Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)

by Richard Bagwell

FOOTNOTES:

[156] Articles with Sir Brian MacPhelim O’Neill, Oct. 8, 1568; Sidney to Cecil, Nov. 12; Sidney’s Summary Relation, 1583, in Carew.

[157] Sidney to Cecil, Nov. 12, 1568; same to same, Nov. 8 (in the Sidney Papers); Argyle to Queen Elizabeth, Aug. 24 (in the Sidney Papers).

[158] Lord Roche to the Lords Justices, Sept. 14; Wingfield to Cecil, Nov. 12; Sidney to Cecil, Nov. 8 and 12; Hamlet’s warning to Ophelia is applicable to all Irish Governors.

[159] Lady Dunboyne to Luke Dillon, A.G., Nov. 22; Carew to Cecil, Dec. 26.

[160] Hooker, in Holinshed; for the state of Athenry, see Sidney to the Queen, April 20, 1567.

[161] Hooker, in Holinshed; Weston to Cecil, Feb. 17 and March 18, 1569. The Parliament 11 Eliz. sat almost continuously from Jan. 17 to March 11, 1569, but three sessions are counted within this period. On March 11, a prorogation took place till Oct. 10.

[162] Hooker, in Holinshed; two letters of Weston to Cecil already quoted; Sir N. White to Cecil, March 10; and Sidney’s Summary Relation in Carew, 1583.

[163] Cecil to Sidney, Nov. 5, 1568; Queen to Sidney, Feb. 10, 1569; Peryam’s Petition, Feb. 19; Tremayne to Pollard and to Cecil, July 7.

[164] Letters to the Lord Deputy, June 17 to 20, from Lady St. Leger, J. Horsey, the Mayors of Cork, Waterford, and Youghal, and Andrew Skiddy. St. Leger to Sidney, February 14; see Froude, vol. x. p. 495, from Simancas.

[165] Depositions of Lord Baltinglass and Richard Shee, June 19; Information of William Sweetman, July 27.

[166] N. White to Cecil, April 18; Mayor and Corporation of Waterford to Cecil, July 8; Corporation of Kilmallock and Limerick to Sidney, July 2 and 10; the Queen to Sidney, July 9.

[167] James Fitzmaurice to the Corporation of Cork, July 12. He calls the Protestants ‘Hugnettes.’

[168] Life of Carew; Ormonde to Cecil, July 24; Sir Edmund Butler to Ormonde, Aug. 23.

[169] Ormonde to Cecil, July 24; Corporation of Kilkenny to Sidney, July 2 and 29; Roger Hooker (Richard Hooker’s father) to Weston, Aug. 10.

[170] Ormonde to Cecil, July 24 and Sept. 7; Words uttered, &c. Sept. 1; N. White to Cecil, Sept. 3.

[171] George Wyse to Cecil, Oct. 29; Lord Deputy and Council to Cecil, Oct. 26; Sidney’s Brief Relation in Carew, 1583.

[172] Fitzmaurice took Kilmallock early in Sept. 1569; Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, Oct. 20; Sidney’s Summary Relation, in Carew, 1583.

[173] Brief Relation, in Carew, 1583; Sidney to Cecil, Oct. 17, 1569, in Sidney Papers.

[174] Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Sept. 12; Geo. Wyse to same, Oct. 29; Sidney to same, Nov. 29; also Sidney’s Summary Relation, as above.

[175] Warde to Cecil, Sept. 26 and Oct. 18; Gilbert to same, Oct. 18.

[176] Gilbert to Sidney, Nov. 13 and Dec. 6; Sidney to Cecil, Nov. 25 and Jan. 4, 1570.

[177] MacMahon to the Commissioners for the North, Aug. 23; Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Sept. 12.

CHAPTER XXVII.
1570 AND 1571.

Fitton, President of Connaught.

