my ancestors have always claimed and no more. Most of them have
held the pre-eminence by indenture, and the old men of the country will
not deny the extent of the jurisdiction.
_R._ The claim is bad, and more particulars are required.
[Sidenote: Shane's 'Urraghs,' according to himself.]
6. What countries doth Shane claim to rule thereby?
_A._ Magennis, MacMahon, Maguire, O'Kane, O'Hanlon, MacCartane, Dufferin,
the Savages, and many O'Neills are under my rule. Clandeboye and the
Rowte should belong to me, 'which the Scot engageth by the means
aforesaid.' I have also ancient rights over O'Reilly's country, and
rents out of 'other lords of small reputation which it were prolix to
write.' The old black rent of 40_l._ out of Louth was remitted by my
father. Whatever men may say, I mean to spend all my power in the Queen's
service.
_R._ Fuller particulars are required, and records are extant to disprove
all these claims.
7. What obedience and service hath O'Neill hitherto borne to the Crown of
Ireland?
_A._ Bare allegiance only to the Lords of Ireland, and peace with the
Pale. My father first acknowledged Henry VIII. King of England, France,
and Ireland; I do the same 'with a more perfection' to serve her Majesty
than my ancestors. When I undertook to come I fully knew what influence
the Earl of Sussex had with the nobility. Nevertheless, I had 'hope in
the Queen's Highness and the uprightness of her honourable Council, and
my own truth.' I now crave favour and despatch.
_R._ All this is false. O'Neill owes great service to the Crown of
Ireland as appears by record.[40]
[Sidenote: Personal differences between Shane and Sussex.]
Other controversies there were of a more personal character between Shane
and Sussex; a study of which shows how hopeless it was to suppose that
they would ever act together, or be anything but enemies to each other.
Shane declared truly enough that Sussex had designs on his life. His
charges may be summed up in the statement that he thoroughly mistrusted
the Lord-Lieutenant, 'by reason of which mistrust he hath escaped his
traps, by the help of God and grace of the Queen, and now at length come
to her gracious presence, which he hath long wished.' Refuting some
charges and denying others, the Earl concentrates his wrath in the
supposition 'that Shane's nature is so accustomed to lying, as after her
Majesty's gracious dealing with him he is not ashamed to show the same
now in her presence;' and is therefore much less to be trusted when
absent.[41]
[Sidenote: Consequences of Shane's detention.]
That Cecil was anxious to do right in O'Neill's case may be inferred from
the great labour which he evidently took to understand both the legal and
moral aspect of the question. The 'Tower Records' were searched for
precedents as to the Earldom of Ulster, through which Edward IV. and all
his successors were entitled to Tyrone, and as to the relations of the
Crown with Irish captains. Inquiries into Irish customs were also set on
foot with special reference to Shane's claims under them. His proved
rights there was clearly no intention of withholding. But there was
culpable procrastination, a hope that something might turn up, and an
idea that it was well to keep Shane away from his own country and to
accustom his country to do without him. O'Neill clamoured for his
release, and produced evidence of the distractions of his country in his
absence. Many spoils were taken to the Pale, and many disturbances raised
by the Baron of Dungannon's sons and by other enemies. Tirlough Luineach
took too much on himself; 'and the sept of the Neills,' said the chief's
correspondent, 'do not maintain one another but are scattered abroad,
every one doing for himself, and the "kereaghts" of the country (the
nomad herdsmen of Ulster) in every side are dropping away to eschew the
trouble of the country ... every man spake largely for the defence of the
country at your being with them, yet is the country now evil defended. It
is easier to redress now than hereafter, therefore come in haste and do
as the proverb says, "Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur," come with
haste and you shall be welcome.'[42]
[Sidenote: Murder of the Baron of Dungannon.]
The Queen not unreasonably declared that she could not decide fairly in
the young Baron's absence; but this should have been thought of before.
About the time the order to send him reached Ireland the question was
settled as between Shane and his nephew, or supposed nephew, by the
murder of the younger claimant to the Earldom of Tyrone. Tirlough
Luineach, who was probably tanist, and was certainly the second man among
the O'Neills, waylaid the unfortunate boy before daybreak with 100 horse
and 200 foot, somewhere between Carlingford and Newry. The victim had no
more than twenty with him. He hid in a thicket, and stripped off his
clothes, intending to swim the river, when the pursuit slackened. But one
of his followers who was taken offered, to save his own life, to betray a
better person. His hiding-place was soon found, and he was killed, 'not
far, as I think,' said Fitzwilliam, 'from the spot where his father had
the like friendship of his men.' Brian O'Neill left a brother behind him,
who was neglected on account of his youth, but who lived to be the most
formidable of all Elizabeth's Irish enemies. The murder could not be
traced to Shane; and indeed Tirlough, as his presumptive successor, had
an interest of his own in getting rid of a pretender who relied on
letters patent. Under Tirlough's leadership the O'Neills did nearly as
much harm as when Shane was present, and the last crime was considered
evidence that no one but the latter could keep order.[43]
[Sidenote: What Shane did in London.]
We have but scanty information as to how Shane spent his time in London.
He was present at a Court hunting party, where he saw a brother of Guise,
who was on his way home from Scotland, kill two stags with a single
arrow. A diarist of the time has recorded that one day 'John O'Neill, the
wild Irishman, came riding into Cheapside, and dined at St. John's Head,
at Master Daniel's, the goldsmith;' and that on another day he ran at the
ring beyond St. James's in the field. No doubt Shane rode well enough in
the field; but probably he did not shine in the tilt-yard; for he asked
the Queen, until she had found him an English wife to amuse him, to
appoint him 'to attend on the Lord Robert, that I may learn to ride after
the English fashion, to run at the tilt, to hawk, to shoot, or use such
other good exercises as I perceive my said good lord to be meet unto.'
This may not have been unpleasing to the Queen, and was certainly not so
to the favourite, who afterwards corresponded with Shane. O'Neill sent
him hawks, horses, and greyhounds, and thanked him for his gentle and
loving letters. Shane did not get the wife 'to be chosen by the Queen
such as she and I may agree,' and he may have ceased to press the matter
when he found that he might be expected to 'change his garments, and go
like an Englishman.' Nothing was further from his thoughts than to
conform to English customs, either in dress or religion, and he was in
constant communication with the Spanish ambassador De Quadra, who
encouraged him to hope for Philip's favour, and took care that he should
not want the means of confession and absolution, which he must have
required pretty often. The interpreter at these interviews was an Irish
priest, who afterwards went to Louvain, and thence to Spain or Rome. One
supposed consequence of his journey was that the Holy See gave Shane all
the ecclesiastical patronage in his country.[44]
[Sidenote: Shane returns to Ireland.]
Shamed or frightened by the death of the young Baron, the Queen at last
let her barbarous subject go. He was acknowledged, with a formal
reservation of young Hugh O'Neill's claims, as actual captain not only of
Tyrone, but of O'Cahan's county, and of the greater part of what is now
the county of Antrim; but with a proviso that he should not levy Irish
exactions outside of his own proper district. He promised to do his best
to persuade the chiefs thus placed under him to come to Dublin and do
homage, and to support those who thus evinced their loyalty against those
who refused to do so. Shane agreed to attend all general hostings in
Ulster, and to keep the peace with O'Donnell, O'Reilly, and the rest for
six months, during which a board of arbitration, consisting of the Earls
of Kildare and Ormonde, and of four members of the Irish Privy Council,
two named by himself and two by the opposite party, should sit and
determine all differences. O'Neill promised to retain no mercenaries
born out of Tyrone, and to take no pledges beyond the same limits.
Phelim Roe's sons, and others in Tyrone who had done the Queen service,
were not to be molested, and internal disputes were to be settled by
arbitrators; the powers of an umpire being retained by the Council, who
might send Commissioners to the border. Shane covenanted not to molest
the garrison of Armagh, on condition that they were victualled out of the
Pale. He consented to bring Calvagh O'Donnell into the presence of the
Earls of Ormonde, Kildare, Thomond, and Clanricarde, and to submit to
their decision as to Calvagh's liberation, and as to other matters in
dispute. Such was the general tenor of the treaty: it was one which could
not work well without complete good faith on both sides. The Queen
probably acted under the advice of Sidney and of his brother-in-law
Dudley, and this may have laid the foundation of the bad feeling
afterwards existing between Sidney and Sussex. Shane was indeed
completely triumphant. He left three hostages in London, but as they were
all persons of no importance, he probably made the sacrifice with great
equanimity.[45]
[Sidenote: The Queen puzzled.]
Unfortunately, good faith existed on neither side. Elizabeth dismissed
Shane with honour because she knew not what else to do, and Shane agreed
to her terms because he was in the net and saw no other means of escape.
Three hundred pounds certainly, perhaps more, was lent, or rather given,
for the return journey, and the Queen issued a proclamation declaring
Shane's virtues, and appointing Commissioners to determine his
controversies with the Pale.
[Sidenote: Desmond and Ormonde.]
Shortly before Sussex left Ireland Munster was disturbed by the chronic
jealousy between Butlers and Geraldines. Desmond accused Ormonde of
waylaying him on his return from the great hosting, and thereupon invaded
his country; but a peremptory order from the Lord-Lieutenant averted a
collision for the time. Ormonde went to Sussex when sent for, but
Desmond, while professing his readiness to obey, kept out of reach, and
made Lord Roche and Lord Barry swear allegiance to him. Sussex
recommended that both the Earls should be sent for to England as the only
means to save the whole South-West from disorder, which nothing short of
a regular campaign could repress. Ormonde was willing to incur the
expense of the journey, for he was in an awkward dilemma. Either he must
allow his country to be wasted with impunity, or he must incur the
Queen's displeasure by attempting to defend it.[46]
[Sidenote: Desmond shows signs of insubordination.]
On receiving his patent as Lord Justice, Fitzwilliam was able to say that
Shane's departure had made an instantaneous peace. Ormonde had shown
extraordinary obedience and forbearance, or his rival's wilfulness and
pride would have made great work. The usual causes of disturbance were
still present, and the vacillation of the English Government confirmed
the evil disposition of a people who, in Sir H. Radclyffe's opinion, were
naturally 'addicted to sedition, desirous of alteration, contented with
nothing but will and liberty.' Desmond was at war with all the gentlemen
of the West, and they with him. The outlaws maintained by him burned
towns and carried all their plunder into his country, where there was no
danger of rescue. Ormonde had been ready to accompany Shane O'Neill to
England, but the Queen had ordered him to wait for Desmond, lest he might
leave his country exposed. The Geraldine Earl urged as a reason for
staying at home that he was at war with his uncle Maurice, who bore the
significant title of 'na totane,' or the incendiary, and whose
propensities age had not tamed. The pretext was taken away by Thomas
Fitzmaurice, who went to England and promised for himself and for his
father to keep the peace during Desmond's absence. The Earl was reported
to have said that he would never be in England at the same time with
Kildare and O'Neill, the inference being that they had all an interest in
disorder. Summoned by a letter from the Queen herself, Desmond did not
answer for nearly a month, and then put in mere dilatory pleas, while he
burned villages and robbed Ormonde's people of 500_l._ collected for his
expenses in England. The two Earls met Fitzwilliam at Waterford, and
Desmond dared the Lord Justice to interfere with the pirates who infested
the Blackwater. He promised, however, that they should do no harm, and
the Corporations of Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal declared that he was their
only defence. The Lord Deputy and Council, said the Kinsale people, were
so far off that they would rather lose their rights than hazard their
lives to maintain them, and they made this their excuse for addressing
the Queen directly. Desmond promised to go to England at Easter, and with
this Fitzwilliam had to be content. Like Shane O'Neill, the Geraldine was
willing to keep some order, provided he was not interfered with when he
proposed to build a castle in Lord Roche's country. Fitzwilliam could see
only rebellious intentions, but the people probably preferred one tyrant
to many, and the known shortcomings of Desmond to the fluctuating policy
of Lords-Lieutenant and Lords Justices. Determined to show no politeness
to Fitzwilliam, Desmond slipped away at last without his knowledge, and
Ormonde went over about the same time. In spite of his professions of
poverty, Desmond was accompanied by an immense retinue.[47]
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam's gloomy view of Ireland.]
