If Elizabeth really imagined that her Lieutenant of Pensioners, who had been little if at all in Ireland since his childhood, could travel as a private gentleman without attracting notice, the notion was quickly dispelled. The Irish Government treated him in all respects as a Royal Commissioner, and furnished him with careful instructions. The Munster rivers were flooded, and there was a difficulty about corresponding with Desmond. He professed himself ready to meet his kinsman near Clonmel on the last day of January, but declined to go to Dublin, and stiffly maintained that he was ready to prove all that he had ever asserted against the Lord Deputy or Sir John Perrott. There was no want of information as to Desmond’s evil intentions. Patrick Sherlock, sheriff of Waterford, a stout old campaigner who had served the Emperor and the King of France, warned the English Government that all malcontents, north and south, were banded together, and that they would soon have 3,000 men in the field. The Earl of Ormonde and 1,000 English soldiers was Sherlock’s prescription. Justice Walshe was much of the same opinion, and so was Maurice O’Brien, Bishop-Elect of Killaloe, a Cambridge man, who had become more English than the English, and who declared that it would be better to be a prisoner in England than a free man in Ireland. Mulroney O’Carroll informed the seneschal of Queen’s County that a messenger of Desmond’s had been at his house, and after drinking much whiskey had told him of letters sent by the Earl to O’Neill, Clanricarde, the O’Mores, O’Connors, and O’Byrnes. Shane Burke, with 600 Scots, was to harry the King’s and Queen’s Counties. O’Carroll, who addressed Cosby as his father, admitted that the truth was obscure, and that servants often exceeded it in speaking of their masters; but he confirmed the man’s story to some extent, and stated that a flood in the Shannon had alone prevented Desmond from meeting Clanricarde. Anxiety for this meeting was believed to be the cause of Desmond’s delay in meeting Fitzgerald. All accounts agreed that there was to be a general attack on the English settlers, that Desmond would have no president or other English official resident if he could help it, and that he aspired to be rather a tributary sovereign than a subject.[267]
The meeting takes place, but is not of much use.
So far as any secrecy went, Edward Fitzgerald might as well have had his commission read with tuck of drum in every town and village. His unostentatious mode of travelling merely gave an excuse for not treating him with much respect. At Clonmel the municipality refused him livery for his horses; he was obliged to forage for himself, and he had to wait long before Desmond would take the trouble to meet him. Seven articles founded upon the instructions of the Irish Government were propounded to the Earl. His answers were not considered altogether dutiful, and by the advice of some English gentlemen in his company Fitzgerald gave him an opportunity of amending them. Thus, he at first refused to be judged in any way by the Lord Deputy or Lord President, they having a private grudge against him. On second thoughts he said nothing about Perrott and Fitzwilliam, but merely pleaded his poverty, his previous long detention, and his doubts as to ‘indifference of hearing’ there, as reasons for not visiting Dublin. But if ‘such of the Council as were indifferent’ would come to the borders of his country, he was ready to agree to anything reasonable. Of general professions of loyalty the Earl was lavish enough, but when it came to material guarantees there was less compliance. He was ready to give up castles to his cousin, Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, who had no warrant to take them and no means of holding them, but not to Captain Bourchier, who had both. And he expressly saved all the liberties to which he laid claim. James Fitzmaurice, Sir John of Desmond, and Andrew Skiddy, Judge of the Palatinate of Kerry, were among those who signed the Earl’s amended answer.[268]
Fitzgerald’s report. The Queen grudgingly accepts Desmond’s excuses.
Fitzgerald reported ‘that such of the Earl’s blood and kindred as stand in danger of the law do persuade him that his state, by reason of his departure from Dublin, is most dangerous, and therefore they do advise the Earl, for their safeguards, to receive a general pardon for him and them, which if they may not procure, it seemeth they are bent to work what in them lieth to cause the Earl to stand upon terms.’ Desmond seemed to fear an invasion of his country, and his kinsman did what he could, which was very little, to persuade him that no such invasion was meant. The instinct of the Geraldines was truer than the courtier’s smooth phrases, for on the very day fixed for the meeting Elizabeth wrote to Fitzwilliam, blaming him sharply for lying still in Dublin and giving the Earl so much scope. She was about to send over Sir John Perrott with 300 men, and suggested that in the meantime the independent lords and gentlemen of Munster might be encouraged to make war against Desmond, and authorised to take coyne and livery for the purpose. Perrott had already shown what his views were, and it was no doubt well known in Munster that Fitzwilliam had urgently besought his return. But either the Lord President excused himself on the ground of ill-health, or the Queen’s humour changed, for she accepted Desmond’s answer, though not very graciously, and encouraged him to hope for pardon and favour.[269]
The Queen is anxious about Ulster.
About the time that Essex was sending over Waterhouse, the attention of Elizabeth and her Ministers seems suddenly to have been directed to Ulster. The Queen woke up to the fact that there was little hope of revenue, and not much of military success. The discomfited adventurers had spread hostile reports, and intending colonists were reduced to the state of mind which the perusal of a famous novel may be supposed to have had upon many who had thought of seeking their fortunes upon the banks of the Mississippi. Essex was desired to send some one who could resolve the Queen’s doubts, both as to the actual state of Ulster and as to its prospects for the future. Two trusty messengers were accordingly sent, Essex not concealing his opinion that force alone could reduce the North. Sir Brian MacPhelim might express contrition for his former conduct, but the natives generally were ‘false of their word,’ and in the absence of a strong force nothing less than a general revolt was to be looked for.[270]
Fitzwilliam has orders to help Essex.
Owing, perhaps, to the exertions of Waterhouse, or possibly to some qualm of conscience in her Majesty as to the ruin which was overtaking her faithful servant’s private estate, positive orders were sent to the Irish Government to treat him with more consideration, and to give him a commission as Governor of Ulster with authority quite equal to that of a President in other provinces. Fitzwilliam was also told to give out that the expedition was not intended against the natives, but against the usurping Scots. In practice, of course, no such distinction was or could be observed. Fitzwilliam hastened to assure Walsingham, who had just become Secretary of State, that the rumour of his opposition to Essex was mere slander, and that he would embrace his enterprise heartily.[271]
The Queen will not make Essex Lord Deputy.