Pollard’s illness had delayed the formation of a presidential Government in Munster, but Sir Edward Fitton was appointed to Connaught, with Ralph Rokeby for a Chief Justice. When the decadence of the southern rebellion enabled him to begin work, he did not show much talent for government, being an ill-tempered, quarrelsome man, not at all fitted for the delicate duty of turning Irish into English order. The townsmen of Galway he found loyal and peaceable enough, but the people of the province were cold in religion, and inclined to superstition. By way of encouragement he burned the ‘idols’ in the churches. The friars were nominally expelled, really driven into hiding. More praiseworthy were his efforts to make the clergy either put away or marry their female companions—efforts extended to the laity, who, from the Earl of Clanricarde downwards, seem to have held canonical marriage in contempt. Malefactors were executed, a kind of census taken, and a provost-marshal appointed to hang out of hand all who could find no one to answer for them. ‘Such as do come unto us, we cause to cut their glybbes, which we do think the first token of obedience.’ Clanricarde and O’Connor Sligo professed some agreement with Fitton’s course, but O’Rourke held aloof, while Thomond gave every possible opposition, even to the extent of detaining Captain Apsley and his men on their return from Kerry, and of threatening to capture the President himself. Proclamation had been made for holding assizes at Ennis, where the sheriff, Teig O’Brien, made store of provisions for the President. Thomond, who was at Clare close by, refused to attend, and when the assizes were over friendly partisans conducted Fitton through the Burren Mountains, the Earl hanging on his skirts and skirmishing as far as Gort. He was said to be acting under orders from the Duke of Norfolk, and no doubt his conduct had reference to the rising in the North, and to the general attack on those whom Fitzmaurice called Huguenots. Fitton was shut up in Galway, and John Burke, Clanricarde’s rebellious son, rode up to the gate, but refused to enter. Gilbert having departed, Fitzmaurice gathered a new force, entered and spoiled Kilmallock; and there seemed every prospect of a conflagration throughout the West. Sidney resolved to take Ormonde at his word, and to employ him in putting down this fresh disturbance.[178]

Ormonde is reconciled to Sidney,

‘My Lord Deputy and I,’ Ormonde wrote to Cecil, ‘brake our minds at Leighlin last together before some of our trusty friends, and after promising never to call quarrels past to rehearsal, we vowed the renewal of our old friendship. So, for my part, I will bring no matter past to rehearsal.’ Thereupon he begged the intercession of Cecil and other statesmen for his misguided brothers. Edward was still at large.

‘I think,’ said Sidney, ‘God have ordained him a sacrifice for the rest. What honour were it to that house if the Earl would bring in that brother’s head with his own hands? That were indeed a purging sacrifice.’ It was a sacrifice which Ormonde did not feel called upon to offer; but he was willing enough to serve the Queen, and received a commission to reduce his cousin, the Earl of Thomond.

and receives a commission.

He received an ample commission, having power to proclaim rebels, to parley, protect, or prosecute as he might think expedient. After a month’s preparation he was in a condition to take the field. He had no help from the Government but 300 kerne and a battering-ram, which he did not use. The Mayor of Limerick made difficulties about boats to convey the guns across the Shannon, and Ormonde marched into Thomond without them. The terror of his name and the knowledge that artillery was behind did all that was necessary, but he complained that nothing was done unless he did it himself, and that Sir Thomas Roe Fitzgerald was particularly useless. Thomond at once offered to give up all prisoners, English and Irish, to surrender all castles, provided he might be allowed to go to England and plead his own cause with the Queen, and to serve at once against James Fitzmaurice. He stipulated for life and liberty for himself, that Ormonde should have the custody of his country, that his enemy, Teig MacMorragh of Inchiquin, should be no longer sheriff, that the Lord Deputy and Lord President should not prejudice his case with her Majesty, and that he should be allowed five days’ law before being proclaimed traitor, in the event of Sidney refusing to ratify the articles. Ormonde took possession of all the castles at once, garrisoned them, and secured the prisoners, cutting passes through the wood to Bunratty in case further fighting should be necessary. The rest he left to the Lord Deputy. Sidney would have preferred that Thomond should come before him, but agreed to let him go to the Queen, on condition that he should give the names of all his accomplices at once and start for England before May 27.[179]

Thomond goes to France. Intrigues there.

The rebel Earl, who was probably conscious of intrigues of which Ormonde knew nothing, neglected, without actually refusing, to go to the Lord Deputy, allowed the day of grace to pass, and went quietly on board a French ship which lay in the Shannon. Thomond was pacified entirely at Ormonde’s charge, and the work was done but just in time, for many of his men had been engaged in the late rebellion, and were fighting with halters round their necks. The moment their protections expired they left their chief, who had no power to extend them, but they seem to have returned on the Lord Deputy giving them six weeks longer. The principal men of the O’Briens submitted, and the O’Loughlins and O’Mahons followed suit. There were a few executions, but Ormonde preferred clemency to the policy of Gilbert or even of Sidney. ‘The Queen,’ he said, ‘hath many good subjects here if they were but cherished and not over-pressed.’ His reception in France not answering his expectation, Thomond thought it prudent to report himself to the English ambassador, representing himself as a loyal subject driven mad by Fitton’s harshness. He professed great anxiety to see the Queen, but feared the Lord Deputy. He had come by France, as the direct road to London was closed. Norris advised lenity in dealing with one who was evidently rather a tool than a ringleader—a barbarian whose cunning was neutralised by his vaingloriousness, and whose simple talk could deceive no diplomatist. ‘Promise what you list,’ said the ambassador, whose great object was to coax the refugee out of France into England, ‘and having him there perform what you list.’