Fitzwilliam took a very gloomy view of the country committed to his
charge. He was, he said, a banished man wearing himself out among unkind
people, a people most accursed, who lusted after every sin. Murder and
incest were everyday matters, and a lying spirit brooded over all the
land. It was difficult to make out any man's pedigree or title; for
heraldry was discountenanced, records destroyed or embezzled, and
everyone greedy for the reputation conferred by rhymers, whose trade was
to set forth 'the most beastliest and odious parts of men's doings and
their own likewise, for whom the rhymes be made; such be cherished,
defended, and rewarded with garments till they leave themselves naked,
besides the best piece of plate in the house, and chiefest horse away
with them, not altogether departing empty-handed when they come among the
Earls and others the nobility of English race.' The English Pale was,
indeed, in a dreadful state, every one prophesying a total change of
policy, and refusing to obey any law. Pirates infested the sea,
blockading Cork and Kinsale, and even lying openly under Lambay, while
the Queen's ships were nowhere visible. Robbery and arson were commonly
committed with impunity. Thus Richard Keating, whose family had for
generations given their service as swordsmen to the Earls of Kildare,
amassed great wealth by preying on the property of the English settlers
in Wexford. No one exerted himself to make the Keatings disgorge their
ill-gotten gains, fearing the vengeance of their great patron, and even
Ormonde was unwilling to press them hard. 'There be such with us,' said
Fitzwilliam, 'as can serve two masters, and neither truly.'[48]
[Sidenote: The Irish lawyers. Jobbing.]
Most important families had friends in official circles, and among the
lawyers the jobbing was frightful. Records were made away with or
altered, so that of seven attainders affecting the Crown's title to land,
not one could be proved by documentary evidence. The judges were not
above suspicion, and public justice had little chance against
well-connected individuals. 'There is,' said the Lord Justice, 'neither
judge, counsellor-at-law, nor any gentleman who is not by blood or
marriage very near linked together, and though I cannot accuse any for
doing things contrary to their conscience or corruptly, yet have I seen
such things pass, whether for kindred's sake or neighbourhood I know not,
but sure I am no man out of Ireland in the like case but would have made
some stay for colour sake at least.' Where private interests were to be
forwarded, decisions were given with indecent haste, while Crown business
was systematically delayed. Fitzwilliam saw and described abuses clearly,
but he had too much experience of Ireland to dream of a speedy reform. He
had come with sanguine expectations, but had learned that a man may wear
to skin and bones without effecting anything. The English Government had
aggravated the difficulty by sending over officials of small parts or
credit, far inferior to those born in Ireland. 'Let those sent
hereafter,' he said, 'be as good as the best here,' and let 'every one
that comes bid farewell to peace and quiet.'[49]
FOOTNOTES:
[27] Sussex to the Queen, July 16, and the enclosures there; to Cecil,
June 23. In his letter of June 28 to Sussex, Shane talks of the Queen's
'suavissima et benevola et gratiosa responsio;' as to the libels he says,
'si scriberem non renuntiassem meæ sententiæ.' Fitzwilliam to Cecil, June
22. _Four Masters_, 1561.
[28] Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the Queen, July 31, the official
account for Elizabeth's eye. The fuller and truer account is in a letter
of the same date from Sussex to Cecil. _Four Masters_, 1561.
[29] Instructions to Sussex in _Carew_, July 4, 1562. Sussex to Cecil,
Aug. 23, 1562, and Jan. 11, 1563; to the Queen, Aug. 23, 1562; Ormonde to
Cecil, Jan. 11, 1563. Sussex was much blamed for not punishing Wingfield
himself, but in the end his view prevailed, for the disgraced officer
carried confidential instructions on his return to Ireland. See the Queen
to the Lord-Lieutenant, July 19, 1563. See also two letters from Cecil in
Wright's _Queen Elizabeth_, Aug. 21 and Dec. 18, 1561.
[30] Shane O'Neill to the Lord-Lieutenant, Aug. 9, 'from his
woods:'--'Pacem tractare non queo modo solidarii manebunt in aliquâ parte
terrarum mearum, nam nemo sanæ mentis intelligat tranquillam pacem esse
inter me et amplitudinem vestram si dicti solidarii manebunt in patriâ
meâ.' The 'Urraghs' whom Shane claimed as vassals were in fact all the
chiefs of Ulster except O'Donnell. The word is given in O'Reilly's
Dictionary as 'a chief next to a king;' as used by Shane O'Neill, it
means any chieftain over whom he claimed jurisdiction. Memorial for an
answer to Shane's letters, Aug. 12.
[31] The Queen to Sussex, Aug. 20.
[32] Sussex to the Queen, Aug. 24. In his answer to Cusack, dated Sept.
10, 1563, Shane talks of an attempt to kill him 'tempore parliamenti.'
The Parliament was in 1559, but the words may mean merely 'in a time of
negotiation.' 'Parliament' was sometimes so used even in English.
[33] Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the Queen, Sept. 1.
[34] Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the Queen, Sept. 21; Sussex to Cecil,
Oct. 3 and 6. Kildare did not land in Ireland till Oct. 5.
[35] Sussex to the Queen, Nov. 21; to Cecil, Oct. 23, Nov. 3, 16, and 21;
Kildare to Cecil, Dec. 3. Shane was persuaded to let the garrison of
Armagh remain, though against the treaty.
[36] Sussex to Cecil, Nov. 21.
[37] Articles whereupon the Earl of Kildare is to be spoken with, Feb. 1,
1562 (in Cecil's hand); Kildare to Cecil, Dec. 3, 1561; 'Causes and
matters moving Shane O'Neill' in 1565, in _Carew_ (No. 248). Ware says
Shane sailed Dec. 3, 1561; he was at Court by Jan. 6. The terms virtually
granted are in Shane's letter to Sussex of Oct. 18, 1561. For the
intention of Sussex to interpret them literally and narrowly, see his
letter to Cecil, Nov. 21. For Shane's fears, see Arnold to Cecil, Sept.
23, 1562, and Ware's _Annals_.
[38] Sussex to Cecil, Oct. 19 and 23, and Nov. 3; to the Queen, Oct. 23,
and Nov. 21.
[39] For Shane's reception at Court, see Machyn's _Diary_, Jan. 4,
1561-2; his submission, with the names of those present, Jan. 6; Camden;
and Campion. Spenser afterwards characterised the Irish mantle as 'a fit
house for an outlaw, a meet bed for a rebel, an apt cloak for a thief.'
[40] Articles to be answered by Shane O'Neill, Feb. 7, 1562. His answers,
same date. The Earl of Sussex's reply, Feb. 14.
[41] Shane's answers to the Articles of Treason, &c., of June 8, 1561;
Feb. 7. Confutation of same, Feb. 14.
[42] Brief collection of material points, Feb. 14; Private Memoranda by
Cecil, March 1562 (No. 43); nameless correspondent to Shane O'Neill,
March 21, with a note by Shane for the Council referring to other
letters.
[43] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, April 23, 1562. The murder is not mentioned by
the _Four Masters_.
[44] Machyn's _Diary_, Feb. 13 and 14; Shane's complaints to the Queen,
March 13; Private Memoranda by Cecil, March (No. 43); Shane O'Neill to
Lord Robert Dudley, Nov. 2, 1562; to the Cardinals of Lorraine and Guise,
Feb. 1, 1567; Sir Nicholas Arnold to Cecil, Nov. 23, 1562. See Froude's
_History of England_, Elizabeth, chaps. v. and vii. The 'Marquis' alluded
to by Shane, in his letter to the Cardinals, would seem to be
D'Elboeuf; but was he in England with Shane?
[45] Indentures between Queen Elizabeth and Shane O'Neill, April 30,
1562; Sidney's opinion, April 11, substantially agreeing with the above.
In his letter of Jan. 2 to Cecil, Sussex wrote that no man of credit
accompanied Shane to England. Shane was back in Ireland by the end of
May.
[46] Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the Queen, Oct. 23 and Nov. 23, 1561;
Sussex to Cecil, Dec. 20, 1561, and Jan. 2, 1562; to the Queen, Jan. 2.
[47] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Jan. 15, Feb. 13, April 23, May 4; to the
Queen, March 13 and 27; Sir H. Radclyffe to Cecil, Jan. 12; Ormonde to
Sussex, Feb. 2; Kinsale, Cork, and Youghal to the Queen, April 8, 10, and
18; the Queen to the Lord Justice and Council, March 20.
[48] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, April 14 and 29; Lord Justice and Council to
the Queen, April 17.
[49] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, May 13, with the enclosures; Matthew King to
Cecil, May 7. King was Clerk of the Check, and of course saw a good deal.
CHAPTER XXI.
1561 TO 1564.
[Sidenote: State of the Pale. Memorial of Irish law students.]
Queen Elizabeth might show clemency or policy by her treatment of Shane
O'Neill, by ignoring Kildare's intrigues and utilising him in her
service, and by summoning Desmond and Ormonde to submit their
controversies to her personal arbitrament; but she could not close her
ears to the complaints which reached her as to the state of the English
Pale. It was then, as it still is, the custom for Irish students to keep
some terms in London, to study the common law at head-quarters, and to
carry back legal traditions and modes of thought to their own country.
The bar was the recognised road to power and influence, and young men of
family chose it almost as a matter of course. Twenty-seven of these
students signed a memorial specifying the miserable state of the Pale,
and this document was delivered to the Privy Council. Among the names of
the signataries we find Talbot, Bathe, Dillon, Barnewall, Burnell,
Fleming, Netterville, Wesley, or Wellesley, and others scarcely less
known. The complaints were arranged under twenty-four heads, and
interrogatories were delivered to Sussex, who made the best answer he
could to each. The first article set forth that the whole expense of the
Government and forts was nominally borne by Dublin, Kildare, Meath, West
Meath, and Louth; but that West Meath and Louth hardly paid anything, and
that the real weight rested on the three first only. To this it was
answered that Carlow and Wexford were contributory, and that there was
also some help derived from Irish countries: poverty there might be, but
not caused by the soldiers; otherwise why should West Meath, where there
were seldom any troops, be the least peaceful county of all? The
rejoinder was that Wexford and Carlow sometimes paid a trifle under
protest, that the Lord Deputy sometimes lived at Leighlin Bridge, with
the express object of getting something out of the country irregularly,
and that West Meath suffered from Irish exactions, to which the Marshal
and Cowley, the Governor of Philipstown, were parties. Forced labour for
insufficient pay, free quarters for soldiers, goods taken far below the
market price, coyne and livery, private jobbing under colour of the
public service--such were the principal heads under which the law
students arranged their heavy indictment. No doubt there was
exaggeration, and in some cases Sussex was able to give a conclusive
answer; but the students admitted that writing at a distance they made no
claim to infallibility, and craved indulgence for mistakes, preferring to
incur blame rather 'than that the miserable estate of our poor country
should not be known to our gracious Queen.' They courted the fullest
inquiry, and they certainly made a case strong enough to startle a
sovereign who could never be justly accused of neglecting her subjects'
welfare. Lord Robert Dudley, glad no doubt of an opportunity to annoy
Sussex, and perhaps supplied with information by Sidney, supported the
students; but the general official voice was loud and confident against
them, and a rumour reached Ireland that the Queen gave no heed to their
complaints. Thereupon twenty-seven gentlemen of the Pale addressed
Elizabeth directly, supporting the original charges, protesting that
their poverty and not their will made them impatient of taxation, and
confiding in the Queen's readiness to learn the misery of her subjects,
'yea, from the basest sort.' They demanded an independent commission of
inquiry, and begged that their interests might be represented by Lord
Baltinglass and John Parker, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, himself an
Englishman, but a bitter critic of Sussex and his government, and in
their estimation a just and upright man.[50]
[Sidenote: Martial law.]
One complaint of the students deserves special mention. They alleged
that martial law interfered with the regular tribunals, and being pressed
for particulars they stated positively 'that Sir Ralph Bagenal, being
lieutenant of the army, was for killing of a soldier arraigned at the
King's Bench, who pleaded his pardon. Whether justice hath been done by
the Marshal of soldiers complained on to that we say that the man before
mentioned to have been arraigned at the King's Bench, and attempted to be
taken thence by the Marshal, but upon resistance of the judges stayed and
committed to gaol, was after by the Marshal taken from thence, and had
none other punishment than put on the pillory, muffled, as it should
seem, lest he might be known, which we count rather a mockery than
execution of justice.' No answer in effect was given to this heavy
charge, but that the Marshal had authority over the military, and that
the Governor had orders to maintain him. If the lawyers in Dublin were
guilty of factious opposition to the Government, they were not altogether
without excuse.[51]
[Sidenote: Desmond in London.]
