The British Solomon never relaxed his war upon the religion of his subjects, if it were not of the same colour and shape as his own, so long as breath was left in him. It was in his eyes akin to the sin against the Holy Ghost to differ from or doubt the infallibility of his wisdom, for he deemed himself, according to his open avowal, a god upon earth. In 1605, two years only after ascending the throne of England, he issued a proclamation, commanding all Catholic priests to quit Ireland on pain of death; and he commanded all officers, magistrates, and chief citizens of Dublin to attend the Established Church, or suffer the fine of twenty pounds a month, and moreover, imprisonment. The nobility prayed to be permitted the exercise of their religion, but the ill-fated presenters of the petition were thrown into the Castle of Dublin, and their spokesman, Sir Patrick Barnewell, was sent over to England, and incarcerated in the Tower.
KEEPING SUNDAY, ACCORDING TO KING JAMES'S BOOK OF SPORTS. (See p. [464.])
James now hit on a bold scheme for breaking down the clanship of Ireland, and so weakening the opposition of the people to his despotic will. He ordered all possessors of lands to bring in their titles to commissioners appointed for the purpose, on the promise that they should receive them again in a more valid and advantageous form. As, from the disturbed state of the country for ages past, many of these titles were defective, the landowners accepted the offer in good faith, but they found that the commissioners, instead of returning them of the same value, and bearing the same conditions, only returned them freehold titles of such lands as were in their own hands. All such lands as were in the hands of tenants, were made over to these tenants, only subject to the rent charges and dues which they had formerly paid. Thus the great bulk of the tenantry of Ireland was freed from its dependence on the will of the chief in capite, and now set him at naught. But though the power of the chiefs was broken, the commonalty showed no more inclination to adhere to a Government which persecuted them on account of their faith. They were now more at liberty, and readier than ever to follow some bold and defiant leader who promised them protection and vengeance on their tyrants. The great lords, thus tricked out of their hereditary rights, were converted into deadly enemies of the English Government.
Tyrone and Tyrconnel, on taking leave of the English Court to return to Ireland, professed extreme gratitude for the kindness of their reception, but in reality they were full of the most hostile sentiments. They looked on this transfer of their seigneurial rights as a measure intended to sever their vassals from them, and thus to subjugate the whole island to the yoke of the English hierarchy. No sooner did they land in Ireland, than Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin, invited them to meet him at his Castle of Maynooth. They unanimously agreed that the destruction of the hereditary faith of Ireland was planned, and they bound themselves by oath to act together for its defence.
Two years later, intelligence was gathered by some one at Brussels, in the service of the archduke, that Tyrone had renewed his relations with the Court of Spain; and, in order to decoy him into England, a pretender to a large extent of his lands was set up, and both parties were summoned over to have the cause tried before the Privy Council. Tyrone, aware of the design, avoided the snare by sending an attorney with full powers to act in his behalf. This stratagem did not succeed. Tyrone received from the Lord-Deputy information that his presence would be necessary in London to defeat the pretensions of his opponent. Tyrone, feigning to comply, only solicited a delay of a month, in order to settle his affairs and raise money for his journey and sojourn at Court. The request being acceded to, he escaped in a vessel sent on purpose from Dunkirk, with two of his sons and nephew, accompanied by Tyrconnel, with his son, and Lord Dungannon, his brother, with thirty of their retainers, and reached in a few days Quillebeque in Normandy.
On the discovery of the escape of these nobles, James was greatly alarmed, believing that they had gone to Spain to join the Armada which during the summer had been collecting in the Spanish ports, and to conduct it to Ireland. The news of their real resort abated his fears. He demanded their delivery from France, and then from the Netherlands, whither they betook themselves, describing them as traitors, and men of mean birth, who had been merely ennobled for purposes of State. He accused them of an intention to excite a rebellion, and returning to Ireland with foreign confederates, to put to death all Irishmen of English descent. The Court of Brussels declined to give up men exiled only on account of their religion, and admitted them into the Spanish army of Brabant. Tyrone himself proceeded to Rome, where the King of Spain allowed him a pension of six hundred crowns per month, and the Pope one hundred.
Active search was made in Ireland for the accomplices of the fugitives; many were arrested in Ulster, some were sent over for trial to England. Lord Delvin, with the eldest son of Tyrone, and Sir Christopher St. Lawrence, were secured and lodged in Dublin Castle. Delvin was tried and condemned as a traitor, but he escaped on the morning fixed for his execution; and no trace of him could be found till he suddenly appeared at the English Court, and throwing himself on his knees before the king, presented such a list of real wrongs inflicted on himself and his father, as compelled James to pardon him and to make him amends by creating him Earl of Westmeath; a clemency, as it proved, well bestowed, and which might have taught the king a more successful way to secure obedience and loyalty from his subjects, than those which he unhappily pursued.
Another Irish chief, O'Dogherty of Inishowen, having received a mortal insult from Paulet, the Governor of Derry, surprised him at table, and by the aid of his followers succeeded in killing him and five others. The avengers captured alive Hart, the governor of the Fortress of Culmore, and leading him to the gates of the Castle, called on the governor's wife to surrender the place, or see her husband murdered on the spot. Conjugal affection prevailed, and O'Dogherty found himself in possession of the stronghold. Possessed by this means of arms and ammunition, O'Dogherty marched with a strong force to Derry, and received the submission of the castle and town. The hopes of the exiles were wonderfully raised by so unexpected an event. They despatched messengers instructing O'Dogherty to hold the place, if possible, till their arrival with foreign aid; but after two unsuccessful attacks, the place was evacuated on the approach of Wingfield, the marshal of the camp, and O'Dogherty fled to the mountains. There, in the month of June, 1608, he was accidentally discovered, and shot.
The rebellion of these great chiefs, by throwing into the hands of the Crown an immense territory, suggested to James the planting of a new English Colony. Undeterred by the failure of Elizabeth's plantation of Ulster, he proceeded to divide the confiscated region, which included nearly the whole of the northern counties of Cavan, Fermanagh, Armagh, Derry, Tyrone, and Tyrconnel, amounting to two millions of acres, into four great divisions. Two of these were again divided into lots of one thousand acres each, a third into lots of fifteen hundred acres, and the fourth into lots of two thousand acres. The two thousand acre lots were appropriated to a class of men called "undertakers and servitors," adventurers of capital from England and Scotland, with the civil and military officers of the Crown. The lesser lots went amongst these and the natives of the province also; but the natives were only to receive their lots in the plains and open country, not in the hills and fastnesses, where they might become formidable to Government. The possessors were bound to pay a mark a year for every sixty acres, and the lesser ones besides to take the Oath of Supremacy, and engage to admit no recusant as tenant.