Diplomacy.

The Queen lent no countenance to this Machiavellian advice, and told Norris that the Irish lord was of small value but by her favour, and not the best of his name in the estimation of his own countrymen. By her advice he gave a written personal undertaking that Thomond should not be imprisoned on his promising, also in writing, to make no further attempt against the Queen. He had from his arrival intrigued with the French Court, and had nearly succeeded in captivating Henry III.; but Marshal Vielleville reminded his sovereign that he had debts, and persuaded him not to meddle with castles in Ireland. Catherine de’ Medici tried to prevent Thomond from going to England, and gave him 200 pistoles. Fearful lest he should go to Spain, Norris added 100, and after spending a month in Paris, the Earl was induced to go to his natural sovereign and make humble submission. He was pardoned in due course and sent back to Ireland, where he bound himself in the sum of 10,000l. to be of good behaviour for the future.[180]

Sidney’s policy. Edward Butler cannot be caught.

While Ormonde showed his zeal in the West, the Lord Deputy remained in Dublin preparing to meet Parliament. He begged to be recalled, or at least to have the comfort of his wife’s society, for that he was living very uncomfortably, and at intolerable expense to himself, though saving much to the Queen. To his repeated cries her Majesty answered that he should be relieved as soon as possible, but that it was very difficult to find a fit successor for him, or a fit governor for Munster. She approved of his fortifying policy in Ulster. Irishmen were to be encouraged to take estates of the Crown, and Englishmen to settle in Ireland, and ‘we would have good regard that the inhabitants there do not engross many farms into few hands, whereby hospitality must decay.’ Edmund and Piers Butler were to be committed; Edward caught, indicted, and arraigned; and all three were to be made to surrender their estates, and have judgment passed on them, to be executed or not according to their behaviour. Their inferior agents in rebellion were to ‘taste the reward of justice.’ Edward Butler could not be caught, though he had at least one narrow escape from his brother’s men, but the other two had remained in Dublin since their submission, and now humbly awaited her Majesty’s pleasure.[181]

Final submission of the Butlers, 1570. Parliament.

Sidney found his Parliament in more submissive mood than at its first meeting, the Irish party having been cowed by his vigour, and by the sight of unsuccessful rebellion. The influence of a Speaker must needs be considerable, and Stanihurst was devoted to the Government, which received valuable support from his grave and conciliatory demeanour. The Lord Deputy opened the session with a pithy speech, in which he earnestly prayed the members to show their activity by amending Bills brought before them, but not by rejecting necessary measures. An Act was then passed reciting the Queen’s efforts to establish order and justice, notwithstanding which ‘the wicked, better acquainted with darkness than light, have chosen to wallow in their own filth and puddle of tyranny, oppression, rape, ravine, and spoil.’

Attainders.

Clancare, Fitzmaurice, Ormonde’s three brothers, and several other Butlers of less note, were then attainted by name as ‘vile and ingrate traitors;’ and treasons committed within a limited time were prospectively included in the attainder. The Queen stayed the execution of this Act, but Ormonde objected to it on general grounds, and especially to its prospective effect. ‘Alas,’ he said, ‘what availeth life, and to live with infamy (as I perceive my brethren must do coming to arraignment)! But the Queen’s staying of their judgment and execution is an exceeding mercy, far above their deserts of late days ... and for the stain of my house I confesseth it nippeth me to the heart. But what remedy the best is they may, with the Queen’s goodness, live to requite this evil with good service hereafter.... My brother Edmond was not his own man since he was bewitched. Myself have not escaped free by means of a drink given me by some unhappy hand. I recovered hardly by drinking salt and oil, bleeding very much, and being purged. I bled forty ounces at twenty-one times.... This act is very general, and so perilous that the judgment is given before the offence committed. Many innocents may be indicted upon malice, and peradventure have no notice of the proclamation to come to justify themselves according to the law.’

The Butlers pardoned.

Sir Edmund, who was certainly of an excitable nature, felt the disgrace so keenly that he was actually out of his mind for a time. Later on, when it was proposed to print the Act in London, Ormonde complained bitterly that the praise of suppressing the rebellion was given in general terms to Sidney, and begged that ‘the odious discourse’ might be kept back. Some Butlers were, indeed, by God’s visitation induced to act beyond their reason, and the family honours had been spotted for the first time; but the head of the House had brought them back, and the tree now bore its accustomed good fruit. Edward Butler at last submitted to the Earl, but seems never to have put himself into Sidney’s power. In 1573 the three brothers were pardoned, but it seems that by some omission they were never restored in blood. The legal stain remained, but the moral stain was removed by much after good service.[182]

First attempt at national education.