Encouraged probably by the success of Shane O'Neill, Desmond behaved in
London very much as he had behaved at Waterford. Being charged before the
Council with openly defying the law in Ireland, he answered
contumaciously, and when called to order refused to apologise. He was
accordingly committed to the custody of the Lord Treasurer, on hearing
which Fitzwilliam expressed an opinion that Desmond lacked both education
and wit, and that the effect of bringing him to such senses as he had
would be most beneficial in Ireland. 'The news,' he said, 'made some not
only to change colour, but greatly sigh, whose nature God amend, make
them banish flattery, malice, and other misdeeds.'
[Sidenote: The Queen's views about him.]
The Queen wrote to Lady Desmond to complain of the Earl's inordinate
conduct, and to state her conviction that a little gentle imprisonment
would do him good. Unheard-of favour had been ill requited; nevertheless,
the royal patience was inexhaustible. No harm was intended to Desmond,
and his wife was charged to keep order until his return. Between her son
and her husband, the position of the countess was not pleasant.
Fitzwilliam thought she did her best to hold the balance, and keep the
peace between them; but her husband's friends accused her of unduly
favouring Ormonde, an imputation which she indignantly denied. 'I
always,' she declared with a certain pathos, 'wished them to be perfect
friends, as two whom I love as myself.'[52]
[Sidenote: Projects of Sussex.]
Sussex followed Shane O'Neill back to Ireland, taking with him his
sister, Lady Frances, the dainty bait at which it was supposed that wary
fish might rise. During his stay at Court he had taught the Queen to see
Ireland partly with his eyes. About the desirability of abolishing
illegal exactions there could of course be no difference of opinion; and
Elizabeth was now further inclined to divide the country into
presidencies, to persuade the principal chiefs to take estates of their
lands and accept titles of honour, to hold a Parliament, and to establish
a Star Chamber. On other points she was at issue with her
Lord-Lieutenant. Thus Sussex wished to expel Shane O'Neill absolutely
from Ulster, to divide Tyrone into three districts, to encourage and
flatter the Scots as long as their help was wanted, and then, with a
refined duplicity, to drive them out in their turn. Elizabeth was for
making the best of Shane, alluring him, if possible, to keep his
promises. The Presidency Courts when established were to administer both
law and equity. Sussex wished to acknowledge what was good of the Brehon
law, and by systematising it gradually to accustom Irishmen to written
and settled forms. The Brehons he proposed to admit, not as arbitrators,
but as counsel entitled to receive fees; and by empanelling juries to
find the facts, he hoped in time to fuse the two systems together. It is
much to be regretted that this really statesmanlike idea was not allowed
to bear fruit. The difficulty of getting juries to find verdicts against
the members of powerful factions was great in Elizabeth's time, as it is
now. Sussex proposed to meet it by freely changing the venue from one
county to another, an obvious expedient which has only very lately and by
a subterfuge been partially introduced. The constitutional pedantry of
lawyers often stands in the way of justice, for the furtherance of which
they are themselves supposed to exist.[53]
[Sidenote: The Queen sends Commissioners to report on the Pale.]
The Queen's evident readiness to hear the complaints of the Pale
encouraged William Bermingham, who had his own ideas of reform, and who
was in correspondence with the Irish law students. He went to London, and
his representations perhaps decided Elizabeth to send over a Commissioner
with authority and ability to discover the truth, and to report it
fearlessly. The person selected was Sir Nicholas Arnold, Wyatt's
fellow-conspirator, a man of resolution and industry, who cared little
for popularity, and who might be trusted to carry out his orders. Arnold
was instructed to confer with Lord Baltinglass and three others as to the
county of Kildare, with Lords Dunsany, Howth, and three others as to
Meath and Louth, and with Talbot of Malahide and three others as to
Dublin. Notwithstanding this success, Bermingham complained bitterly that
he had been ill-treated and his advice slighted. If he had had full and
favourable hearing he would have showed how the Queen might save
30,000_l._ He was 45_l._ out of pocket by his journey, and had gained
little or nothing for the public. 'I shall be the last of my country,' he
said, 'that shall come hither again to complain or to declare anything
for the Prince's commodity, although the occasion be never so vehement.'
Anxious to get home for the harvest, Bermingham left London soon
afterwards, overtook Arnold at Harlech, where he was waiting for
shipping, and presented him with a long string of interrogatories proper,
in his opinion, to be administered to the Queen's subjects in Ireland.
The insinuations were that martial law was grievous to the innocent, and
no terror to evil-doers, that officers and soldiers oppressed the people,
that false musters were habitually taken, and that the Queen was kept in
ignorance of the real state of Ireland. There were many covert
insinuations against Sussex; and Arnold, when he reached his
destination, was thus forewarned against official statements, and perhaps
slightly prejudiced against the officials themselves.[54]
[Sidenote: Burdens of the Pale.]
The payment of cess for maintaining soldiers was the most grievous of
burdens. It was impossible to dispense with it altogether; but Sussex
suggested that a more economical management of the Crown lands might
furnish the means of lightening it considerably. The Queen acquiesced,
suspended the granting of leases, and invited the Lord-Lieutenant to
consult with his Council as to the redemption of those which were still
unexpired. Commissioners were instructed to summon the landowners, and to
inform them that the Queen was most anxious to lighten the cess; but that
the monastic lands had been improvidently leased, and that she had
therefore no sufficient revenue. If the country was inclined to buy out
some of the lessees, their farms might be re-let at such a profit as to
reduce the cess materially. The Commissioners, who were chosen from among
the chief families, reported adversely to the scheme. The inhabitants of
the Pale could not afford money for such a small and uncertain benefit.
If they could be for ever relieved of all military burdens by letters
patent, confirmed by Parliament, then they would make an effort, but for
nothing less. This could not be done, and the matter dropped.[55]
[Sidenote: Shane O'Neill professes loyalty.]
Back in Ireland, with the consciousness that he had gained a substantial
victory, and that his most dangerous enemy was dead, Shane O'Neill was at
first in high good humour; and he wrote courteously to the Lord Justice
saying that the Queen had enough men to inhabit her land, and that his
must go with himself. Fitzwilliam, who thought he had not learned much in
England, was glad that he showed his hand so openly. Very soon the
wording of the letters became warmer. Shane set up a claim to correspond
in future directly with the Queen, and there were signs that he was
already weary of well-doing, or rather of doing nothing. When Sussex
landed he found that there was but little chance of the London articles
being fully carried out. A meeting was appointed at Dundalk, and Sussex
began to cast about for means to get Shane into his power by straining
the language of the safe-conduct, which was nevertheless full and plain
to every commonly candid understanding. The Dean of Armagh, the
intriguing Terence Danyell, went to confer with Shane, and on his return
dined with the Lord-Lieutenant. After dinner he talked freely, advising
his host not to trust Shane, who would now be worse than ever, having
rejected the advice of all his principal clansmen to attend Sussex at his
landing. Shane complained with some reason of his treatment in England,
said he went there to get and not to lose, demanded the withdrawal of the
garrison from Armagh, threatened to take back his MacDonnell wife and
make friends with the Scots once more, and nevertheless clamoured for the
hand of Lady Frances Radclyffe. Dean Danyell thought Shane would not
appear on the appointed day. Meanwhile, at least 20,000 head of cattle
belonging to the O'Donnells were driven into Tyrone, and the O'Mores and
O'Connors, the miserable remnant of two powerful clans, hung upon Shane's
words and waited for him to give the signal of revolt.[56]
[Sidenote: The loyal people of Ulster complain of being deserted.]
On the day fixed for the execution of the indentures made in England, the
Lord-Lieutenant and Council repaired to Dundalk; but no Shane appeared.
Letters from him came in plenty. He complained of hurts done during his
absence, asserted his right over Maguire, MacMahon, Magennis, and others,
and refused to come to Sussex if those rights were to be disputed.
Kildare, Clanricarde, and Thomond were deputed to meet O'Neill, and to
insist in temperate language upon the performance of the articles. If the
worst came to the worst, they were to procure a truce for six months
between him and his neighbours, and an open market for the garrison of
Armagh. The meeting led to nothing, and Shane withdrew to his woods in
high disdain. Maguire, O'Reilly, and the rest, who, on the faith of
English promises which could not be performed, had hoped in vain for
protection and peace, 'seeing him so proudly departed and not having
received that which they long had hoped on, for two or three years
depending continually on the Queen's Majesty, did forthwith burst out in
so large, unseemly, and also lamentable talk, yea, in effect cursing him
that would believe any promise from the Queen's Highness, either by mouth
or letter.... Old O'Hanlon openly swore it were better to serve the worst
Irishman of Ulster than to trust unto the Queen. MacRandal Boy, a Scot,
who is as wise and subtle an Irishman as any among them,' spoke to the
same effect, and Maguire complained bitterly of his losses, 'both at the
coming in of the tide and going out of the same.' Sussex was almost ready
to advise that the loyal chiefs should be allowed at once to submit to
Shane, as the likeliest way to save some part of their property.[57]
[Sidenote: Ill-treatment of O'Donnell.]
The Pale was not less hostile to Sussex than Tyrone itself, and his
policy was constantly counteracted from behind. Robert Fleming, attorney
of Drogheda, who had been employed by Shane to bring his letters to
Dundalk, sought a private interview, and on being admitted to the
Lord-Lieutenant's presence looked in every corner and under every hanging
to see that no one was listening. He declared that if his evidence were
known it would cost him his life. Sussex gave him his word of honour not
to disclose it, and he begged the Queen to keep the secret. Fleming then
said that Shane, who had daily information out of the Pale, had heard of
Sussex bringing over his sister only to entrap him, and that 'if he came
to any governor he should never return.' According to Fleming, most of
the nominally loyal Irish had a secret understanding with Shane, who had
agreed to keep Calvagh O'Donnell a perpetual prisoner, and to make his
son Con chief. Con was to marry Shane's daughter; the Macleans were to
give their services in ransom of the unfortunate countess; O'Neill
himself was to take back MacDonnell's daughter and marry her openly; and
Sorley Boy was to seek a foster-mother for his children among the
O'Neills, to give Shane great gifts, and to furnish a contingent of 400
or 500 men. Whether Fleming was intentionally deceiving Sussex, or
whether he really believed what he said, it is impossible to say; but the
Earl evidently gave him no credit as against Con O'Donnell, whom he
reported to be 'the likeliest plant,' as he thought, that ever sprang in
Ulster to graft a good subject on. Con himself wrote to the Queen begging
for help in earnest language, and telling her that he would rather give
himself up than see his father and mother in such miserable captivity.
The treatment of Shane's prisoners was indeed frightfully cruel. Calvagh
had to wear an iron collar round his neck fastened by a short chain to
gyves on his ankles, so that he could neither stand nor lie by day or
night. 'Afterwards,' he said, 'Shane thought to torment me after another
manner, to the intent that he might have all my jewels, and so he caused
the irons to be strained upon my legs and upon my hands, so sore that the
very blood did run down on every side of mine irons, insomuch that I did
wish after death a thousand times.' Shane demanded Lifford as a ransom.
This was the stronghold which old Manus had built in his best days, in
spite of the O'Neills, and its surrender would lay Tyrconnel at an
invader's feet. Shane could not be trusted, for he had already plundered
the O'Donnells treacherously of 20,000 kine; nevertheless, it would be
necessary to try the 'loathsome' experiment, unless the Queen could help
her own. Con spoke for himself, and for Maguire, O'Reilly, MacMahon,
Magennis, and O'Hanlon. The misery of the loyal tribes could not be
exceeded, and Con's own people were dying of starvation on the highways.
Shane was the tyrant of the North, inordinately ambitious, devoid of
truth, and stained with every vice. If only the Queen would bestir
herself, 'his pride,' said Con, 'I hope shall have a sudden fall.'[58]
[Sidenote: Shane's violence. Maguire.]
