The Four Masters give a touching account of their departure, and exclaim: "Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that conceived, woe to the council that decided on the project of their setting out on the voyage!" The exiles left Rathmullen on the 14th of September, 1607. O'Neill had been with the Lord Deputy shortly before; and one cannot but suppose that he had then obtained some surmise of premeditated treachery, for he arranged his flight secretly and swiftly, pretending that he was about to visit London. O'Neill was accompanied by his Countess, his three sons, O'Donnell, and other relatives. They first sailed to Normandy, where an attempt was made by the English Government to arrest them, but Henry IV. would not give them up. In Rome they were received as confessors exiled for the faith, and were liberally supported by the Pope and the King of Spain. They all died in a few years after their arrival, and their ashes rest in the Franciscan Church of St. Peter-in-Montorio. Rome was indeed dear to them, but Ireland was still dearer; and the exiled Celt, whether expatriated through force or stern necessity, lives only to long for the old home, or dies weeping for it.
The Red Hand of the O'Neills had hitherto been a powerful protection to Ulster. The attempts "to plant" there had turned out failures; but now that the chiefs were removed, the people became an easy prey. O'Dogherty, Chief of Innishowen, was insulted by Sir George Paulett, in a manner which no gentleman could be expected to bear without calling his insulter to account; and the young chieftain took fearful vengeance for the rude blow which he had received from the English sheriff. He got into Culmore Fort at night by stratagem, and then marched to Derry, killed Paulett, massacred the garrison, and burned the town. Some other chieftains joined him, and kept up the war until July; when O'Dogherty was killed, and his companions-in-arms imprisoned. Sir Arthur Chichester received his property in return for his suggestions for the plantation of Ulster, of which we must now make brief mention.
There can be little doubt, from Sir Henry Docwra's own account, that O'Dogherty was purposely insulted, and goaded into rebellion. He was the last obstacle to the grand scheme, and he was disposed of. Ulster was now at the mercy of those who chose to accept grants of land; and the grants were made to the highest bidders, or to those who had paid for the favour by previous services. Sir Arthur Chichester evidently considered that he belonged to the latter class, for we find him writing[[465]] at considerable length to the Earl of Northampton, then a ruling member of King James' cabinet, to request that he may be appointed President of Ulster. He commences his epistle by stating how deeply he is indebted to his Lordship for his comfortable and kind letters, and the praise he has given him in public and private. He then bestows an abundant meed of commendation on his justice in return. He next explains his hopes and desires. He declares that he wishes for the Presidency of Ulster, "more for the service he might there do his Majesty, than for the profit he expects,"—a statement which the Earl no doubt read exactly as it was intended; and he says that he only mentions his case because "charitie beginnes with myeselfe," which, indeed, appears to have been the view of that virtue generally taken by all planters and adventurers. He concludes with delicately informing his correspondent, that if he can advance any friend of his in any way he will be most happy to do so. This letter is dated from the "Castle of Dublin, 7th of February, 1607." The date should read, according to the change of style, 1608. The Lord Deputy knew well what he was asking for. During the summer of the preceding year, he had made a careful journey through Ulster, with John Davies; and Carte has well observed, that "nobody knew the territories better to be planted;" and he might have added, that few persons had a clearer eye to their own advantage in the arrangements he made.
CASTLE MONEA, CO. FERMANAGH.
The plan of the plantation was agreed upon in 1609. It was the old plan which had been attempted before, though with less show of legal arrangement, but with quite the same proportion of legal iniquity. The simple object was to expel the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic religion. The six counties to be planted were Tyrone, Derry, Donegal, Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan. These were parcelled out into portions varying from 2,000 to 4,000 acres, and the planters were obliged to build bawns and castles, such as that of Castle Monea, county Fermanagh, of which we subjoin an illustration. Tully Castle[[466]] was built by Sir John Hume, on his plantation. Both these castles afford good examples of the structures erected at this period. The great desiderata were proximity to water and rising ground—the beauty of the surrounding scenery, which was superadded at least at Tully Castle, was probably but little valued.
Chichester now proposed to call a Parliament. The plantation of Ulster had removed some difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. The Protestant University of Dublin had obtained 3,000 acres there, and 400,000 acres of tillage land had been partitioned out between English and Scotch proprietors. It was expressly stipulated that their tenants should be English or Scotch, and Protestants; the Catholic owners of the land were, in some cases, as a special favour, permitted to remain, if they took the oath of supremacy, if they worked well for their masters, and if they paid double the rent fixed for the others. Sixty thousand acres in Dublin and Waterford, and 385,000 acres in Westmeath, Longford, King's county, Queen's county, and Leitrim, had been portioned out in a similar manner. A Presbyterian minister, whose father was one of the planters, thus describes the men who came to establish English rule, and root out Popery: "From Scotland came many, and from England not a few; yet all of them generally the scum of both nations, who, from debt, or making and fleeing from justice, or seeking shelter, came hither, hoping to be without fear of man s justice, in a land where there was nothing or but little as yet of the fear of God.... Most of the people were all void of godliness.... On all hands atheism increased, and disregard of God; iniquity abounds, with contention, fighting, murder and adultery."[[467]]
It was with such persons as these the lower house was filled. The upper house was composed of the Protestant bishops and English aristocracy, who were of course unanimous in their views. Chichester obtained ample powers to arrange the lower house. Forty new boroughs were formed, many of them consisting merely of a few scattered houses; some of them were not incorporated until after the writs were issued. The Catholics were taken by surprise as no notice had been given, either of the Parliament or the laws intended to be enacted. Six Catholic lords of the Pale remonstrated with the King, but he treated them with the utmost contempt. The house assembled; there was a struggle for the Speaker's chair. The Catholic party proposed Sir John Everard, who had just resigned his position as Justice of the King's Bench sooner than take the oath of supremacy; the court party insisted on having Sir John Davies. The Catholics protested, and sent a deputation to James, who first lectured[[468]] them to show his learning, and them imprisoned them to show his power. Some kind of compromise was eventually effected. A severe penal law was withdrawn; a large subsidy was voted. In truth, the Irish party acted boldly, considering their peculiar circumstances, for one and all refused to enter the old cathedral, which their forefathers had erected, when Protestant service was read therein on the day of the opening of Parliament; and even Lord Barry retired when he laid the sword of state before the Lord Deputy. We may excuse them for submitting to the attainder of O'Neill and O'Donnell, for there were few national members who had not withdrawn before the vote was passed.
Chichester retired from the government of Ireland in 1616. In 1617 a proclamation was issued for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy, and the city of Waterford was deprived of its charter in consequence of the spirited opposition which its corporation offered to the oath of spiritual supremacy. In 1622 Viscount Falkland came over as Lord Deputy, and Usher, who was at heart a Puritan,[[469]] preached a violent sermon on the occasion, in which he suggested a very literal application of his text, "He beareth not the sword in vain." If a similar application of the text had been made by a Catholic divine, it would have been called intolerance, persecution, and a hint that the Inquisition was at hand; as used by him, it was supposed to mean putting down Popery by the sword.
James I. died on the 27th March, 1625, and left his successor no very pleasant prospects in any part of his kingdom. He was pronounced by Sully to be "the wisest fool in Europe;" Henry IV. styled him "Captain of Arts and Clerk of Arms;" and a favourite epigram of the age is thus translated:—