Opposition to Government Bills.

An Act was passed in this session for the erection of a free school in every diocese at the cost of the diocese, with an English master appointed by the Lord Deputy, except in Armagh, Dublin, Meath, and Kildare, where the Bishops were made patrons. The foundation was Scriptural and Protestant, for the Elizabethans could not understand the possible permanence of any but the State religion. Henry VIII.’s system of parochial schools having never come into being, this must be considered as the first attempt at national education. Salaries were to be fixed by the Lord Deputy, but paid by the clergy, one-third by the ordinary, and two-thirds by the general body. The results of the diocesan schools, as they came to be called, fell far short of what some expected, and it is probable that in many dioceses they were never founded at all. But Sidney’s measure was well meant, and was not entirely inoperative like the mediæval attempts at Irish universities. A Bill to compel the residence of spiritual persons was thrown out by the Commons, as well as one to abolish the extortionate demand of meat and drink; the majority of members probably having a personal interest in supporting the old abuse in either case. A Bill for limiting interests which had been acquired by lessees in entailed property was also thrown out, the real object of it being to restore to Ormonde those lands of his family which had been improvidently alienated. Sidney did not oppose the measure, but foresaw that it would fail. He was ready to do what he could to meet Ormonde’s views, but only so far as was consistent with ordinary process of law. ‘If the gentlemen that have lands of his in the English Pale, in fee farm and otherwise, do not consent in all points to his lordship’s liking, having law on their side, I cannot use compulsory means to wrest justice, nor, I hope, it is not required in my place.’ Wise words, but it would have been better for Sidney’s reputation had he been equally careful in guarding prescriptive rights against Sir Peter Carew.[183]

Commercial legislation. Monopolies.

The Butlers having returned to their right mind, and Fitzmaurice being reduced to wandering with a few followers, Sidney busied himself chiefly with the affairs of the North. His marvellous power of despatching causes, his extraordinary knowledge of Irish septs and alliances, and his untiring industry, were the theme of general admiration; and the lightning rapidity of his movements struck terror into Irish hearts. Before he could bring the Northern chiefs to any settlement offering a chance of permanence, he had to hold two more sessions of Parliament, and to make arrangements for the Presidency of Munster, as he had already done for Connaught. The legislation attempted was chiefly commercial. Thus a Bill, which was at first thrown out in the Lower House by an effort of untutored common sense, was pressed successfully forward by the Government, who thought it important that the ancient staple commodities wool and wool-fells, raw or manufactured, wax, and butter, should not be exported except by the merchants of the staple towns. Such exportation had been already restrained by duties with a view of encouraging Irish manufactures, but the law had not answered expectation, having had the natural result of throwing the trade into French, Scotch, Spanish, and other foreign hands. Instead of repealing the Act which had done so much harm, the true protectionist policy of further restraint was adopted. Manufactured articles, to which linen yarn was added, might be exported by the merchants of the staple at Dublin, Drogheda, Cork, and Waterford, and by the merchants of other borough towns, on paying the custom; and all power of dispensing with the law was taken away from the Irish Government. The raw material had continued to be exported to some extent, but the intention to benefit Irish manufactures by forcibly retaining it was again recorded, and infringement of the monopoly was made felony; the Government being in this case also declared incapable of dispensing with the Act. It was soon discovered that trade could not be forced in this way, and the Queen was besieged by applications for patents, the projectors pretending to cure the evils of one monopoly by creating another. Lancashire and Cheshire had benefited much by Irish yarn, 4,000 hands being employed in weaving it at Manchester alone. The embargo, it was urged, had nearly ruined Manchester, and had not benefited Ireland, where the weavers were few, and the people naturally given to idleness; spinning, of course, requiring no industry. It was admitted that the lack of lawful outlet for the cloth had something to say to the want of weavers, but as the suitors for patents were Englishmen, that side of the question was not pressed.[184]

Monopolies. Prototype of Wood’s halfpence.

Elizabeth, no doubt for some valuable consideration, granted a patent to one Thomas Moore to export 3,000 packs of linen yarn from Ireland in five years. The Corporations of Dublin and Drogheda objected on the grounds that Ireland did not produce 600 packs a year, that Moore was to pay them no custom, that many men in Ireland had sunk their substance in setting up looms on the faith of a very recent statute, and that if the Queen persevered they would all be ruined. She then reduced the amount to 200 packs a year; but Irish vested interests were unappeased, and seven of the most eminent Queen’s counsel in Dublin were very clearly of opinion that letters patent were waste paper as against an Act of Parliament. In the end Tremayne effected a compromise, of which the terms are not stated, between the patentee and the municipalities of Dublin and Drogheda, and the latter prayed Burghley to intercede with her Majesty against the passing of any such patents in future.