While the Government hesitated O'Neill acted. He attacked O'Reilly, swept
10,000 more cattle out of Tyrconnel, though he had sworn to keep the
peace, procured the escape of his hostages from Dublin Castle, took away
cattle from Armagh and then contemptuously restored them, and threatened
the garrison itself. The MacDonnells were forced for safety to make an
agreement with Shane, and Sussex returned to Dublin and wrote an official
letter to Elizabeth. This humiliating despatch was in fact dictated by
Shane to the Queen's representative, whom he had outwitted, and whom he
now forced to write in his favour. It was followed by another letter, in
which Sussex advised Elizabeth to show no mercy to the rebel: he had only
written to stop Shane's mouth, and to gain time. Maguire described in
piteous language the outrages to which he was subjected, only for being a
loyal subject. Shane had crossed the Erne at Belleek and burned corn and
houses, falling upon the harvest people and killing 300 men, women, and
children. 'I am,' Maguire had written to Sussex, 'upon my keeping every
day since his coming to Ireland. In his absence I might do him much hurt,
if it were not for fear of your Lordship's displeasure. Shane made offers
to me, but my answer was that I will never forsake your Lordship, till
your honour do forsake me. Except your Lordship will see to these matters
Shane will come to destroy my country, and I shall be cast away, or else
I must yield myself unto him.' The invasion had now taken place; and Hugh
O'Donnell, to whom Belleek belonged, was afraid to offer any resistance.
He thought it safer to join Shane, and Fermanagh was at the mercy of
these two. 'I told Shane,' said Maguire, 'that I would never forsake you
till you had forsaken me first; wherefore he began to wax mad, setting
all on fire, and did never spare neither church nor sanctuary. He could
not pass westward where my cattle were, because I stopped the passage
with the help of certain hagbuteers that I have. Shane O'Neill should
never have the power to banish me, except it had been through Hugh
O'Donnell's castles, that stand in the borders of my country. I desire
your Lordship to see to my great losses, which is innumerable to be
reckoned. For I promise you, and you do not see the rather to Shane
O'Neill's business, ye are likely to make him the strongest man of all
Ireland, for everyone will take an example by my great losses. Wherefore
take heed to yourselves betimes, for he is likely, with the help of Hugh
O'Donnell, to have all the power from this place till he come to the
walls of Galway, to rise against you.'[59]
[Sidenote: Ulster at Shane's mercy.]
O'Neill's tyranny was certainly hateful to his neighbours, who protested
their loyalty and prayed earnestly for help. Maguire begged Sussex to
write only in English, for clerks, 'or other men of the country,' might
know his mind if he used Latin. The poor man seems not to have had a
horse left to ride, and was fain to beg one of the Lord-Lieutenant, who
sent him an animal for which he had given the high price of twenty-four
marks sterling. The prevalence of official corruption is seen here, for
the horse actually delivered was worthless. A similar mishap seems to
have befallen four hand-guns. Nothing was left in Fermanagh, Shane's
machinery for robbery and murder being perfect, except in some islands in
Lough Erne, and Hugh O'Donnell was preparing a flotilla to harry these
also, while the O'Neills lined the shores. 'I cannot,' said Maguire,
'scape neither by land nor by water, except God and your Lordship do help
me at this need; all my country are against me because of their great
losses and for fear, and all my men's pleasure is that I should yield
myself to Shane.' It was a far cry to Lough Erne, and Sussex could only
enlarge upon the value of patience. To Shane's violence he could oppose
nothing but intrigues. The most brilliant expedient which occurred to him
was to go to Armagh during the moonlight nights, and there parley with
the enemy, so that he might not use them to plunder his neighbours. A
State policy which depends upon the phases of every moon is really
beneath criticism. January had been marked by the wild man's appearance
at Court. December left him with Ulster at his mercy, the Government
baffled, and all those who adhered to the Queen fugitives, prisoners, or
at the very least robbed of their goods, and hourly expecting a worse
fate.[60]
[Sidenote: Arnold and Sussex.]
Like everyone who visits Ireland to learn the truth, Sir Nicholas Arnold
found there was a general desire to throw dust in his eyes. The business
of the musters proceeded very slowly. Bermingham was unable to prove his
allegations, or many of them, and the gentry of the Pale began to think
that Sussex would, after all, come well out of the inquiry. Sir
Christopher Cheevers and others, who in the spring had taken an active
part in denouncing abuses, were in the autumn anxious to persuade the
Lord-Lieutenant that they had no hand in Bermingham's doings. Bermingham,
said Sussex, was Bermingham; the knave might do his worst, but his
instigators were better known than Sir Christopher and his friends
supposed. The musters were but a cloak for intrigue, and he hoped the
Queen would 'command Bermingham's ears to the pillory for example, for
the Earl of Sussex himself (so much more being the Queen's Lieutenant)
was no person to suffer to be threatened by a varlet to be touched in
word, and not to be touched in deed.'[61]
[Sidenote: Recriminations.]
Parker, the Master of the Rolls, who had strongly advocated the cause of
the Pale, was suspected of compiling libellous pamphlets against the
Lord-Lieutenant, and was subjected to interrogatories on the subject.
After much unseemly wrangling at the Council Board in the presence of
Arnold, Parker at first refused to answer, and, being outvoted on that
point, asked a delay of two days, and then put in merely a general
denial, requiring special orders from the Queen before proceeding
further. Had the Master of the Rolls been his equal, Sussex told the
Queen he would have taken personal satisfaction, at the risk of his life
and goods. He could forgive plots against his life, 'but he that seeketh
falsely to procure me to live discredited with you, and defamed with the
world, doth, I confess, touch me so near at the bottom of the heart, as I
may without offence, I trust, of conscience, pursue the party to the
uttermost by my own truth and discover his falsehood.... The malicious
practices of Ireland seek first by secret and sinister means to utter
matter of slander, thinking that the same going without punishment from
hand to hand will breed to a common rumour, and so (holpen with time)
endure credit, whereby, excepting indeed without punishment, they bring
their intent to effect and leave the honest slandered, which danger I
most humbly crave your Majesty to avoid from me, by open purgation in
this and in all other like matters.' It is true that public men in
Ireland have been at all times peculiarly subject to baseless and
self-seeking calumnies, and Sussex may be freely acquitted of any
dishonesty in his office; but his indignation would better become him did
not his own letters convict him of the grossest treachery against an
Irish enemy. Was not Queen Elizabeth in truth far more deeply disgraced
by the conduct of her Lieutenant than by any slanders which might pursue
him in the fearless discharge of his duty? It is evident that Cecil did
not share the Lord-Lieutenant's feelings against Parker, for he continued
to consult him, and the Queen granted his suit for a lease of certain
lands.[62]
[Sidenote: Evident unfitness of Sussex for his work.]
Among the many pie-crust promises of Shane O'Neill was one not to attack
Dundalk, and on the faith of it the townsmen left their cattle in the
fields, and lost them. Sussex feared for the safety of the town, and
offered a garrison of 400 foot and 100 horse, to be victualled at the
Queen's prices. This was refused, the chance of losing all by Shane
appearing a less terrible alternative than the support of 500 soldiers
for three months. As the townsmen well knew, Sussex would be obliged to
do his best for them, whether they helped or not. Nor were the Dundalk
people altogether without excuse. The best men in Ireland, even Ormonde
himself, were loth to incur expense which was almost sure to be followed
by failure. Sussex had shown too clearly that the Irish problem was
beyond his powers. He murmured at the general remissness. 'I pray God,'
he exclaimed, 'to rid me from serving with such as speak with their
mouths what they mislike with their hearts, and put forth with their
words that which they overthrow with their deeds, of which mischievous
and direful practices I fear I shall hereafter bear the blame.'[63]
[Sidenote: Great preparations to attack Shane.]
Great exertions were made to collect two months' victuals in the Pale,
and in Wexford, Carlow, and Westmeath; and to do it in the way least
burdensome to the country. A general hosting was ordered, but to avoid
the cost of cartage the bulk of the stores were sent by water to Newry
and Carlingford, and thence to Armagh by country ponies requisitioned for
the purpose. Five hundred labourers were taken out of the Pale in the
same way, to cut a pass in the woods between Dundalk and Armagh. The
season was a bad one, but great hopes were excited, and the people
professed willingness to exert themselves to the utmost. A general
hosting was ordered. The Irish chiefs who were already committed against
Shane promised to do their best, and there were even hopes of Tirlough
Luineach, the second man in Tyrone.[64]
[Sidenote: Small results.]
At last the army moved. Its composition was so heterogeneous that only a
general of exceptional powers could hope to lead it to advantage, and
Sussex was not such a general. The Keating kerne, the scourges of
Wexford, did not agree with their Northern congeners: an affray took
place, and blood was shed. There were small skirmishes with Shane's men.
The soldiers chased a party to the edge of some bog or wood; then the
wild horsemen appeared suddenly on all sides, or shots were fired from
behind turf-ricks, and a retreat was beaten, seldom without loss. One
day's work was exactly like another's. A few cows were taken, but no real
service was done. For the first week the army lay encamped outside
Armagh, and one dark night, while the rain was falling in torrents, a
gang of thieves crept up to the lines and stole 300 pack-horses. This
shameful negligence Sussex excused only by the fact that it was Easter
Monday, and that it had been devoted to prayer, Sunday having been spent
on the march. He forgot the natural connection between watchfulness and
prayer. St. George's Day was spent by the Lord-Lieutenant in his tent,
keeping the festival of the Garter; but the saint seems not to have been
propitiated. Perhaps he thought the red cross should have been exhibited
in the field. Three inglorious weeks passed away, and at the end the
provisions were gone. The Blackwater had been crossed only for a few
hours, and the baffled Viceroy returned to the Pale to bemoan his hard
fate, and to lay the blame of failure upon every head but the right
one--namely, his own.[65]
[Sidenote: Treachery of Andrew Brereton against the MacDonnells.]
Notwithstanding the perfidy of his own intentions towards them, Sussex
expected the Scots to keep their promises made through Hutchinson and
Randolph. Piers, the indefatigable constable of Carrickfergus, went both
to Cantire and Red Bay. At the latter place he made an arrangement with
James MacDonnell, by which the latter bound himself and his brother
Sorley Boy to send a contingent to Armagh. Sussex had succeeded in making
peace between the Scots and Andrew Brereton, the turbulent farmer of
Lecale, who had called Tyrone traitor at the Council Board fourteen years
before. Alaster MacRandal Boy, the acknowledged chief of the MacDonnells
in that district, was a tried friend of the English, and willingly
accepted Brereton's invitation to sup at Ardglass. That same night a
number of Scots, including the chief and his brother Gillespie, were
killed in their beds by Brereton's orders, and a third brother underwent
the same fate in another village. These murders of course destroyed all
hopes of help from the MacDonnells, and Scots and Irish alike called
loudly and justly for vengeance. 'The voice is common,' said Sussex,
'that every Irishman that cometh to the Queen's service is either left
undefended or murdered by treason, which toucheth as much the surety of
the Queen's order in this realm as the breach of my "slantie" toucheth me
in honour.' Brereton fled, having first sold his interest in Lecale to
the Earl of Kildare. It does not appear that he was ever punished, and
ten years afterwards we find the Lord Deputy recommending him for a good
service pension. Such things did indeed touch the honour both of Queen
Elizabeth and of her most distinguished servants.[66]
[Sidenote: Sussex can obtain no decisive success.]
After a fortnight's rest Sussex again took the field. Led by an O'Neill,
his army crossed the Blackwater at Braintree, and penetrated to Clogher.
Some cattle were taken, but the majority were driven off into Fermanagh,
which was now quite under Shane's control. Provisions were short, and the
raid, for it was nothing more, was supported by the beasts taken.
