The Catholics protested against this treatment in vain. A petition was considered an offence, and the petitioners were sent to gaol for their pains.

In 1611 the Bishop of Down and Connor was executed in Dublin. He had been seized, in 1587, by Perrot, and thrown into prison. He was released in 1593, and, according to Dr. Loftus, he took the oath of supremacy. This statement, however, is utterly incredible, for he devoted himself to his flock immediately after his release, and continued to administer the sacraments to them at the risk of his life, until June, 1611, when he was again arrested in the act of administering the sacrament of confirmation to a Catholic family. Father O'Luorchain was imprisoned with him, and they were both sentenced and executed together. At the trial the Bishop declared that the oath of spiritual supremacy was impious, and said that his enemies could not thirst more eagerly for his blood than he himself was desirous to shed it for Christ his Redeemer. This venerable prelate had attained his eightieth year, but he was full of the vigour of saintly heroism. When on the scaffold he asked the executioner to allow him to be the last victim, as he wished to spare Father O'Luorchain the terrible spectacle of his sufferings. But the good priest was not behind the Franciscan bishop in his zeal, and he exclaimed, with a touching grace of courtesy, which the occasion made sublime, that "it was not fitting for a bishop to be without a priest to attend him, and he would follow him without fear." And he did follow him, for the Bishop went first to his crown.

There was great difficulty in procuring any one who would carry out the sentence. The executioner fled, and could not be found when he learned on whom he was to do his office. At last an English culprit, under sentence of death, undertook the bloody work, on a promise that his own life should be granted as his reward.

Communications with Rome were still as frequent and as intimate as they had ever been since Ireland received the faith at the hands of the great Apostle. To be children of Patrick and children of Rome were convertible terms; and the Holy See watched still more tenderly over this portion of the Church while it was suffering and persecuted. Paul V. wrote a special letter to the Irish Catholics, dated from "St. Mark's, 22nd of September, 1606," in which he mourns over their afflictions, commends their marvellous constancy, which he says can only be compared to that of the early Christians, and exhorts them specially to avoid the sin of attending Protestant places of worship—a compliance to which they were strongly tempted, when even one such act might procure exemption, for a time at least, from severe persecution or death.

On another occasion the same Pontiff writes thus: "You glory in that faith by which your fathers procured for their country the distinguished appellation of the Island of Saints. Nor have the sufferings which you have endured been allowed to remain unpublished; your fidelity and Christian fortitude have become the subject of universal admiration; and the praise of your name has long since been loudly celebrated in every portion of the Christian world."[[464]]

O'Neill and O'Donnell may be justly considered the last of the independent native chieftains. When the latter died in exile, and the former accepted the coronet of an English earl, the glories of the olden days of princes, who held almost regal power, had passed away for ever. The proud title of "the O'Neill" became extinct; his country was made shire ground; he accepted patents, and held his broad acres "in fee;" sheriffs were admitted; judges made circuits; king's commissioners took careful note of place, person, and property; and such a system of espionage was established, that Davies boasts, "it was not only known how people lived and what they do, but it is foreseen what they purpose and intend to do;" which latter species of clairvoyance seems to have been largely practised by those who were waiting until all suspicions were lulled to rest, that they might seize on the property, and imprison the persons of those whose estates they coveted.

In May, 1603, O'Neill had visited London, in company with Mountjoy and Rory O'Donnell. The northern chieftains were graciously received; and it was on this occasion that O'Neill renounced his ancient name for his new titles. O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnel at the same time. The first sheriffs appointed for Ulster were Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John Davies. The latter has left it on record, as his deliberate opinion, after many years' experience, "that there is no nation of people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves, so that they may have the protection and benefits of the law, when, upon just cause, they do desire it."

A plot was now got up to entrap O'Neill and O'Donnell. Their complicity in it has long been questioned, though Dr. O'Donovan appears to think that Moore has almost decided the question against them. Moore's evidence, however, is hardly complete, while there is unquestionable authority which favours the opinion that "artful Cecil" was intriguing to accomplish their destruction. Curry says, in his Historical Review: "The great possessions of these two devoted Irish princes, proved the cause of their ruin. After the successful issue of the plot-contriving Cecil's gunpowder adventure in England, he turned his inventive thoughts towards this country. A plot to implicate the great northern chieftains was soon set on foot, and finally proved successful. The conspiracy is thus related by a learned English divine, Dr. Anderson, in his Royal Genealogies, printed in London, 1736: 'Artful Cecil employed one St. Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the Lord Delvin, and other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot, which had no evidence but his.'"

The next movement was to drop an anonymous letter at the door of the council-chamber, mentioning a design, as then in contemplation, for seizing the Castle of Dublin, and murdering the Lord Deputy. No names were mentioned, but it was publicly stated that Government had information in their possession which fixed the guilt of the conspiracy on the Earl of Tyrone. His flight, which took place immediately after, was naturally considered as an acknowledgment of his guilt. It is more probable that the expatriation was prompted by his despair.