Dutch weavers in Ireland.

The intercession was not successful, for in 1578 Lord Chancellor Gerrard obtained a similar monopoly, which he assigned to one Middlemore. Both patentee and assignee had disputes with Dublin and Drogheda, their evident object being to be bought off as dearly as possible. ‘I caused to plant,’ said Sidney, ‘above forty families of the reformed churches of the Low Countries, flying thence for religion’s sake, in one ruinous town called Swords. It would have done any man good to see how diligently they wrought, how they re-edified the spoiled old castle and repaired almost all the same, and how goodly and cleanly they and their wives and children lived. They made diaper and ticks for beds and other good stuff for man’s use, and excellent good leather of deer skins, goat- and sheep-fells, as is made in Southwark.’ And he spoke with becoming indignation of the infringement of a law which he had caused to be made for the benefit of Ireland, and which he had restrained himself and his predecessors from contravening. In the forgotten story of these monopolies we have a foreshadowing of Wood’s halfpence, and it is possible that the Drapier was not ignorant of the precedent.[185]

Sir John Perrott, President of Munster, 1571.

Sir John Perrott, of an ancient Pembrokeshire family, but supposed by some to be a son of Henry VIII., was the person selected for the task of reducing Munster. He had been made a Knight of the Bath along with Ormonde at Edward VI.’s coronation, had served at St. Quentin, and in 1560 had again been the Earl’s companion in the tilt at Greenwich, where, in presence of the French ambassador, he maintained Elizabeth’s quarrel against all comers. In running a course with Mr. Cornwallis both riders lost their tempers and fell to tilting in the Queen’s presence with sharp lances and without armour—a pastime which she soon put a stop to. The story is characteristic of the gallant but imprudent man who played so great a part in Irish history. His taste and magnificence, perhaps his extravagance, may be guessed from his additions to Carew Castle—a manor which had been granted to him by Mary in spite of his Protestantism and of his refusal to persecute other Protestants. Ormonde now declared that his old comrade should be Lord President even against his will, and to judge by the delay he was neither anxious for the honour nor in a hurry to begin the work.[186]

Perrott’s instructions.

The salary of the Lord President was fixed at 133l. 6s. 8d., as in the case of Connaught, and he was allowed thirty horse and twenty foot in the Queen’s pay. The first Chief Justice, with a salary of 100l., was James Dowdall, afterwards Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench. Nicholas Walshe, afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, was second justice, with a salary of 100 marks. Thomas Burgate was the first Clerk of the Council, which originally consisted of the Archbishops and Bishops of Munster and of the Earls of Ormonde, Thomond, and Clancare, power being reserved to the Lord Deputy to appoint additional councillors at his pleasure. The Council had all the judicial authority of a Court of Assize. The Lord President was not to be out of his province for more than six days without the Deputy’s license; but special leave was given to Sir John Perrott to visit his estate in Pembrokeshire and to return within one month. The liberties of Tipperary were not to be needlessly infringed, but those of Kerry were declared to be null and void. The Lord President and Council were to assist all officers, civil and ecclesiastical, to maintain their proper authority, and the following curious provision was made in furtherance of religion as by law established:—

‘The said Lord President shall have and retain one chaplain or minister that shall and can preach and read the Homilies; who shall be allowed his diets in the household of the said Lord President, and shall receive the entertainment of one of the house assigned to the President; to whom the Lord President shall cause due reverence to be given, in respect of the office that he shall have for the service of God.’

The Lord Deputy and Council were generally charged to look after all the rights of the Crown in Munster, but were not to infringe the liberty of the subject by quartering unnecessary men on the country, the Lord Deputy and Council being the judges of what were cases of necessity.[187]

Sidney goes to England. Sir W. Fitzwilliam is Lord Justice.