Tirlough Luineach and the unfortunate Maguire met the Lord-Lieutenant,
but the former did not, and the latter could not offer any effectual
help. A general hosting was ordered, but the overtaxed and desponding
Pale scarcely answered the call. The summons was repeated, and the Earls
of Ormonde, Desmond, Clanricarde, and Thomond, were directed to meet the
Lord-Lieutenant at Dundalk on June 14. In the meantime Sussex collected a
small force at Armagh, and advanced to Dungannon. Tirlough Luineach was
sent for; but he had not been favourably impressed by his last interview,
and he did not come. A few O'Neills and a few soldiers, including one
English captain, were slain in skirmishes, some cows were captured, and
many ponies ham-strung. Shane hovered in the neighbourhood and prepared a
Caudine ambuscade for Sussex near Lough Neagh. The Lord-Lieutenant
escaped by taking another road, and returned to Armagh to find that
MacMahon's hostages had flown. On the way back to Dundalk some plunder
worth noting was taken, 3,000 kine and 1,600 stud mares belonging to the
O'Neills, which had purposely been mixed up with the MacMahons' property.
MacMahon sent to ask for peace. His request was granted, and he was
invited to attend the Lord-Lieutenant; but, like Tirlough Luineach, he
declined to respond. Sussex returned to Drogheda, and on the same night
Shane's people plundered Henry O'Neill's property close to Dundalk. Such
was the usual, almost the inevitable end of these expeditions.[67]
[Sidenote: Negotiations.]
The preparations of Sussex for a new invasion of Tyrone led to nothing of
importance. Negotiations were again tried, and Ormonde and Kildare were
sent to argue the point with Shane. He agreed to a conference without
listeners; there to make only such proposals as in matter and manner were
worthy of a loving subject, and in sworn secrecy. The Earls offered not
to divulge his statements, except to the Lord-Lieutenant and such of the
Council as he should name. The desired conference took place, but Shane
stiffly declared that he was not such a fool as to treat with the Scots
without proper securities from the Government. He again demanded all that
could be claimed by an O'Neill, and hinted to Ormonde that he had some
understanding with the southern Geraldines, and that he might be worth
conciliating.[68]
[Sidenote: Cusack makes a virtual surrender to Shane. Mortification of
Sussex.]
While Shane was defying the State in Ireland, Sir Thomas Cusack was at
Court advocating a conciliatory policy. In desperation the Queen sent him
back with large treating powers. How much she felt the humiliation may be
inferred from her thinking it necessary to apologise to Sussex. While
sweetening the pill thus, she told him plainly that he had failed, that
his failure had been a direct encouragement to the disaffected, and that
he had confessed himself powerless to carry matters with a high hand.
Under the circumstances there was nothing for it but to temporise. The
mere form of a submission was the best that could be looked for. Cusack
and Kildare accordingly met Shane, who descanted largely on his losses,
on the attempts made to assassinate him, and on the persistent enmity of
the Lord-Lieutenant towards him. He was, however, brought to consent to a
treaty, by which he gained everything and yielded nothing. He was
acknowledged as O'Neill, with all the powers ever exercised under that
name. The Earldom of Tyrone was again dangled before his eyes, but the
Queen said that for her own honour she could not go far into the matter
until she had scrutinised the patents. With characteristic frugality she
asked about the robes and collars sent to Sussex when he purposed to make
O'Reilly and O'Donnell Earls, so that they might be available in case of
a new creation. By the treaty concluded, Shane's differences with Maguire
and O'Reilly were reserved for Commissioners, but they were to have no
power to enforce their award. Chiefs who had committed the crime of
loyalty were abandoned, and Shane was released from all obligations to
appear in person before the Viceroy. His former promises to the Queen
were cancelled, and he was exonerated from all responsibility for the
murder of the Baron of Dungannon's son. Armagh Cathedral was to be
restored to him, and he agreed to use it as became the Metropolitan
Church of Ireland. Some trifling alterations were made in the treaty
before ratification, but the surrender on the Queen's part was complete.
Sussex felt this bitterly, but put a good face on the matter, and wrote
to Shane in a conciliatory tone.[69]
[Sidenote: Shane again desires an English wife. Lady F. Radclyffe for
choice.]
Shane still professed much anxiety to live clearly after the English
fashion. An English wife was the best means to that end, and of all
eligible persons he preferred Lady Frances Radclyffe. In this he had
probably no other design than to humiliate Sussex, but he suggested that
the Queen should give Mellifont as a dowry. If her Majesty would not make
a match, then he begged leave to seek a foreign alliance; but he greatly
preferred an English woman--Lady Frances above all others--to increase
his civil education, and to make his followers acknowledge their duties
to the Queen. In any case he was determined to be good in future, to be
the 'plague of all rebels in those parts,' and to do all more cheaply for
his sovereign than she could do it for herself. Elizabeth prudently
answered that the question of an English wife must be adjourned until
Shane had proved his love of civilisation by deeds as well as words.[70]
[Sidenote: Attempt to poison Shane.]
Just before the peace or truce an attempt had been made to poison O'Neill
in wine, of which he was accustomed to drink a great deal. He and his
servant suffered from the dose; but no one died. It is not disputed that
the guilty man was John Smythe, who appears to have been a foot soldier
of Irish birth, one of a company in the Queen's pay of which Ormonde had
the command. O'Neill demanded redress, and the Queen, when she heard of
the affair, wrote with becoming indignation and horror. If there was any
difficulty about getting a fair trial in Ireland, the accused man was to
be sent to London. Elizabeth declared her willingness to bear with much
that was disorderly in Shane, and to trust him more for the future on
account of this great provocation. Smythe was arrested and examined, but
no punishment followed. Whether Sussex or other great men were
implicated, or whether Ormonde wished to screen his man, will never now
be known, and Shane was induced to forgive Smythe. The suave Cusack
pointed out that he could not be hanged for a mere attempt, and O'Neill
despised any other punishment. Cusack advised Cecil to let the thing blow
over; and no doubt this suited the Queen, who could not have forgotten
the Lord-Lieutenant's plain-spoken letters in that other affair of Neil
Gray.[71]
[Sidenote: New Royal Commission on the Pale, 1563.]
Having pacified Ulster, or rather shut her eyes to its true state,
Elizabeth turned her attention to the state of the Pale. The complaints
of the Irish law students in London, of Parker, of Bermingham, and of
Shane O'Neill himself, had been partially investigated by Arnold. Matthew
King, Clerk of the Check, was found to have been very remiss, and
declared that some of his gravest misdeeds had been done under direct
orders from the Lord-Lieutenant. Nothing could much exceed the
ill-feeling shown by Sussex to the party of inquiry, though he did not
actually obstruct Arnold, who, on his return to London, made out a case
too strong to be safely neglected. Parker and Bermingham were consulted
again, and Arnold received a new commission. To make the investigation
thorough, all members of the Irish Council who had no men in the Queen's
pay under them, and most of the principal gentlemen of the Pale, were put
into the Commission. Sir Thomas Wrothe was associated with Arnold, and
William Dixe, a professional auditor, was afterwards joined to them.
Their instructions involved inquiry into almost all civil and military,
and into some ecclesiastical affairs. The Queen notified her intention of
establishing provincial presidencies, and suggested a plan for a
University in Dublin, to be endowed out of the revenue of St.
Patrick's.[72]
[Sidenote: Cusack and Desmond.]
The indefatigable Cusack, whose great idea was the conciliation of
Ireland by arrangements with the native nobility, was as anxious to
obtain terms for Desmond as for Shane. The Earl was tired of his
detention in England, where he was hard pressed for so moderate a sum as
4_l._ He agreed to be responsible for order in Munster, to see that the
Queen got her feudal dues, and to pay her a tax of 4_d._ a year on every
cow. He promised to put down the Brehon law, as well as the bards or
rhymers who seem to have been thought still more important; 'for that
they do by their ditties and rhymes made to divers lords and gentlemen in
Ireland, in the commendation and high praise of extortion, rebellion,
rape, raven, and other injustice, encourage those lords and gentlemen
rather to follow those vices than to leave them.' For every shilling paid
to these men, two were to be forfeited to the Queen, whose Commissioners
were to have power to fine the rhymers at discretion.[73]
[Sidenote: Desmond and Ormonde.]
It is probable that neither Cusack's intercession nor Desmond's promises
would have prevailed, had not the Earl's enforced absence left Munster in
confusion. A dispute about the title to Kilfeacle was one difficulty, and
the legal question cannot have been very hard to decide. But Desmond may
have distrusted the impartiality of lawyers rather than the justice of
his cause, and he preferred the old way of deciding lawsuits. His brother
John spoiled the Butlers, while Ormonde, who was forbidden to retaliate,
poured forth his griefs to Sussex. With just pride he dilated upon the
loyalty of his ancestors, who had always been able to defend themselves,
and to take and keep the Desmond's goods. His own services were not
small, but for fear of disobeying orders he had to stand by, while he and
his suffered more in two or three years than his forefathers had in two
centuries. Towns were burned, women and children murdered, half Kilkenny
and Tipperary lay waste. 'All this spoil, I assure your lordship, doth
not so much grieve me as that the Earl of Desmond with his evil doings is
like to speed as well as I that with my service have deserved at least to
be restored to my own.' In trying to defend his property, Ormonde's
brother John had been dangerously, if not mortally wounded. The Earl was
forced to see all this, and do nothing. 'My lord, you see what I get by
sufferance; my brother left as dead, and mine enemies living upon the
spoil of my goods. My lord, who shall render my brother his life if he
die? Shall I live and suffer all this? If I may not avenge my brother on
these disobedient Geraldines, as you are a just governor lend your force
against them, and let not my obedience be the cause of my destruction.'
He begged that in case of Desmond being sent back to Ireland, he might at
least be detained in Dublin until restitution should be made, and the
rebels delivered to Sussex to be 'justified.' Ormonde threw out the
significant hint that, failing this, he would leave his estate to take
care of itself, and go to the Queen, 'like some other private men.'[74]
[Sidenote: Desmond is restored.]
Desmond's head was in the lion's mouth, and he professed loyalty, while
doubting the capacity of the Munster chiefs for civil life. If he was
expected to do anything he must have guns and gunners to take castles,
and have the right to arrest malefactors in the corporate towns. The
Queen was silent on these points, but urged Desmond to put down private
war, 'which hurts the innocent, to the great displeasure of Almighty God,
and to our dishonour, whereof we pray you to have due regard.' She
ordered him to wait at Dublin for Cusack, whose help he had himself
asked. 'The Queen's sword,' she said, 'shall touch the guilty, and no
other shall be drawn.' Brave words! but much belied by facts.[75]
FOOTNOTES:
[50] Book by twenty-seven students of Ireland, March 21, 1562, and the
documents arising out of it (52 to 59). Sir Oliver Plunket, of Rathmore,
and twenty-six others to the Queen, May 27, and their letter of the same
date to Lord R. Dudley.
[51] Interrogatories by the Earl of Sussex, &c., March 21, and the
answer, same date.
[52] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, June 19, 1562; the Queen to Lady Desmond, June
7, 1562; Joan, Dowager Countess of Ormonde and Countess of Desmond, to
Cecil, July 22, 1563.
[53] Instructions to the Earl of Sussex, July 4, 1562; Report of the Earl
of Sussex, 1562 (No. 236). Both in _Carew_.
[54] Instructions for Sir N. Arnold, July 7, 1562; W. Bermingham to
Northampton, July 16; Arnold to Cecil, Aug. 13.
[55] Instructions for Sir N. Arnold, July 7; W. Bermingham to Northampton
and Cecil, July 16; Arnold to Cecil, August 13; Instructions for the Earl
of Sussex, July 3, the original in _Carew_; Sussex to Cecil, Aug. 23.
[56] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, June 13 and 19, and Aug. 31, 1562; Sussex to
Cecil, Aug. 1; Sussex to the Queen, Aug. 27, with the enclosures. The
words of the safe-conduct are, to come and go, 'absque ulla perturbatione
sive molestatione nostra, sive alicujus subditi Dominæ nostræ Reginæ.'
Sussex reached Ireland on July 24.
[57] Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the Queen, Sept. 20, with enclosures;
Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Sept. 20; Arnold to Cecil, Sept. 23; Sussex to the
Queen, Sept 29.
[58] Con O'Donnell to the Queen, Sept. 30, 1562; Calvagh O'Donnell to
Sussex, Oct. 29; Sussex to the Queen, Sept. 29 and Oct. 1.
