[279] Sir T. Norris to Cecil, Oct. 31, 1597. For the terms on which Ormonde and the Lords Justices were appointed see Liber Munerum Publicorum, part ii. p. 5. The Queen to Ormonde, Dec. 29, in Carew.
[280] Submission to Ormonde, Dec. 22, 1597; the Queen to Ormonde, Dec. 29; Heads of agreement submitted at Dundalk, March 15, 1598, all in Carew; Fenton to Cecil, April 20. The course of the negotiations may be traced clearly in Moryson, under the year 1597-8. The abortive pardon was dated April 11.
[281] Florence MacCarthy’s Life, chap. viii. Honora Lady Clancare and Florence MacCarthy to Cecil, July 29 and Aug. 8, 1598, MSS. Hatfield.
[CHAPTER XLVII.]
GENERAL RISING UNDER TYRONE, 1598-1599.
Bacon and Essex.
Bacon’s advice.
While Ormonde was trying to make peace with Tyrone, Francis Bacon was encouraging Essex to occupy himself with Irish affairs, in which he had an hereditary interest. Honour, he argued, was to be got by succeeding where so many had failed, and the lion’s share would fall to him who had made choice of successful agents. Neither Fitzwilliam nor Norris had been the Earl’s friends, and Russell had been a lukewarm one; whereas Ormonde and Sir Conyers Clifford were well disposed, and there was no danger in supporting them for the time. Popular opinion declared that Irish affairs had been neglected, and the mere appearance of care in that direction would win credit. Sir William Russell, Sir Richard Bingham, the Earl of Thomond, and Mr. Wilbraham, the Irish Solicitor-General, were all at hand, and the necessary information might be had from them. And then we have this truly Baconian passage: ‘If your lordship doubt to put your sickle into another’s harvest; first, time brings it to you in Mr. Secretary’s absence; next, being mixed with matter of war, it is fittest for you; and lastly, I know your lordship will carry it with that modesty and respect towards aged dignity, and that good correspondence towards my dear kinsman and your good friend now abroad, as no inconvenience may grow that way.’ In Cecil’s absence Essex played the part of secretary, while Raleigh and Russell, Sir Richard Bingham, Sir Robert Sidney, and Sir Christopher Blount were all mentioned as possible viceroys; but none of them were willing to go. Bacon’s further advice was asked, and his idea was to temporise with Tyrone, strengthening the garrisons and placing confidence in Ormonde, while taking steps to remedy the real abuses from which Ireland suffered. ‘And,’ he says, ‘but that your lordship is too easy to pass in such cases from dissimulation to verity, I think if your lordship lent your reputation in this case—that is, to pretend that if peace go not on, and the Queen mean not to make a defensive war as in times past, but a full reconquest of those parts of the country, you would accept the charge—I think it would help to settle Tyrone in his seeking accord, and win you a great deal of honour gratis.’[282]
The Blackwater fort beleaguered.