How much Sidney hated the Irish service may be learned from his letters, almost every one of which contains a prayer for recall. Yet Fitzwilliam, the second string to the English bow in Ireland, hinted that he was unwilling to retire. Fitzwilliam always declared himself loth to accept the high but thankless office, but both these able men may have been more attached to power than they would confess to themselves or to their friends. The establishment of presidencies had been Sidney’s great panacea, and he waited only till Munster as well as Connaught was provided for. In the meantime he made arrangements for Northern affairs, which under the presidency system were to be peculiarly the care of the Lord Deputy. Tirlogh Luineach entered into a treaty of peace with all the Queen’s subjects to be inviolably observed until the Queen’s further pleasure should be known. Tirlogh Luineach claimed Maguire and MacMahon as his ‘urraghs’; but this the Lord Deputy refused, agreeing, however, to give them the temporary benefit of the peace. Tirlogh Luineach’s wife was a party to this treaty, who informed Morton that she was the real author of it, and begged him to support her husband’s messenger at the English Court. The Scots were thus held in check for the time, and Sidney further secured the Pale by an agreement with the O’Farrells, whereby they covenanted to surrender all their lands and receive them back from the Queen, to pay a quit rent, to attend hostings, and to have their whole district treated as shire ground, paying the subsidy of 13s. 4d. for each plough land. O’Farrell Bane, the principal chief, is described as of that ‘place called Pallas in the county of Longford,’ where Oliver Goldsmith was born.

Arrangements for the surrender of their lands and for taking them back by grant were also made with MacBrien Arra in Tipperary, and with the Kavanaghs; and Sidney, having installed Perrott in his Presidency, and thus provided both a scourge for the rebels and a counterpoise for Ormonde, sailed for England, and left the government in the hands of Sir William Fitzwilliam.[188]

Fitton cannot govern Connaught.

While Ormonde was reducing the rebellious O’Briens, Lord President Fitton was practically shut up in Galway, and Sidney sent a force under Basnet and Collyer to relieve him. With their help and with that of Clanricarde he was able to besiege Shrule Castle, the key of Lower Connaught; but Shane MacOliver Burke, claiming to be MacWilliam Iochtar, collected the youth of Mayo and Connemara, and attacked Fitton’s camp with great determination. He had also some Scots mercenaries. ‘They resolved that if the son or kinsman of one of them should be slain, they would not stop with him, but pass over him at once.’ The President’s Irish and Scotch auxiliaries were driven in, and the Burkes chased them for two miles, when the English cavalry, who had remained in reserve, turned the tide by charging them in the rear. Both sides claimed a victory, but the success was Fitton’s. The Burkes retired, and the castle which they had come to relieve was at once taken.

A chieftain’s dilemma.

Though badly supported by his followers, Clanricarde did excellent service on this occasion, but Sidney was unable to feed or arm a large force, and the victory could not be practically followed up. Fitton could do nothing without English soldiers, and they could not be maintained without cessing the country. The people hardly knew how to choose between imposts in the Queen’s name and the exactions of their own chiefs. A poor woman complained to Shane MacOliver of the intolerable burden of his Scots mercenaries, whereupon ‘he fell into a study, and after some pause said openly, "I am in a miserable case. If we stand out altogether and maintain Scots for our defence, I see the destruction of the country; again, if I shall take upon me the name of MacWilliam, I shall be driven for maintenance thereof to spoil it myself, and if we shall submit ourselves to the English nation, they will be as burdensome as either MacWilliam or Scots. God give me grace to do the likest."’[189]

It is doubtful whether English law or Irish custom is best.

Fitton says Shane MacOliver’s speech grieved him to the heart, for he could not deny its truth, and yet he thought the presence of the soldiers was of some use in keeping the peace. The country was as safe to travel, he said, as the English Pale, but ‘I and my men also live most part without any money, and they almost without clothes for lack of money.’ Peace was maintained on very precarious terms. O’Connor Don lay in Athlone Castle as security for all his clan, but some of his friends brought one of the light Shannon boats or ‘cots’ under the walls, into which he stepped and bid farewell to his host. Fitton sallied forth next day, took and garrisoned his chief castle of Ballintober, and declared that that stronghold, along with Shrule and Longford, would have to be always held. O’Connor Don and MacDermot and all the gentlemen of Mayo were indicted, with the view of entitling the Queen to the northern half of Connaught; and Clanricarde’s sons were indicted also. But the O’Connors, having got their chief out of prison, cared nothing for the lawyers, and ranged the country at will. Their men, who between Scots and natives were not less than 1,000, never showed themselves except when numerically superior. Mr. Moore, lieutenant to Captain Maltby, was wounded in a skirmish, and sixty-four of his troopers deserted; very naturally, considering the way in which they were treated. They seem to have made their way to Dublin, where Fitzwilliam punished a few, and persuaded the rest to return. In surrendering the sword, Sidney had not the satisfaction of seeing his favourite project of presidencies entirely successful.[190]

Tremayne’s report on Ireland.