[59] Extracted from three letters of Shane Maguire to Sussex, printed in
Wright's _Queen Elizabeth_, Aug. 15, Oct. 9 and 20, 1562, from the Cotton
MSS. The last is also in the R.O. collection. The letter written to
humour Shane, by the Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the Queen, is dated
Oct. 20, and the Lord-Lieutenant's corrective, Oct. 26.
[60] O'Reilly and others to the Queen, Nov. 6, 1562, against 'illum
nepharium Johannem.' Shane Maguire to the Lord-Lieutenant, Nov. 25;
Sussex to Maguire, Dec. 15, and to the Privy Council, Dec. 28.
[61] Lord-Lieutenant to Cecil, Sept. 29.
[62] Sussex to the Queen, Sept. 6; Abstracts of Letters, Sept. 8;
Calendar of Patent Rolls, Nov. 9, 5th Eliz. An anonymous duodecimo
pamphlet of 29 pages calendared under June, 1562 (No. 37), is not in
Parker's hand, and he denied having written anything of the kind.
[63] Sussex to the Privy Council, Feb. 5 and Feb. 19.
[64] Lord-Lieutenant and Council to the Privy Council, Jan. 26; Sussex to
the Privy Council, Feb. 5 and 19, 1563.
[65] Sussex left Dundalk on April 5, and returned to it on the 25th. St.
George's Day was the 22nd. Many particulars in _Carew_, under June 7,
1563.
[66] Shane O'Neill is the authority for the details, but they do not seem
to have been disputed; see his memorial in _Carew_, 1565, p. 369. Sussex
to the Queen, April 24, 1563. Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Feb. 20,
1573.
[67] Sussex to the Privy Council, May 11, and to his own Council, May 20;
and see his Journal in _Carew_, June 1 to 7.
[68] Instructions for Ormonde and Kildare, July 26. Memorial of parley,
July 30.
[69] See the treaty in _Carew_, Sept. 11, 1563; Sussex to Shane O'Neill,
Sept. 16.
[70] See four letters from Shane O'Neill to the Queen, to Cecil, and to
Cusack, all calendared under Nov. 18, 1563; also Terence Danyell to the
Queen, Nov. 28.
[71] Shane O'Neill to Cusack, Sept. 10, 1563--'Per potionem vini in quo
clam venenum, &c.' Memorial for Cusack, Oct. 20, 1563; for Wroth and
Arnold, same date. Cusack to Cecil, March 22, 1564. There was an
apothecary named Thomas Smythe in Dublin about this time, and he was
probably a relation of John, and may have got the poison for him. The
would-be assassin was afterwards known as 'Bottle Smythe;' see _Irish
Archæological Journal_, N.S., vol. i. p. 99.
[72] Notes for musters, Sept. 8, 1563; Instructions to Arnold, Wrothe,
and Dixe, Oct. 20, 1563, and Jan. 5, 1564, in _Carew_.
[73] Orders for Desmond, Dec. 20, 1563.
[74] Ormonde to Sussex, Dec. 10 and 17, 1563.
[75] Desmond to the Privy Council, Dec. 20, 1563; the Queen to Desmond,
Jan. 15, 1564.
CHAPTER XXII.
1564 AND 1565.
[Sidenote: Difficulties of Wrothe and Arnold.]
The trouble which it cost Wrothe and Arnold to reach Ireland pretty
accurately foreshadowed the trouble which awaited them there. After
waiting a long time at Holyhead they at last ventured to sea, but were
taken aback before they gained mid-Channel, and had to choose between
scudding under bare poles towards Ulster, or returning to Wales. They
chose the latter course, but failed to make the harbour. They lay for a
time under the shelter of some rocks, and were glad to scramble ashore at
three o'clock on a February morning, wet and sick, but safe. Nine days
later they were more fortunate, and reached Dublin to find that Leix and
Offaly were again in rebellion, and that the financial confusion had not
been exaggerated. All captains, castellans, sheriffs, and municipal
officers were at once called on to produce accounts. The inquiry into the
musters was begun by demanding an accurate return of all changes and
vacancies in the Lord-Lieutenant's own company. Sussex said he was ready
to obey the Queen in all things, but that this had never been required of
any chief governor, and was, in fact, out of his power. The debts to the
Crown were great, and many of them desperate. There was not one groat in
the Treasury, and the 11,000_l._ which the Commissioners brought was
quite inadequate. The Pale and the wild Irish were at daggers drawn, for
the former clung to their own customs and bye-laws, and looked for the
Queen's protection in their attempts at self-government. The Church was
in no better case than the State, but there was a pretty general wish to
have St. Patrick's turned into a University. The Commissioners
recommended that the judges should put the Act of Uniformity generally
in force, 'not meddling with the simple multitude now at the first, but
with one or two boasting mass men in every shire, that it may be seen
that the punishment of such men is meant.'[76]
[Sidenote: Wrothe's horror at the general corruption.]
It soon became clear that Wrothe was not exactly the fittest man for the
work. He was anxious to do right, but very nervous about exceeding the
letter of his commission, and from the first wishing to be recalled. He
fell into a fever which he felt certain would be attributed to riotous
living, and he assured Cecil that he seldom took more than one meal in
twenty-four hours, which was not the way to preserve health. His sense of
the general corruption made it hard for him to gain friends, though he
was generally praised for his willingness to work hard. The whole
rapacious pack of jobbers longed to be rid of him, for he was bent on
even-handed justice, a scarce commodity, and not in demand with any
party. The Queen was considered fair game for every robber. Arnold, a man
cast in a much rougher mould, had little regard for his colleague's
feelings, and a coolness soon sprung up between them. On Sussex obtaining
sick leave, the general government was entrusted to Arnold, and the new
Lord Justice expected Wrothe to do the business of the Commission
single-handed. He was willing enough to take routine work on himself, but
declined to be responsible for any matter of moment unless Arnold was
joined with him in it. 'God deal with me,' he wrote, 'as I have meant to
serve the Queen here. My mind is troubled and my conscience, for God's
sake help me.... Our bowls here be so much biassed, and I have no skill
but with upright bowls, and therefore unfit for this alley.'[77]
[Sidenote: Great abuses.]
After a partial examination of the public accounts, Auditor Dixe
estimated that the Queen's debts were between 30,000_l._ and 40,000_l._
The victualler and the officers engaged on fortifications gave in their
accounts, but they were full of mistakes. The cessors of the Pale, who
were very numerous and often very incompetent, were slow to produce their
books. Captains of companies delivered muster-rolls from May 1560, when
they had been fully paid off by the Lord-Lieutenant's warrant, but
declined to do so for the previous year on the ground that it was
contrary to custom. In many cases the books were not forthcoming, but
this was not unnatural in the case of officers who constantly changed
their quarters, and who did not expect any further question to arise. The
real fault was in the Government. We are accustomed to clock-work
regularity, and can scarcely imagine the loose way in which things were
done even much later than Elizabeth's days. When Lord Shelburne joined
Colonel Wolfe's regiment, the future hero of Quebec told him that he must
not draw his pay, but let it accumulate for the benefit of deserving
officers. But it was not only in money accounts that Wrothe and Arnold
found the army in Ireland defective. There was an old order that every
captain should find pay for his Irish soldiers if he thought proper to
have more than five in his company. As a matter of fact many companies
were half Irish, and this had long been winked at. The captains were now
told that the Queen wanted no Irish soldiers. Wild Irishmen could not be
trusted, and tame Irishmen were necessarily a deduction from the strength
of the Pale. It was not for the Queen's interest that the rebels should
know all the secrets of the service and all the art of war. Irish
soldiers would take less pay than Englishmen, and it was therefore for
the private interest of officers to enlist them. The captains pleaded the
Lord-Lieutenant's orders to make up their strength. Englishmen could not
be had, and they threw themselves on the Queen's mercy; they were ready
to serve her while life lasted.[78]
[Sidenote: Harsh proceedings of Arnold.]
But Bermingham, who was Arnold's principal adviser, understood the duties
of the Commission differently. According to his view every officer, from
the Lord-Lieutenant downwards, was to be visited with extreme penalties
for every technical error. No allowance was to be made for men who were
irregularly and not highly paid, and who had too often to make her
Majesty's bricks without straw. It was hard in Queen Elizabeth's time--it
is hard enough in Queen Victoria's--to apportion the blame between the
English Government and its servants in Ireland, but the irregularities
themselves were scandalous enough. Even Bermingham had some doubts about
the policy of employing anyone living in Ireland to inquire into matters
personally affecting the Queen's representative, but the Commissioners
were peremptory, and he had to deliver a book of exceptions to the
Lord-Lieutenant's muster. A roll of his own, accompanying this document,
contained 213 names, but of these twenty-five were holders of other
offices, thirty were occasionally employed by other captains, and
sixty-four were of Irish birth, though by rights all but eight should
have been Englishmen. Of the Englishmen born ten were no soldiers, but at
best retainers. A soldier's pay was drawn in the name of the clerk of
Christ Church, and still more strangely in the name of Adam Loftus,
'primate and bishop of Armagh, almost these two years.' Sussex could
muster 155 men, but no more than forty-three were really fit for service,
and of these twenty-eight were officers. Thomas Smythe, the apothecary,
who probably kept drugs for poisoning as well as for healing, was borne
on the strength, and so were butchers, carters, woodcutters, scullions,
makers of arras, musicians, a mariner, an old fisherman, a blind man, and
a dead man. Brian Fitzwilliam's company should have mustered 200,
exclusive of officers, whereas the rank and file in reality only numbered
128. Captain Fortescue's followers were found to be nearly all Irish;
they were disbanded, and as Fortescue declined to account, he was
committed to prison.[79]
[Sidenote: Wrothe is recalled, 1564. Irregularities in the army.
Proceedings against the officers.]
When the Commission had been at work for a year, Elizabeth found out that
it was very slow and very expensive. She recalled Wrothe, much to his own
delight, but to the despair of Dixe, who was left single-handed to cope
with Arnold and Bermingham. Unrestrained by an English colleague, the
Lord Justice now proceeded to extremities, a course in which he was
encouraged by the local magnates joined with him in the Commission. The
captains were required to enter into recognizances, binding themselves
under penalties to give a detailed account of all they had received, and
to make good deficiencies. The captains were willing to bind themselves
to account for all the money or value which they could be proved to have
received, and confessed that they had been negligent about the
preservation of books, but refused to admit the evidence of private
soldiers instead of documentary proofs. Any one who has had anything to
do with paying troops will know that they were amply justified in the
refusal. The Commissioners proceeded in the most arbitrary way, refusing
to make any allowance for men employed as servants, and proposing to pay
all according to the roll, and without the knowledge of the captains. All
Irishmen above six in each company were to be peremptorily disallowed,
without considering the explanations offered on this head. The
Commissioners swore in twelve soldiers from each company, and encouraged
them to say all they could against their captains; and having thus
collected much hostile evidence, they refused copies to the officers
concerned. Captain George Delves having declined to submit to the
requirements of the Commissioners, though he offered to give all
reasonable security, was sent to prison. Sir Henry Radclyffe, the
Lord-Lieutenant's brother, and Sir George Stanley, the Marshal, 'seeing
their staves to stand next the door,' as they themselves expressed it,
protested strongly against the 'opening of matters, we do not say the
forging of matters,' to their prejudice. They significantly added that
all the Commissioners were blood-relations to each other and to
Bermingham. Auditor Dixe, who seems to have been really anxious to do
right, heard the Lord Justice talk much of the 'exactions, impositions,
cessings, and cuttings,' of Sussex and the captains, to the
impoverishment of the Pale, and warned him that he would be considered
partial if he did not report the same of the native nobility, who
extorted twice as much. The auditor reminded Cecil that he was but one
man against fourteen. The jobbing of family parties, as they have been
called, has indeed been for centuries one of the chief difficulties of
ministers who have been successively charged with the government of
Ireland.[80]
[Sidenote: Arnold is too harsh and too zealous. Sir Henry Radclyffe's
case.]
[Sidenote: Arnold imprisons the Lord-Lieutenant's brother].
Sir Henry Radclyffe, the most highly placed and best connected officer in
Ireland, was summoned before Arnold to give fuller answers to
Bermingham's charges. He refused to go back to a period before the last
general payment, but offered to wait on the Commission at any time after
one hour's notice, and begged that his soldiers might not be paid in his
absence. Well might Radclyffe exclaim, 'fiat justitia,' when this common
measure of justice was denied to him. Dixe was ordered to settle with Sir
Henry's company according to their own report. He obeyed; but took the
precaution to have some of the Commissioners present, and declined to be
bound by the results of such a monstrous order. It was hardly worth while
to brand the character of the Queen's officers, and to destroy the
discipline of her troops for the sake of 10_l._, saved in the payment of
a company of fifty. Radclyffe asked for a passport, and even offered to
be tried by his own soldiers. Both requests were refused, and the
Commissioners, who seem to have surrendered themselves to Bermingham's
guidance, declared that if fraud appeared on the face of the
incriminating document drawn up by him, they would force Radclyffe to
give the details which he had already refused. He was made to appear
about 6,000_l._ in debt, nearly half of which was on account of Irishmen
enlisted above the number officially allowed. The accused officer was
then committed to prison, and Arnold, having undertaken to see his men
paid, refused to settle the tradesmen's bills for necessaries, alleging
that all should fall on the captains. There may have been great
negligence, but the Lord Justice did not venture to accuse Radclyffe of
any false statement; and it must be admitted that, whatever his faults,
he had managed to keep Leix and Offaly quiet. As much could not be said
for Arnold, whom the English Council gently rebuked for taking such an
extreme course with an officer of high rank, a Privy Councillor, and a
man of family. There could be no objection to detaining him in Ireland if
necessary, but he might have been left at liberty. Cecil and Leicester,
after privately examining the voluminous and contradictory reports,
declared themselves puzzled in some things, and advised Arnold to take a
good many of the Irish Council into his confidence. They reminded him
that Dixe, with whom he appeared unable to agree, was chosen for a man of
honesty and ability. What Leicester and Cecil could not fully understand
at the time, we shall hardly be able to clear up now. That Radclyffe had
committed irregularities was not denied, that they were much smaller both
in amount and in kind than Arnold supposed may be gathered from the fact
that he was afterwards allowed to give a bond for 600_l._ to repay all
moneys overpaid to him, if the balance should be against him at a final
closing. Sir George Stanley gave a similar bond for 300_l._ Nicholas
Heron, another captain whom Arnold treated with great rigour, was
afterwards knighted, and died in the enjoyment of the Queen's favour.[81]
[Sidenote: 'Sir Thomas Cusack's peaces.' Shane in his glory.]
While Arnold was occupied in exposing, and perhaps exaggerating the
defects of military administration, the optimist Cusack was trying to
keep Shane O'Neill in good humour. 'Sir Thomas Cusack's peaces' became a
byword in official circles. The last was made on the basis of leaving
Shane all the glories of the O'Neills until the Queen gave him his
father's title. He was not to be brought before the chief governor
against his will, and the disputes between English and Irish in the North
were to be referred to arbitration. The Queen had made up her mind to
brook the fact of a great O'Neill; but she positively refused to confirm
the articles exempting him from attending on the Viceroy, and referring
all to arbitration. Shane then declared that he would have all or none;
but he signed a temporary agreement for the pacification of the borders,
and he appears to have kept it for a time. Cusack, who was never tired of
singing Shane's praises, wished to have the Great Seal affixed to the
original treaty; but the Privy Council dared not mention it to Elizabeth,
the alterations being deemed necessary for her honour. That saved, there
was every desire to humour the tyrant of the North. Elizabeth said she
thought she had yielded enough, but was willing to have Shane's disputes
with the Baron of Dungannon's sons decided in the next Irish Parliament.
Shane dared to claim Lady Frances Radclyffe as having been 'appointed to
him by the Queen's Majesty,' and the Privy Council were afraid to say
more than that the question must be left till Sussex reached the Court.
How Lady Frances would have fared as Shane's wife may be inferred from
the way in which he treated his mistress. The Countess of Argyle, the
accomplished lady who had left her husband for his sake, was chained by
day to a little boy, and only released when wanted to amuse her master's
drunken leisure.
[Sidenote: Shane's offers of service.]
Lord Robert Dudley, mindful of their old sport together, advised the
chieftain to do some notable service, and thus deserve the royal favour.
He answered that the Scots were rebels and traitors, who usurped the
Queen's lands and revenues in the North, and that he would drive them all
out of Ireland for no greater reward than the pay of forty men. In other
words, he would gladly have had the Queen's help in adding the MacDonnell
lands to his own.[82]
[Sidenote: Ill-treatment and torture of O'Donnell.]
Cusack's anxiety to please Shane was so great that he had no feeling left
for O'Donnell, whose fate might well have moved the hardest heart. Seven
years before, he told the Queen, O'Neill when hard pressed by the
Government had been glad enough to take refuge in Tyrconnel, to marry his
daughter, to profess loyalty to the Queen, and to swear eternal
friendship to his hospitable host. O'Donnell had been glad to hear his
son-in-law talk so, and said that he would befriend him only as long as
he was loyal. Then Shane had taken to intriguing with his clansmen, and
probably, if we may judge by the sequel, with his father-in-law's wife.
After his treacherous capture O'Donnell was bound hand and foot, an iron
collar round his neck being tightly chained to the gyves on his ankles.
Night or day he could neither lie down nor stand up. 'When he perceived,'
said the victim, 'that I could not be undone after this manner, he
thought to torment me after another manner, to the intent that he might
have all my jewels, and so he caused the irons to be strained upon my
legs and upon my hands so sore that the very blood ran down on every side
of mine irons, insomuch that I did wish after death one thousand times.'
No Christian or Turk, he thought, had ever been treated worse, and
besides his personal wrongs not less than 500 people of some condition,
and at least 14,000 of the poor, had lost their lives through O'Neill's
cruelty. His son Con, whose cousins delivered him to Shane, had been
induced by torture to promise the surrender of Lifford. The tribesmen
refused to give it up, and Shane threatened to strike off his prisoner's
leg. While Con daily expected death, his tormentor blockaded Lifford with
earthworks, and his cattle ate down the green corn for miles round. The
castle was taken, and all Tyrconnel was then at Shane's mercy.[83]
[Sidenote: Release of O'Donnell. He goes to Dublin, where he gets scant
comfort, and thence to England, where]
O'Donnell himself was released after a captivity of two years and nine
months, partly perhaps because he had been a troublesome prisoner.
According to Cusack, or rather to Shane, who was his informant, he had
given up Lifford, promised many kine and much plate and jewels, and
released his ancient claim to the suzerainty of Innishowen. In the
absence of documentary evidence no one is bound to believe this, and in
any case, promises extracted by torture could hardly be thought binding.
O'Donnell was indeed in no condition to pay such a ransom, for he had
lost all control over his country. He had incurred unpopularity by paying
a pension to Argyle as the price of his faithless wife. O'Neill had,
however, seized Con in revenge for the alleged breach of contract. 'Con,'
said Sir Thomas Wrothe, 'is as wise and active an Irishman as any in
Ireland:' he was married to an O'Neill, and there was a suspicion that
the lady favoured her father rather than her husband. Cusack advised
Arnold to give O'Donnell nothing but fair words, and a letter to Shane
bidding him use his prisoner well. On reaching Dublin O'Donnell was
accordingly received with outward marks of respect, but Arnold refused to
give him any help or to allow him to go to England. He was reminded that
his grandfather, who was 'the honestest O'Donnell that ever was,' never
came to the governor but to ask aid when banished by his son, and that
son was in turn banished by his son the present suppliant. Calvagh was
told that he came not now for service but for help, for which he would go
to the Turk, and that no O'Donnell ever did come for service, nor was
able to hurt the Pale, except when allied with O'Neill, Maguire,
Magennis, O'Rourke, and O'Reilly. The family quarrels of the O'Donnells
could not be denied, but they might at least be matched by those of the
O'Neills, and there was something savouring strongly of meanness in the
rest of the answer, when we reflect that Calvagh had been in alliance
with the English Government at the time of his misfortune. The cause had
been determined against him beforehand, but he came before the Lord
Justice and Council to hear his statement read, and to add what might be
required by word of mouth. 'Hearing his bill read,' says Wrothe, 'he
burst out into such a weeping as when he should speak he could not, but
was fain by his interpreter to pray license to weep, and so went his way
without saying anything. Sure it pitied me to see him, and more because
his present help is doubtful, for although it may be said that the wisest
to win peace will take war in hand, and that it is likely Shane will not
be reformed but by war,' yet the poverty of Ireland and the occupation of
England made war well-nigh impracticable.[84]
[Sidenote: the Queen receives him kindly, but he fears Arnold, and
withdraws to Scotland.]
Arnold seems to have thought himself bound to do in all things exactly
the opposite of Sussex, and he accepted Cusack's rose-coloured view of
Shane's intentions. But Wrothe's reasoning was more dispassionate. He saw
the danger of letting O'Donnell's country come under the power of
O'Neill, who gave good words but went his own way nevertheless. If
possible he was to be pacified, but war might prove inevitable, and to be
successful it would have to be conducted in a new way. He saw that
O'Donnell was determined to go to the Queen with or without license, and
if necessary by way of Scotland. The Queen said she would willingly see
O'Donnell at Court if it would do him any good, but that the causes
between him and Shane would have to be tried in Ireland, and she did not
see what he could gain by the journey. She saw Arnold's bias clearly
enough, and said plainly that the Dean and Chapter of Armagh, who had
been named, were no fit Commissioners to judge of this matter. Terence
Daniel and his colleague had a too natural affection towards O'Neill. As
Wrothe had foreseen, O'Donnell, who feared that chains and torture
awaited him in Ulster, would not be denied, but took the first
opportunity of slipping over to England during Arnold's temporary
absence, and he made his appearance at Court, where he told his griefs to
the Queen, and to Leicester, Winchester, and Cecil. Elizabeth evidently
felt much for the unfortunate chief, gave him money, and sent him back to
Ireland, directing Arnold to make him some allowance until his causes
were decided. 'We are not,' she said, 'without compassion for him in
this calamity, specially considering his first entry thereto was by
taking part against Shane when he made war against our good subjects
there.' No one was ever able to resist Elizabeth when she spoke
graciously, but O'Donnell's experience of Arnold had not been
satisfactory, and he thought it prudent to withdraw for a time to the
Scottish Court, where he was sure of sympathy from the relations of his
foolish and guilty wife, the daily victim of Shane's brutality.[85]
[Sidenote: Shane attacks the Scots.]
His hereditary enemies having been reduced to a harmless state, Shane
proceeded, with the full approval of the Government, to attack the Scots,
who prevented him from doing as he pleased in the North. But Arnold was
not so completely blinded by his professions as to make him free of
Carrickfergus, which he claimed as of ancient right. Neither was it
thought convenient to withdraw Kildare from the defence of the Pale, as
Shane urgently desired. Eight or nine hundred Scots, under the command of
Sorley Boy, lay near the left bank of the Bann, opposite Coleraine, where
Shane had made the old castle tenable. His object being to get complete
command of the estuary, he sent over a small party in the country boats
or 'cots,' which were his only means of transport, and having posted them
strongly in the Dominican Friary, withdrew to his main body. The Scots
attacked the outpost like madmen, as Dean Danyell expressed it, and lost
many men, but succeeded in killing all the defenders except the mounted
men, who were seized with a panic and swam their horses over the flooded
river. Neither party had much to boast, but Shane could point to the
affair as a test of his sincerity. He bragged about what he would do next
time, when there might be no flood, and he again suggested that he might
be allowed to make Carrickfergus his base until preparations for renewing
the war were complete. Arnold yielded so far as to sanction his entry
with some of his chief followers. Captain Piers was to show the
formidable visitor every civility, but for sparing of the poor town was
to keep the multitude of his company as far off as possible. Shane's
views changed, or the policy of Piers was successful in keeping him at
arm's length, but he plundered the town of Carlingford before doing any
further service against the Scots, burned the country all about, and
ravished the women far and wide, up to the walls of Dundalk. More damage
has been done, said Fitzwilliam, 'than seven years of such profit as is
from Shane.'[86]
[Sidenote: Nothing so dangerous as loyalty. Calvagh O'Connor.]