Among countless reports on the state of Ireland, one by Edmund Tremayne, who had been acting as Sidney’s secretary, deserves particular notice. In general, he says, the people had no conscience, but committed crimes freely; and they had so little morality that they even changed wives among themselves. Bridges were falling down, churches were roofless, and no new charities had replaced the old monastic ones. Good schools there were none, for no teacher could be sure of being paid. In the law everything was jobbed by certain families, and even the judicial bench was filled with unlearned men. Bills were therefore badly drafted, justice was thwarted, and there was general hostility to reform. Bad in Dublin, matters were worse in the country, where courts of quarter sessions, courts leet, and courts baron existed only in theory. Every lord hated the restraints of law, and made himself an Irish chief. English officials were no better, and there was little apparent difference between a seneschal and a native captain, disorders being as great among English soldiers as among Irish kernes and gallowglasses. All Englishmen made parties among the Irish, and everything tended to go daily from bad to worse. ‘An excellent, unspotted character,’ said Archbishop Loftus, ‘is a rare thing in this realm.’[191]

Ormonde in Kerry. Kilmallock an abode of wolves.

While Perrott was preparing to enter upon his long and arduous career of Irish service Ormonde made a winter journey into Kerry, where there were rumours of a French descent. About the time of the Lord President’s landing Fitzmaurice, who had been lurking about Tipperary with less than 120 ‘naked villains afoot,’ suddenly appeared at the head of a considerable but almost unarmed force, surprised and burned Kilmallock. Again there was suspicion of collusion, for he only killed two of the townsmen, and against those two he had a personal grudge. But the native annalists say the plunder was great, and they speak in a way which shows how insecure was Irish life. Plate, they state, was taken, ‘and jewels which the father would not have acknowledged to his heir or the mother to her daughter on the day before.’ The same writer says that Kilmallock became an abode of wolves, and Perrott advised that the Queen should give 200l. to induce the miserable people to return.

The Butlers again do good service.

Ormonde might have saved the town but for Sir Thomas Roe Fitzgerald, who sent him word to guard Dungarvan and Youghal. Considering what afterwards happened to Youghal, the advice of Sir Thomas may have been honest enough, and Fitzmaurice was not likely to make him his confidant; but Ormonde could think of nothing but treason in any member of the rival House. Later on, when Fitzmaurice had killed four of Sir Thomas’s men, the Earl was more inclined to blame his ally for folly than for infidelity; in any case, he pronounced him useless. He inspected the walls of Youghal and found them weak defences, the circuit being too great to be held by less than 300 men, and the townsmen too poor to support such a garrison. He left them the few men they asked for, and made arrangements for mounting what guns they had, but complained that they were too careless of their own security. Kilmallock deserved to be punished for its negligence or worse; but Edward Butler recovered great part of the cattle, and, eager to earn his pardon, pursued Fitzmaurice, and ‘killed one of his dear foster brethren.’ Ormonde himself travelled on foot all over the Aherlow forest, but none of the rebels would even skirmish, and it was evident that Munster could only be reduced by the steady pressure of a regular force. Believing that Sidney would lay the blame for the loss of Kilmallock on him, Ormonde drew the attention of the Home Government to the fact that he had relieved Youghal, and was holding castles in Thomond and elsewhere for the Queen at his own expense, that he had neither English soldiers nor provisions allowed him, and that his own country was defenceless while he was occupied in the public service.[192]

Perrott’s first campaigns. Great hardships.

Having taken the oath before Sidney in Dublin, Perrott went to Cork, where he found himself at the head of about 700 men, 200 of which were Irish. From Cork he went to Kilmallock, where he lodged in a half-burned house, and issued a proclamation to the townsmen to return and repair their walls and buildings, which in course of time they did. He then pursued the rebels, whom he came up with at Knocklong. The Irish fled into the bogs, whither Perrott’s soldiers followed them barefooted, carrying light cavalry lances instead of pikes. They returned with a trophy of fifty heads, with which the Lord President decorated the market-cross at Kilmallock for the edification of those citizens of Limerick who had complained of losing their goods. Lord Roche’s cattle were restored to him, and Perrott, having made Kilmallock defensible, marched towards Limerick. A castle belonging to the Burkes of Clanwilliam blocked his way, but part of the wall fell after three hours’ mining, and the chief’s wife then surrendered. Thomond, O’Shaughnessy, and Sir Thomas of Desmond came to him at Limerick, and he then went to Cashel. His march was again impeded by a castle, which he took ‘by shooting of fire up into the top, which was covered with thatch.’ The blaze and the noise of the falling roof frightened his picketed horses—he had about 200 mounted men—who broke loose and ran off into the woods, where they were caught by the rebels, and in some cases not recovered. At Cashel he hanged seven Gray merchants for supplying the enemy with provisions, the chief magistrate of the town hardly escaping the same fate. From Cashel he went by Fethard and Clonmel to Ormonde’s house at Carrick, and thence by Lismore to Cork, taking the strong castle of Mocollop on the way. At Cork the President was attended by Clancare and Thomond, who had now made up their minds as to which was the strongest side, by Lords Barry, Roche, and Courcy, and by MacCarthy Reagh and Sir Cormac MacTeige. The White Knight’s country was again invaded, his castles taken, and himself driven into the woods. The Glen of Aherlow was then entered without much result, and after a few days’ rest at Cork Perrott marched against the MacSwineys. The style of warfare may be gathered from his biographer’s words. ‘He slew many of the rebels, and hanged as many as he might take, whom the Marshal executed always as he went along; so that they took a great prey, spoiled all the enemy’s country, and with continual travel wore out all their provisions, having no corn in the country left to make their bread, which the President himself wanted for divers days, their chief sustenance being the milk of those kine that they had taken.’