When Sussex left Ireland Leix and Offaly were pretty quiet, but his
departure had been the signal for disturbance. Arnold was accused of
oppressing the remnant of the O'Connors, and by his own account he cared
little for peace. Ormonde's brother persecuted the O'Mores, who were
reduced to a state not much above brigandage. He killed a dozen kerne
near Castle-comer, and apologised for not doing more: 'if we had any
ground for horsemen we should have made a fair haul.' Arnold praised Sir
Edmund's activity, but looked forward to general disorder as soon as the
long nights, which are still dreaded in Ireland, should give better
opportunities to the disaffected. By way of precaution he imprisoned
Calvagh O'Connor, as some said, with little or no cause, but, as Arnold
maintained, for intriguing with tribes on both sides the Shannon, and for
engaging Scots mercenaries. Yet there is good ground for believing that
this poor O'Connor tried to be a loyal subject, with the result of being
mistrusted by both parties. 'When I was a rebel,' he said, 'I had friends
enough, but now I serve the Queen's Majesty I am daily in fear of my
life.' Unable to get a hearing, Calvagh, though heavily ironed, managed
to break prison, and having been treated as a rebel became one in
earnest. Great preparations were made on the borders of the Pale. Arnold
demanded help from all the Irish clans in the central parts of the
island. The Earl of Kildare was ordered to assemble his people, and
letters were sent to the gentlemen of the Pale and to the settlers in the
King's and Queen's counties. Wexford and Carlow were not forgotten, and
Ormonde, who received a special commission and pay for 200 kerne for
three months, was directed to watch the rebels, who were proclaimed by
name, and to attack them if they came near his border. These tremendous
preparations for the hunt, for it was little more, were crowned with such
success as was possible. Calvagh O'Connor was killed by a near kinsman,
and his head presented to the Lord Justice. Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick,
Edward VI.'s old companion, dutifully attacked the O'Mores. But Sir
Barnaby himself was little better off than an outlaw, for his father, the
first Baron of Upper Ossory, had but imperfectly laid aside Celtic usages
when he accepted an Anglo-Norman title; and under the influence of a
wicked second wife, he persecuted his loyal and civilised heir. The
O'Connors were dispersed into little parties of eight or ten, who lived
as best they might in the bogs. The O'Mores had wider contiguous wastes,
and managed to keep better together, but they were glad to sue for peace.
It was an inglorious campaign, which only served to show how completely
the settlement of the country had failed to reconcile the native
population.[87]
FOOTNOTES:
[76] Wrothe and Arnold to Cecil, Feb. 5, 1564, and to the Privy Council,
March 14.
[77] Wrothe to Cecil, July 13, 1564; see also same to same, March 16,
April 7, 16, and 26.
[78] Wrothe and Arnold to the Privy Council, April 7, 1564; Dixe to
Cecil, May 10.
[79] Bermingham's Book of Defects in the Lord-Lieutenant's band, July
1564 (No. 23), and other papers (Nos. 24 and 25); Memorandum in Cecil's
hand on Sir T. Wrothe's letter of July 30; Dixe to Cecil, Nov. 22.
[80] The Queen to Wrothe, Oct. 4, 1564; Dixe to Cecil, Nov. 22 and Jan.
26, 1565; Wrothe to Cecil, Nov. 14; Sir Henry Radclyffe, Sir George
Stanley, and Captain George Delves to the Privy Council, with enclosures,
Jan. 10, 1565.
[81] For Radclyffe's case, see his letter to Cecil, Jan. 31, 1565, and
the memorial of his other letters, Feb. 4; Bermingham to Cecil, Feb. 24;
Answer to the Commissioners by the Earl of Sussex; Auditor Dixe to Cecil,
Jan. 17 and 26. Dixe says he was not disliked, because he kept himself
'in a mean and quiet state.' See the Queen's letter to Lord Deputy
Sidney, July 22, 1567.
[82] Articles between Cusack and O'Neill, Nov. 18, 1563. The following is
the article struck out by the Queen:--'Non est habendum pro violatione
pacis si non accedat personaliter ad gubernatorem, antequam intelligat an
is est illi amicus et favorabilis an non, et si aliqua contentio oriatur
inter Angliam et Hiberniam a boreali parte, quod probi viri eligantur ab
utraque parte ad dirimendum has controversias sine pacis violatione.'
Truce between Cusack and O'Neill, March 1, 1564; the Queen to Cusack,
June 24, 1564; Privy Council to same, April 2; Cusack to Cecil, March 22;
Randolph to same, Dec. 24 (S.P., _Scotland_); Cusack to Dudley, June 9;
O'Neill to Lord Justice and Council, Aug. 18, 1564:--'Ipse autem et mei
non intelleximus in hac boreali parte majores rebelles et proditores
Celsitudini Reginæ quam Scotos qui absque Suæ Celsitudinis consensu
usurpant.'
[83] O'Donnell to the Queen, May 14 and Oct. 24, 1564; Wrothe to Lord R.
Dudley, July 23. The deed for the surrender of Lifford is dated July 12.
Old O'Donnell was released before April 17.
[84] Wrothe to Lord R. Dudley, July 23, 1564; Cusack to same, June 9, and
a paper dated June 13, which summarises his case against O'Donnell;
Cusack to Cecil, June 9, and to Arnold, June 13. The _Four Masters_ say
Con O'Donnell was taken by Shane O'Neill, May 14, but they have not a
word of the alleged breach of contract: they are, however, partial to the
O'Donnell family.
[85] Wrothe to Cecil, June 18; the Queen to Lord Justice and Council,
July 15 and Dec. 13; Randolph to Cecil, Dec. 24, 1564 (S.P., Scotland).
[86] Lord Justice and Council to O'Neill, Aug. 22 and Sept. 14; Terence
Danyell to Lord Justice, Aug. 21 and Sept. 10; Shane O'Neill to Lord
Justice and Council, Sept. 5--'Non est opus nunc habere me suspectum
quantum ad servicium impendendum contra Scotos.' This did not prevent him
from clamouring for aid at the Scotch Court; see Randolph's letter before
cited. Randolph had seen two of Shane's letters. Lord Justice and Council
to Piers, Sept. 17; Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Jan. 17, 1565; and the
Declaration of Sussex, Jan. 29.
[87] Wrothe to Cecil, Oct. 21 and Nov. 2, 1564; Lord Justice and Council
to Ormonde, Nov. 21. Some thirty years before Sir Barnaby's father had
assumed the character of an independent prince, when complaining to Henry
VIII. of his sufferings at the hands of Ormonde's grandfather. The story
is that his messenger stood among the crowd of courtiers assembled to see
the King pass, and called out 'Sta pedibus, Domine Rex. Dominus meus
MacGillapatricius misit me tibi dicere ut si non vis castigare Petrum
Rufum, ipse faciet bellum contra te.'
CHAPTER XXIII.
1565.
[Sidenote: Desmond, Thomond, and Clanricarde.]
After his return from England, Desmond kept quiet for a time. The
indefatigable Cusack visited Waterford for the purpose of settling his
dispute with Ormonde, but had to leave his work unfinished so as to
proceed with the more pressing business of O'Neill. But Desmond's men
were not idle, for they were allowed to interfere in the affairs of
Thomond, taking part with Sir Donnell the tanist against the Earl. The
help of Clanricarde, whose interests inclined him to the side of the
latter, alone prevented him from being driven out of the country.
Clanricarde expressly says that Desmond himself crossed the Shannon, and
set on him by surprise, killing 30 men, and taking 800 cows, which helped
to pay the intruder's gallowglasses. They were indeed well paid, for they
received more than half the cattle of Thomond. There was some talk of
giving Clanricarde cannon to take the castle of Inchiquin, and Desmond
was straightly charged by Arnold to abstain from further interference.
Royal Commissioners, of whom Parker was one, visited Cork, and the
gentlemen of the county appeared, offering to hold their lands by knight
service, and to give security for good behaviour. Desmond described the
proceedings in glowing language, but did not recall his gallowglasses
from Thomond, whence the Earl continued to beg earnestly for help.
Ormonde was directed to give such help as he could spare from pursuing
the O'Mores, and Cusack, the general pacificator, again made his way to
the South, when it was agreed that Manus Oge O'Sheehy, with his 400
gallowglasses and 200 musketeers and horsemen, should be withdrawn, and
that those who ferried them over Shannon should be punished. Differences
were to be settled by arbitration, and all were to live happily ever
after. Thus, to borrow the contemptuous language of Sir George Stanley,
'did Sir Thomas Cusack conclude according to his accustomed manner a
fyckelede peace.'[88]
[Sidenote: Ormonde resolves to put down coyne and livery.]
Ormonde had been brought up in England. He was a personal favourite with
the Queen, and there can be no doubt that he was sincerely anxious to
live the life of a civilised nobleman rather than that of a barbarous
chief. Money rents, which he might spend at Court or at home in building
such houses as Carrick, had a greater attraction for him than the ancient
habit of eating up the country with turbulent soldiers and useless
horse-boys, three or four to every horse. Perhaps too he longed to boast
that, while an Earl of Desmond had been the first to bring in the curse
of coyne and livery upon Ireland, an Earl of Ormonde had been the first
to take it away. He accordingly issued a proclamation which throws much
light on the state of the country. Reciting his right to regal power and
jurisdiction in Tipperary, he confessed his obligation to see it properly
governed. War and disorder had hitherto forced him and his ancestors to
exact coyne and livery, necessarily showing a bad example to others who
had not the excuse of responsibility. He spoke of 'the poverty, misery,
and calamity whereunto the poor subjects be brought by the licentious
multitude of Irish rascals which be bred and maintained by the said coyne
and livery.' The Earl's officers could not do their duty, the Queen was
defrauded of her revenue, and it was therefore agreed 'by the consent and
assent of all the lords and gentlemen of the same county, that no coyne
or livery or Irish exactions should be thenceforth levied.' This
extended to the possessions of all the Butlers, of the Prendergasts, and
of the Archbishop of Cashel, north of the Suir, and within the bounds of
Tipperary. Proclamation was to be made in all market towns that severe
penalties would be incurred by levying the said exactions after August 1,
every one being licensed to resist by force. But there was danger lest
this godly victory over the horrible and devouring monster should leave
the country defenceless, and therefore a quarterly muster of the
able-bodied people was to be taken. Every landowner was to furnish a
certain fixed quota of horses, harness, and men ready for any sudden
emergency. It was hoped that the towns would then increase, and that
their inhabitants would supply no mean force. In case it was absolutely
necessary to bring strangers into the county, they were to be regularly
waged, the Earl being authorised by the freeholders to exact a fixed sum
of money for the purpose. Every strange soldier was to pay for all he had
at the rate of 2_d._ a meal for himself and 1_d._ for his boy, and
similar payments were to be made when it became necessary to move the
local militia. The lords and gentlemen of Tipperary subscribed this
treaty.[89]
[Sidenote: His reforms interrupted by threats from Desmond.]
Ormonde, however, was not able for this time to carry out his good
intentions. Desmond attacked his tenants, and he was forced to 'continue
one disorder to withstand another.' The cheerful views of Cusack, who
believed that he had really pacified Munster in a manner redounding to
his own and the Queen's honour, were soon woefully belied. The real
pacificator had been Lady Desmond, and her death at this juncture removed
the last restraint from her husband, and cured her son of his last
compunction. Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of the Decies, who lived at Dromana
on the Blackwater, and who was descended from the second son of the
seventh Earl, possessed part of the original Desmond estate, which he
claimed to hold of the Crown by feudal tenure. But Desmond preferred to
regard him as a subordinate Irish chief, liable to the payment of various
Irish dues and exactions. Sir Maurice, who was Ormonde's first cousin,
appealed to him for protection against distraint, and requested him to
take charge of his cattle until the storm had blown over. Desmond alleged
that distress had been taken time out of mind in the Decies, but Ormonde
held that it was part of the county of Waterford, and that all such
pretensions were therefore void in law. Having also good reason to
believe that an attack upon Tipperary was meditated, Ormonde led a force
to Clonmel, and encamped at Knocklofty, near the foot of the mountain
pass leading into Sir Maurice's country. In due course came a special
messenger to say that Desmond was already on his way, and Ormonde lost no
time in obeying the summons. With 100 horse and 300 or 400 foot, and
accompanied by his brothers Edmund, James, and Edward, he hastened across
the mountains, and f
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