Perrott’s personal behaviour.

The hardships of such warfare must have been very great, Ormonde recommending Captain Warde and his men to special consideration for doing such winter service as was never done by soldiers; service from which they returned bare-footed and bare-bodied. Their sad plight grieved him to the heart, but he could do nothing for them. The Lord President did not spare himself. On one occasion his foot hurt him as he was struggling through a bog in pursuit of the rebels. ‘My Lord,’ said an officer, ‘you have lost your shoe.’ ‘It matters not,’ said Perrott, ‘as long as the legs last we shall find shoes’; and he called for another pair, and trudged on again. Another day some gallowglasses roasted a hog whole with the hair on, ‘and in great kindness did reach a piece of it to one of the Lord President’s servants, being a gentleman of good sort, and a justice of the peace in his county.’ Perrott made a jocular remark about the quality of the meat. ‘An’ it please you, sir,’ said the other, ‘it is good meat here among these men, but if it were at home I would scarce give it to my dogs.’[193]

Fitzmaurice still holds out.

Want of provisions was the great difficulty: all peaceable men having been robbed of their cows and horses. The MacSheehy and MacSwiney kerne swarmed everywhere, and just as Fitzmaurice appeared to be at his last gasp, he managed suddenly to collect a strong force of these idlemen, obliging the Geraldines to provide for their maintenance. Many of the native lords sympathised with him, being afraid of losing their captainries, and they gave him information. Perrott was never strong enough to divide his own force, and his light-heeled adversary roamed at will from Aherlow to Castlemaine, and from Glenflesk to Baltimore. No one was safe for a moment. Thus Miler Magrath, the Queen’s Archbishop of Cashel, having ventured to arrest two friars for preaching against the Queen’s policy, Fitzmaurice ordered their release. The poor friars, he said, preached the Word of God to people blinded with ignorance for years for want of good pastors, and the light of salvation, by reason of long obscurity, was much needed in Ireland. If they were not released all houses and buildings belonging to the Archbishop should be burned to ashes. The letter which contained this wise and sober advice, as the Geraldine leader called it, finished with an invocation of the Blessed Virgin, and there could be no doubt about the danger of the Church as established by law. Edward Butler rescued the friars to show his power, and perhaps to establish communications with the Archbishop, and then offered to pursue Fitzmaurice with all his might upon condition of pardon. Magrath and the Dublin officials advised that, though Butler deserved ten deaths, it would nevertheless be better to accept his offer.[194]

Perrott fails to take Castlemaine. An English captain surprised.

To the possession of Castlemaine Perrott attached great importance, and extensive preparations were made for besieging it. The cannon were delayed by storms on their passage from Limerick. The castle, which stood on arches in the water, proved stronger than was supposed, and all the powder was expended without making a breach; there were at the time only three cwt. in Dublin. In want of almost every requisite for successful war, Perrott withdrew his famished army after a siege of five weeks. On returning to Cork he found that Fitzmaurice had not been idle in his absence. Captain John Morgan, who was to have co-operated with the President by sea, seeing the rebels driving cattle along the shores of Cork harbour, landed and rescued them, and followed the foragers till they reached their supports. Seeing the English sailors, whose behaviour, as Ormonde said, was more like that of ignorant beasts than of trained soldiers, at a safe distance from their boats, Fitzmaurice attacked them vigorously, drove them into a ruined church, and overwhelmed them with showers of stones. Thirty-three were thus ignobly slain; only two prisoners were taken, and these were sent back. In consequence of this disaster, the ships which should have supplied the besiegers of Castlemaine lay idly at anchor.[195]